I finally got to do something on my "Just For Me" list!

I have a "Just For Me" list; things I want to make, just for me - and, unfortunately, these things have to wait until other obligations are met.    :(

And I finally got to start AND finish one of my ME items this weekend -

Ta Da!

I saw the tutorial for this pattern on Pinterest (where else?) way, way back in early May (May 4, to be exact), and raced over to Etsy and snatched it up. I was SO excited, and wanted to do it right away....

...but unfortunately, I was under a self-imposed rule against starting ANY new projects (unless they were custom orders) because of, remember this: The Zombie.

I finally finished the Zombie Iolite Fringe Necklace in July, but by then the Bead Soup Blog Party had started, so there was no "me time."

BSBP ended in late August, and I spent several days wrapping up odds and ends, and writing long blog posts deconstructed all my BSBP projects. Then we had a metal studio day, and I started 3 brand new metal projects, finishing them up last week .... and the road was clear for beadweaving! Yay!

Here is how the bracelet looked on Saturday: 

The pic above shows the "spine" of the bracelet, which uses bugle beads. I have never woven with bugles, although I use them a lot in bead embroidery.

Here is the beginning of the filling-in process:

I finished 3 or 4 of these sections on Saturday, and was having so much fun that I packed the whole thing up and took it home, something I haven't done in over a year - I had been way too stressed, getting too wrapped up in beads, the bead shop, etc, and decided I needed to leave the beads at work for awhile, or I might never pick up another one!

I eagerly picked up the project on Sunday, got everything laid out, and started beading - And in just a couple of hours, it was done! I couldn't believe how fast the pattern stitched up!

My bead colors were dictated by 2 things - I had an extremely limited supply of bugles to choose from (I told you earlier about how I went to Michael's on July 4 to find bugles for this pattern) AND I only had drop beads in 3 different colors. Fortunately, some of the drops went with some of the bugles!

This pattern (it's by Smadar's Treasures) is fantastically detailed, and easy to follow. But like so many beadweaving patterns, when more than one color of a particular size seed bead is called for, it is hard to tell (in the pattern) where the particular colors are going to end up. (Wouldn't it be wonderful if the pattern showed the outline of the beads in a section, with an "A" in the ones where color A goes, a "B" in those that are color B, etc? A girl can dream....) So I pulled all my beads, having no idea where the colors would end up (except for the bugles, drops, and fire polish.)

But it turned out pretty well - I love the cobalt blue with the bright metallic purple! Very jewel-toned! If I had it to do over (which, I guess, I do!) I would choose a different size 8/0 bead, now that I see where it goes. I chose a metallic blue iris that goes well with the blue and the purple, but the individual 8/0s are sometimes gold, sometimes green, sometimes blue, sometimes magenta .. and I'm not entirely pleased with this non-uniformity in the design. But that's ME!

Love the pattern, and I want to try more - her designs are ingenious!