Slow Sunday Stitching - Hand Beading

This is a long post today with lots of photos so be forewarned! I took a beading class this week with Anne Marie Desaulniers. I used to do a lot of beading on fabric in the past and I have made many beaded quilts. But recently I have been enamoured with hand embroidery and hand quilting, and had gotten away from my beading. This class reminded me how much I love it and hope to incorporate more beading into my hand work. 
Here is my finished bead encrusted piece which I am calling "Killarney". It measures 2.5" square and contains hundreds of beads (mostly sizes 8, 11 and my favorite size 15) some watch gears, a cabochon made by Anne Marie, some stones, and other treasures I found in the bead box.
Here are the steps we went through following Anne Marie's instruction...

Step #1 Select a base size for the project and a foundation fabric. This is a piece of my brother's shirt.

Step #2 Select a cabochon and some coordinating beads. Attach cabochon with peyote bezel.

Step #3 Audition colours, found items, and beads, and cluster them around cabochon.

Step #4 Start to sew down the parts you know you like. Listen for the story that is developing.

Step #5 Fix things that you don't like. I added a piece of a brown shirt behind the watch cog.

Step #6 You don't have to know the whole design, just stitch down what you know you like.

Step #7 Create movement with lines of beads.

Step #8 Audition beads in open areas.

Step #9 Have fun and try some specialty beading stitches.

Step #10 Continue to add design around cluster.

Step #11 Do the grunt work and fill in all the edges with size 15 beads.

And voila... you have magically created an intuitively beaded story! These steps make it sound easy, and I have to admit that it really is not. You mostly have to "get out of your own way" and learn to listen to your own inner creative voice. You can take a class with Anne Marie and make one for yourself if you live near Toronto, Canada - click here for more information about her classes.
What are your hands creating this week? Link up your blog post below and share your project with other hand stitchers around the world. We love to see what you're stitching!