Beaded Cuff Bracelet - I was inspired by the latest Belle Armoire magazine, which showcased a cuff by Sherri Serafini.  I decided to create a bracelet of my own design.  I used a metal bracelet blank and covered it with ultrasuede for the backing.  The top was bead embroidered on Pellon interfacing.  The porcelain face is available from www.beyondbeads.com.  I had a lot of fun with this and it took only a weekend to create.

The second picture is the bracelet stitched and awaiting to be sewn to the cuff.  The third picture is the bracelet from a side angle.  I used all sorts of beads in this: crystals, pearls, bugles, seeds, cubes, stars, paua shell, etc. 

"Imagine".  This is a wall hanging of my grandson, Sören.

 I had Bonnie Lynn McCaffrey's book, "Portrait Quilts" and decided to give fabric painting a portrait a try.  I took several pictures of Sören (dressed up in fairy wings, naturally).  Using the guidelines, I painted his face onto fabric and appliqued it to the background fabric.  Following the instructions made the entire process really easy.

 I then thought, "If he were a fairy in my garden, where would he be flitting?"  Foxgloves are traditionally a fairy flower (folks gloves) and pansies mean "thoughts of you" and the clematis added that vertical element I needed to balance the composition. 

The foxgloves are satin and cotton lame fabrics satin stitched to the background.  The pansies and clematis are made of wired ribbon and then sewn down.  The trailing bits of the clematis are velvet leaves.  The wings are sheer fabric.

After spending an afternoon at Maureen Greeson's gathering of folks who were interested in crazy quilting, I came home ready to stitch up a storm!  I decided to do an all pink heart with all ivory embellishments. 

I pieced the heart shape onto muslin, as you normally would with crazy quilting.  I then set about making embroideries as delicate as I could.  The second picture shows my left thumb next to the oval to give you an idea of the scale of the project. Those bullion roses are teeny and are stitched with one strand of floss.

After all the embroidery and embellishments were completed, I sewed the heart to an ivory damask background fabric.  I then sewed the pink gimp around the edge of the heart to hide the raw edges of the heart.  It allows the heart to lie flatter, as there is no turned-under edge. 

This hasn't decided what it wants to be when it grows up and may become a pillow. 

This fan was inspired by an antique I have in my collection.  Actually, I have two fan-shaped antique crazy quilt pieces and I love them.  I wanted muted fabrics in this piece so it would evoke the feel of an antique piece.

The woman's portrait was given to me by a friend and became the focal point.  Ruched ribbon frames this portrait.  For many of the seam treatments, I referred to my Victorian booklets (I have a few compilations for sale on the shopping pages).  The floral motif, butterfly, rose, fern and man-in-the-moon are all from antique sources.  Many of the seam treatments are also antique designs.

The floral design is from a Judith Montano book.  I used a pearl rayon for the green straight stitches and a variegated silk floss for the lazy daisies.  The bottom motif is antique and I used chain stitch in two shades of coral and added bugle beads in the center.

The beaded butterfly motif (actually a modern pattern for a beaded bracelet) I sewed to the middle of a patch.  The floral is an antique motif and I stem stitched the leaves and satin stitched the flower in one strand of silk floss.  The seam treatment is a simple straight stitch in a zig-zag with petite floral beads and lazy daisies.

The peacock feather motif is inspired by Christine Dabbs' work.  The greenery is a motif that has been repeated along a seam worked in green silk.  The copper embellishments along the dark seam were purchased in a bead store somewhere along my travels!  The bottom curved seam is a closed blanket stitch with floral beads and French knots added.

The fairy at the bottom of the fan is a design I drew and then  embroidered with one strand of silk floss.  Metallic braid forms the swooshes around the fairy.  The striped French wired ribbon I purchased at Nicholas Kniel, a wonderful ribbon shop in Atlanta, GA.  The tatting is a bit of antique edging that my husband's great-great-Aunt made. 

I love combining antique and modern ideas and materials into one cohesive whole. 

I used a variety of embroidery threads and beads to achieve the look I desired. 

This initial was bead embroidered for my husband, Dan.  I looked through my Dover books collection until I found an initial "D" that I liked.  I used size 15 and 11 seed beads for the main embroidery and added leaf, Celtic and size 8s for adornment.  It was then framed and now hangs in his den.

"Here, There Be Fairies" 

Indulging my love of fairies yet again...I had to make a wall hanging this time.  I used Maureen Greeson's photo transfers of antique images of fairies for the center blocks.  I then set about making a border of images to complement the center.  The inner border is a striped cotton lame and the outer border (difficult to see in this picture) is a deep plum taffeta.  The center borders are covered with lace and beads.

This fairy is outline stitch with one strand of silk.  Notice the gold fairy/angel charms along the border to the right.  The pearl button with its engraved design is a modern reproduction.  The feather stitch is done with beads.  The cretan stitch seam on the left is done with a light blue color and then a light rose was added on top.  Herringbone forms the seam along the rose patch, done in white and gold silk.  The blue patch has a seam treatment of blanket stitch and then a combo of chevron and cretan, stitched in gold metallic.  Crystals were then added.

The fan (from Carole Samples' book) is done in blue silk with mauve metallic for highlights.  The seam treatment along the pink patch is feather stitch in gold thread, then a triple lazy daisy added with a pistil stitch for good effect.  The paisley is a Dover design that I have rendered in beads.

You can see some of the beaded butterflies on the striped patch.  A pansy girl button was added to a purchased floral motif.  The pink patch has a bugle bead and embroidered lazy daisy seam treatment. 

The lace motif was purchased and I then beaded the ever-loving out of it.  Seed beads and bugles were used for this.  The dragonfly is a brass charm I painted and sewed in place and used a fine metallic for the "spiral" of its flight path. Note the seam treatment on the beige patch.  It is a tripe feather with teeny, tiny bees embroidered along its length.  The seam between the dragonfly and pansy motif is magic chain done in a zig-zag fashion with pink and green.  The bottom seam is gold fern stitch with heart beads added.  Below that, a lattice work of green metallic thread is highlighted with silk ribbon roses.

      "Autumn Oracle"

My dear friend, NutMeg, sent me the circular fabric motifs and that started this project!  I created the wall hanging in autumn colors.  The face is rubber stamped onto fabric and cascading ribbons form her hair.  The binding is a russet velvet ribbon.  Motifs include paisleys, Celtic knot work, florals, butterflies, spirals and leaves.

               "Come Fairies"

As a rare departure from my work, which is usually by hand, I experimented with machine piecing and quilting.  The center fabric is a batik which I stamped with Lumiere paints.  I added the fairy, which I cross stitched years ago, framed it with antique tatting and sewed some beads on for flash.  The fairies at the bottom were photo-transferred from some Victorian ephemera.  I ruched wired ribbon, added beads, swirled some fibers and quilted with a metallic thread.

This is our Green Spiral logo beaded onto a background fabric.  I simply enlarged the motif and outlined it with dark green seed beads.  I then filled the center with free-form bead embroidery.  The borders are embroidered with a golden thread.