Happy Mother's Day!

Since both of my children called me, it's been a perfect Mother's Day. My son is in Iraq and has been out on missions lately, so it's extra special he was able to call today. He also had flowers sent (pictured above) that arrived on my doorstep after he called, so I didn't have the chance to thank him personally, but I'll send him a note telling him how lovely they are and how much I appreciated him thinking about Mother's Day when he's got so much on his mind.

Since I'm an empty nest mom and both children live far from home, I have a lot of time to bead, even on Mother's Day. So today I sat down in my workroom and finally decided what to do with the rutilated quartz beads I mentioned a few posts ago - I strung them between gold spacers and beads. It's one of the more opulent pieces I've ever made and I'm quite pleased with it.

I've got a start on a new one in lavender, now. I'll probably finish tonight. The main bead has a lovely "petal" design in it in a darker lavender and white, so I'm using matching druk beads between them. I've been playing around with a pink bead I like, too - just not finding the right combinations.

I'm going to plug my "Bead Buddy Dual Lap Desk" - it's a lap desk for beaders with a cushion at the bottom, a three strand bead design board with plenty of recessed areas for beads. Under the design board is a space to bead on with the longer bead mat they included, if you prefer that to using the design board - which I do when I'm using a lot of seed beads that are hard to pick up from the design board. With the lap desk, I can sit out and watch TV with the husband and bead at the same time. Since I spend a lot of time, otherwise, in my workroom, it's nice to get out of there, but not lose productive time.

It will also be good for long car trips or to pack in my checked luggage (won't try to carry-on any beading tools, that would definitely get me stopped at security with the wire clippers and other tools) when I go on a long business trip or to a convention. Anyway, I think it was a great purchase.