a few beads

I love making quilted beads.

To be honest, they make my hands hurt. And there's a lot of squinting and hunching over needles involved, and not a little blood from the many times I get stabbed with pins. 

But I really, really love making them. 

Every once in a while I get a concept that just sticks in my head- a phrase, a visual, a stitch.  Usually a phrase, writer and poet that I am. Making beads is pretty much the perfect outlet for that.

These are complex enough to give a good challenge, but small and simple enough that even with my fatigue I can finish them. And really, compressing your ideas into that small a piece is an art form in itself.

(It does take a while. I am not a fast sewer.)

I'd like to make these more often. Most of my fabric and supply hoard is scraps and ribbon fragments, so they're particularly suited to this. Nothing really high quality, as you can see from the picture below.

It's a good thing I'm not making these to sell, isn't it?

I don't have seed beads or sequins, though, so I can't make beaded beads. Yet.

...Maybe once I have a stash of quilted beads I'll also figure out how to use them?