My Newest Tutorial. Diagonal Leaf Cuff!

For the past sevreal months I've been working on a new tutorial. My testers have finally given it the ok! Wahooo!

We're waiting on one more thing before it's ready for sale, hopefully, later on today, but I thought I'd give you a little preview of my newest cuff! And a new technique too!

I developed this technique way back in 2007, but life got in the way and I've not done too much with it. :)  I showed it to a few people, taught it to a few people and of course, now my testers have been testing it for quite some time now.

My testers finally gave me the go ahead yesterday. We are ready to launch, as soon as we take care of a small technical issue.

But I thought I'd go ahead and give you a sneek peek. :)  I'll let you know when the tutorial is available.

I hope you enjoy the eye candy. :)
Barb

Look What Aryd'ell Did With The Pinecone!

I love what my cyber friend Aryd'ell did with my pinecone instructions! I've created my own little Lotus Flowers and she's designed her own ring and earrings.  

Aryd'ell is a very talented beadwork artist who has worked her magic in a variation of my pinecone to create the most darling ring and earrings. They are absolutely adorable! Take a look below:

Well done Aryd'ell!! Thanks for letting me share them on my blog. :) You rock!

You can see more of Aryd'ell's work on her blog:

http://gypsysramblings.blogspot.com/

Pinecone Delight Erratum

Pinecone Delight Erratum. Ohhhh, that sounds like something exotic doesn't it? Actually, it's just a fancy word for mistake. LOL We found a small mistake in the pinecone instructions. I can't believe we missed this, but sometimes these things happen.

If you bought the tutorial after August 12, 2011 you already have the corrected version and don't need to do anything else. 

If you bought the tutorial before August 12th, you should have received an email from the StitchBoard staff with instructions on how to download the corrected version. If you haven't received the email yet, please check your spam folder. You can also go to http://stitchboard.com/index.php?r=0 and contact the staff.

If you bought the tutorial directly from Cindy you can contact her at beadlady@beadlady.biz

The Correction

The error was just in the text portion, the graphic is correct.

Page 2, Row 2, Step 1, paragraph 3 .

In the 3rd paragraph it says:

Pass needle UNDER the 'thread bridge" to the right (the thread between beads #2 & #3) of row 1 from the outside to the center of the circle. Fig. 13

It should have read:

"Pass needle UNDER the 'thread bridge" to the right (the thread between beads #1 & #2) of row 1 from the outside to the center of the circle. Fig. 13"

I'd love to see some pictures of your finished pinecones. :)

Enjoy! Barb

Computer Crashes And Old Patterns

Arrg! Almost all of my older patterns and class workshops are on my old computer. It just limps along and sometimes it quits for no reason. Sometimes I can revive it and sometimes it's just plain stubborn. It's like an old mule that just decides it isn't going to take another step.  LOL

I was really freaking out tonight when "The Ol' Gal" (the computer - not me) just up and quit. She's really tempermental and does that from time to time. Most of the time I can get it started after several attempts but sometimes it just won't work so daughter and her hubby come over and fix it for me. 

I was sweating bullets tonight when it quit because I have some very special projects in that old computer that I've only shown to two or three people - even though I made them years ago. I've been thinking about those particular projects lately and decided to review and/or revise the tutorials I wrote for them. I might put them in a book or sell them as individual projects some day but I haven't made that decision yet. 

Just as I was searching through the projects the computer crashed. Arrg! I thought I had the files backed up but when I went looking I couldn't find them anywhere. Yikes! Now I started to panic. I'd gone from sweating to praying. I learned a long time ago not to bargan with God so I just kept praying and turning the computer on again every time it shut down. Finally I got it up and running. I saved a few files to my flash drive, then the screen went black again and the computer made that horrible, heavy sigh and then went silent. Arrg and double arrg!

I grabbed the canned air and blew out the hard drive.. cough, cough..gag.. yuck. It looked like a giant sand storm coming out of that black hole. Then, just as the air started to clear, I ran out of canned air. It's the middle of the night and the only store open is several miles away. Rats! So I took a deep breath and pushed the start button. Those few seconds seemed like an eternity and then the screen flickered, I saw some words and finally the full screen.  The 'Ol' Gal' is working again. How long will she work? Only God knows and He ain't sayin'!

She's  run long enough for me to save the main files I was worried about to my flash drive. Wahoo!  Barb doing happy dog dance here! There are still a few files on the old computer that I need to transfer, but they aren't as important as the ones I was fretting over. Moral of the story! Back up those precious files. Oh, I also printed them out so I have a visual just in case the back up fails too. LOL 

Well, that's been my night. I didn't get any beading done but I did preserve my tutorials. Now that's worth losing a bit of sleep for. :) 

Enjoy and bead something beautiful today! 

Barb

Pinecone Update / Lotus Flowers

Just a quick little note to share a picture I took of some more pinecones. I also added the flowers in the center. It's fun seeing them together. They almost look like a little forest. LOL

My granddaughter says that the flowers look like lotus flowers, so from now on they're Lotus Flowers. :)

Tiny Flowers With Long Magatama 4x7 m/m Beads

I've been having lots of fun playing around with these Miyuki Long Magatama 4/7 m/m beads!

While I was designing my pinecone I kept looking at the first couple rows and thinking what a darling little flower this would make. So I've whipped up a few just for fun. Take a look.

Most of the flowers are created by just working the first two rows of the pinecone pattern and then sewing a bead in the center. Oops, correction for the Dark gray flower. I said previously that the dark gray flower was created using the first three rows of the pinecone, but it's actually created using six beads in each row for three rows.  You can see the difference in hight and appearance in the picture below. (Sorry about that.)

I think these adorable little flowers will work great for the 'ball' end of a 'ball and loop' closure on a bracelet or necklace. They also make an elegant ring. And because the bottom of the flower is flat, they work great for applique` too.

Once you learn how to tame these beads they really are a lot of fun to work with. I think their unique shape creates exciting design possibilities.  :)

Enjoy!  Barb

The Pinecone Instructions Are Finally Finished!

Wahoooo! After all this time, the instructions for my Pinecone Delight are finally finished and up for sale. Cindy of Cindy's Crafts is selling the pattern here at the Stitchboard site.

http://stitchboard.com/mall/showItem.php?in=10222

While you're there take a look around. Mel and her hubby have created a fun site for beaders, crocheters, knitters, sewers and cross-stitchers.

I'm donating 50% of the sales of the Pinecone Delight tutorial to Cindy Tipton's Beadaide charity for beaders in need. Cindy owns Cindy's Crafts in Johnson City, Tennessee. She also sells online at http://www.beadlady.biz/   She has the special Miyuki Long Magatama 4x7 m/m beads that are used in this darling little pinecone.

Please let me know if you make on of my little pinecones. I'd love to hear from you!