The Bead Spot

I took home economics* in ninth grade, and for one of our projects, we made shirts. Mine was blue with short sleeves. It didn't turn out too bad. Back then, I wasn't all that interested in hand-making anything, though, so I have not sewn anything (except for mending the occasional errant button) since then. Now, though, I'd like to learn again. My mom is giving me one of her machines, and I can't wait to give it a whirl. Can anyone recommend a good book for learning to sew on a machine? I need to know it all: How to load the bobbin, how to cut a pattern, how to read a pattern sheet, etc. Thanks for any suggestions. *When I was in high school, it was still called home economics, or home ec for short. Younger readers might be more familiar with the name "family and consumer sciences."

I bought some dual-hole Czech beads for the first time a few months ago, and after a lot of wondering what I could do with these little gems, I created these bracelets. I like the way they look, but I feel like they're very simple. I'd like to get really creative with them. I need to do some thinking. Has anyone other readers tried this? If so, what did you make with them?