Friday, Friday, Friday!!

It's Friday, and I do the dance of joy for those of you who count on Friday to end your week. Joy, joy, joy to you! Here are some beady links to enjoy.

Oh my stars!! It's true! Pam Way has a blog!! You must go peruse. Suzanne Cooper has posted her 100th newsletter! Way to go, Suze! Have you checked out Bead Pattern Central yet? For some extraordinary eye-candy, check out Yoshie Marubashi and Melanie Doerman. I could give you a hundred more eye-candy links, but then you might never make it back! Girlfriendology has a contest for the month of March. And what would Friday be without some shameless self-promotion?

And finally, Heather Powers put out a call on Art Bead Scene for pictures of pieces worked in herringbone with art beads. I love herringbone stitch. It is so versatile, and I have learned how to use it in so many ways. Here are just three of the pieces I've done combining herringbone with art beads:

This one is worked in regular, tubular herringbone. I bought the art bead from Jecly Romberg, but I'm not sure who made it.

This one is worked in tubular herringbone, with four different sizes of seed beads. The art bead is a dichroic glass pendant.

And this one is worked in tubular herringbone with beads inserted. The art bead came from a lampwork artist in New Mexico, whose name is somewhere in the black hole known as my studio. N named it and keeps threatening to confiscate it.

Have a great weekend!

Beadful Things

Well kids, today I would like to send you out into the World Wide Web. If you are going to be home this weekend, maybe you would like something new to bead or something new to read. Maybe you would like some mindless entertainment that doesn't involve grown men chasing a leather ball. And maybe you just want to look at some pretty pictures. I'm going to try to keep these links as bead/jewelry oriented as possible, but I might slip up here and there.

Live in the middle of nowhere? Want to take classes from nationally known teachers without the hotel fees? Go to Beaducation for their online classes (Laura McCabe! Lisa Niven Kelly!). Some of the classes are even free!

Want some eye candy? Want some fun? Suzanne Cooper's newsletters are full of both. Be sure to check out her Jump Start Classroom if you are new to bead weaving. Suzanne has some of the best instructions I've ever seen. And by all means check out Suzanne's vast listings of links.

Bead Pattern Central is the place to go for advanced bead weaving patterns (Laura McCabe again!). Yes, I have purchased from them. And if you prefer kits, visit Beads East.

Need color inspiration? Margie Deeb has it. Check out her Muse (which you can listen to as a pod cast), her patterns, her books, everything.

Need a smile?

Would you like to play a game?

That should keep you busy for a couple of hours! Have a wonderful weekend, whatever you do, and stay safe and WARM. By the way, the only place I found for camping in Texas that did not have rain in the forecast has SNOW. We are seriously considering it. After all, it's just one evening and one night, and the high the next day will have any icy roads thawed early. SNOW, yes I said SNOW in Texas! So much better than rain. I'll let you know next week.