October 22, 2012

Stripes, Native & African

 It doesn't look Native, but that is the pattern set that  Cathey used.  Her colors are not at all Native Stripes, but aren't they delightful?  I'll let you in on another secret.... she made her peyote bands a bit longer than needed and put in snaps.  That way they can be un-done for a quick conversion to a lariat.  I love the creativity that pops up in the beading world.









Marlene Brady takes things seriously when it comes to creating.  I commented that an armful of bracelets would compliment African Stripes necklaces nicely . . .  So Marlene made an armful -- fun aren't they?








Glen hails from down under and has given us a very green Mud Cloth necklace.  She says, "I enjoyed working this pattern so much, I'm playing around with putting other colour combos together - none of them are African either."  But isn't that the fun of these pattern sets.... making them your own.  It's hard to believe sometimes that what you see are all from exactly the same pattern(s).


Marcie Picked up the colors for this Mud Cloth Necklace from the background fabric.   Wearing them together makes an outstanding combination.

Mariana had to add a bit of her own twist to her Love Letter Necklace.  Instead of plain color blocks she stuck in a spiral pattern.  This works so well because she didn't swap her background colors half way through the Mud Cloth necklace.  This is a very unusual set, but so beautifully effective together.

Peggy shows off what both a light and a dark background Love Letter Necklace will look like.  The neat thing is that they are done in 10/0 Delicas.  I asked to borrow the dark one as an example to photo in the eBook.  I had fun as I met her down in Mass for dinner and watched her finish crocheting her necklace.  She's good, real good, as she can work in a loud Irish Pub setting and finish up with an excellent invisible join.




I need to show you what Amy, one of the British participants, did.  I'm intrigued with the forest colors she used in her Love Letters.  I guess it sort of reminds me of Sherwood Forest and tales of Maid Marion.  It's so clean and traditional, just not African traditional colors.


I think that every Monday should start off with beautiful things to look at.  This post has a lot of that.  I supplied the patterns, others did the work, beautiful work that I'm so happy to look at and share.

Fall Color

Just because I love looking at the fall colors here in New Hampshire....
the bugs are few, the air is sunny crisp, and it's fun to kick through the leaves on the ground.
 This is what I see out of my bedroom window.  I have this great view of the path to the well into the back woods.  I love the way the late afternoon sun lights up the center of the path.


The house is on the north face of the hill down to the lake.  That means that it starts to get dark a little earlier than up top of the hill. The lingering rays of the late sun do light up the trees out across the road from the driveway.  That's the only really red red tree I've seen this season.  It's been all yellow gold this year.






October 8, 2012

a Mundane Monday

It's the end of blooming things and there are just a few of the hardy Fall blooms to be seen here and there.  We've not yet had a hard frost so it's good to enjoy what's out there in the moment. 
 I had to catch up on a few things and run some errands.  One stop was at a thrift store where I found this delightful 1970's Nabisco cookbook.  The graphics seem so dated, but the contents are comforting.  Animal crackers, first made in 1902, then a chocolate wafer cake and Nilla wafer banana pudding . . . all things that bring out the fond memories of being a child once again.



I usually crochet in the car while we are out 'n about... however this trip I had a small problem - no make that 3 small stringing errors.  I couldn't fix them, I couldn't continue to crochet and that was everything I had with me.

Once all of the provisions were put away I spent some time with the camera.  Everyone tells me that for an Etsy shop you need to have artistic backgrounds. I played around with some different papers I had to see what things might look like.  I'm not totally convinced as I think it makes it all look a bit fussy.  What's artistic about supplies?  Shouldn't they be less artistic and more practical? After all, I'm selling the piece, not the composition.
resin ended head pins (28 gauge wire)



If you'd care to take a look, I do have the magnetic clasps up in the shop as well as a couple of other bead room clean out items.   I have so many bits and pieces that need to find new homes.  Now if I can find the time to sort them out and get them listed for sale.
 Well, I did have the wire pieces out and the pliers were on the desk -  A little bit of twist & tweak, add some more wire wrap to hold the large beads in place and I think I'll have a pair of earrings.

Paid the bills, did the laundry, sorted out paperbacks to give away and admired all of the yellow falling leaves on the lawn. Yes, it has been a very mundane Monday.


October 5, 2012

Fall Colors

We've had a lot of rain and it's taken down a lot of the red and red/orange leaves.  It's still one of my favorite times of the year here in New England.  These photos are for Beverly over at No Easy Beads, who always asks for leaf photos this time of the year.  So I took a short drive today.

Enjoy...

 Harrisville Center
 somewhere near Nelson

a Harrisville doorway