Beading the quilt….

On Sunday, I shared the MQG Fabric Challenge quilt at its final stage…..

….or rather it’s ALMOST finished stage!!

I wanted to add one more thing before I called it finished….

BEADS……BEADS……BEADS!!

I had picked out some seed beads that matched the fabrics……

….and was ready to add them to the Dreamcatcher.

First I had to find all of my beading tools……

…… specifically, a beading needle, beading thread, and tray to hold the beads.

All happily stored in an Altoids tin……

My biggest concern was that none of the stitching showed on the back of the quilt so I was very careful in the sewing.

I started with a knot in the thread…..

and then pulled it to set the knot inside the batting so it didn’t show……

I took one stitch up to the front of the quilt and added a bead.

The stitch going back to the bottom doesn’t go in the same hole but needs to be a “beads length” distance away from the original hole……

I stitched back up in the same space…..

and ran the needle thru the bead again……

This helps it to lay flat rather than have the hole sticking up and also helps to secure the bead.

Then the stitch goes to the back again……

and runs UNDER the backing fabric to the next bead placement.

Repeat this 140+ times and I can actually proclaim that…..

THE QUILT IS FINISHED!!

The beads are very subtle but that was what I was going for.

If you have an interest in beading, you might check out this post from a class that I took with Lyric Kinard…..

A little beading (part 1)….

.