Last weekend at the BSV meeting Jo (www.cranberry.net.au) had some gorgeous multi-coloured dagger beads with polka dots on them. They are in various metallic shades, mostly lilac and apricot. Jo laughed when she saw me eying them off, and asked if she should take them away! If only I had looked at them and not had a shred of inspiration, I would have been fine, but of course as soon as I saw them an idea popped in my head!
I have a book called Crystal Lace Necklace Patterns by Sandra Halpenny, which I made a 'gothic' style necklace from for a Christmas gift. I knew that the daggers would work with one of those crystal patterns, so of course I ended up buying some.

Here's the beginnings of a necklace made with the daggers. The bead lace pattern is quite complicated - learning right-angle weave will be a doddle after doing some of these patterns! It doesn't help that there was a mistake in the book in one place - I only figured it out with the help of a magnifying glass and the photo. I should havbe been patient and waited until I could get some appropriate coloured crystals to use as the highlight beads, although the frosted lilac 8os look quite good - understated I guess.

Having a rush of enthusiasm for the bead lace meant that I had to put away the other project I had just started. Here's a photo of the layout.

I bought these beads at Spacetrader. I was told they are replicas of antique beads made in Africa. They are certainly interesting shapes and sizes. My plan is to create a collar using peyote stitch to collar the beads and herringbone connectors.
As soon as I have finished the bead lace, I'll get back to this one. I might then, at last, get to the blue bling one. Funny how all my current projects are so different! I need to get started on my Bead Challenge entry soon too ...

The butterfly is done!

I finished the butterfly hair clip last night. Here are some photos taken while making it.

One thing I learned from making this was to not stitch the 'veins' in before starting the main stitching. I thought having the outline done first would make it easier to keep both sides even, but that wasn't the case.

Next time I will simply draw the pattern I want on to the felt before I start stitching, and use that to keep things even.

I will try to be more adventurous with colour on the next one! I like the colour of these beads but I feel this one is a wee bit bland. I think I will make a yellow one next time ... my beading buddies always laugh when I threaten to make something in yellow so maybe I need to actually carry it out. Before I do another hair clip though, I'm ready to get started on the next big bling project. Updates will follow.