I have been beading for over fifteen years and my beadwork is bound up with my health. You will know this story if you have followed my blog before.
I started beading after becoming seriously ill and I have found the beadwork consistently therapeutic. Beading has also given me a creative outlet and I think this is a healthy thing for anyone. I have come to know a lot of other beaders and I realise that many of us are suffering from difficult health conditions.
So, although I wanted to write mostly about my beading adventures, I have also talked more personally. I think we can all support each other. Sometimes it is comforting just to know that you’re not the only one who is struggling. So, I’ve shared some of my struggles and doubts on here. Since I believe it’s important to speak out, I thought I had better start by setting an example!
I hope you enjoy reading about my general beading adventures in this part of the blog.
I want to say thank you to a few people and also give you all an update on the CFS/ME. So, seeing as this blog is all about beads, I’m going to put this in beading terms! The whole of June has basically been a month of Frog Stitch (for those of you who haven’t…
I’ll be honest here: this blog post doesn’t feature beads all that much! Beads are my work, one of my hobbies and my passion, so it’s pretty hard to write a blog that doesn’t feature them in some capacity, but this blog is much more personal (and pretty long, so you have been warned!). A…
Yes, this is another post about beads! I have a few announcements to make at the moment, so I thought it was time to write another blog post. Before I send anyone into panic with this blog title, I should just clarify that the farewell isn’t from me. I’m still playing with beads and I…
If you’re hoping to get an explanation of the mysterious ‘beading step up’ terminology that you may have found in your latest beading pattern, then I’m afraid this blog may disappoint you. It’s not all bad news though, I have talked about the beading step up in its technical sense here. If you’re looking to…
I want to start by emphasising that this is my personal take on a very complicated set of legislation. There is every chance that I have totally misunderstood something crucial because I’m not a lawyer or an accountant. I am a single person trying to earn some money to pay my bills and trying to…
Spring is the time of new beginnings and renewal and it certainly been the case that the past few weeks have been filled with new beginnings in my personal beading world. Bead and Jewellery magazine has been given a fantastic new look, so that has been fun to work on…as well as hard work! I’ve…
Inspiration is one of those elusive things that we ask designers about, seek out ourselves and basically can be quite hard to define. Don’t worry, I’m not about to go all philosophical on you, but I do have a couple of things to share and it occurred to me that they both fall under the…
Having said in my last blog that I wasn’t making any new year resolutions, I have had it in mind that I really should try harder to write more regular blog posts – maybe once a month minimum is realistic? The trouble is, although I seem to be permanently busy with beads in one way…
It hasn’t escaped my notice that it’s been an incredibly long time since I last wrote a blog post. You could be thinking that I’ve just made a New Year resolution to write more posts or at least write more frequently in 2016. Unfortunately I haven’t made that resolution! Whilst it would probably be a…
Well, I am long overdue a blog post – I’m not quite sure how we got from July to October, but it has been quite a ride…not least with my latest adventure: a show on the Craft Channel! Before I get on to that, let’s backtrack a little and share what I have been up…
