The Dog ate my Homework

Or, the photos from the NH Bead Retreat are really gone..... I was moving the photos from my camera card to the computer when my Summer Cat jumped on the keyboard and managed to hit the delete key.... No matter how or where I look, those photos are really gone. I can't believe that it really did happen.

I was going to show you the beautiful setting we had on the lake at Geneva Point for our Bead Retreat. A group of Bead Society of NH members got together for 3 days of good fun and beading. We ate, stayed up till all hours, beaded, shared ideas and techniques and did a bit of giggling. Two bead Vendors, Bead It! and New England Bead Exchange brought us beads to purchase when we couldn't find the perfect color in our own stashes. About the only thing I can share is the two pieces that I managed to finish.

The Peony bracelet, from the flower series, is done.

I finally completed the white Snazzy Chain necklace. It only has a couple of strands crocheted with the variegated thread, the rest was done with winter white metallic and it really turned out to be a show stopper when it's worn. Several people at the Retreat did wear it and then claimed it was going home with them. I am going to be teaching this necklace At Bead It! in Concord NH on October 20th. It's truly a bead crochet necklace for those who cannot get beyond the chain stitch.

Some of my fond memories of the bead retreat are:

*Peggy being teased while making her fabric & fiber beads - called road kill, hair curlers, bugs, and other unsavory names by the group beading on the porch. The finished necklace with copper wire beads and chain was quite different and stunning.

*Singing happy Birthday to Pam, while she was wearing her Birthday crown. And everyone else trying to figure out just how late she actually stayed up each night.

*Pat winding some of the free wire onto a small coke can and announcing that she had a finished project - a wire wrapped coke can.... and then wondering aloud what she could get for it on eBay?

*Bette finding out that she could put soft flex into a bead crocheted rope afterwards instead of having to crochet around it. Also finding willing talent to wire wrap her agate slice, make wire bead caps and a clasp. Her finished necklace was a beautiful combination of wire, bead crochet and micro macrame.

*Gail finally bead crocheting the second earring left handed so that the spirals went in opposite directions.

*All of the clapping when someone announced that they had a finished project.... and the admiring oohs & ahhs.

*All those who helped someone else solve a problem, learn a new technique or shared beads so a project could get finished.

I wish I could share the photos I took of the retreat, people and some of the finished projects.... but like the dog who ate so many homework assignments, my cat stomped on the delete key and they are really, really gone.