Beading

I've been working on beading several projects, trying to finish them up. A few beads at a time, my hand cramps up pretty good, after 10 minutes. So I only do a little bit, several times a day. The lighthouse quilt, is taking lots of beads in the water/foam and the sand. Some shells and bits and pieces of other stuff add interest in the rocks, and pebbles. I've added one feather so far and am looking for a few more small ones. Texture is the name of the game here, not sparkle, the clear glass beads are almost unnoticeable but add lots of texture, a pearl, here and there draws your eye. On the quilt "To Nurture and Protect II" lots of colored beads have been added in "swooshes" they sweep across each color layer in various sizes and textures. I'm almost finished, just a few more details, then I think I'll re-felt with the needle felting machine to reattach parts that have come loose. Several pics of the beading are included here.

Sea, Sand and Light

the photo is a little yellow, it is really a soft golden brown, on the sand and borders

I have been working on the final quilting of my photo collage of the Coquille River Lighthouse at Bandon, Oregon. It is surrounded by other photos of beachy stuff, rocks, driftwood, feathers and shells, seaweed, foamy surf, and waving grasses. The machine quilting with rayon thread is very dense, when ever I quilt a photo there is so much detail to outline and thread paint. If a picture is worth a thousand words, it is easily worth a thousand yards of thread too. The thread helps blend the individual photos together. I have added pieces of white cheese cloth and hand dyed green cheesecloth to the seaweed, foam and bushes in front of the lighthouse. This extra texture is wonderful, and it extends from picture to picture, letting the water foam and the foliage blend the areas together. I will add beads to the foam and driftwood, to give texture to the sand, seaweed, and a pearl to the oyster shell. The embellishments will really add another dimension to the photos/quilt.