Gem Faire

I celebrated my birthday yesterday with a trip to eugene with friends...we did the gem faire and then lunch...then we visited harlequin beads and then one last run through the gem faire. It's held at the fairgrounds and is in a huge building with many vendors....the only downside from my pov, is that most of the vendors sell the larger stone and semi-precious beads and not very many do the seed beads....but I did get a lovely selection of my favorites, abalone and pearls. (and I don't really need any seed beads anyway!) I was tempted by some of the interesting chains and other metal findings, but I held to my "list" (mostly, lol) and didn't quite break the bank!
With all the lovely leaves swirling around eugene yesterday, I was inspired to buy some abalone leaves and flowers, as well as some red coral flowers...since we have hit a heat wave, even here on the coast, we still have flowers blooming and leaves on the trees, although the wind is picking up this morning, so we'll have a few less by tonight! I also found some MOP butterflies and one more clay face by Dana Swisher, a eugene artist.
I'm working at the upstairs gallery this afternoon (at our local visual arts center), so will get a few hours of beading in today...