Design experiment: lace, ribbon

Hello, everyone.

This was almost the final choice for a decorated guest book:

The idea was to place the lace over most, but not all, of the front cover. Then add the ribbon for an edging, to give it a finished look. (Also, of course, creating a finished surface on the inside with a bit of navy blue satin.

In the end, we went with a different piece of lace (more textured) and no ribbon. But I still like this one a lot!

The lace pieces were all samples we had gotten from Fabric.com (now in stash) and the ribbon was in stash as well. Probably it came from a gift-wrapped Amazon package, back when they were using boxes and ribbon instead of the pretty, glitzy drawstring bags they use now. (We got a lot of lace and fabric samples when the idea of sewing the wedding dress was being considered. I fully intend to use those samples! Even if it's for embroidery test pieces and fiddling around.)

The actual guest book was from Amazon as well.

After The Big Day, I will try and post a picture of the guest book as it was finally decorated. (The bride has off-site storage for things that are completed.) The lace chosen was an embroidered net lace, very textural, in champagne. It had a pretty edge that we let lie across the cover without a ribbon. I did use glue on the inside of the cover to hold it, and then added a rectangle of navy satin--with the edges folded back--to the inside to give it a finished appearance.

More Bead Play (also uses up Stash!)

Hello, everyone.

I have to give a hat tip to the Russian ladies on Youtube for this idea. They have uploaded bunches of twisted-wire work involving beads for hair, bracelets, whatever.

This is a bridal-style hair pin. A young lady I know thought that her ladies might like to have sparkly bits to tuck into a braid for The Day.

The beading actually grew like Topsy when I started working on it, I think the original idea was the daisy in the middle and maybe three or four beads sticking up, but one thing led to another and here we are. It uses up a number of crystalline faceted rounds and bicones, and some teardrops, some pale pink ones, and some seeds and various sizes of perles and even some cultured actual pearls. (The teardrop shaped ones on stems.) Also an assortment of bead caps.

The twisting has to be done carefully, I actually gave some of the wire metal fatigue by twisting too tightly and it broke. Who knew that could happen? But if y'all are thinking of doing something like this, now you know.

Beads mostly from Fire Mountain Gems, some from Hobby Lobby, wire likewise. Hair pin from the pile in my hair stuff! Rhinestone in the flower from Fire Mountain, it's a montee from a pack I got years ago to replace a lost rhinestone on a sweater. You never know when extra bits will come in handy!

Stash busting: Purse charm

Hello, everyone.

Another little stash-busting success: a dangly thing to put on purses. (It could also be hung from any other hanging point, like maybe in a window as a decoration.)

I used up some white & silver and perle bead mix, some pendants, some crosses and pressed-glass butterflies, faceted ovals, and some quartz crystal diamonds. The hardware was half-off at Hobby Lobby.

These little stash busters are fun, but there need to be more of the necklaces if there's going to be a measurable reduction in bead stash!

Stash busting: Autumn apron

Hello, everyone.

Today's stash buster is an apron, using a piece of fabric inherited from a family member and an extra Four-Patch square.

Other stash items used: pumpkins fabric for the straps and pocket lining. Orange wood-grain scrap for the towel loop. A D ring that was lying around the supplies drawer for the neck tie-strap.

The apron pattern was one of those free ones that gets passed around as an ad, picked it up years ago and traced it onto pattern tracing fabric. (Then added a pocket. The pocket addition has been done higher up before, but open chest pockets are inclined to drop a cell phone into the pot of soup, or the trash can, when the wearer leans over. Not a good plan!)

This project has been around, nagging me, for a while. It's good to have it out of the sewing room.

Stash busting: clutch

Hello, everyone.

The ongoing stash usage project has some completions to show. Today's photo is a new clutch, a little large for a clutch really, but it is made from quilted pieces left over from the camera bag project last year. The padding is the foam stabilizer from ByAnnie's.com. It's great stuff, light weight and resilient while giving body to the shape.

This is large enough to hold contingency supplies for the mother of the bride.

The zipper is from the same package of zippers bought for the camera bag project: Zipit.etsy.com. (Still have about 8 to use on that package!)

Walk: Return to Estero Llano Grande

Hello, everyone.

Last week we drove over to Weslaco and visited Estero Llano Grande.

"You don't see me! I tucked my bill down!"

This little fellow was sitting in the grass at the edge of Alligator Pond.

The birds at Estero seem to have had a good year for babies. We saw a lot of tree ducks, several family groups, and some avocets and at least one heron. This little guy might be a young green heron, or some other bird in that family.

The alligator was not visible when we were there. It was early in the day, perhaps too early for sunning. The banks of the pond had quite a bit of vegetation, too. Perhaps the gator wandered off elsewhere to sunbathe without visitors.