turtles

I've been rather busy lately and with arrangements for going to Hawaii next month to get married and everything that entails.

I fair chunk of my free time over the last month has been taken up doing Teri Dusenbury's one-on-one class for making her sassy turtle.

I was given a list of supplies which I ordered basically as soon as I got the list but I was so impatient for the supplies to arrive that I started pracicing with what I had available and made my first turtle just before the real supplies showed up.

The pattern uses C-Lon micro cord which is hard to get in the UK and much thinner that what i'm used to.  Also being nylon it is different to work with in cotton. Once I got the hang of it, I loved it but you have to be very careful not to get ANY twisting in it or you can't close rings.

Anyway, to practice I used size 10 lizbeth cotton, size 9/o seed beads and 4mm beads and here is what my practice turtles looked like:

After my supplies arrived I had to start from scatch again to learn how to work with the C-LON thread. It was rather frustrating but after a fair bit of practice and being very systematic and constant with getting rid of twists I became quite good with working with it.

Here is a photo of my first real turtle.  Him and his buddies are coming with me to Hawaii (what better place for a sea turtle??)

Most people who know of Teri, know how protective she is of her designs but she gave me permission to share these photos and asked me to pass on her message that if anyone would like to learn how to make these lovely turtles themselves, to message her on facebook.

The classes are 1-on-1 and you must agree to buy the supplies and not share or modify the pattern and not to sell the finished pieces (you can give them away if you like).  If you join the class she adds you to her facebook page and gives you access to her tuorital videos which are very helpful support to the pattern.

So if you are interested, get in touch with her and have some turtle fun! :-D

'Till next time...

Cat. x