A blog post with lots of pics! Bear with me!!
But first - I want to say - I'm excited to be in this round of
Bead Soup Blog Party!!! I don't know what it is about this particular hop/party that I love so very much.....the partnering....the anticipation(of getting your partner's bead package, waiting to see what your partner did with your package)....the creating (on my part and in putting together the bead soup to send to your partner)....the hop....seeing so many people step outside their comfort zone.....All in all I guess there is a wonderful element of surprise associated with the
Bead Soup Blog Party, and I think it's just great fun. So for the first step, I'm signed up...and now I'm anxiously awaiting to learn who my partner is!!!!!!!
This past weekend, I taught another class at Bead Soup. Now that was FUN!!!! I had 11 students. Some were very experienced, and others were very inexperienced....one lovely lady had never woven a bead in her life (and to boot, she is recovered from a stroke she had a little under a year ago...hahah - I thought she was going to deck me when I told her the final round was 15/0 beads again!!! Just kidding, we had a lot of laughs on Saturday!! And I can't stress enough - if you are ever in Maryland, you must -
absolutely MUST - check out the amazing space and atmosphere of welcome, Kathy has created at her store,
Bead Soup.
Here are a few samples of the work done on Saturday:
What a fantastic day it was. Every single beader there, was a true delight to work with! And I had the pleasure of seeing friend and fellow blogger,
Maryanne!
And speaking of Kathy, from Bead Soup.....I see her Pinterest posts on Facebook and one day a few weeks ago, I saw her pin a tutorials board so of course I clicked on it....lately I have been looking for a fun beaded focal for a fascinator I am creating for a gala I have to attend this weekend, and found just what I was looking for on her board!

Except....the
tutorial is in Russian!
But I figured with all the wonderful photos, and Google Translator, I would be able to figure this baby out. So I started it and properly 'recruited' many of my beads.....and just when the tutorial stated "this party is over" (according to Google Translator's translation), I was a little stuck.

Now in this picture , you may see my computer keyboard in the background....you see, this is because, I sat for long periods of time at this juncture of the pattern staring at the photos, rereading the translated instructions, and above all....simply willing the knowledge to come into my brain.....
Eventually, I figured it out...although I think it's a little goofy/messed up on the inside points of the flower(hid that though), I am pretty darn pleased with the result!!!

My gown for Sunday is navy blue with no decoration at all - just some rouching in all the right places. The theme of the event is "Hats Off To Restaurants" so instead of a hat, I'm going with a fascinator! I am still toying with the idea of attaching all this to a comb....but I don't feel confident enough it will stay in my hair! Here is one of the feathers going on it, but I'll have a few more as well!
Well, there are just a few more days until the Beading Babes reveal! I did two versions of the clover cuff...and now am planning to do the Nefertiti pattern in the next couple of days!