Hightlights from My Week with Ted in California!

I got my first look at CalTech in Pasadena where Ted is working!  

I love all the purple trees!  Jacarandas!  I have heard of them and have seen pictures, but in person they are amazing!  They line all the streets and are everywhere!

My first morning there we went into town for breakfast and had no idea it was the annual Chalk and Music festival!  We then knew what we would be doing for the next two days!

I grabbed my shorts from last year when I was 25 pounds heavier.  They were not staying up!  There was a Brighton store and Ted went in and picked out a belt for me!  I can't even remember the last time I wore a belt!

Can you imagine walking up to see your boyfriend's chalk and seeing this.  I hope she said yes!!!

Some of the music acts we saw were The Happy Hollows, The Peach Kings, SoKo, Y la Bamba, and GroupLove.  There were so many more and some I don't remember.  We lucked out and got a table at a restaurant right next to the stage!

It was amazing!

GroupLove!

I finally got a picture of Ted and his car!  

This was Ted's Favorite Chalk!

I couldn't resist the Panda shot with Ted!

This is the chalk that won 1st Place!

These were some of my favorites - 

 But this was my absolute favorite!

It was a perfect weekend!

Ted and I ventured into the Farmer's Market in L.A.

My last day there I took Ted and his roommates out to dinner.  We had a fun time.

I had an amazing time and can't wait to see him again!

What I've been up to these past few weeks.....

I've had lots of company and lots of classes and lots of fun!  

I concentrated on cleaning out my studio so I could teach in it!

Made this from a pattern to learn the technique.  Not sure what I'm going to do with it, but I really liked the way it turned out!

I took an awesome wire wrapping class at the Newark Museum with Sandra Lupo.    I need to figure out how to finish it up, hope to do that soon, I want to wear this one!

A friend of mine has a friend who is sick and wanted to make a banner for her room.  This was my piece that I sent her.  

Lilibelle came for a visit and I snapped this of  her flying for a frisbee!

Arielle's sorority had a fundraiser and I made these in the sorority colors for them. 

And this is what Moe thought of them.

Well, I liked them and made a pair for myself (in my colors!)

I finished up a bracelet for a basic stringing class...

a necklace for a basic  crimping class...

and a basic spiral rope that can be worn as a necklace or bracelet

Then I decided to make my spiral rope a double.

A friend of mine and his daughter taught me how to use a lathe and I made this pen with them.  I'm so impressed!

It was time to stop and smell the flowers and love on my little Angel!  

I have so much more to share, have to wait until next time!  Enjoy and Happy Beading!

Student Work

 Some fun classes in the past few weeks!  I have time in July if anyone wants a class, let me know!


Here's Margaret's Flat Spiral Bracelet  This is a single row of flat spiral and looks beautiful!

Deb's Beaded Bead Earrings

Deb's Dutch Spiral

Margaret's Netted Ornament

Loren'ts Flat Double Spiral

Loren took what he learned and made a matching pendant and earrings!  Great Job!

Deb's Spiral Rope

Margaret's Spiral Rope

Beth's Spiral Rope Lariat

Beth's Playing with Wire

Chris, Deb and I learning a Sabine Lippert Pattern

Hope to see all of you soon, Happy Beading!

Cheesemakers for a day!

Through the Make-A-Wish foundation Jonathan and I bid on and won an apprenticeship at Beecher's Cheese  We got to NYC early on a Saturday morning - Look how empty those streets are!

Love this shot!

Here are some of the cheeses they produce and carry.

It's fun being in a store before it is open to the public!

Here I am suited up.  The milk has been pasturized and loaded in the container.  Bacteria and renin have been added.

Then you cut the curd, stir the curds, and then transfer them to the next container.

The whey gets drained and the curds get formed into cubes.

The cubes get cut and stacked.

Then turned and restacked.

Then turned and stacked again.  It's back breaking work and Matt and  Kevin who worked with us are in great shape!  No gym memberships needed for cheesemakers!

Jonathan's stack is on the left, the professional stack is to the right.  Can you see any difference?

The cubes are broken back into curds, salted and put into bins.

The bins are compressed to extract more of the whey, but some of the curds are sold at this point.  They are pretty tasty!

After compression, the cheese is taken out of the bins and wrapped and sealed for the aging process.

The curds (we just made) are packaged and sold.

Some of the cheese is aged for 18 months, some for 4 years.  And here is what our cheese will be when it grows up!  Cheddar!

We met our friends for dinner and walked around the city a little bit.

The Flatiron building.

The Metropolitan building.

Only in NYC!

Heading back to get our stuff from Beecher's

If you are ever on 20th and Broadway, stop by!  You can have lunch there and watch the cheesemakers or go into the cellar at night for dinner!