posted: Monday, 29th December 2014
I had an early start today and despite it being so mild recently the nights have suddenly grown cold and frost was covering everything as I left home this morning.
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posted: Saturday, 27th December 2014
Sadly our time away has come to an end and it's time to head home.
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posted: Thursday, 25th December 2014
I'm over in France for Christmas at my parents and we're indulging in good food and drink as well as family chatter and boards games.
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posted: Wednesday, 24th December 2014
Back in September I launched my first secret bead-a-long kit and I was delighted when it sold out so quickly and eager for December to begin so it could all start.
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posted: Sunday, 21st December 2014
My sister needed to buy some fabric and I was more than happy to accompany her to the Curtain Fabric Warehouse which boasts over 1/2 million metres of fabric.
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posted: Thursday, 18th December 2014
I've had a vague idea for a bangle for about a year now but I can't quite get it to come to a full picture in my mind.
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posted: Wednesday, 17th December 2014
Annoyingly what started last Friday as yet another cold turned into a chest and ear infection and the start of my week has been miserable and antibiotics driven.
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posted: Sunday, 14th December 2014
Today is my last day in France (for this trip- I'll return in 9 days for Christmas) and still recovering from all the work over the past few days we headed out to lunch at Le Patio in Montreuil Sur Mer (the home of Les Miserables but the less said about that the better).
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posted: Saturday, 13th December 2014
My mum is a great cook and has worked hard for today but I have to admit that my greatest contribution has been putting stuff on plates & in bowls and folding & decorating 36 napkins.
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posted: Friday, 12th December 2014
After charity shopping yesterday we visited a garden centre where I soon spotted a food & drink section where we treated ourselves to interesting Christmas alcohol & violet lemonade and oohed over beautifully packaged & coloured sweets and treats.
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posted: Thursday, 11th December 2014
There are 7 cats living in my parents' barn at the moment and this morning I managed to catch 5 of them, in a variety of hues, dining together.
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posted: Wednesday, 10th December 2014
Just over a year ago in a time of great stress (we'd been in the process of selling our house and buying a new one for 3 months and had just realised our buyers were out to mess us around and we were close to losing the house of our dreams) we took a spur of the moment decision to run away to...
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posted: Monday, 8th December 2014
Thanks to Jenny Argyle's great Aztec Flower Pendant design I now have a third one all beaded and I'm considering colour combinations for my 4th!
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posted: Sunday, 7th December 2014
I got to see the talented and lovely Jenny Argyle in class yesterday and she was wearing such an amazing pendant I knew I had to make myself one... or two.
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posted: Saturday, 6th December 2014
My second day teaching for Not The Norm and today's class is Sparkling Stars.
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posted: Friday, 5th December 2014
A very early start today to head to Darlington and Not The Norm to teach 2 days of classes.
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posted: Thursday, 4th December 2014
I finally managed to finish stitching my cross stitch baubles all ready to go on the Christmas tree- if I find the time to put one up that is.
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posted: Wednesday, 3rd December 2014
If you can't wear bling at Christmas when can you?!?
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posted: Tuesday, 2nd December 2014
I've finished the pendant and earrings set I began a couple of weeks ago and am really pleased with it.
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posted: Sunday, 30th November 2014
On Friday I picked up my new polka dot glasses. I hadn't thought it through and was already wearing a polka dot dress and scarf but then I guess you can never have too many dots & spots.
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posted: Friday, 28th November 2014
I wanted to take my niece Christmas shopping and as I'm not in London the next 2 Fridays and the one after is the last one before Christmas, today seemed like a good day.
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posted: Thursday, 27th November 2014
When I saw these large personalised baubles on my sister's website I craved one so much. Thankfully she got my non-so-subtle hints and one came in the post to me today. I now sing a variation of this song every time I see it.
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posted: Wednesday, 26th November 2014
My sister recently introduced me to the website GrubClub and tonight I got to attend one of their events run by Una who bill themselves as a 'one table dining experience'.
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posted: Tuesday, 25th November 2014
I'm teaching my Sparkle Star class at Not The Norm Beads very soon and in preparation I've beaded another one using size 10 Delicas instead of 11s.
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posted: Monday, 24th November 2014
This reversible bracelet is a variation on original Sticks & Stones Bracelet but this time the components are curved.
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posted: Sunday, 23rd November 2014
Last night we had a trip to Grimm Tales an immersive show based on Grimm tales written by Philip Pullman and taking place at the Bargehouse by the Oxo Tower.
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posted: Saturday, 22nd November 2014
This colourful bracelet is a variation on original Sticks & Stones Bracelet but this time I designed the components to be chevron shaped for a more unique look.
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posted: Friday, 21st November 2014
I read something this week that I was sure I'd read incorrectly. I was so sure that I put it aside and it was only after it nagged at me that I checked again and to my horror discovered it was true.
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posted: Thursday, 20th November 2014
I got some gorgeous Tri-beads from Stitchncraft Beads the other week and they're just perfect for using on my Jaipur Jewels projects so that's been added to my to-bead list (which seems never-ending at the moment!)
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posted: Tuesday, 18th November 2014
These bangles are part of my Pretty Peacocks series of work and the photo shows how they slot together when worn.
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posted: Monday, 17th November 2014
For a while now I've been working on a series of bangles inspired by my original Peacock Drops Necklace.
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posted: Sunday, 16th November 2014
It seems like the stream of new beads is never-ending at the moment!
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posted: Saturday, 15th November 2014
It's been a long time since I managed to get to my London bead group and I've missed everyone so much. But fortunately today I managed to get there and spent the day catching-up, chatting and laughing. Plus eating good food kindly provided by 2 lovely ladies from The Roti King.
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posted: Friday, 14th November 2014
The rest of my fabric has arrived (Polka dots!!!) and I now have enough for probably 4 quilts.
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posted: Thursday, 13th November 2014
Some of my newly ordered fabric is here and, sewing machine out, I dove into finally stitching together some blocks and then outlining them in white - and I am much more in love with it all than I was before.
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posted: Wednesday, 12th November 2014
The experience of having my arm being OK yesterday made me a bit too confident and I began today with lots of overhead lifting and I finally tackled some cupboards that needed sorting out.
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posted: Tuesday, 11th November 2014
It seems just typical of my luck health-wise that I wake up pain-free shoulder-wise but with a stinking cold. So I spend the day spluttering, coughing and drinking Lemsip
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posted: Sunday, 9th November 2014
Today I'm back at Charisma Beads and the class is Rivoli Triangles.
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posted: Saturday, 8th November 2014
Today I'm sad as it's my last time teaching my Orbit Beaded Beads class. This is always such a colourful class and it's been lovely to see all the variations people produce and today is no exception with some really lovely combinations.
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posted: Friday, 7th November 2014
My shoulder is still in agony but I'm seeing someone new about it- the brother of my friend who recently got married.
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posted: Thursday, 6th November 2014
Sadly my arm injury has kept me at home, and mostly in bed, with pain, and vomiting from the pain, for 4 days now.
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posted: Friday, 31st October 2014
Sadly at some point this week I messed up my arm injury and am now stuck at home, moping about it.
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posted: Wednesday, 29th October 2014
I love living in London and the access to people and cultures from around the world that affords me.
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posted: Monday, 27th October 2014
I guess I'm actually up to lots but nothing that merits a photo.
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posted: Friday, 24th October 2014
I wrote recently that I was busy writing some cross-stitch instructions and designing some fonts and now I can finally reveal what it was all for.
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posted: Tuesday, 21st October 2014
As my mind jumps from one project to another so does my beading and today, after deciding to bead a specific item (that's planned for a new kit) I played with the idea and altered the component to what you see here.
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posted: Monday, 20th October 2014
The list of new projects that I want to bead is longer than my potential life-span and my mind is racing from one to another trying to decide which one to do first. So today I decided on... none of them.
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posted: Saturday, 18th October 2014
I headed off to Essex this morning to visit the West Essex Beaders and teach my Orbit Beaded Beads.
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posted: Friday, 17th October 2014
My Icos Pendants (and the variations) are one of my favourite designs and I'm still enjoying playing with all the possible variations and will be doing so for many years to come I think.
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posted: Thursday, 16th October 2014
I'm firmly of the opinion you can never have too many Christmas decorations and so when I saw this minimal nativity set designed by Oliver Fabel I snapped one up.
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posted: Wednesday, 15th October 2014
Yesterday the lovely Michelle Douglas, from Not The Norm, came over and always glad of an excuse to go we took her to Incanto for dinner where we dined on fabulous food.
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posted: Tuesday, 14th October 2014
It's hard to believe but there was a time when I did more than geometric beadwork!
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posted: Monday, 13th October 2014
My Secret Christmas 2014 kits have now begun making their way around the world and the instructions are taking shape.
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posted: Saturday, 11th October 2014
I should have taken my tiredness as the sign it was but now a few days later as I'm battling some kind of bug and dealing with ear infections and a perforated ear drum I'm being wise with my low energy banks and using them to adorn my sister's dog, Peanut, in jewellery.
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posted: Wednesday, 8th October 2014
At the moment my life is taken over with packing up kits and testing, double-testing and triple testing the instructions for my Secret Christmas bead-a-long.
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posted: Tuesday, 7th October 2014
I often find it impossible to know sometimes when I'm done with a project or when one finishes and the next begins.
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posted: Thursday, 2nd October 2014
Ever since Small Beads Big Jewellery came out and my Rivoli Medals necklace appeared in it I have been asked for a kit so that people could get a wide range of rivolis.
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