Rivoli Medallion

This was the beaded birthday present I made just before Christmas for my friend Jo. Again I used  hand dyed satin cord and a magnetic clasp from Accent Bead. The pendant design is by Ann-marie Williams of The Bead Barn. I used a 14mm light turquoise rivoli, 3mm amethyst bicones and 3mm tahitian crystal pearls.

Hari-kuyo Needlebook

Over Christmas week I managed to find 30 minutes to finish off the Hari-kuyo Needlebook from Susan Elliott's online course. I almost had the needlebook finished at the end of November. It got put on hold because I had one more beaded birthday present to make and then the pre-Christmas rush hit.

 

Hari-kuyo is the Japanese Festival of Broken Needles where needleworkers lay their broken needles and pins to rest in gratitude for good service. To honour this tradition, the needlebook has a piece of felt inside the back cover especially for broken needles.

 

In Susan's design the ties are wrapped with thread and then with ribbon. I had used green and pink thread to finish the flowers at the end of the ties, so I used both thread colours to wrap and rather liked the effect. For now I I haven't added the ribbon wrapping but I may do it later. I made the labels by printing cotton lawn fabric, which I sewed into a tube.

Crystal Burst Pendant

 

 

This necklace was an early Christmas present for my friend Steph. In late October we were able to spend a week together at the International Quilt Festival in Houston and I had this ready to give to her. It was very difficult to photograph and this photo was the best I could manage. The large stone is Crystal Vitrail Medium and changes colour significantly in different lighting conditions. The pendant is based on the Crystal Burst design in "Creating Crystal Jewelry with Swarovski" by Laura McCabe. I used Swarovski bicones in Topaz (3mm) and Montana (4mm). The idea for this colour combination came from the Maple leaves in Hanazume. I was reluctant to embroider a blue Maple leaf but I did as I was told. When Hanazume was finished, I could see the balance created by the contrasting colours and even the framer commented on the colour combination. The necklace is an 8 strand Kumihimo braid using hand dyed satin cord  and a 6mm magnetic clasp, both from Accent Bead. I discovered Accent Bead on our previous trip to Houston and I stocked up on satin cords and clasps again on this visit.