Updates aplenty

Needless to say, this has been the Week of The Baby. My new nephew, William, is an adorable, well-behaved doll so far. Alexis is transitioning to the role of big sister with grace - as long as she still gets plenty of attention! Mom and I were at their house today for Easter shennanigans and Alexis and Mom got into an intense game of "Follow the Leader." Mom also ended up being the one who dyed almost all the eggs. As I recall, that was true when we were kids too! Short attention spans and long dye times don't mix.

I had a smallish class here at the house on Wednesday afternoon, and it was such a pleasant way to while away the day. I sat and packaged more of the new Size 15s that arrived a few weeks ago while they worked on their Ramblin' Rose bracelets, and we all caught up on things. There are changes coming in our little beading community - Pat is moving to Tucson soon, and Aileen is also leaving us, but for Germany for a few years. On the other hand, we'll have Kathryn back in action soon! Her back surgery was a rousing success, and there are many more years of beading in her yet. She's home from the hospital now - next she's got to work on rebuilding her strength.

Honestly, I've barely touched any seed bead working this week. It surprises me still how it's feast or famine in that area. I'll go weeks where I'm beading for 12 hours a day, and then I'll go weeks where all the other ascpects of the business take over and there's no time for the mechanics of beading. I'm hoping that next week will bring more beading time, though, because deadlines are looming large, and there's samples to be polished and finished, photos to be taken, instructions to be written, and proposals to submit.

Coming up on the home classes front, I have a few spots left in two of the Encore Bracelet class sessions. Encore is brand spankin' new, and people have been falling all over it. I'm teaching it a few times here at the house, and then once to the Dallas Bead Society in Sept, and that's it until 2010 when it will hopefully debut nationally at the Bead Fest and Bead & Button Shows.

I've got one spot in the Saturday, May 16 & 23rd class from 9am to noon (two class meetings) and three spots in the Tuesday, May 12 & 19 class from 6:30pm to 9pm. Class tution is $40 and there will be an optional kit in several colorways available. I don't have the kit priced out yet (because I haven't chosen the beads) but will be less than $30. The classes will be held in my home studio in Pflugerville, Texas. Email me at jill@tapestrybeads.com if you want to reserve one of the spots!