Dralion

I'd planned to add a dragon's eye focal piece to this but the design would be too heavy for the delicate stitch so this one will be as is. I got ideas for two large collar pieces in the process, so it's still a win. 

Dragon Scales

Working on a new piece with a dragon theme. Tiny 15/0 seed beads so it's kinda slow going, but I got a magnifier so as soon as I adjust to the depth perception part of it, I should be all set. Photo is kinda glaring but I needed a shot in the sun to show all the different colors in the beads.

I don't have the beads for the big focal piece yet but I do have them saved in a cart on a bead site. Probably won't get them for a while because I came across a dollhouse kit in an unopened box for a steal on craigslist and I *really* want to save up and get it if it's still there. If it's not available by the time I save up the asking price, then I'll just be able to get more beads.

At any rate, the year is off to a nice creative start and I'm pleased with the direction things are headed. 

Ghost of Christmas Past

I started a project back in July that I couldn't post because it was intended as a surprise for my sister-in-law. I was almost finished when my last beading needle broke. Everyone got sick before I could get more and get it finished, so I finally finished it and sent it out as a Christmas gift.

I apologize in advance because it's a crappy photo taken with my camera as I was rushing to get it mailed out to be delivered on time.

Bat bead embroidery done on Lacy's Stiff Stuff and backed in ultrasuede. Mostly size 11 seed beads. The two necklaces are inter-changeable  - the orange and yellow is twisted tubular herringbone stitch and the blue is chenille stitch. The bat measures about 5 inches from wing tip to wing tip, I think (I mailed it before I could measure it). The cabochons are from Cobra Graphics; the two small ones are bats and the big center one is a grim reaper. 

For the record, she was thrilled and said it was the coolest thing she owns. So worth the wait if you ask me. 

Overwhelmed

I haven't made a post here in four months and it's never even occurred to me that I needed to do so. Things in our house have been utter chaos the last few months. I will give an abbreviated update with the hope that things will settle down soon and I'll be able to post a little more often.

Three weeks into the school year, Youngest Daughter got sick and developed pneumonia. It eventually spread to Oldest Daughter and myself, while Husband and Son didn't seem to get quite as bad. Right as everyone was getting over being sick, Grandmother developed an infection in her toe. The infection spread to the blood and eventually to her blood. She developed a massive staph infection following this and was admitted to the hospital. Her toe was amputated and then she had an emergency valve replacement in her heart after the staph infection trashed a valve. She spent five weeks in a rehab facility before coming home. She has now been home since just before Thanksgiving. Her recovery has been slow and I'm not optimistic that she will bounce back fully from this.

Son is running in 100 Mile Club this year and should be passing 60 miles today. Youngest Daughter has been thoroughly enjoying preschool even though she comes home exhausted every afternoon. Oldest daughter is miles ahead of the rest of her kindergarten class and is excelling in reading and beginning math. Husband asked for a promotion to a new position that will be opening up in the late summer, so fingers crossed that it works out.

We went on a tour of the local preparatory charter school last week and dropped off Intent to Enroll paperwork for all three kids, then this morning I heard that the principal there resigned this morning fairly unexpectedly. I'm confident that the staff there can get things back on track and straightened out before Winter Break is over, or at least shortly thereafter. At any rate, my friend who does not enjoy the holidays may welcome the chaos as a distraction (she's a founder at the school).

In the midst of the ongoing situation at our house, I haven't worked at all since.... July? This year I even spaced out on teacher gifts so I spent the last two days working as quickly as possible to put together a necklace for Oldest Daughter's kindergarten teacher. I finished it last night around 11:30 pm. Son chose a jar of homemade jam to take to his teacher. Amazingly, we have all of our gift shopping nearly finished. Anyway, here's the necklace I sent to Daughter's teacher, and it will probably be my final project of the year.

Back to Cool

Son started 4th grade yesterday. Youngest Daughter started preschool two days a week this morning. She walked in and looked around, met the teachers, then went to the playground without saying goodbye. Two years ago when Oldest Daughter started daycare she cried like I was abandoning her forever - she went to Kindergarten testing this morning and her shyness won the day. She did write her name but she refused to count and then she wouldn't draw a picture. She starts school tomorrow.

Husband and I went to St Louis over the second weekend of August for the WheresGeorge.com 10th Annual National Gathering. We met a lot of people we've known only through the forums and facebook, and then we left early. We don't do so well in crowds and thankfully most of the people there understood that and were okay with us leaving early.

My really exciting news is that we finally decided that Youngest Daughter was never going to be potty trained if we relied on PullUps to get her through it. We went out and bought "big girl" underwear for her last week. After a couple days of accidents, she's finally made the association and has started coming to tell us when she needs to go. She had one accident yesterday morning and was good the rest of the day. Not sure how well things will go at school because she's in a new situation in a new place with new people, and she's wearing PullUps just in case, but I'm cautiously hopeful.

As for work, I'm in the midst of a project that will be a gift, and I have a couple more things planned out. Also, I've been working on my competition piece for the HBS Creatin' Contest since I'm down to about four months left. Here's where I was as of yesterday.

So that's all I've got for now. Planning to work on the roof this afternoon if I get a chance. 

Lace Parade

I finished my latest bead embroidery project yesterday. It is a 21" Chenille stitch necklace and a bead embroidered pendant that is 2 1/2" wide by 4" long.

It is up for auction here for the next 29 hours, if you're interested :-)

My next project is already in the beginning stages but I can't post pictures as it's a surprise for someone.

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Independence Delay

Been almost two months since I posted so I guess it's time to catch up. The mystery sickness I had for so long has finally been determined to be fatty liver. Most likely hereditary and the explanation for a lot of other problems. Drastic diet changes and more exercise will hopefully take care of it relatively quickly. I had a spot in my right kidney when I went to the emergency room a few months ago, and I went in for an high definition CT scan and it's not cancerous. I still have to have an endoscopy done to make sure that I don't have and am not developing esophageal cancer, but I'm not worried about that.

Today is Independence Day in America and a phone call I had has brought to my attention that you can tell a real  American holiday by whether people wish you to be safe or to have a good day. Everything about Independence Day and New Year's is always bid to be safe- today meaning not to blow your fingers off or burn down your house.

We spent the first two weeks of June visiting family in South Carolina, so I wasn't home to work on any projects. I did, however, learn peyote stitch and made a small bracelet for my mother-in-law.

After getting back home, I decided I was finally going to teach myself to do bead embroidery, so I have two in-progress pieces. The first is a blue pendant with a druzy agate center focal and a faux pearl, and the necklace is my first attempt at twisted herringbone peyote stitch. The second is a piece I started last night. The large focal is a Czech glass button and the two smaller buttons were in an old can my grandmother had.

We found this zombie troll out in our front garden a couple nights ago. We think someone left him here last Halloween. We left him out there because he fits in. 

Husband and I will be celebrating our sixth wedding anniversary in 11 days. He got me a Lego Castle set because I never had Legos as a kid and I've recently taken up and obsession with them. My favorite thing is to put the characters in compromised situations (where they're usually prisoners or dead) and posting photos to facebook. I was very proud of myself for getting most of it put together without looking at the book. So here's a picture of my cat as she was waiting for me to look away so she could chew on the wizard's hat. 

Anyway, that's all that's happened lately. I've been feeling much better and it's nice to be creating again.