It's very late...

And I'm very tired, but I didn't have much of a chance to write today, since my niece was here most of the day trying to finish up her first beaded necklace project. (More on that later on!)

First, I'd like to congratulate Kassie Inman of the Beading Butterfly and Lethea Benson, the winners of my first blog giveaway! Each of them will receive a set of handmade fused glass jewelry that includes a pair of stud earrings and a wire-wrapped bracelet. Congratulations, ladies!

Second, since circumstances have dictated that I will NOT be attending the Keene Valley farmers' market this Sunday as a vendor, I am instead having a huge sale on my finished jewelry in my Etsy shop starting Friday, July 2. More details about that sale will be posted here and on my Facebook page tomorrow morning.

And last but not least, my wonderful niece Kinsey came over to play the other day, and after watching me stitching away on my "Under the Mast" kit by Marcia DeCoster and looking at a couple of my beaded necklaces, she decided that she wanted to learn how to stitch beads. So we waited for Colden to go down for his nap, and then I let her pick out some beads to make a necklace. The stitch that she wanted to learn? Right angle weave!

Not wanting to discourage her, I decided that a simple one-row necklace of right angle weave would be something she could learn. I laid out the beads for her, helped her thread her needle, and then showed her how to make a basic unit using Czech fire polished beads and seed beads.















To my total amazement, she picked it up like she'd been doing it for years. There were a couple of times where I had to stop and show her which direction she needed to be stitching in, but most of the time, she knew exactly where to go and she managed to create a beautiful piece of beadwork!














We picked out a vintage glass flower pendant and a vintage Lucite flower to use as her centerpiece, and I think she's decided on the Lucite pendant. (We were supposed to attach the pendant tonight, but Tom had to go back to work unexpectedly, so that won't happen until tomorrow. That kid must be going nuts - she wanted to finish it TODAY!)

So, it's nearly 10:45 right now, and I am starting to fade. Tomorrow will have to be a nose-to-the-grindstone day to get my writing done and uploaded, in addition to doing some serious housecleaning. Lately I find that when I feel like my life has spiraled completely out of control, the one thing I can do to make myself feel better is clean! I think it will be one o those move-the-furniture-and-roll-up-the-rugs kinda cleaning, too... I've already made a mental note of where Tom stashed the Clorox wipes and the new box of Swiffer pads!