Fun has been had...!

Happy New Year to the innumerable numbers of readers of this blog! (Um, that is a joke at my own expense. I think I have perhaps two readers; my two brothers, and I'm sure even they do not read it that often! Still, that is not too much of a problem, since gathering readers is not the prime purpose here.)

I have felt uninspired to work on any quilt projects in the last few days. This was the last week of my vacation (I go back to work tomorrow) and I've been wanting to try some things in beading, so I got out all my beads (really, I have an obscene amount {grin}) and had fun just playing!

These are handbag charms (very 'in' at the moment) or can also be used as keyrings.

And these are lariats, or long rope necklaces. The idea is that you bead a long rope, which is then draped around your neck in various ways. I've wanted to make these for a VERY long time and to have some to wear as my own homemade jewellery and I've been collecting beads for about 20 years, so I'm thrilled to be doing it at last. I had made 3, but my dear daughter liked the orange one so much she borrowed it to wear to a New Years Party, so it was not here for the photo! They're ultra simple to make and look very extravagant. You just string beads on and tie knots between groups of beads to keep them from sliding up and down. These are about 2 metres long, so you can tie them in various ways.

I plan to try and sell the handbag charms (to feed my addiction for beads!), but keep the lariats.