Seeing Clearly

Last year, I was absolutely thrilled to snag a kit for Beading For a Cure, a non-profit organization that raises funds every year for colorectal cancer research as a tribute to beader Layne Shilling. Layne lost her battle to cancer in November 2002. Every year since then, a group of beaders has come together to create a unique piece of beadwork (jewelry, sculpture, objects, etc.) using the same challenge kit.

I got a kit for this year's challenge, as well, and I was absolutely delighted with the colors! Figuring out what to make with the kit, however, was another matter.

I went back and forth, from thinking about making one sculptural object to a pair of objects...but in the end, I found a set of mother-of-pearl cabochons in my stash that just looked magnificent with the beads, and I decided to make a piece of bead embroidery.

The deadline is looming: I have to have this piece finished, photographed, and out the door before the end of the week! But last night, as I finished the bulk of the embroidery, I stopped for a break, took off my Craft Optics, and took a good look at what I was making.

I was struck by how even my stitches looked on this one. Was it just because I had placed my cabochons on a measured grid before I started stitching? Was it because I was making extra thread passes through each row as I finished it?

I don't want to say that my nice, even stitching is just because I wore my Craft Optics the whole time I was working on this piece. But I have to admit: this is the first piece of bead embroidery I've made while wearing the Craft Optics the whole time, and the stitching really is cleaner, more even, and probably some of the most precise stitching I've ever done.

Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not...