The Bad Liz: Bead and Button Week – June 2014

Bead and Button Week – June 2014 – part 1

This year Bead &Button was a whirlwind of activity as I was a faculty member for the first time! That was exciting enough for me, but I decided to take the journey to Milwaukee early so that I could have some good girlfriend time with Janice, Tracy and Marcia.

Traveling is always an experience that I enjoy. This year was no different. Leaving the train station in Dearborn (thanks Tom for dropping me off at an ungodly early hour), I was very excited. Remind me next year (should I be selected for classes) that I need to only travel with ONE suitcase! The train pulled into Chicago when things became interesting. The train that was earlier than mine was missing!! Short version – I was put on a tour bus, very comfy, and took the bus north to Milwaukee. The best part of it was that I was able to snooze on the bus!

I loved rooming with Janice and Tracy – I don’t think that we could stop talking if we had to. It had been a year since we were together and it worked really well. Of course, Tracy and I had seen each other at Beading by the Bay in March – that was our practice rooming together! Dinner that evening with our Marcia made it even better! We were joined by Anne Mitchell and Beki and Shawn Haley of Whim Beads.

Photo by Anne Mitchell

Tuesday was my hang out and relax day. I didn’t have any classes scheduled so I had breakfast with Beki and Shawn, I surprised Marcia with coffee (we talked about it last night with Tracy and Janice). Marcia sent me a text with her order as a joke, so of course I had to get it for her. Love my Marcia. While in her classroom, I met several beaders that I have known over the years through her classes and some new friends, including Helena Tang-Lim from Manek-Manek Beads. She has a great eye for color and has designed some awesome pieces of beadwork. While chatting with Helena, I met Sunyoung Park-Hoffman (of Ezel Findings, maker of a great new travel bead mat) and her sister (who traveled from Korea!).

I was able to hang out with many friends for a while at the “Gathering Place” and see Mandi and her friend Ralonda, spend some quality time with Nikia and view the fabulous Crown Rings – they are stunning and I can’t wait for the pattern to be released! Stunning, stunning, stunning (Should I say that again?). I was a little disconcerted to see what appeared to be someone teaching one of her kits in the Gathering Place. I hope what I saw was that they just decided to all do the same kit at the same time, but that’s certainly not what it looked like.

Janice sketching at lunch.

I ran into Sabine Lippert and Claudia Schumann who invited me to lunch with them. We had a nice time chatting about everything and nothing (and thank you again for my soda!). Janice and I both had some free time during the day and managed to meet for a late lunch/early dinner and we decided on sushi from Kiku – which is walking distance from the convention center and the hotel. It’s so good there!! Unfortunately, it’s not the best looking place, but the food is good, it was quiet and cool.

My first B&B teaching of Dalal’s Dream was that late afternoon and I had 9 students. It was a really good experience for me to have such good students; everyone was having a good time and looking forward to “Meet the Teachers” that evening. It was a rush to break down class at 7am, rush to the convention center, and set up by 8pm. I managed to do it quickly, steal some hugs from friends, and be back in place. Since I didn’t have a stock of items to sell, I didn’t try and just have things to sell – I made the conscious decision to just meet people. It was a great experience - I met so many people, received hugs and good wishes - it was so nic.