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Beads, birds and bees

 

The Christmas decorations came down before Epiphany, but I must've felt the front room needed extra sparkle as I had the idea yesterday to string several handmade beads across the fireplace.  It's not a working fireplace, unfortunately, but only houses an ugly gas fire that's no longer used as the central heating does a more efficient job.  So the fireplace is home to a cheap (and not so cheerful) MDF mantelpiece and a cluster of plants.  I threaded 15 beads in all on to a length of narrow pink ribbon and used drawing pins to attach my DIY beady bunting. 
They look pretty near to my random collection of postcards, prayer cards, feathers, poppy seed heads and other assorted bits 'n' bobs.  
I thought displaying the boho beads was a better option than keeping them tucked away in a tin or box, out of sight.  
The other crafty thing I got up to yesterday concerned these pieces of embroidered secondhand tablecloth that I'd already strengthened with iron-on interfacing.  I had the urge - as you do - to add a couple of applique birds to two of them.  I ironed scraps of blue/green fabric onto off-cuts of interfacing, then sewed them on to the tablecloth background.  With the third block there wasn't space to applique a bird unless I covered up a large part of the embroidery, which someone in years gone by had taken great pains to sew.  Instead I added very simple embroidered bees.  Just using black sewing thread for the body and single strands of gold metallic thread for the stripes and wings.  I'm now tempted to embroider lots more bees all over the place.  
Hope your Sunday's gone well, and you're getting ready for a whole new week and who knows what that'll bring!


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  1. kjsutcliffe9 January 2024 at 06:56

    Oh - I love the beads across the fireplace idea! Our fire is a working one but not during summer, hmmm, might make something similar to hang below my mantle piece for the warmer months - lovely!

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    Replies
    1. Valerie blogs at rubykittyruby9 January 2024 at 09:50

      Thanks for commenting. The beads do look really pretty, and making them is addictive. You should definitely give this a try.

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