Cherry Blossom Cuff

The peach blossoms are in full swing here in South Georgia.  Although the farmers were wishing for at least 70 more chill hours to keep them from blossoming too early, there is no fighting with Mother Nature.  The Japanese magnolias have finished, but the camellias keep on going and going.  This week the first azaleas popped open in mass (a few wayward blooms have been opening here and there since January).  Soon the yard will be a riot of spring color. And of course I continue stitching flowers and more flowers.

no matter what I did I could not get the text I added to the collage to appear here

This lovely pattern is from Lorelai's Beads Shop.  She also has a blog, and a DeWanda shop.  There are a few more patterns in the DeWanda shop than in the Etsy shop so you might want to check out both.  I actually purchased from the DeWanda shop because I found it first.  

I changed the colors in the pattern slightly from what the original suggested.  The background was to be a crystal ab, but I wanted an opaque background to I used opaque light gold (DB335).  Most of the colors in the flower I also switched out - trading transparent for opaque - so that the flowers would stand out against the background.  But a glance at the pattern and you see that the overall effect is not much different.

sayuri collection cherry blossom peyote pattern

I took the picture earlier this week on a day when the sun was actually shining and we had no rain.  Since then I've finished the toggles.  I wanted to put some great textured polished stone buttons on to close the cuff.  They were fairly small and mimicked the texture of bark, but I dropped one on the stone floor in the kitchen and it broke.  I did have more, but I started thinking about how many times I drop jewelry and decided that toggles were safer. 

I've also made earrings with white cinnabar, sari silk, and a red Russian leaf.  These are very similar to Think Spring.  Every time wear these I get asked to make another pair.  I'd better get stitching because I've got my eye on some fancy schmancy gemstone beads.