Small Flowers, 6

I didn’t take any progress shots of these flowers but they could not have been any simpler – a ring of blackberry coloured seed beads around a dark orange seed bead. I love those blackberry beads; they look good enough to eat.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

There are a few of these little flowers dotted around. Sometimes singularly, sometimes in strings as they are here.

Happy Stitching.

Small Flowers, 5

I’m not sure what flowers these are meant to be but they were fun to bead.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

First, a circle of red tri-cuts around the central bead. The centre bead is a blue lined crystal seed bead.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Then their stems – a row of orange seed beads atop of a peacock blue tricut.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I really don’t know what this part of a flower is called – the part were several small flowers emerge from a single stem.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

And finally some leaves in those pale blue tricuts.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

This sequence of pictures shows how much lighting can affect the colour balance in photographs. The time stamps on them shows me that the motif took a little under 30 minutes to stitch, even though I kept stopping to take pictures. There must have been patchy cloud that morning and you can see in the middle sequence that the sun was shining brightly enough to backlight the fabric. In the first and last pictures the sun must have been obscured by cloud and the fabric does not appear so transparent. However, there is still sufficient light to make the beads sparkle and give good colour rendition – the colours in the final shot are the most accurate.

Happy Stitching

Small Flowers, 4

This little flower was very similar to the previous one. The only difference, except the colour scheme, is there is not ring of beads around the central bead.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I really like these bright blue beads. They act as an accent colour amongst all of the hot reds, orange and amber.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Just a little shaping is needed on the petals so they are slightly curved.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching.

Small Flowers, 3

Continuing on the theme of what each flower reminded me of, these are like little daffodils or narcissi.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Despite there being several steps, they are quite straight forward and quick to stitch.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Forming a nice ring around the central bead is a little fiddly.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I have pictures of four different completed bags and between them there were several different colour combinations used for this flower.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I wanted to introduce a little more green to my bag so stitched all of these flowers in the same red/green/orange colour scheme.

Happy Stitching

Small Flowers, 2

This flower also reminds me of pinks although it is very different from the first flowers. There are two on each side but only half of each flower shows. They were done using the moriage technique so are a bit more difficult to do but I enjoy this technique and like the added dimension that it gives to the beading.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I also like the combination of the orange beads with the blackberry beads.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I would have said that orange is the colour I am least attracted to but there is a lot of in on this bag and I really like it.

Happy Stitching

Small Flowers, 1

Although the large central flowers are the main feature on Floral Melody, there is a whole supporting cast of small flowers, twigs and leaves surrounding them.

These were a delight to bead. Most of the smaller elements could be completed in a short session so every time I sat down at my frame I was able to add another flower. It was very satisfying and encouraged me to do some beading whenever I had a few minutes to spare.

Over the next few days, I want to share with you a series of short posts, mainly pictures, which show the progress I have made over the past few weeks.

I started with the larger of the small blooms. These flowers with their bronze centers and red, tricut petals took about an hour each to bead. They were great fun to do.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

The effect of the staggered petals is very different from that suggested by the drawn outline. They remind me of pinks.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Happy Blogiversay to me

It is that time of year again when I look back at previous Blogiversary posts, take stock of where I am and take a look into the future. Gosh, when I read last year’s post, I think how bold I was talking about naming dreams, making plans and setting goals.

I haven’t yet had the courage to name my dream on the blog but I have spoken to a few dear friends about it and set some goals related to it.

Making plans and setting goals have really been the focus of my blog this year writing a monthly progress report has really helped me stay focused on what I need to achieve. It hasn’t stopped me from overloading, prevaricating or looking for obstacles but it really has helped me prioritise.

In the comments on last year’s Blogiversary, Rachel said "I suspect that setting goals is something that only works when you relly want it to". Well, I really want to reach my first major goal. She also said the "Keeping to them requires self-discipline". Jon says that I am tenacious. I’m not sure that equates to being self-disciplined but the end result is the same.

Sue commented that she is teaching to say NO. That friend is, of course, me. Sorry Sue, I’ve not mastered that one yet but I am getting better at it.

In January, when I set out my goals for the coming year, typically, I glossed over my main goal (fear of failure). Even then I knew that my main objective was to finish Floral Melody by Christmas. Every other thing that I have done this year has fitted around that and I have marked out, and more or less stuck to, a clear timetable for that project. Christmas is fast approaching and I may not be completely finished by then, but I will be pretty close.

So what of the next 12 months? Well, lots of things are in the pipe line. I have signed up for two on-line courses (overloading) and I am planning the next step towards my dream (very exciting but still afraid to name it) and ... I have signed up for TAST 2012. This makes me smile because TAST was the reason for me starting this blog in the first place. I never did complete all of the stitches first time around and it has been on my 'to-do' list ever since. I really would like to complete at least the original set of stitches so I am going to try to fit them in this year. More people than ever have signed up for TAST this year, over 400 at the last count, so even if I don't join in by stitching some weeks, there will be plenty of new ideas and delightful stitching to inspire me.

If I am totally honest, I think that I have too many goals for the coming year but I suspect that I will always have too many things on my to-do list. Tenacious I may be, but I’m still a girl who can’t say NO.

Happy Stitching

Progress Report – November

Life continues to be busy and I continue to make as much time as possible for embroidery.

Various factors meant that Jon and I did not get a much longed for holiday in the sun this year. The upside for me was that I had a few days holiday to use up so I myself onto a couple of embroidery workshops. Until a few weeks ago I had never heard of Hazel Everett. The first I heard about Hazel was a gushing review of her new book by Mary Corbett. Then a chance meeting with one of her students led me to an exhibition of her work and the fact that Hazel teaches a gold work class practically on my doorstep! I should have spent the holidays working on my beading but instead I signed up for two 2-day classes in November.

During the first class we worked on a poppy which is mostly done in chip work. The class is very friendly and informal. Many of the group have been attending for several years and already know quite a lot about gold work but Hazel has the knowledge and experience to guide both the novice and the more experienced at a pace that suited each individual. As you can see, I didn’t get much done but I am a slow worker and gold work is a slow process. I don’t find chip work overly difficult but it is time consuming cutting the very fine purl into chips and sewing on each chip individually.

© Hazel Everett/Carol-Anne Conway

At the second class I started a Christmas ornament. We had a choice of two designs, one based on holly leaves, the other on a poinsettia or working on a UFO. We were also given a free choice of how to edge and fill the leaves. This meant that several different designs were being worked in a number of different techniques but again Hazel coped easily with keeping us all working steadily. I worked fairly constantly during the class but of course did not manage to finish my ornament in the two days!

© Hazel Everett/Carol-Anne Conway

Both of these have been put aside while I concentrate on Floral Melody. I did put in slightly more time than last month but seemed to make less progress. I am not sure why that is. Up until now, I have been fairly confident that I could complete this by Christmas but now that there are only three weeks before my target, I am beginning to have doubts.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I have also continued to make slow progress with Chinese Flower. I am really pleased with how this is working out and am gaining confidence in this method of working LSS. I just wish that confidence would spill over into my Camellias!

© Trish Burr/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Doodle Page - Insects

The next doodle page arrived a day or two before my Mum’s birthday. One of her gifts was tied with a butterfly ribbon. Mum kindly gave me a length to use on Isabell’s insect page.


I added a few beads to create their bodies.


I wanted the butterflies to look like they were in flight so I distorted the ribbon and stitched beads under some of their wings so that they would be raised from the page.


Happy Stitching

Doodle Page - Exotic Swirls

For her page, Kim asked for Exotic Swirls. I think this was the most vibrant of all the pages. For me it was one of the easiest to decide what to do ... I love paisley and it is a ready-made exotic swirl. I drew around a template I made some time ago to create the outline and them I just started doing rows of stitches.


I think this is the closest I came to ‘doodling’ on any of the pages.


Happy Stitching

Doodle Page - Flowers

The next page to come my way belonged to Jules in Scotland. I really cannot remember what Jules’ theme was but I do know that it was related to flowers. I took my inspiration from the notelet that Elizabeth had put in with the page when she sent it on to me. It had big yellow daisies on it.

I couched a length of green silk ribbon along the stems then formed the petals with woven picots in yellow cotton floss.


I first covered the flower centres with satin stitches then added some French knots for texture.


The last thing that I added was a butterfly that I had painted some weeks before.


I was quite pleased with my doodle and felt that it fitted well with Elizabeth’s contribution.


Happy Stitching

Doodle Page - Tropical Forest

The first Doodle Page that visited me came from Elizabeth in Australia whose theme was a Tropical Forest.

Some years ago, I was fortunate enough to visit Australia. While staying in Cairns we took the scenic railway to Kuranda Village in the Rainforest. I recall that the train journey was wonderful, with amazing views of the rainforest and some of its waterfalls. During the day we took a guided walk through a part of the forest and were shown some of the unique flora and fauna. For some reason one particular plant had stuck in my mind above the rest – the Strangle Vine. The vine starts innocently enough growing up a tree for support but as it grows it begins to restrict the growth of its support. Eventually the host tree dies and decomposes leaving the vine like a grotesque external skeleton.

Because I was the first guest stitcher to doodle on Elizabeth’s page, I wanted to do something that others could add to or stitch over to give a coherent page. I used #1 Japanese gold thread to stem stitch the outline and add the criss-crossing stems in feather stitch.


At the end of the day we returned to Cairns on the Skyrain that carries you over the canopy for a unique view of the forest and Cairns on the coast far below.

Happy Stitching

Round Robin Doodle Pages

For the past 3 months most of my stitching time has been dedicated to Floral Melody but I have still made a little time to work on some other projects. During the summer I took part in an exchange called Round Robin Doodle Page. On the Embroiderer’s Guild forum we have been exchanging Travelling pages for a while but this was the first time we conducted a Round Robin where all the participants contributed a little to each page.

We started our own pages by selecting a fabric and a theme, and then stitching the first doodle. The pages then travelled from one person to the next, collecting a little embroidery along the way.

This was a very challenging project for me on several levels. First there was the time scale; we were asked to complete and send on each page within 2-3 weeks of receipt. Then there was the aspect of working to someone else’s theme and fitting in with (and around) everyone else’s embroidery. But the biggest challenge for me was the notion of doodling. There is no way that I could do something unplanned and freehand, especially on a page that belonged to someone else. Instead of doodling, I resolved that my contribution should be simple enough to complete in one or two embroidery sessions.

For my own page I selected a piece of fabric cut from a thread-bare Liz Claiborne blouse that had I had been saving for just such an occasion. I asked the other participates to embroider me a garden and to get it started I doodled an aster, inspired by Lesley Turpin-Delport in Just Flowers.

© Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Floral Melody, Leaf 9

There are two part leaves on each side that I originally outlined in orange beads and filled with the pale topaz tricuts.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Later, I wondered if the inner curve should have been outlined with the small silver beads. I decided to give it a try so out came the row of orange beads ...

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

... and in went a row of silver beads.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

But ... I don’t like it so the silver beads will be coming out and the orange ones are going back in.

Happy Stitching

Tricut Beads

Tricuts are similar to seed beads and come in many of the same finishes but whereas seed beads are (should be) rounded, tricuts have three facets on the surface. The cuts are irregular so no two beads are the same. Charlottes are similar but only have a single facet and triangular beads are, as their name suggests, a triangle shaped bead.

Matsukawa-san seems to have a particular liking for tricuts; I think she uses them in nearly every design. And who can blame her? Any bead will add glimmer and shine to a design but tricuts add something extra. When the light strikes the rounded surface of a seed bead there is a relatively small area of reflected light. When the light strikes the flatten surface of a tricut there is a much bigger area of reflected light and because the facets are irregular the tricuts glitter and sparkle.

Most of the beads used in this flower are seed beads but even the metallic gold beads around the central green bead cannot compete with the glitzy red tricuts of the petals.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Floral Melody, Leaf 8

After filling in the large leaf on the left I decided to make change to the other large leaf. On the left-hand leaf I had radiated the tri-cut beads to follow the curve of the outline.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

On the leaf that I had beaded previously I had stitched them in parallel lines.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I think the radiating lines flow better and enhance the shape of the leaf.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Floral Melody, Flower 2

I’m pleased that Marjolein mentioned the beads “with no specific colour” because they are the subject of this post. In fact there are two different beads in the background of the leaf. I have used tri-cut beads along the bottom edge, as viewed in this picture, and seed beads elsewhere. Both beads are light topaz in colour but the seed beads are slightly paler than the tri-cuts.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

When I stitched the first large flower, I used the tri-cuts to fill the background.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

When I stitched the second large flower, I used the seed beads and filled the background more densely.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I decided that I preferred it this way so reworked the first flower to match.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Floral Melody, Leaf 7

The large leaf on the left was one of the first motifs that I beaded but I had not filled in the background. At first I was not certain which beads and which techniques I wanted to use. Completing the other large motifs helped me reach a decision on how to proceed. I forgot to take progressive photographs but the two pictures below show the leaf before and after I have beaded the background.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

After beading a couple of partial motifs I reached the first land mark on this piece, the completion of the large motifs.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching

Progress Report – November

I’ve put in just over 80 hours on Floral Melody to date, which means that I did a little over 10 hours last month. That is well short of my target but when I look at the difference between the October picture and this one, I seem to have made a lot of progress. I thought that the smaller motifs would go in quickly but I am amazed at how much I done in such a small amount of time. Most of the small flowers are done, only a dozen or so remain, then I will start of the leaves and stems. Completion by Christmas seems a realistic target now and I’m still enjoying this piece immensely.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I’ve also made some progress on the Chinese Flower. Again, I have not done as much as I would have hoped. I’ve nearly completed lesson three and am pleased with what I have done so far.

© Trish Burr/Carol-Anne Conway

I had a four day Japanese Embroidery class at the end of the month. I took Camellias with me to work on. With all that I have learnt from the Floral Glove, Chinese Flower and the lesson with Phillipa Turnbull I was feeling quite confident about working on this Phase again. That is until I got started, then all of my doubts and anxiety about LSS came rushing back. I really don’t understand why I get so stressed about it. I completed the two tone flower on the right-hand side. I don’t like it but I won’t be removing it because I honestly don’t think that I can do any better at this stage of my journey.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

So as not to leave the month on that pessimistic note, I had a great time at class. It was wonderful to spend some time with friends just stitching. Plus, starting tomorrow, I have a two day class in gold work with Hazel Everett to look forward to :-D.

Happy Stitching

Floral Melody, Leaf 6

Mamafrog - I have a used a variety of techniques. Some beads are stitched down individually or in groups. Where there are 3 or more beads on a stitch, I take a couching stitch every second bead. I have also couched down strings of beads. Any line of seven or more beads is most likely done in this way. Thank you for visiting the blog and leaving a comment.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching