Secret Santa Christmas Swap gifts ready to go!

And they've already arrived, all the way down in Australia at Trudi's Craft Room! Pop over and take a look at the little crocheted Christmas angel ornament she has already unwrapped and the package that is still wrapped up in Christmas fabric waiting for Christmas morning.

I can't tell you what it is, but I'll give you a little hint...I was working on it one day in the middle of October when it was snowing outside and I was cozy inside with a fire in the fireplace. If you figure it out, don't tell Trudi! It's supposed to be a surprise!

Happy Stitching!

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Beading, acorns, fire and snow...a cozy New England fall weekend

It's been a busy time around here lately with all the usual family stuff, but I have been working on a few projects, some of which I've finished and some not. But this weekend we took advantage of Saturday's cold but clear weather to rake the front yard of the thousands of acorns dropped from our huge old oak tree. That was quite a project but a good one to get done before the Nor'easter came blowing through on Sunday.

I am sorry to say I did not have the presence of mind to take a picture of the wheelbarrow full of acorns before it was dumped down the back hill, but here's a little peek into the activities of Sunday at our house, after going to church early and out to breakfast...


I spent a good portion of the day sitting at the dining room table working on a Christmas project using one of my favorite methods for making a wall hanging. You've seen similar projects here at Hooked On Needles.

Here is what the day looked like inside and outside...


...very cozy inside! The fire was going all day long, using up just a tiny portion of the wood we cut and split from the trees that came down last December in the big ice storm. But outside the snow and rain and more snow and more rain and wind and cold were furious. The perfect combination for staying indoors and getting things done, don't you think?

Happy Stitching!

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New Beaded Banner from Mary Maxim

I received the Christmas 2008 catalog from Mary Maxim in the mail the other day and have looked through it several times already. I love their catalogs, if not for actually making a purchase, then for getting ideas of things I could do on my own or just thinking about all the things I could do if I only had more time.

I love making beaded banners and I have designed a few myself, one of which I shared with you recently. After looking through the whole catalog, I landed on the back cover page and found this beaded banner kit which really caught my eye.

This candle banner, I think anyway, is quite pretty with its lacy top and bottom edges and festive red candle in a gold tray with holly leaves. Just the kind of thing I would use to decorate my holiday mantel, only this one is made out of beads and can hang on the wall. This was one of the winners of their beaded banner contest from earlier in the year and was designed by someone I have known for a long time. We are so much alike that sometimes we are even confused for each other.


Another of my favorite banners from this catalog is the bell pull size Christmas Tree banner which is 6 inches wide by 23 inches long. I think this one would look very nice hanging on a front door during the holidays.

Mary Maxim has such a nice selection of the very things I enjoy making, and these two kits are definitely on my wish list. If you are looking for some nice little projects for this Christmas season, or any time of the year, pop over to Mary Maxim's website and browse around. You can even sign up for their paper catalog and have something to enjoy with a nice cup of tea every now and then.

Happy Stitching!

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Beaded Banner -- Finished and Given Away

The Varsity Letter Music Beaded Banner I showed you the other day was finished well ahead of time and given to the band director for his birthday. As it happened, my daughter got the date wrong, so it was an early birthday celebration -- or an UNbirthday celebration! Anyway, he appreciated the thought!

Take a look and see how it turned out...


These beaded banners are so fun to make, and you can get the kits for banners of all sizes. I have done little tiny Christmas ornament banners to hang on the tree or in the little sidelight windows next to my front door. They also come in long skinny rectangles and other odd shapes too.

If you like them but don't want to take the time to make them yourself, Bonnie has lots available ready-made. She designs many herself and has loads to choose from.

If you want to get really creative, purchase a make-your-own kit and map out what you want your banner to look like. Then start beading! I'd love to see what you come up with.


Happy Beading!

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Varsity Letter Music Beaded Banner -- Picture Tutorial

Just the other day, I wrote a little bit about how easy and fun making a Beaded Banner is...for me anyway! Well, I have started making another one and I thought I would show you step-by-step how these banners are made.

First of all, you need a Beaded Banner pattern sheet. This would come with your kit if you purchased a kit, or you would have to design your own using the blank that comes with the Make-Your-Own kit. The one in the pictures below is a pattern that I designed myself as a gift to my daughter's high school band director. Don't tell anyone, but his birthday is coming up next week and this will be a surprise for him!

You also need something to anchor your pattern onto, such as a clip board or other type of board. I use a plastic typing stand, with the 'stand' part removed.

Here are all my supplies: The pattern sheet, typing stand board, scissors, tape, pony beads in appropriate quantity and colors, box to contain beads, and then the pieces that came with the Make-Your-Own kit which are the spool of thread, large plastic needle, metal rod, hanging cord, and little plastic end caps for the rod.



So the first thing you do is tape your pattern sheet to your board and cut a 2 yard length of thread. Tape one end of the thread to the left side of the pattern sheet between rows 1 and 2. Thread the other end onto the needle and then, following the chart, thread all the beads for the first two rows onto the thread as shown in the picture above. In this case the beads are all blue, but your pattern may call for different colors, so you need to follow the pattern.

Each row is off set from the next row so that each row only contains half the number of beads for the width of the banner.



Then you take the metal rod and put it through the beads from right to left, only picking up the beads for Row 1 and leaving the beads for Row 2 beneath the rod, as shown in the picture above. When you are finished, line up Rows 1 and 2 with the corresponding rows on the chart to make sure that you have the right color beads in the right places.


At this point, you need to put the little plastic end caps onto each end of the metal rod to protect yourself from the sharp cut ends of the metal. Tape the ends of the rod to the pattern sheet with the beads lined up properly.


Following the chart from right to left, string the first bead of Row 3 onto the needle then put the needle through the last bead of Row 2. String the next bead of Row 3 on, then put the needle through the next bead of Row 2. Continue in this manner, as shown in the picture above, all the way across the row, adding the new bead and picking up the bead of the previous row.

I find it easiest to put the needle through 2 or 3 new beads and the corresponding beads from the previous row before pulling the thread all the way through. This saves time and also helps to keep the beads tight on the thread.


When you get to the end and have made sure that you have all the right color beads in the right places, untape the end of the thread and tie a knot as shown in the picture above.


Then put your needle through the last bead of Row 3 from left to right, as shown above, so you will be ready to start stringing the beads for Row 4.


String all the beads for Row 4 in the same manner, making sure you pick up the beads from the previous row each time you string a bead from the current row. This is how the banner looks after the first 4 rows have been strung.


After stringing the 5th row, you need to anchor the last bead by tying a knot with the thread from the previous row. Put your needle between the two previous end beads picking up the thread joining them, then put your needle over your working thread and pull it through, making a loop.


Then put your needle into the loop from back to front and over your working thread as shown above. Pull it nice and snug and you will have anchored the last bead of the row. This is how you end every left side row.


Then put your needle through the last bead so that you will be ready to start stringing the beads of the next row. Continue working each row, making sure your beads are the right color and in the right place before knotting the end.

Keep in mind that the thread only gets knotted on the left side, not on the right side. You just need to make sure it is pulled up tightly on the right side after beginning the next row.

I am about a quarter of the way finished with this banner as I type, but by the time this gets published, I am hoping to be much further along. Once it is finished, I will show you how it turned out and you can see what the whole design looks like. I bet you could guess just by looking at the first picture though.

So you can see that making beaded banners is not all that hard, and it is not too tedious if this is the kind of thing you enjoy doing. It does take A Lot of beads though! Almost 1700 in fact for one banner! I priced them at Michael's and Walmart and different places on line and found that just buying them at Walmart in bags of 500 was the least expensive way to go for a Make-your-own design. The kits that you can buy from Mary Maxim or Herrschner's are less expensive than designing your own and buying your own beads because you only get the number of beads in each color that the pattern calls for, with just a few extras.

Anyway, if you have been curious about how these beaded banners get put together, now you know! Give one a try if it interests you. If you order a Christmas-y one from Mary Maxim, you may just end up with the one I designed!

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Beaded Banners -- A Fun and Easy Beading Craft

Here is another type of project that I looked at in catalogs and on line for the longest time trying to figure out how it's done, and finally I just picked one that I liked and ordered it to satisfy my curiosity. Sort of like when I saw the Mitered Squares Baby Blanket and couldn't seem to "get it" so I bought some yarn and made it. Actually doing something is a pretty good way to see how it's done! That's my revelation of the day!

Anyway, back to this project...Beaded Banners. You've probably seen them around the neighborhood on front doors or hanging in windows, or maybe just in a craft catalog like Mary Maxim or Herrschner's or other similar places. I have made quite a few of them in all different shapes and sizes and for all different occasions, picking them up when they are on sale or when they come out with one I particularly like or that would make a nice gift for someone special.

Well, early this year Mary Maxim announced on their website that they would be holding a Beaded Banner design contest and there would be 10 winners, each one receiving a $100 gift certificate to their catalog. Here was my opportunity to take my liking for this craft one step further and design my own. So I printed out the blank template that they offered on their website for those wishing to enter the contest and I set to work with my freshly sharpened colored pencils and a few ideas in my head. I actually designed four banners, but only submitted one. It takes a Really Long Time to fill in all 3000+ little ovals! In fact, the one design I did submit, I had to re-do three times before I got it just right.

Anyway, long-story-short, several weeks had gone by past when they had said they were going to announce the winners, so I figured I was out of the running. But just the very next day after I had given up, I got a phone call from The Nicest Lady at Mary Maxim informing me that my design was one of the winners and my gift certificate would be coming in the mail shortly! What a thrill! And besides that, they were going to pick several of the designs to offer as kits in an upcoming catalog! Well, hot dawg! I couldn't believe it. I still don't know if mine was picked to be made into a kit, but I check their website frequently and anxiously await their Christmas catalog to see if it's in there since the design I did was most definitely Christmas.


This one in the picture is most definitely NOT Christmas! I made this one as an Easter gift for my oldest sister who is a nun and a teacher. She hung it in her classroom window and it was so pretty on a sunny day. You can see in the picture that all but the black beads are translucent and the design gives the effect of stained glass, in a beaded banner sort of way. Anyway, she liked it and I thought it was a fun design to do because of all the detail in it.

Coming up soon, I will have a picture tutorial on how these banners are made, just in case you are curious too! You will see that there really is no mystery to it and they are very easy and quite fun to make.

If you like Beaded Things, don't forget to sign up for my 100th post give-away which ends Wednesday, Sept 17th!

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