I haven't any new beads to show you (yet) for this week; I have been making new jewellery items with beads that you have already seen, so these are the latest pieces of lampwork jewellery to be added to the website:

I have made some new very pretty new beads but the proto-types of them cracked the day after the came out of the kiln. I think I know what I did wrong, I let the base bead get too cool when I was adding some fine silver wire. Before I photograph them and let you see them, I want to be sure that the replacements (which I kept hotter this time!) won't crack so I'm leaving them a little while.

I have almost finished the commission that I told you about last month. We said about three weeks and I was going to e-mail her when it was finished. I have been making the beads for a while and the sterling silver beads I wanted to include in the piece only arrives on Thursday. With everything ready, I got to work today putting everything together but it was so late when I had to stop for dinner that she would've gone home from work.

I hope she turns up tomorrow at my stall so I can show her what I've done so far. It is the best piece of jewellery I have ever made; it's going to be marvellous when it's complete. When I calculate what I should be charging, I realise that I am undercharging by quite a bit but I always stick to a budget once I've given a quote.  I am so delighted with it, I don't really mind working for a bit less per hour. I really really hope she likes it but part of me hopes she doesn't so I can keep it!

It's only fair that she sees it before I photograph it for the website and blog so I will be publishing pictures of it next week.

The weather forecast for the weekend just gone by was dismal. Sunday certainly lived up to the billing of drizzle, showers and strong winds but on Saturday - in Cambridge - managed to dodge the worst of it. It was chucking it down when we left home but as we got to the City centre, it all just dried up! We just had one shower in the morning at around 10.00am (just when I was out getting my Big Issue!) The rest of the day was dry with a few gusts of wind and the long-awaited start of Christmas shopping finally arrived. Several customers were either buying for Christmas or getting ideas for Christmas.

I know most people don't like how quickly Christmas arrives but when you're selling items that make great christmas presents, it can't come soon enough!

My sales are still holding up quite nicely to last year's levels so thanks to all my customers, my regulars and people discovering my stall for the first time - all are welcome!

On Remembrance Sunday, DH and I and Missy went to see my mum and Dad and spent the day with them. My Dad was a gunner on Lancasters, and to mark the day, after a lovely lunch cooked by Dad, we had a ride out to Gamlingay, a village in Cambridge, where there is a memorial to a Lancaster Bomber plane which crashed during the Second World War. It's in the middle of a field and so you can't get all the way to it by car. We parked on the roadside and then walked the rest of the way - the weather was awful but fortunately the rain held off long enough so we didn't get soaked. The wind was actually a help to mum on the way back, it was blowing her along. She had problems with her replacement hip this year and she's still recovering from it - I was very impressed with how far she walked, bless her.

I am so sorry to anyone who came along to visit me in Cambridge's Art & Craft Market yesterday to find that I wasn't there. I'm afraid I woke up with a bad headache and I could hardly lift my head from the pillow. I had it all day on Friday too but it wasn't as bad as Saturday.

I had a miserable day, I was on my own most of the time because DH still went into Cambridge, he had to show an Estate Agent around the house that the builder is repairing for us as they are nearly finished. We are thinking about letting it out so we can continue renting where we are. We would love to sell the house to get rid of it but I don't think that will be possible in the current climate.

However, I am much better today and so will be back next Saturday with even more stock to show off (watch this space!)