They say time flies

When you're having fun. And the Social market for a Mirrix has been just that...if you scrap the fear! It feels like yesterday when I was one of the chosen ones! I have to admit, at first I thought I'd chewed off more than I could handle. But it's been great!! It's helped me enjoy weaving even more...as if that were possible!

It forced me to weave regularly! Yes, that is a good thing :) I sometimes become lax when I've been working on something for a while. Having to blog regularly meant I had to have done something!

Lastly, I've (somewhat) conquered my fear of doing videos for YouTube. I really do hope the ones I did we're useful and helpful.

The one thing that I refuse to let beat me is beadweaving with the shedding device. Yes, that old chestnut. I WILL try until I get it. Lets hope that's sooner rather than later though! I become more frustrated each time I fail. I don't want to end up a mess lying in my own puddle of tears! Ok that is quite an exaggeration.

The good thing about the Mirrix is its' multi-purposeness. In future I hope I can do some (basic) tapestry weaving. For now I have plenty of projects I need to get on with. As a last show, I took the first half of the belt off the loom. The warps on the end are almost done sorting. The others will be needed to join this to the other section. I'm still debating whether to edge it or not. I hope to wear it on a week from the coming Saturday! Must. Weave. Fast! :)

It has been a worthwhile and fulfilling journey. Hopefully I can continue in the same vein. Thank you for reading, commenting and watching. And for providing motivation when I lost it sometimes. It doesn't end here - you cn check on me at http://brendakbeading.blogspot.com

Happy reading, beading, weaving and ciao all!

Finally something for me!

Ok, that's not entirely true! The first project I wove on the loom was to be a bracelet for me. But it's still languishing in a drawer unfinished! I'm not one to wear much jewellery - necklaces and bracelets. Day to day I only wear stud earrings (yes, very plain!) plus my wedding and engagement rings. If we are going somewhere and I (try to) dress up, I'll wear the drop earrings I made.

So, I figured I would Mae something that's a little more functional. I've got a little black dress (with a hint of white) that has belt loops. But I don't have the belt to go with it. The only one I have us cream, that wont work!. As mentioned before, I was in a bead shop for something else when I spotted the buckle. I hadn't thought about doing a belt, but did when I saw it.

All that remained was to come up with a design. Being just two colours, it was going to be easy enough. I first wanted to design for a scroll like pattern. I played (very briefly) in Photoshop but figured it's not how I want to do it. So I just went into BeadTool. I played with circles then diamonds before I settled on the final pattern.

I'd measured the length I need, and calculated five repeats of the design would give the required length. So far i have completed one repeat. And there is a (minor) MISTAKE! I could easily correct it but I'm not going to.

I'm making use of advancing the beadwork. The loom doesn't give me enough length to work the belt in one go, and I've yet to make extenders for it. So the beadwork will be moved to the back as I weave (bottom up). I'll work half the length then cut off and work the other half. Joining isn't daunting anymore so will be just fine.

Then it went wrong! I don't know why but one of the sheds just refused to set itself. I had to fidget with it, and even then it wasn't correct. So I cut it all off and went back to the usual method. I will try again, but with something narrower and not so important!

On another note, I went to a local bead shop hoping to buy more DB1765 for the fringe on the purse, but they don't stock it. I had to order it online (and it arrived on Friday). But, I did get a cone of black Nymo! That should keep me going for a while yet :)

In the meantime, today I'll be resting and visiting our friends. It's a miserable day but I'm feeling chirpy! Enjoy yours :)