Bunches of flowers ...

I've just got back from a lovely week staying with my parents on Romney Marsh which is where I grew up. It is on the south-eastern tip of England and seems to have a little climate all of its own. While we have had a very wet summer here in the Midlands, Mum has complained about everything in the garden being parched through lack of rain. The garden still looked lovely to me though, full of beautiful floral beady inspiration and we spent many happy hours sat in the garden eating Mum's home-baked scones with jam and cream and also walking miles and miles to help balance out the calories!

Beads were the first thing I packed for my trip, but I didn't actually do any beading for the whole week. I spent lots of dreamy time thinking about beads and what designs I might like to try next though and so I'm full of enthusiasm now. I didn't take any pictures of my trip either, but I thought I'd share a picture of Mum's late birthday present which I took with me. It's made using the same principle as my recent daisies but it has different petals. I originally set out to make a Gazania, which is one of Mum's favourite flowers, but I ended up with too many small petals for it to be quite right - still Mum loves it and it looked great pinned on her navy cardigan on a trip out together!

Daisy Days ...

I've been busy experimenting with my latest flower design and I'm really enjoying seeing what different effects can be achieved by making a few small alterations to the pattern or just by changing the colours.

I must admit that although I love the finished look of beadwork, sometimes I do get a little bored when making intricate pieces as they can be quite monotonous. Some days that's a good thing and can create a lovely meditative state, but other days I have to be disciplined and make myself sit down and finish something rather than moving on to the next idea. Although these flowers take a couple of days each to complete, I'm finding them really fun to make and they hold my interest as there are several different stages to them and they use at least five different stitches. I think they have lots of potential to either just be a fun bright fantasy flower or to look like a variety of realistic flowers such as Gerberas or Shasta daisies, depending on what colours are used - next on my list is a Michaelmas Daisy!

Sunshine on a rainy day ...

Following on from my 'Hello Yellow!' blog entry, I've finally made myself a piece of yellow jewellery to wear. I wanted to make something really bright and cheerful to make up for the wet weather we are having here in central England right now - so what better than a sunflower?

Jean Power's new blog 'Colour Challenge' really got me thinking about why I haven't used many yellow beads in my work so far and so I bit the bullet and chose the brightest of yellow cylinder beads to experiment with. I also used a lovely shade of shiny brown beads for the centre and bright green beads for the stem and leaves. This is quite a departure from my early work which was often in muted shades of pinks and purples with dark greens, but hey - if nature can do it, why can't I? I'm really pleased with the way this has turned out and although it's only three inches high, I managed to squeeze in forty-eight little petals and broke three needles in the process! I've made two of these so far, one is for sale in my Etsy shop and the other one is for me - it makes me smile every time I look at it and I'm hoping it will spread a little happiness when I wear it out and about.

Creative beading ...

Well I had great fun with my new size 15's and used them to create a last minute entry to the British Bead Awards . I was working under pressure as the closing date is today but I'm fairly happy with my entry, although the idea has a lot more mileage in it when I get round to it. So of course I can't show you pictures of my entry yet but I do have things to share.

Yesterday I received my complimentary copy of the new book Creative Beading Volume 4. This is an annual that is brought out by the publishers of Bead & Button and includes "The best projects from a year of Bead & Button magazine". I had known for some time that my foxglove necklace 'Floral Fantasy' was going to be one of the projects in there, but I hadn't expected it to be such a lovely substantial hardback book. There are lots of great projects in there and I think it will make a nice coffee table book for me, but I may have to leave it face down as my foxglove design is featured on the back cover!

I've also had a good week on Etsy with my work appearing in three treasuries. The first two were created by the lovely Cheryl of Littlestone Design and featured Supernova Choker and Poppy Supernova Choker along with all sorts of gorgeous items. Thank you Cheryl! The third one was created by Etsy seller Moon Over Maize and includes my Poppy Pin - thank you!

Right now I'm off to work with some bigger yellow beads and get working on an idea I had when I wrote my Hello Yellow post. Suddenly Delicas seem quite huge!

Fifteen Flowers ...

My recent work on a new range of floral earrings meant I needed to make much smaller flowers than normal. I find it quite a challenge to get in lots of detailed shaping and still keep the flowers dainty enough to be wearable. Last weeks bluebells were made using size 11 cylinder beads and each bluebell is only 1½cm high. This lead me to want to make not necessarily even smaller flowers but to be able to get more detail in - hence I have splashed out on some delicious new size 15 seed beads in a range of gorgeous colours. As you can see, pinks and greens are the predominant colours I have gone for and these tiny little beads look as though they will be perfect for my future experiments with all things floral. Looks like I will finally have to give in and wear those glasses I have been avoiding for months though!

On the subject of bluebells, it's expired now, but I managed to create another Etsy treasury this week 'She sells bluebells' - which of course I do! I am not comfortable including my own work in treasuries and so I searched for other artist's work with 'bluebell' in the title and look what beautiful items I came up with!

Late bluebells ...

The bluebells here in England this year put on a real show and my favourite area of woodland was covered by a scented carpet of them. I had never really thought about beading them before, but when I bent to look closely at them, I was fascinated by how delicate each little individual flower that goes towards making up the total impact is. I went against the country code and picked a couple of stems (in the name of art you understand!) and kept them in a small vase in my studio so that I could follow them as closely as possible. Of course the real bluebells have all gone now, but finally, after nearly two weeks of trial and error, I have some little beaded bluebell earrings to show you.

I chose a semi-matte cylinder bead in a cobalt blue with an AB finish,which seemed quite close to the colour and feel of a real bluebell and added three of them to each earring to create a cluster. Once again, I have used long sterling silver earwires so that you get a lot of movement when you are wearing them, just like my 'Swingin' Poppies' and I've also added to the series by creating some 'Swingin' Daisies' too.

All three pairs of earrings are for sale in my Etsy store.

The gallery is growing!

I've recently added some lovely new pictures to the 'Readers gallery of work' page on my website. These have all been sent to me by other beaders who have followed my published patterns, often going on to add a new twist of their own by changing the colours or incorporating elements into their own designs. I really enjoy seeing these pictures and receiving feedback on my designs and so I thought I would show a selection of them here this week. If you follow any of my published patterns (details of which can be found here ) please feel free to send me a picture and I will gladly add it to the gallery together with your name and links to any websites/blogs you may have.

Diane Fitzgerald uses the hibiscus flower to embellish her bee themed hexagonal quilt piece!

Adele Rogers Recklies added a frosted flower to strands of silk and organza ribbon to create this beautiful necklace.

Sarah Tucker turned her poppy into a dramatic cuff.

Sue Barker created her Supernova Choker as a gift for a friend.

Alison Inglis added a single flower to a strand of leather to create this beautiful fantasy foxglove.

Christine Moore created her own special pet using the dragon pattern!

I hope you enjoy looking at these beautiful beady pictures and a big thank you to everyone who has given me permission to show their work!