Bead Soup

Lori Anderson of PRETTY THINGS and also the head of The Bead Soup Blog Party, send out an e-mail to all participants in the party, telling us we should post to our blogs how we got started in beading. For me it was brought on by a disaster our Country went through. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, there was a new upsurge of patriotism in our Country. My husband and I both worked in factories at the time, and there was so much talk of showing support to the victims and their families of the 9-11 attacks. I had seen a woman at the fabric store wearing a safety pin flag. I thought to myself, I can do that! I bought pins and red, white and blue beads and went home to create. My husband wore one to work on his hat, and people began ordering them. Make a long story short, I made AT LEAST 500 of them! I sold them for material cost only. Then people began requesting sports teams and animals etc etc. I loved working with the tiny little seed beads, and began doing research on the web to see what more I could do with them. I then found beadweaving. Peyote stitch to be exact. My love of weaving was born. Well, that only lasted so long, then I was buying books, delicas, seeds, wire and so on. I learned every stitch I could find, and one day through one of my many hours of searching on the web, came across "The Bead Journal Project". That was when my love became an obsession! Bead Embroidery. My love, my passion, my creative outlet, some would say my addiction. The rest is history!

This will be my 2nd time participating in the Bead Soup Blog Party. This time there is a whopping 399 people participating! My reveal is the second group, August 11th. My partner is Valerie Norton of HOT ART I am busily putting her soup together! Take a look at her blog, she does amazing work! I am so excited to be paired with her! Look for more in the coming days. I will be posting a teaser shot of her soup in a week or so! I dont want to ruin the surprise for her. Thanks for looking!!