More work with two new stitches

I've been doing some more work with my "This Way and That Stitch" -- this time I did a necklace using amethyst stones for the center. I wanted to get the look of amethyst in it natural state when inside a geode, so I surrounded the dark stones with a lighter lavender vintage Czech seed bead, and highlighted the outside with a crystal silver-lined triangle 8/0 bead. The effect was really very good. We took a trip up to Enfield last weekend, and stopped by Gemstar Gemstone. They have amethyst geodes for sale, and I put my necklace next to one. I have succeeded in getting the effect I wanted. And then going through my stash of sterling silver clasps, I found one that matched really well. Here's the necklace.

Let me know what you think.

I've been doing some more work with my "Porcupine Stitch" too (and no, it is not a slip stitch bead crochet tube). I had a dichroic piece around which I beaded a bezel. It's been on my worktable for months. Getting beads to match the colors, I use the stitch to create a necklace and a bracelet and finished both with silver plated clasps I bought at the 1st Innovative Beads Expo in Concord, NH. The show was well-attended, and we beaders are delighted to hear that the show will be coming back again next year. Hopefully, the show will get as big as the ones held in Massachusetts.

Here's the necklace and bracelet set:

This weekend, I'm busy redoing some of my amulet bag patterns. I lost some of the older Bead Cellar Software files when my harddrive failed on my notebook. So, bead by bead, I am re-creating them from the graphs I had in the pdf files. Then I am updating the patterns to include a bead map for tubular peyote. The Wizard and Fire amulet bag was probably the hardest, so I did that one first. I also started beading that bag, this time as a tube. It is such great fun to see the Wizard's feet form, and the Fire start up. Here's that pattern as a flat piece.