For those who had been wondering: What happened to Hanabatake? The last time I showed a picture of it on the blog, I had finished all the bigger flowers and decided to start on the stem. Things started to go wrong when I was trying to decide whether I should do all stems first (this would involve lots of starts and stops which I hate) or do stems and leaves as I went. The technique itself is fine, I know what I need to do, the problem was in the bead combinations.
The instructions in Inspirations are pretty vague. There are two combinations for the larger leaves and each one uses three or four different bead colors. There is no mention how many of each bead to use for each line and the pictures are not good enough to make out what beads are used. So after stitching that lone green leaf on Wednesday, I decided to do stems and go back to leaves later. I had also made a commitment to stitch at least an hour a day on Hanabatake until it's time to leave for Seminar.
Easier said. I kept my word for one day and skipped the next two. On Sunday morning, I realized that doing only stems was not going to work. I needed to make a decision on those leaves. I set up my desk for beading and laid out the beads to be used for the two leaves deciding to simplify them to just two or three bead colors each.
That worked, I was able to get more of them done in a few hours. I more than made up for the two days I skipped. I've also decided to ignore how the leaves on the model were stitched as they completely disregard the actual line drawings on the fabric in the kit. I think things will go much smoother (I hope) from now on.
I really wish I had more space in my room. One of the reasons why I didn't touch Hanabatake for so long is that I'd put it away to clean up my workspace to do goldwork and never took it out again. If I had the space to keep it out, I could just sit when I have time and put in a few stitches. Instead, I have to spend a few minutes taking out everything and setting up my desk for beading. There are days when I can't be bothered. I still don't have a dedicated space, but it's no longer sitting in a drawer. Right now, it's on my desk, in plain sight, waiting for me to come home and work on it.
The instructions in Inspirations are pretty vague. There are two combinations for the larger leaves and each one uses three or four different bead colors. There is no mention how many of each bead to use for each line and the pictures are not good enough to make out what beads are used. So after stitching that lone green leaf on Wednesday, I decided to do stems and go back to leaves later. I had also made a commitment to stitch at least an hour a day on Hanabatake until it's time to leave for Seminar.
Easier said. I kept my word for one day and skipped the next two. On Sunday morning, I realized that doing only stems was not going to work. I needed to make a decision on those leaves. I set up my desk for beading and laid out the beads to be used for the two leaves deciding to simplify them to just two or three bead colors each.
That worked, I was able to get more of them done in a few hours. I more than made up for the two days I skipped. I've also decided to ignore how the leaves on the model were stitched as they completely disregard the actual line drawings on the fabric in the kit. I think things will go much smoother (I hope) from now on.
I really wish I had more space in my room. One of the reasons why I didn't touch Hanabatake for so long is that I'd put it away to clean up my workspace to do goldwork and never took it out again. If I had the space to keep it out, I could just sit when I have time and put in a few stitches. Instead, I have to spend a few minutes taking out everything and setting up my desk for beading. There are days when I can't be bothered. I still don't have a dedicated space, but it's no longer sitting in a drawer. Right now, it's on my desk, in plain sight, waiting for me to come home and work on it.
I’ve heard a few comments recently about the poor instructions in Inspirations. I wonder when they will ask the designers themselves to write the instructions, as they don’t want to frustrate their loyal fans too much!
ReplyDeleteIt’s a lovely piece regardless, and it sounds like you have a good plan now.
I’ve lost my dedicated stitching space - I know what you mean about the difficulties this creates!
This is why I would love to have a studio, even though I do most of my stitchery in the living room. That and the fact that I keep moving things in search of other things and then losing them and having to move other things while searching for the things (are you still with me..?)!
ReplyDeleteThis is so pretty. I understand about not having a dedicated space. I live in a very small space.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you made an executive decision on the leaves...they are coming along great now! Shame the instructions are that in precise on this gorgeous design.
ReplyDeleteLooking very nice. Good idea to commit some serious time to this piece. It is lovely.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous beading! The leaves look great.
ReplyDeleteThis is looking gorgeous, I'm so glad that you are working on this one again.
ReplyDeleteI can only bead when my son is at school!
The leaves are beautiful and you are more than skilled enough to figure out your own placement - though I see how annoying it is that you have to!
ReplyDelete