New RAW Idea Teaser

I'm working on something very different for me.  I've created quite a few elegant RAW designs, but I've never made flat RAW with seed beads and worked designs in it with color.  I need to get permission from another designer who doesn't make patterns to share the finished product since it was her idea, but here's my first design.  It was supposed to be basket weave, but it's so narrow that I don't know if that's an apt name for it.  I have some other designs in my head, but getting the beads to configure themselves to the design in RAW is quite different from designing with brick or peyote stitch.  The great thing about creating the RAW flat weave is that it's so much easier to embellish than brick or peyote because the open weave is easier to maneuver a needle, so you can create a design on each end and leave the center a solid color to be embellished if you want to.

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Pondo or African Circle Stitch

Oh my goodness I don't know where the last 7 months have gone.  I never did figure out anything unique to do with a beaded rope although I did create a few different types.
Then I finally found a tutorial for Pondo or African circle stitch that made sense to me and I was hooked on that for a while. The possibilities for designs are endless in the simple stitch and then there are all sorts of modifications you can make.  To the right you see my "Pondo Ripples" design worked in patriotic red, white and blue.  You can find the pattern for this at BeadPatternsBoutique
http://www.beadpatternsboutique.com/catalog/vendor/Pond_O_Ripples.html

Next I made a design that reminded me of a floral ceramic tile.  The original was shades of green, gold and purple, but it was a little busy.  I've always been a fan of the beautiful blue delft tile made popular by the Dutch in the 1800's so I set about changing the colors to shades of blue with white accents.  This design is a little more complex and I've found making the pattern very tedious because I'm illustrating each of 5 squares in each of 6 rows for a single repeat.  I hope to have it finished and published soon.

I've also written a tutorial for Basic Pondo. You'll find it here:  http://www.bubblews.com/news/833090-pondo-basics or you can click on the "My Stitch Tutorials" tab at the top of the page and follow the link.