BEAD TIME

Every once in a while, I want to do something other than quilt! (I know, this sounds insane, as I love quilting!)  I was looking for some hand work to do while keeping DH company in the evenings, and I thought about the small stash of seed beads that I had collected in the early 70's!
I found a pattern for a beaded pen in a magazine, and decided that I could try to decorate some wooden needle cases that I had in a drawer.  

The first one was done with a bag of assorted colour seed beads.  I only had one type of beading thread, and it was almost impossible to thread through the eye of the beading needle, but I persevered.  When I had it finished, I painted it with clear nail polish to give it shine and glue it to the wood.  I decided to leave the top plain for better gripping when removing.

The second attempt used two colours of beads, and my stitching became more regular.  I decided not to bead the bottom, in case I wanted the needle case to stand on its end.

 My final attempt used a variety of beads, but now that I understood how the beading lined up, I was able to form a design of sorts.  I decided to make a base for this one too, but I think I should have used matching beads!

The beads were stitched using a Peyote stitch - I think!