A serious day of beading

But first, a few photos

There was a point in my life where I made sweaters for bunnies and bears, now I have my second grandbaby, but I thought this bunny fitting to share for Easter. I found it in my mothers things and it is a nice reminder of the gifts she held precious.

How can sunflowers fail to create a bright spot

We like to change it up. Mostly we eat in the dining room, unless it's outside weather when we sit on the veranda and on lazy nights we might eat on the kitchen stools, but every once in awhile we bring our chairs into the living room and eat looking out into the yard. When the new fountain is tiled (due to happen in the next three weeks!) the view is going to be wonderful. I like setting a nice table, making a good meal and enjoying the ambiance. The beautiful etched glass table was bought in Santa Cruz at Heather Glass many years ago. It survived three teenagers and many a family dinner, but now it sits gracefully in the corner of the living room being only occasionally pressed into dinner service. I visited this table in Heather's showroom for about three years before finally deciding to own it and I love it as much as the day I bought it.



Here is a detail of the beautiful grape leaf etching that circles the edge.

And speaking of nice meals, here is one of my favorite well worn cookbooks. Gifted by a dear friend I'm going to guess 30 years ago, and I still use it! There are so many favorites, but I never do Caesar salad without consulting it and there is a double chocolate chocolate cake with chocolate chips, and wonderful muffin recipes. For the most part I don't hold onto things, having moved many times since it was gifted, it's a testament to my sentimental attachment to this book. Thank you JM.

At the time as a young working parent a Chunky candy bar often sufficed for lunch or dinner....the inscription reads 'man does not live by Chunky alone'


The cookbook was written by Renny Darling and a quick google search provided the information that Renny still writes cookbooks and still sells 'the Joy of Eating'

And now it's onto the beads. I don't usually check the time it takes me to bead, but since 'En Pointe' is a reasonably labor intensive piece and I'm deciding between offering it as a one or a two day class, I decided to do some time trials on the beading. It turns out it take me 30 minutes to bead the component and then connect it up to it's neighbor. There are 18 small components and one large central focal component. So while I might be able to teach all the skills within one day, I find it best for folks to accomplish some critical mass when beading a piece like this. There is much more likelihood of finishing. After all if you sign up for a class presumably because you like the piece, it's nice to have a wearable piece as a result.