Beader's Workshop Closing

The second local small business I liked is closing. Darn the economy!

The first was Vertigo Books in College Park (Maryland). They closed in January. I bought books there as gifts for all my grand and great-grand nieces and nephews in December last year, but it wasn't enough to save the store.

Now the Beader's Workshop on Highway 1 in Hyattsville is closing. It moved there from Bowie (Maryland) probably about a year ago, hoping for a market from the developing Hyattsville Arts District. Maybe that was a little premature. The shop caters to jewelry makers, but there were some things I could use for bead embroidery. I went yesterday to take of the 50% off, going-out-of-business sale. Here's what I bought.


My bead boxes are about full, so I'd better stop this stash building until I've beaded a few more things.

One Sock Finished on Way to Carolina Beach

It's nice to crochet while riding Amtrak, so I finished one of my socks on the way to visit my son and his wife. They live in Apex, North Carolina, near Raleigh, but we went directly from the station to their beach house in Carolina Beach, near Wilmington. It's about a two and a half hour drive. They have had the house about a year and have been doing a major remodeling job, now done. They have also been redoing the landscaping, still ongoing. It's all very attractive and comfortable. In addition to shopping at nurseries and working in the yard, the visit included making and eating a delicious pot of shrimp boil and grilling cheeseburgers on the beach in Freeman Park. It was rainy off and on, but the sun was out nicely for the beach. There is a big colony of feral cats in Carolina Beach. Joe and Danielle have a favorite that they are feeding and trying to befriend. She's a small female they named Silver, who has already had kittens. It's too bad she isn't spayed along with all the others.

Other needlework underway, besides crocheting the second sock, includes finishing embroidery on the border of the scrap block piece, making a holiday ornament for an exchange with a friend, and working further on my beaded sewing kit. For the latter, crazy quilt friend Maureeen gave me a cigar box from her vast stockpile. (She has a cigar connoiseur husband.) It's a perfect size to hold the covered needlebook, the pin keep and the other things I've collected for it and still fit in my project bag. For the scrap block piece, I plan to use the French facing technique Allison Aller described on her blog, referring to her article in CQMagOnline. I'm excited, hoping this will be a technique to rescue me from my poor binding corner skills.