The cover page lets you know right away that wonderful treasures are just waiting to be beaded up!    Merlin and Lady Guinevere in living color with theirs faces on the front of the bags and backs on the opposite side.  These are just two of many patterns you can make.  Others include animal, holiday  and even a mermaid motif.  What is even better is some of these patterns are for square stitch which is a nice change from peyote patterns.  You can choose to make then in square stitch or weave them right on your loom.  Brick stitch patterns are also included and Elbe explains you can convert some of the brick stitch patterns to flat peyote stitch.

My choice of all the patterns is Colonial Lady because it reminds me of all the quilts my mother made so many years ago.  It is a side view and one of my Mom's quilts has a lady motif that looks a little like the Colonial Lady.

Elbe starts out with supplies and then explains all the techniques with clear illustrations and step-by-step instructions.  Then come the yummy patterns.  She breaks each purse down with a graph of the purse portion and the fringe separate.     Instructions for all the bag straps are included and I especially like the spiral rope strap.  A few of the  graphs have so many colors included that she had to make several gray scale symbols so it is a little hard on the eyes.  Elbe solves this problem by including graphs that fit on a whole page so you can set a ruler across the graph and easily work down each row.  If you like romantic and holiday motifs, this is the book for you.

I am not one to follow patterns very often but I may have to make a Colonial Lady and Merlin is just a must do pattern.  I could see taking Merlin's head, that is the purse portion, and putting in onto a soft sculpted body to make a unique doll!   His face has gobs of bead fringe for a beard!

In the middle of the book is a color photo of each bag with the exception of the two that are in color on the cover page.  There are 17 projects in this book so get your beads and thread together and have fun!  Barbara Elbe has kits available for her patterns.
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