Thursday, February 24, 2011

Beading Across America

I can't begin to tell you how grateful I am to have been included in Beading Across America, published by Kalmbach Publishing. I first wrote about this back in 2009



The book has been published and is in my hand how. I am so geeked!

This sounds so funny to imagine, but I will be at Stony Creek Bead in Ypsilanti, Michigan on April 16th, from 10am to 4pm for a book signing. As if I was Stephen King, or Charlotte Bronte! Stop by and harass me!

February 24, 2011

New Years Eve at the Thompson house
Alas, I am guilty. Where have I been? Hanging out on Face book and totally ignoring my blog. I should be flogged with a hank of beads, ones with a cut, because they might draw blood.

Last week was the Great Lakes Beadworkers Guild Bead Daze - 4 daze of great classes, with fabulous instructors. This year we featured Kim St. Jean, Barb Switzer, Marcia DeCoster and Sherry Serafini. I was fortunate enough to have a class with Barb - the "Eye of the Muse" piece which will be stunning when I learn to have the correct tension for working with wire. If I never finish my piece, I learned how to hammer wire correctly and a great piece of information about ultra suede on the back side of rivoli crystals. I had taken a class many years ago with Barb and she has shown tremendous growth since then. For two days, I assisted Marcia with two of her classes (Under the Mast and Aurelia bracelet). My final day was spent with Sherry, where I listed with eager ears for snippets of bead embroidery wisdom. Her work never ceases to amaze me!

Peacock Rivoli - early in the class

Finally, Marcia and I had a few quiet moments to talk about beads and travel, and one of our dinner companions snapped our picture. We are tossing a few ideas back and forth to see what comes to fruition.