For now at least!

For a while now I've struggled to bead much, other than specific projects for Bead or my last book.

Last year was very busy with me working on a book, the magazine growing by lots of extra pages, and me away from home working for about a quarter of the year (with lots of travelling and the exhaustion and stress that brings).

I was hoping that 2010 would be quieter, but so far that hasn't come true!

Bead magazine has gone up to 8 issues a year (from 6, so I have to fit in 4 months extra work over the course of the year- not easy) so a lot of "my work" has had to take a back-seat.

Added to that my love for Roller derby and my team and the 3 times a week I have to train, free time is pretty scarce in this house.

I had hoped to bring you a new newsletter and pattern each month in 2010 but have not managed to do either since August last year.

But today all looks better and I can finally say that a new newsletter with information on two new set of instructions will be coming out very soon. So make sure you sign up to be sure of getting the subscribers' only discount code!

Also today I have started a new project which has sparked my interest.

All it took was for someone to mention the name Miriam Haskell and I remembered a piece of hers that was a leather knotted bracelet with diamonds on (I think, I've never been able to find the picture again!) that I had wanted to attempt to replicate.

Added to that a deadline and out came my beads!

Fortunately some of the samples I beaded recently have been useful so the project is already underway.