Summer delight

This is my very first piece of beading embroidery.
After frogging the first lines many times I discovered it was due to loose tension using my old round wooden hoop. What to do? I looked around and found the solution as seen on the picture. The "hoop" is the shelf of a little storage thing. It's too wide, so either I will saw it shorter sometime or I will get myself a Q-Snap. Thanks to the comment in one of the beading blogs I found out about it.

I'm using the bead soup I got very cheap during my last summer trip. Because of this and the colors I name it summer delight Nevermind it was winter, where I purchased it - it was hot and desert/ocean climate. :-)

I have been surfing on craft blogs for quite a while (mostly sewing and knitting, with some sidetrecking). On the very end of May I was led to Robin Atkins homepage. I got stuck with her work and the colors she is using.
From there it was only a short way to the Bead Journal Project. For two days I was pondering, because I have other things on my plate and the feeling of being overwhelmed is familiar. I decided against it. The morning after the deadline I woke up - and joint, possible due to the time difference. :-)
What led me to the decision was that I knew already the day before what I will be doing. This is quite new for me. During driving to work I envisioned my topic and the style/size. Well, if something is calling I should take the chance.

So here I am.
I thought I should practise before my first project. After the first hour I wasn't even sure if I like like embroidery, kind of scary feeling with this year-long-commitment. But after having the right tension (also using some fuse I found in my drawer) I finally started loving it.

My project size will be approx. 17 x 3,5 cm. I will sport them on a fabric covered pinboard in such a way, that I'm able to pick them up and wear them as a bracelet/cuff.
My theme will be my travelling. The feelings, the countries I've been to, the plans, the hopes. Travelling is the almost most important thing I'm doing. Will write later about that. I was so happy when the connection hit my mind.

Summer delight was meant to be my exercise piece. But because of so much heart in it due to the incidents taken place the last days and being already in the middle of June I would like to dedicate it as my first monthly project. But it is 1 cm (0,4 inch) more narrow than the planned pieces. For me it would be okay, I might not stick to the mm anyway. (1 mm = 0,04 inch) But I know it is against the regulation. What do you think?
On the other hand: My original theme for June has a reason and my July theme is already fixed. So, maybe I get started and finished the June project, so summer delight will be the intro "page".

Hello from Hamburg
:-Tally-: