We're All Ears: February Reveal

The inspiration for this month's We're All Ears challenge was patchwork.

...And I honestly love patchwork. I love the hodgepodge colors, I love the textures, I love how the pieces of fabric can be used to create either a recognizable image or a painterly impression. 

I've even tried my hand at patchwork before, to varying levels of success. (I made a patchwork skirt!... but that's a post for another day.) I've even tried my hand at making jewelry inspired by it (like this pair of hairsticks, and this pair of earrings).

Not my picture!
Textile by Kit Vincent, and featured as an inspiration on Earrings Everyday.

...Then why, oh why, did I find this challenge so difficult?

I guess it's probably because everything has been difficult this month. Oi. I honestly feel like I'm floundering a little. Still, I did manage to make two pairs of earrings for this challenge... Neither of them are quite exactly what I wanted to make, but at least I tried!

The first pair of earrings was inspired by the piece seen above, the textile by Kit Vincent... I loved the colors and the stripes, both of which I tried to emulate:

I found the darling little tassels on LimaBeads, and fell in love with them. The varying colors made me think of the different colored stripes seen in Kit Vincent's patchwork.

I decided to pair them with the Vintaj filigree--which, in and of themselves, remind me of more traditional quilt patterns. I added the little dyed magnesite rounds to tie the design together.

The inspiration for the second pair came after I did a little more image searching (thanks to the Pinterest page curated by Erin Prais-Hintz). On that Pinterest board, I came across this lovely pattern:

Not my picture!
Entitled Royal Patchwork,
Found via Pinterest, originally posted by Durin Eberhart.

...Which, in turn, inspired this pair of earrings:

They feature enameled metal beads, knotted on purple waxed linen and paired with goldtone findings. Again, the pattern on the beads reminded me a bit of more traditional quilts--and the lovely brocade patterns seen in the inspiration image. By using the waxed linen, I hoped to make them feel a bit more textured, and more reminiscent of the fibrous nature of patchwork.

And so, there you go! Those are the two pairs of earrings that I made for this challenge. I realize, writing this entry, that perhaps they are closer to the inspiration than I originally thought... Either way, I'm glad that I at least tried. And who knows? Maybe I'll come back to this inspiration in the future. :)

As always, thanks so much to Erin and those at Earrings Everyday for hosting this challenge... and thank you for stopping by! Feel free to swing by the host blog to see what everyone else has made.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!