Friday 24 June 2016

Beading by Numbers

Yes, beading by numbers, not something I would do as a rule.  If you've been here a while you will know I'm not adverse to a bit of bead embroidery, just click the Beading word in the cloud on the right hand side to see some.

Anyway the Queen of Bead Embroidery, Sherry Serafini, actually released a kit for one of her bags.  As I'm never likely to actually go to one of her classes I decided to treat myself to the kit.  This would be as near as I was likely to get to have instruction from her and to learn some of her secrets.  

The kit arrived from America and I've been working on it now and then through the week. 



Yes the base was preprinted and the beads counted out but I have learned several tricks already that I would never have known as they are certainly not in her books!  I'm thoroughly enjoying myself and even when there was a little hiccup with the pattern and I had to contact her directly she was so lovely and it was all sorted in no time. 

This week I also went to our village church to have a look at the altar cover.   I had been asked by the Church Warden during the Art Weeks if I thought there was anything I could do to salvage it. 



The panels along the back are from a silk wedding dress from a lady who used to live in the village in the 1800's.  When I find out more details I will let you know the story. 

As you can imagine the silk is terribly fragile and really not up to much handling. 



I have put forward a few ideas and they will be discussed to see if they are acceptable.  As you can imagine you can't just whip off altar covers and stick any old thing on.  There are certain things that have to be followed which I have been finding out about in my research.  Only linen, cotton and silks should be used and, of course, they have to be blessed.  I'm sure a solution will be found and I will keep you updated. 

I managed to sort the pile of books and magazines that has been growing on my footstool, I even managed to read through a couple, so I now know where I am for the moment, I think!! 

Everything else is ticking along despite our government going into freefall over leaving the EU.  You can tell Ellie and Willow were totally stressed about the whole thing. 


Have a great weekend!