New in Curious!

New in the shop. Aren't these rather lovely? 

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My prize and other stories!

My prize!
Originally uploaded by Songbead

Still at 'home home' in Edinburgh; I'm loving it. It's pouring with rain most of the time at the moment (as it is all over the country!) and when it's not bucketing, the wind is fair blowing a gale. But it still makes me glad to be at home! One of the reasons I'm back in the 'burgh is that I am teaching two classes at The Little Bead Shop in Bruntsfield tomorrow and Tuesday nights. I've blogged about the shop before but I'll just say again that it really is a fab place and if you get the chance, do pop in and say 'hi' to any of the lovely staff there! I'm teaching a spiral stitch bracelet tomorrow evening, complete with a lovely sparkling beaded clasp, and on Tuesday, a Herringbone circles bracelet that I designed over the summer. My only version of it has been living in The Little Bead Shop since June so I have no photos for you, you'll just have to wait until I finish version 2 (tomorrow's job!).

The other news I have to share with you is a not so small package that arrived for me a few days ago. A wee while ago I was one of the lucky winners on Dinky-Daisy's blog giveaway and on Thursday my lovely prize arrived! I have used my phone camera which is a little dodgy but you should be able to see the contents of my exciting parcel...a beautiful wee purse, which I was expecting, a brooch and two sweet little cards, which I wasn't! Thanks so much Debs! What a wonderful surprise to receive through the post. Go check out her gorgeous wares!

Little Bead Shop

So, I'm just back from my fabulous home town - Edinburgh! I was there on a flying visit to do a day's teaching at the rather wonderful Little Bead Shop in Bruntsfield. I had a small but very sweet class doing my absolute favourite thing in the whole world (apart from singing Handel...Bach...Rossini..Mahler...oh, Ok - I have lots of favourite things to do!) BEAD EMBROIDERY. Everyone (including my lovely Mum!) did a really good job getting started on a beaded cuff (like the one above), I only work with a few stitches as the beads really do the rest for you, and everyone left having made a really good start to their project. Below are two of my own beaded collars for your perusal.

I had a great day and I hope everyone else did too! Gil Baird, Little Bead Shop proprietress, has a fantastic shop with a really unique range of beads and I thoroughly recommend if you are visiting Edinburgh (something I recommend in itself!!) you pay it a wee visit. Everyone who works there is always super helpful and lovely and if you're lucky, there may be some of the very talented Emma Baird's BEAUTIFUL lampworked beads...She's also very good at photography as you can see from the three pictures in this blog entry! It's a great place to visit and you can be sure of a cheerful welcome. I have a few more classes scheduled in November and December and I'm really looking forward to them already.