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The making one of these is much more enticing since the introduction of fusible webbing, and scan and cutting machines. The hardest decision is will I do the stitching by hand or machine.

Love the outer row of blocks in the second design!

The first design almost looks like flashing lights.

I need more strings of beads to drape around a Christmas tree! Great replacement for tinsel.

Nice, but missing something.

That’s better.

One simple applique shape … so many ways to add them to a quilt.

Love the second design today …. love the way the blocks came together to form frames around the clusters of beads on four of the blocks.

I like it.

If only I could keep my strings of beads, chains holding pendants in my jewelry box in such attractive tangles!

I love it …though I have to admit that I love pretty much every String of Beads design I have found anywhere, right from the first time I saw a blurry black and white picture of the basic block.

I guess you know I love the second one too.

Nice one, and it brings back memories of being allowed to play with button boxes when I was little … by my Mum and grandmother on dad’s side of the family. Scattered amongst the buttons were beads, and some of them were pearls.

Love the quilting in the second design.

This project file started when I wanted to find ways to turn corners of beaded corners … it continues to grow several years later. A single straight line of beads can turn a corner without any embellishment, but it is much more fun to add a little cluster of some sort.

Of course, it is much more interesting to tangle up the beads along the whole length of the border too.

Interesting, but think the blocks in the middle would look better surrounding the fan blocks around them.

Love the second design as it is!

Gran’s New Beads are a very mixed bag of beads … round, diamonds, teardrops, ovals … and they form strings and clusters, both for applique and quilting designs.

Tangled up together they make Strings of Beads, Double Wedding Rings, clusters and starbursts and pretty much anything you like.

I love the first design.

Enough beads to be interesting, but with some open spaces for some equally interesting quilting.

I love the second one too … find a heap of colorful but close matching fabrics, and start cutting, and place on a neutral background!

Love just about every String of Beads quilt design I have seen, including the one above. And the one below!

Needs some quilting lines added, but being Christmas Eve there are a few other things to fill in my day … maybe by next Christmas!

I am always amazed how many ways one small shape can be repeated to create unique designs.

What if I draw tree outlines with the green beads, and add red decorations? Sounds like fun if I can find time in the next year!

Love the design above, and particularly love the block without the beaded frame.

In the second design I love the quilted beaded circle surrounding that same block design.

Love it!

Who would have thought that one simple shape could lead to so many lovely designs?

The design above was one of several I have in this project file which use the simplest border string, and a collection of the corner designs which I found, and I was curious enough this morning to see how many assorted String of Beads borders I had, and how many corners.

Well, there are twenty assorted strings for side borders, and over one hundred and twenty ways to get them around corners, and many of them will work for different side strings … in the second design all the corners will work for a single string in the centre of a ...

That looks like a huge pile of beads to prepare and stitch, but experience tells me it is not as time consuming as it looks.

Not quite as many beads, but very interesting design.

I love playing with virtual beads … and love the results.

Love the simplicity of the straight lines of beads, and also the double swag border.

Wish my jewelry looked this good when it is all tangled!

I have to admit that I sometimes enjoying untangling the real jewelry, but not when I am in a hurry to go out someplace special!

Love all of these three, but the last one is my favourite.

I have had adding some different beads to the String of Beads, and after slaving over the challenge I allowed myself some play time. I have added five new shapes so far, and some varying sizes.

I had a thought that I would make each different bead shape a different colour … that thought lasted about ten minutes and several new block designs before I broke that rule!

As soon as I started designing the quilts I started modifying the block designs to create the quilting motifs to fit around the applique.

Don’t know why I put off starting this ...