pink and black for bernice

bernice (joe's momma) requested a while ago that i make her a black and pink necklace. she's very good with the sewing machine and she was in the process of making herself a pink jacket/blazer to wear when she and the poodles compete in dog shows. i tried to make her something in time for christmas, but i just could't make it work. yesterday was her bday, so these will be shipped to her as a belated bday present.

other than the colors, she really made no other requests as far as style or length or anything else. so i decided to make her two.

i'm about to get really busy, so these will prolly be my last project for a long time.
for now, i saw adieu to beading.

mom's bday gift -- garden necklace

i posted the pattern 2 posts ago. the instruction calls for repeating the squirrly triangle pattern all the way to the end (clasps). but dixie from work said that, as originally designed, this necklace tends to twist around the neck. she suggested that i leave the back part as just a simple, straight string of beads. she said this would prevent the necklace from twisting. i also made a simple bracelet.

anyway, today (the 18th) is my mom's bday so i rushed to finish these. i'll have to write her an IOU note for a pair of earrings.

wine charms

these were gifted to the heysteks


and these were gifted to joe.
he picked the charms himself.

the beginning of a necklace

can you see where i'm going with this?

dixie at work (the lady who taught me, charlyn, and others some basic beading) makes a lot of these and i always thought they were pretty. i found the pattern online and i decided to make one for my mom's bday in a few weeks.

the birthstone for february is amethyst (those violet crystals) and i really like the mauvey pearls. other than than, i'm not completely sold on the color combination. i'm thinking of maybe changing the cream seed beads into something that blends in with the colors, as opposed to contrasting/complementing. maybe light pink or violet.

there's definitely a learning curve with this project. at first, i thought i was weaving them too loosely. so i tugged on the string a lot more. now, it feels kinda stiff, like i did it too tightly. maybe now's a good time to start over.

i've only done 2-3 inches but it took me an hour. oooh, how my back will hurt by the end of this.