Open theme with beads...

I didn't actually do any work today (though in a moment, I'm off to watch an episode of NCIS on DVD and will probably do some more beading) but I did do this beading last night, as part of a postcard series for the theme "open theme with beads" - which means I can do anything I want, as long as I use beads somewhere in the design.



I decided to pull out a basket of 5 or 6 TAST stitch samples I had knocking about doing nothing and add some beads to them - I will then turn it into a postcard - the total area wasn't much more than 4x6, though I will loose a bit off the sides, which is fine. The sample is from the week we did couching & I have added a lot of beads, though I'm not sure how well they all show up. The other samples will be quite different, as they are less free form than this one, but I'm sure they'll work equally well in their own way.



I did actually do something sewing related today, though, as Alex and I had a trip to the quilt shop. I needed some plain black for a couple of projects and the local department store with haberdashery department was out, so off I went to Creative Quilting in Hampton Court. My fabric purchases were fairly dull (the black, and some unbleached calico, which I am also out of) but I got lots of fun bits - some embroidery threads, three spools of variegated thread (I like them for postcard edging), some packs of buttons, some sewing machine needles (not that exciting, but the local dept store w/ hab dept doesn't carry the quilting or metallics, only the standard ones so it was worth grabbing some while in a proper quilt shop) and a fun pack of stuff to stick on postcards. The brightly coloured cat fabric is a 10cm strip which was Alex's bribe for good behaviour (he wanted a bigger piece - they learn young, don't they!)