Jill finished this bracelet in the studio class. This is a new kit and she is the first to make one (if you don't count me, when I designed it and Fran when she kitted them). Now that I have said that, I am undecided about whether to kit it as bracelet or twice as much for a necklace. Six bumps make a comfy bracelet and I wear a necklace that features a reversible focal element centered in the middle of 2 six bump lengths. It is a piece of glass I acquired in Seattle on one side and a felt cabochon I made on the reverse, in a beaded bezel. Guess I'll figure it out. There is a project that came out of this design that is similar in color composition and the bump shapes but, is executed in polygon stitch. It is more jointed than flexible and had an edge (since it is polygon). I'm thinking I might submit it for next year's Bead and Button Show. Proposals are due in 3 months!

To get to Bemis Point for a weekend of teaching felted components jewelry at Imagine, I took the train this morning from Poughkeepsie. Near Hudson, I snapped this light house. It was a nice ride and I am pleased to have luxuriated in those 7 hours of NOT DRIVING! I read. I napped. I beaded. I gazed out the windows and I read some more. It was grrrreat. And Myriam, owner of Imagine, and Anne, my hostess, were at the station to meet me. We stopped for dinner at Poppyseed for dinner and the artichoke, portabello linguine with asiago was as delish as Myriam remembered from her prior visit there.

My bedroom here at Anne's is also where beaded, turned wood creations she and her husband make, are stored. Lucky me, to sleep surrounded by such beauty. Here are two one-of-a-kind pieces showing Anne's beadwork on Jim's turned wood.

These are a few vessels in a series that feature a band of Anne's beadwork. They show and sell at Crafts at Rhinebeck and Lindhurst. Isn't it amazing that I know 3 couples who work in this collaboration: he turns wood and she beads it. Irma and Steve Sherman, Ann and John Lorch and now Anne and Jim.

When Anne and her husband lived in Alaska, she began beading designs like this lid, based on dream catchers. Lovely. Well, sweet dreams. Tomorrow will be a full and fabulous day of feltmaking!