Have you ever started one of those projects that seems so straightforward and simple, only to have it take some crazy twists and turns on you? On a recent project I had a lovely floral focal bead, and I wanted to mimic the flowers and leaves in the necklace. My design plan was to felt a base and stitch the flowers and leaves to it.

Since wire ran through the base, needle felting was out. Wet felting was the solution. However, I forgot to put the necklace in a resealable bag first. I remembered very quickly! It was so much fun to play with the bag of wet knitted wool and soap, and it felted surprisingly fast. Stitching up over a dozen little flowers took a bit longer than anticipated, so the plan for beading even smaller leaves to go with these flowers was "re-thought". I found some great glass leaves that worked just as well and allowed me to stay on schedule.

I finally finished it! It looks better that I thought it would, even with the unexpected twists along the way. So remember, embrace those twists and turns in a project, because the path they take you down could lead you to an even better finish.