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.

4 comments:

  1. I was thinking Native American when I picked my colors for Native Stripes as that is my heritage. I wore it this weekend and my beady friends loved it.

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  2. These are gorgeous. I've just learned to do bead crochet (slip stitch), but don't have the invisible join down pat yet. One bracelet will be perfect, but the next one will look skinny at the join. Don't know why I'm doing wrong, but will keep at it. I started the necklace from African Stripes book, but decided I didn't care for the shiny black and white beads, so I will order some matte beads and begin again.

    Are you planning another bead-a-long? I'd love to join the next one if there is one in the works.

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  3. Wow, these are gorgeous. I tried bead crocheting once and failed miserably. I might give it another go having seen these though :o)

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