Low Vision Beading

Low Vision Beading aka "never having to see a hole...".  I use some techniques
to make the beading easier and I never have try to see a hole in which to put a needle...

First getting the beads onto the needle ... I put my beads into the shallow oblong dish and just "scoop" the needle parallel through the beads... It only takes 2-3 passes to have 5 or more beads on the needle...  Never have to look for a hole. Just keep scooping away..  You can see here that I've mixed several color together because I didn't have enough of any one color I liked.  You'd be amazed how fast this is...just remember to keep your needle parallel to the beads.  Just scoop, scoop, scoop..... There is an excellent You-tube video of this.

Next: Getting the beads on the fabric...

After I transferred my design I used the basting stitches as a guide to do the chain stitch where I want the gold beads to be.  As long as I feel the chain stitches I can use my left thumb nail  as a guide to where the beads are to go..  And as long as I feel  the needle go through the chain stitch I know I'm on the right track...

Some time in the future I'm going to write a post about how I'm learning to use my left thumb to work in unison  with the needle in my right hand.



First I did all the beads for the gold outline... Ordinarily I would have put 5 beads down, gone back through the last two, and added another 5 beads.  I modified this step to make it easier.  After putting the 5 beads down I just came up through the chain stitch a couple beads back and whip  a stitch over the beads to keep them in line with the chain stitch...nice and neat.. Then I add another 5 beads...and so on...   This eliminated the necessity to put the needle through holes at this point.  I use my left thumb all along the chain as a guide to where the needle comes up.

By bypassing that step my gold outline is really a little wonky and wiggly but I can correct that a bit as I fill in.  I'm willing to accept wonky and wiggly because as my vision has decreased so have my expectations   also decreased..

After I finished the gold outline it was easier to do the turquoise beads using the gold beads as a guide.

Now I'm filling in with the iridescent blue/green mix... I do not need a guide at all here..  It is all just totally random in this area...every which way and even overlapping.  By piling them in tight it helps to even out the outline somewhat.. This is possible because the gold beads are anchored to that initial chain stitch.

The turquoise beads are from a very cheap necklace and are very irregular in size and shape but I love their color.




I would consider myself lucky if I lived where I could see either a sunrise or sunset but I live on a high prairie with nothing to impede the view either east or west so I am doubly blessed.... tonight's sunset....a few minutes of pure joy... (no pigs for 2 days)

Progress on peacock tail

I knew I was going to love working on this tail and I am... slowly but surely.  I am finishing up with the turquoise beads and starting to fill in with the iridescent blues (pink arrow). As I finish the top of the tail I want to include sequins I received from Shirlee if I can find them.  As usual with this piece I have made several changes mostly in my choices of beads and also I wanted to use krenik metallic threads in the tail and they just didn't work. DH will be gone all weekend so I will probably sit around the fire in my nightgown and finish the tail.  Our road is so bad you need the 4wheel drive to get out and no one can get in... A perfect time to just cuddle down.  One of my super magnifying lamps is on wheels so I can put up a card table and work anywhere..

The other day  I once again bought a 5 lb. bag of lemons so I can use up all the extra eggs in the frig.  These chickens are great layers.  I will be making lemon sour cream loafs, lemon curd, etc... all my usual lemon favorites.

Usually I have a problem using up a 5 lb. bag of lemons before they spoil but I solved that problem... Around Christmas I has a bunch of leftover lemons and google told me to chop them up and freeze them... Which I did. 


I happen to enjoy my occasional gin and tonic and prefer it with lemon rather than lime.  So now instead of dropping in ice cubes I drop in frozen lemons... Delicious!  I suppose you could use them in lemonade also..  but a G&T is my favorite and I usually receive a bottle of Dry Fly gin for my birthday, mother's day, and Christmas.(some times for Valentine's Day and Thanksgiving also)

And it's snowing.....

Always a treat when I'm on Pinterest and see a piece of mine...  This is a very old piece and I had forgotten about it... Thinking it would make a nice valentine..

 

 

We had 10" of snow Friday and 3" more yesterday  DH spent the rest of the day getting the snow off the roofs of the chicken house, gazebo, pump house and the wood shed....all old structures we'd hate to lose to heavy wet snow. ...then we pumped out the cellar... Poor Morris is struggling to get through this deep snow with his little short legs.  I am dying to get out and walk and so sick of being inside...but I want the snow to go off slowly as well... Any more my only physical exercise is cooking... Doing the pork loin with apples today with a Calvados cream sauce and serving with salad and roasted beets. Maybe I will do some laps at the garden store and fondle packages of seeds.

 

Neighbor's pigs continue to be  a major problem.  DH chased them home this morning before he left and locked the gate...but they just returned and busted through the fence.  We are at our wit's end with them...

 

Had the loveliest surprise recently... I became reconnected with a special friend whom I had thought I had lost forever. She is much younger and our lives are very different but quite by accident our paths crossed years ago and she became  a dear friend.  At that time she was only working part time and we often got together and made jewelry... But then she got another job and was working full time AND part time and to top that she fell in love....  But she's married now and her life is settled and we've set a date to reconnect.  She was around a lot during the lambing days... One of the most positive and talented people I know...

Need to get this block ready to travel..

As I'm sorting through UFOs that need to be finished this round robin block is near the top of the list.  It just needed a tiny bit of tweaking when it returned home and for some reason it got buried.   This was "Cream on Cream" 2008 and a mega-talented group which included Cathy Kizarian, Jo Newsham (New Zealand), Cobi Wittekoek (Netherlands)  and Rita Cruz

 
 

I like to mount larger blocks (12")  like this on heavy pellon so I can display them on a stand...  I just need to be able to risk life and limb getting to the barn for border fabric.   I have a lot finished like and can take them anywhere to display and all I need is a table...

I do have a tutorial on how to do this but I will update it when I get this RR ready to display.   I have two totes full of blocks finished like this...

Faux Gold - Pleasant memory

Sometimes when I'm searching for something in my blog I find pleasant memories... By far my most favorite round robins were the two faux gold work round robins. The focus of the RR was to use gold work techniques with inexpensive materials...and among those pieces I had two that I loved dearly....this is one of them.

The couching of the leaves in the lower left was tedious and time consuming but I loved doing it and loved the look.

This piece was inspired by a piece of art by Wm Morris called the "Strawberry Thief"