Before I get back to the series on my publishing experiences, the last couple of weeks have been full of exciting beady news that I wanted to share.
The Big Bead Show was an amazingly fun day, although it now feels like a lot longer than ten days ago! My day began before the show opened (a new experience for me) as I was teaching a morning class, so had to be set up in time for everyone to arrive. It meant I got to take a sneaky peek at the British Bead Award entries and, just wow! I really don’t know how the judges managed to decide on the placings. The standard was just incredible with some amazingly beautiful pieces. I feel very privileged to have made it to the finals, but I didn’t receive any awards this year. I already have plans afoot for next year though!
I probably should have used this early time to make a few purchases as well because once my working day started, I didn’t stop and I found myself rushing between stalls at 5pm trying to grab a couple of essential buys. Past experience has taught me the value of making a shopping list, so I did at least manage that! I normally start the day with a mental list of bits and pieces that I need for various projects, but haven’t bothered to order online because ‘I can buy them at the Big Bead Show’. I then arrive at the show, turn into a small child in a sweet shop, totally overwhelmed with the choice of goodies, get side-tracked in the jostling crowds and end up buying a lot of beautiful things that I hadn’t intended to buy, then returning home to my beading desk and realising that I haven’t bought a single item that I needed. I know this is going to sound familiar to at least a few of you! Note to self for the April show: make shopping list and then start shopping more than five minutes before the show closes!
Happily though, the day’s distractions were all very pleasant. I had a really lovely group of ladies for my French Beading class and everyone went away with a completed Oxeye Daisy. I met lots of lovely beaders at the book signing and best of all, put faces to a few of the Battle of the Beadsmith friends I have made on Facebook, so hello to Dee, Dee and Vicki..it was really lovely to meet you all! I also need to say a very big thank you to the great staff at Anita’s Beads – I’ve already turned my little packet of crystals into a few beaded beads. Next on my beading mat is Dee Wingrove-Smith’s lovely cabochon…I have plans for that little beauty!
I barely had time to recover from the Big Bead Show before I found myself teaching my first ever course at Missenden Abbey. Again, it was French Beading, but it was the first time I had taught a full weekend, so I was curious to know whether my energy would allow me to survive (just about is the answer to that!). It was such a fun weekend, with a lovely group of ten and just as much laughter as beading. I can’t wait to teach my next course there in February.
