What Have I Been Up To!

Whilst Alan was away on the C2C, what was I up to? Well, the usual day to day comings and goings, washing, shopping, keeping the kids fed and watered etc. But, on Sunday I went to the Harrogate Bead Fair!! I took along my friend, Ashlie, who'd never been to such an event before, I think she enjoyed it, well I know she did, cos she told me so!

It was very busy, as usual, and we had to park along way from the building therefore it was a quick sprint up the hill in the wind and cold. Once we'd thawed out with a cup of coffee it was time to hit the fair! We had a leisurely walk around to start with, sussing out who/what were there and making mental notes of where to go back to later. We had a break for lunch and met up with a few other beady people, Claire, Emma and Lynne. Emma decided to tempt me with some of her gorgeous lampwork beadies (see front of pic below), how could I resist, especially Hootie McTootie the 2nd!! After lunch we headed back across to the fair and I did a bit of spending. Here's a couple of pictures of my stash.

The gorgeous beadies right at the front are some boro disc beads I bought from Purple Beech Designs and behind them are Emma Green's lovely lampwork beads. You can see more of Emma's work here. Just check out the critters page!

I've also been busy this morning finishing off the commission I told you about last week. It was for a black choker. The customer wanted a choker and it had to be all black, even the findings! I did a few sample pieces and below is the finished piece. A special thanks to Kerrie for coming to the rescue with a supply of black seed beads! I am so pleased with how this has turned out, I just hope she likes it. The pattern is called Cecile's Wheel by Sandra D Halpenny and I found it at this great site.

Finally, tonight is our monthly WI Meeting and the competition this time round is 'Easter Bonnet' I don't always take part in the competition, but thought I'd have a go at this one. I wasn't sure whether to stick to a traditional style or go for a giant creme egg!! I decided on the former purely because I had the flowers to hand. I was about to throw out the flowers I had left from Mother's Day and noticed that all the chrysanths were still ok, well almost. So, I used them on my bonnet, along with some periwinkle and a daffodil from the garden - what do you think? Not sure what I will do if we have to model them though, cos the hat won't fit on my head!!! I'll let you know how I get on.