Last night after class Marg Yamanaka, the owner of BeadFX, drove me out to Dundas where I'm teaching today and tomorrow at Beads of Colour.

If BeadFX overwhelmed me then Beads of Colour has... done just the same!

The two shops are different in size and scale, and in a lot of what they stock, but I would be hard pushed to choose between them. Debi Keir-Nicholson, the owner of Beads of Colour, has travelled the World and the shop contains not only the stock she has brought back but also the vibe, enthusiam and fun she brings with her. I spent all my days here discovering new things continually. Oh to be locked in and rummage around one night...

Today's class was Geometric Suspensions and of course everyone worked hard. Again this is one of those classes where people can run with the idea and it's a delight to see in what direction they take it.

At lunch time we were treated to a fabulous spinach pie made by Debi and 3 fruit pies made by her sister. It all fed our brains and bodies enough to get us through the day and the tricky 'adding a threading hole to your work' part of the class.

After class a lot of us went to Bangkok Spoon for a great meal, and a well deserved drink, before heading back to the shop for a trunk show (completely alien to me- oops- I need to get my business head more tightly screwed on) for a chat about beads, beading and beadwork.

Heaven.