Saturday at Bead Gallery in Melrose MA

What a sweet place Melrose is. Hillary makes some fine muffins and scones at her Bohemian Cafe. We're stopping there for coffee on our way to the workshops each day. I had what Hillary calls the "healthy" scone yesterday. She said it is made of oats, dates, whole wheat, nuts and seeds and, she neglected to mention: butter & sugar, right? Delish.
Today we had simple oatmeal before heading out. Genevieve already knows the microwave method Judy showed me. It works so well and fast and easy with no clean up.





Stacey was able to sign up for the weekend workshops so I was glad to see her today. I always get to see her when I teach at Bead Gallery. It is fun that we keep in touch through facebook too.





Claudia wore this "friendship" necklace, as she called it. She and her bead buddies in a weekly bead group at Bead Gallery, swapped meaningful beads from their stashes and, in composition with other beads purchased on site, created special necklaces in an evening to carry a bit of their fellow beaders around with them always.





This is the dressed window as seen from the street side. Earlier you saw it from within the store. Oops, I cut off that beautiful copper colored necklace I'd meant to show you. Vicky, who taught and worked at the former BG when it was in New Hampshire made it. We get to see her tomorrow when she comes to the Crochet Lariat workshop.


















Gee, I really dropped the ball. I can't believe these are the best shots from today's workshop. Sorry. The work was amazing and I found the beaders' color choices thrilling. Nancy Tobey sent a wonderful trunk show of her focal beads so there were more than enough choices.





I'll be teaching this workshop again at the Bead & Button Show again in June. Thanks to Sylvia, I was able to lay in a supply of those precious stripey beads for the kits. Whew!
I'll say goodnight and relax for a few moments before dinner and email and early to bed.






Tomorrow we'll work our beady magic on these firepolish beads. Genevieve has a trunk show on hand for a limited time. There is a mass of Picasso ones that look like gemstones. If you call her before she returns them, they can be yours.
Hopefully there will be great pics to share. Ill be driving home afterwards so I likely won't post until Monday.
Did I tell you? We booked my return here for the last weekend of April (29, 30th and May1st). Though we've a pretty good idea of the workshop choices, check with Genevieve and Facebook later on. Yes, Jamie, now that the store has moved closer to your office, AND we're pretty certain I'm offering a felt making workshop then, I hope you'll mark your calendar. I'll be freshly returned from teaching in Australia for a couple weeks, mostly Hand Felted Jewellery (oz spelling) and Beads and I'll have sooooo much to share. Expect to wear finished pieces and take away several components to complete at leisure.
PS some of you know how perfectly giddy I become when in the company of pug dogs. Well...





Here is Bailey. For this weekend he is " my little pug" fantasy. OK He did try to cut me off at the ankles when I came in the house. Not exactly the greeting I'd dreamt of from my weekend pug dog, but it is probably better we respect each others, or at least HIS boundaries, since I'm just passing through. He is cute.