Jack-in-the-Pulpit necklace

Have I really deserted you for 3 days?! Usually I'm aiming to post here at least every other day and at worst every other two days, but my good intentions came to nothing this week. Truth is there wasn't much to say. I was busily working away in the studio, putting the finishing touches on the next Journal Quilt (due next week) as well as adding a sleeve on a very large quilt. I'll be quite relieved to have that one finished as it should have happened before this year started so I'm lagging behind my own schedule. It was bothering my creative soul so in the end it was easier to just get on with it so that I can forget it.

As light relief I love to make jewellery using beadweaving. After all I do have the mother of all bead stashes so why not put it to good use even when I'm not sewing them onto quilts. This was an actual kit I bought from Laura McCabe when she was here in Scotland last September. The pattern was published in the April/May 2010 issue of the Beadwork magazine and it's so much easier to just buy the kit than go around online hunting for all the requirements. Laura's inspiration for this necklace is the jack-in-the-pulpit flower that signifies the arrival of spring in the woods that surround her home.

I'm often asked why I don't design my own jewellery but if I do that the beading immediately becomes work instead of leisure. This way I can just sit and follow instructions while enjoying the process. I have designed wire beading while I worked as a Design Team member for Alpha Stamps but I'm leaving beadweaving designs to the experts and Laura is my most favourite expert. Her instructions are crystal clear, she uses only the best materials and her designs are beautiful. And to top all that she's a really lovely person.