MEANDERING PATH LEARNING

 “Let your thoughts meander towards a sea of Ideas"

                                         Leo D. Minnigh quotes

Well, here I am again. This time was full of practice and learning. I worked the longest on a little bag.  The picture to the left is the front of the bag. Here is how I did it: I made it with some grey & brown cotton thread. I added  stone and glass beads and  bone and wire to make the wings of the dragonfly on the front.   I started with the colors evenly divided, so it made vertical stripes. I worked the first inch or so in a half hitch in stripes and put alternating beads cream and blue-grey .

After the beads addition, I tied a few square knots.
Next, I tied more half hitches in a sort of leaf form.  I added the triangle stone and then tied alternating square knots. 

Next I migrated the colors inside of the half hitches, moving all of the blue cords to the outside. 

I also formulated the dragonfly. 

It took awhile to figure out how to reinforce the wings; I ended up putting  more wire in the center of the wings. They started out just outlines.

Then after moving all the grey threads to the sides, I tied  square knot pillars, and did some alternating half square knots into a twirling pattern. Last I tied some more square knots and a small bead center. I tied these knots into a point. 

This is where I tried to turn corners and go around to the back of the bag. It worked pretty well. 

Last of all I put on the fringe. Then, I made a handle  Also, I made a lining with a piece of my husbands old shirt. To cover the raw edges, I beaded it with  small seed beads. I also covered a buckle with some more of the shirt to match and attached it to the two ends of the strap so it could be shortened or lengthened. This started out to be a miser purse but it sort of morphed into something else. 

This necklace is made with needle tatting and a dark green jute-like cord. I added  chalk turquoise,
glass beads and  green crystals. I also added square ceramic beads.  The pendant is made with a  green and brown sea sediment jasper. 








Then I made another miser bag.With daisy drop beads on the bottom fringe.  I put glass beads with a small flower motif on the flap.

  I'm going to try to post a short video of how to open a miser bag. 
 I uploaded my video to YouTube; So I need to wait until they process it.  

Next I made a necklace with  Chinese knots. I beaded the necklace part with some adventurine beads in the center of the two cords. To hold them in place, I beaded  seed beads in an alternating pattern. 
I made a button and loop closure. The pendant part is made with a large dragon vein stone and a carved stone of unknown origin that looks like agate.  I attached a teardrop stone in the center.  I added some other glass and stone beads. The nylon cord I used in this project was really nice to work with because it held the knots.  It was a fun project. 

This next necklace gave me some grief. The Chinese knot will not lay the way I would like. The cord I used was hard to work with. This one is called Beads, Bones and Buttons. The two rose beads are of unknown age. I bought them in a little antique store on Center Street downtown. The bottom diamond shaped bead came from some vintage beads I bought on ebay. The stain I used on the bone came out more red than I envisioned.




One more necklace: this one is blue and white with an oriental touch, made with some ceramic and glass beads. I think the round bulls eye beads are eye beads to ward off evil.This one was tricky to make. The cord was really slippery.

Hope you had an enjoyable time meandering with me. Hope to see you here again. Thanks!


 

Seeing Red. Darning, Dabbling, Doodling.

     Hi I've been darning,dabbling and doodling and  seeing red sometimes.  I've been asked to give a lesson in DUP, a group I belong to that studies the lives and history of the Utah Pioneers. It is the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers. Well the lesson this time is titled "Handwork of the Pioneer Women."  These pioneer women left more prosperous circumstances to travel to a barren and dusty desert place. They had to leave lots of their prized possessions behind to lighten the load.  At first they had to just survive and set up homes for their families, but as time went on they longed to brighten their lives and the lives of those around them with something beautiful.  One of the handiwork items that became popular was something called red work.

Why did they call it redwork? It was called redwork because it was red, of course. They wanted thread that would hold it's color and not fade or bleed onto the cloth. Turkey Red was one of those colors that could do that, and the only color they could get. The thread was called Turkey Red because it came from Turkey.  They worked in simple outline stitches in patterns they drew themselves on muslin cloth, aprons, dish towels, curtains, napkins etc. They were simple outlines to use less thread. It was easy to learn because it is done in a simple running stitch or stem stitch or split stitch. 
     I went online and looked up redwork and found a few examples and tried some out.  Here are a few of my examples. Remember, I'm rusty and a beginner, so

don't look too closely.

      On the edge of the first example I did s lacework called  Mediterranean knotted lace. I had the most fun doing this. I'm always amazed at how something so beautiful can be made with one simple knot.

The hardest part of this work is getting the loops the same size.  I've put a picture of the book I'm trying to learn from. It is a great book if you are interested.

       Much of this handiwork was done by these early pioneers. Some of the things listed in the lesson are bobbin lace, crochet, embroidery, tatting, knitting, spinning, weaving etc. The list goes on. I am happy to say that at least where I live, these skills are still being practiced and learned. I belong to a lacer's group who still practice many of these skills. If you don't know much about these projects and have an interest, look them up and you'll  also be amazed at what can be done with a bit of thread.

       Below is a beaded necklace I started. My husband thinks I should leave it as is. I'm not sure yet.  

                                      

   Next is a bracelet I started the same as the necklace, but I doodled around a bit with it. I did some needle work and knotting around it with a bit of needle lace on some of the beads. Two of the large beads are quite beautiful. The picture does not do them justice. They are called dragon blood and are like agate with crack like veins going through.  The others are nice too, made of goldstone.   

     Then again, as in the last post, a couple of little miser pouches or purses will soon to be off to the granddaughter's.

I have a few more ideas for these I still want to try. I just did a few modifications on the pattern I used last time. I used a smaller hook and came up with some different styles.

 

     Last but not least, I started a necklace, but so far just have the base of it done.  I plan on doing some knotting on top and maybe more bead work. 
     I found through this experience I have a perfectionist side and want to things to be flawless at my first try. That is not very realistic, so I decided to show my beginner side and let you know it is okay to make mistakes. It is all part of the learning process. I'm glad to know I  can still learn new things. I hope to make into skills so I can inspire others to try.  We live in such a mechanized world. I like to get back to basics and use my hands. My dad used to say "Fingers where made before forks." That saying doesn't really apply, but I hope you catch my drift. Machine is not always better. Somehow using your hands is relaxing if you can let go and forget the mistakes.  There seems to be in all of us a desire to create. I hope others will take the plunge and try something new.  Who knows. You just might find a passion of yours waiting to be discovered.

Jade Roses, Spiral Scrubbies & Miser Purse

Hi! This time I want to show and tell a bit. 

1. Necklace and Bracelet
2. Miser Purse
3. Spiral  Scrubbie's

 
First I made a some jewelry: the first one is made of  sea sediment jasper, rose quartz, and other assorted glass beads.  
     
    
     Then I made a bracelet with rose jade. It is not quite finished. I have to weave in some more of the threads.

 Have you ever seen a Miser Purse? This is one version I found on the internet. The idea is that it is hard to get the contents out, so you are less likely to spend when you shouldn't. When you open the flap of the purse it looks like there is no way into it. You just open the flap and pull the front part of the bag and it comes open, but the strings from the strap are all across the opening so it is difficult to remove the contents.  I plan on decorating this one up a bit and using it as the gift bag for the necklace and bracelet . I learned about these at the Lacer's Group I belong to. We are going to learn how to make one next month. I didn't want to wait that long.  I did a Google search and found this pattern.  This is my first attempt. They are also called finger purses. There are many styles. Some have two pouches with two rings in the middle of the two pouches. I plan on doing more. It's a fun novelty with many possibilities.   I found that people are also a bit miserly with sharing the patterns for the sweet little things.

 Then I made some scrubbies, also something I found online. Is'nt the internet a great place to learn new things. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J84jxmGMV5Y


http://crochetpatternsonly.blogspot.com/

 I made mine with some scratchy thread I got in a grab bag from D.I. (Deseret Indrustries) my favorite thrift store. I thought it came out a little small so I made another one ten stiches bigger and it did a funny thing and turned out sort of like a double decker.