Nature's Ruby and Russet

My nephew and I decided to take a walk and found a tree with these gorgeous red leaves; from a distance the tree looked darkest purple, but up close it was a riot of purply reds. I photographed the leaves with the light coming through and they glow like a stained glass window.
On the ground a cast iron drain cover was the perfect shade of dark rusty grey to showcase the leaves.
A gorgeous ready made colourway for a beading project. Unnoticed until later, those lemony Sycamore wings add a perfect accent colour.

On the way home we made a list of all our favourite red and purple autumn things, like rosehip syrup, blackcurrant cordial, bramble jelly and stewed plums; all of them giving us a hoard of nature's goodness to store, ready to cook and eat through the winter.



Once you start looking it's hard to stop, back at home I found some papery, silky red onions too. I love how the dried roots and stalks introduce that same lemony accent.
When the colour muse inspires, it's great to have a simple design as a standby, to try out the new colour mix. Mine is a 'wear all the time' bangle that was a sample for a techniques workshop. It uses pinch beads and crystals with a sprinkling of seed beads and works up into a sturdy bangle that can withstand every day wear.
I can make one in an evening, but only if it's not my turn to cook.

 I used matt and shiny dark plum pinch beads, with dark red and copper ab crystals. Lemony green seed beads are there too, as a reminder of the Sycamore wings.

Between the two bangles sits one made earlier, using a favourite turquoise and sage mixture. I like the way they look all together, like even more that they match a new chunky knit jumper in dark purple that is perfect to snuggle inside.

The best thing about these bangles is that they have enough flex in them to be made slightly smaller than usual; and, they can be rolled onto your wrist.
You can throw all sorts of colours at them and they organise your mix for you, here are some in violet, teal and turquoise.

The pattern for this bangle, and several variations of necklaces is called 'Pinch me I'm Dreaming'. It started as a workshop to show and share different right angle weave variations and was inspired by my friend Andreina who showed me how to make the necklace she wore to a class.
It's available here in my pdf store.