I am absolutely devastated to have to say that a good friend of mine, and a very talented beader, Merle Berelowitz, has passed away.

I first met Merle, through Suzanne Golden, back in November 2009 and I instantly fell her love with her sense of humour, kindness and generosity.

Since then she has been a great friend and I'll miss her advice and support as well as how she would make me laugh.

She was a great beader, you can see her work here, and also a great artist and I was in love with her painted flowers which I used recently in a lariat.

She's a great loss not only to my World, and the World of all who were lucky enough to know her, but also to the beading World as she brought such colour and fun wherever she went.