Officially Past The Halfway Point!

Yes, it's true, I've officially made it halfway through the book!  The adventure just keeps getting better as I go, even though I've completed a few of what I think are the most time consuming projects, each NEW project I undertake keeps throwing something new at me.  This book really is wonderful, and incredibly useful and versatile, not only do you learn the projects presented in the book, you are learning all kinds of techniques that can be used in other endeavors.  That focal piece you've had sitting around because you just couldn't find the right necklace to put it on?  Solved.   Enough talk, here's some pictures of my progress through the Heirloom necklace, with the color scheme suggested by my Mom!

I had barely started this in the picture above and it did take me longer than I suspected to do this one because of the type of stitch, but MAN is it cool once it's done, but first, a picture of the outside rope, before anything substantial is holding it in shape:

And now, the finished product:

Not only did I complete Heirloom, but I whipped up a version of Winding Road as well, which puts me just over the halfway mark at 14 out of 24 projects completed:

TTFN

The Journey Continues!

Another couple of projects down!  I specifically chose my next couple of projects because they would be shorter, to give me a break after Abundance was done.  What comes after?  I'm not sure, there is absolutely nothing on my beading mat right now, which I will fix in just a moment!

First up is the Dew Drop Spiral, originally a  necklace in the book, but I thought I would like it better as a bracelet:

Next up is the Bohemian earrings, which are so light I can't even tell that I'm wearing them:

And lastly, the Heavenly Hoop earrings.  I chose a very contrasting color scheme so the outside spiral embellishment would really stand out:

And that's all for now!  Onto the next!

The next chapter

The next project I tackled is probably the most time consuming one in the book.  Abundance.  I started this journey by using only the beads I have (something I pride myself on doing, I hate having to buy beads for a project) and it seemed a daunting task.  There are multiple layers of rope on top of the previous one, which gives the piece not only depth but structure as well.

Here is the beginnings of the progress:

Then I finished the first layer of the rope and moved on to the second, after which I continued adding to a smaller section to create the focal area.  After many hours, this piece was finished:

There it is!  Abundance!  I am incredibly proud of this piece, it looks beautiful (to me anyway) with white lined white sapphire and glossy black beads.

After taking on such a large piece, I wanted to do a much smaller one, that I knew I could accomplish in a much shorter amount of time.  I decided to give Forever Tango a try and here's my result:

That will be all for this evening, so for now I bid you all adieu!

The saga continues!

As I work my way around Jill's book (which you can purchase here ) I find myself having a difficult time deciding which project to do next.  I think, I'd love to do Abundance, but Flower Power looks super cute, but the Ziggurat ring would be so fun, but the figure eight earrings would be so quick!

Knowing that the plan is to make ALL the projects in this book, the decision is slightly easier because I know I'll get to them all eventually.  Only slightly though. :)

Next up in the rotation was the Ziggurat ring, which went together very quickly and was incredibly easy to follow the directions for:

Teal is definitely one of my favorite colors to work with, I wear it a LOT.  In fact, my shirt is teal at this very moment.  It is a wonderful color and the ring worked incredibly well and is comfortable to wear also!

I have just finished the next project in my list, Flower Power, but as I don't really like flowers all that much, (I'm not that type of girl) I chose washers from the hardware store instead of porcelain flowers:

So I've dubbed mine Metal Power instead.

Until next time, friends. :)

A New Adventure!

I've gotten a wonderful gift in the mail (ok, I bought it for myself!)  Take a look:

I almost immediately started working on Jill Wiseman's book Beautiful Beaded Ropes.  I took a few minutes and looked through the pages to see which project jumped out at me.  I started with a lariat necklace called French Quarter Lariat.

Here's the result:

Next it was suggested by Jill herself that I work up a version of Butterfly Kisses:

Then I couldn't help myself from doing Falling For You, as I had been thinking about it since I started the first project:

And then I whipped up a quick pair of earrings in the form of Figure Eight:

That's where I'm at for now, but I'll do my best to keep you all updated on my progress.  My goal is to work my way through the entire book before the Bead & Button show where I will be taking a class by Jill Wiseman!