Beaded 2 Bless

My time seems to be in demand today- kids want undivided attention, hubby actually asked for help working on the house ( wooo hooo we are gonna have walls soon), Miss Katy called me about a meeting we are going to together and left a message (sorry Katy, can't keep up with my phone these days), even my mother in law needed some info about dinner tomorrow. That funny story is gonna have to wait until tomorrow- I need a nap!

I have the funniest story to tell you but I haven't time this morning. I have got to get these kids to work on time since they woke us up at 5:00 am playing video games. GRrrrr... I will get pictures of the aftermath of said event and post them after school. And a bit of good news-- our new house now has electricity!! Have a blessed day!

I didn't want to post too much on Christmas day... It was really a rough day and I tried so hard to stay positive. You see we were snowed under- I mean in. It was the first white Christmas in a very long time in Dallas ( I think a family member said 111 years- dunno if that is correct). We decided to postpone our trip to the in-laws which meant our youngest didn't get the ONE thing he really wanted. He was quite a pill to take. I laid down to avoid that inevitable explosion I felt was going to erupt if I had to deal with him any longer. I was awakened 3 1/2 hours later by  my husband telling me that my sweet inlaws were coming to our dirty home (my words not his). I am telling you I hadn't done any real housework in two whole weeks. I did dishes and "kinda"  picked up, but it went mostly ignored.. I was on my vacation! My 14 year old learned to scrub the tub in record time. I know my MIL didn't come to take a bath but... It needed to be done in order to have t...

Here is my sweet family enjoying Christmas day. That fella on the left is one character! You think he is excited? I am so glad those hats are done, AND they were loved! Here's Nathaniel playing that game he really wanted! Wolfee loved the box, and Princess was after the bows.

Okay, I saw a post on Running with Scissors  about her makeover. If of course she could wear anything she wanted to and get away with it. In her post was a photo from a UK website of this sweet jacket. I had to  have it, only one problem... 72.99 (sterling pounds) translated into over $100 US dollars. Sorry no can do at least not when I am an imaginative sewer. I found a pattern that mimicked the lines on the front and back and began to recreate this look on my own. In progress with creative bustling happening. I used Simplicity pattern # 2581 cropped just below the waist and added corseting  loops in the back and  then made up my own bustle pattern. I had to get really creative with the bustling because the fabric I used was purchased at a garage sale for $3.00 many years ago. There was not enough to do this the way one should be doing it. I made up for some of the missing fabric by using a contrasting solid black for the lining of the collar and center front panel...

I should kick myself for not photographing the bundle I mailed off today to Dot, but I won't. It really hurts when you do that.  I will just go back to my last minute Christmas gift making.  I also have another knit hat to make. I am thankful that Gina (from church) told me about picking stitches instead of throwing them. I was skeptical at first, I thought there was no way I could retrain my hands again. Well I did manage to learn and find it a dream. Now my wrist is telling me I am overworking it. I don't know what it is talking about..... I visited some shops on the Historic Decatur Sqare  where the most gorgeous courthouse sits- I could be just a little biased. I admit it, this pink limestone courthouse is a familiar childhood icon. You can see it for miles! One of the shops I visited had the old fashioned flour sack towels  that just had to go home with me. There were the perfect thing to add these pretty pieced angels...

Beading and my bead buddies are really keeping me going this holiday. I have been working on the winter challenge that is due in January. I also want to finish a doll or two to use as samples for the class I am teaching at that same January meeting. In light of all this I have also stumbled upon the greatest idea for a Bead Dreams submission in the wearable catagory that has not been done before. I have even begun to place design elements into that process. I really need to sketch those out soon too, or it is going to eat at me. Here is my winter challenge entry. His name is Pearl and he belong to my son and he called him sno-puppy. He convinced me last year to buy the "Sno-buddy" from Starbuck's and I put him in his stocking for Christmas. My kids always get a soft animal/doll in the top of their stocking and Nathaniel loves his the most. This was almost tossed out with the bedroom trash and I saved him. I make it a habit to check their trash since toys are often thrown...

I took this picture to show the chain detailing that I missed on the previous post, then I realized that it has more of my suprise beaded peice than I was ready to share. Oh well,I am almost done with it so you can see a little more. After all, you have to know that I am actually working on something right? Wouldn't be very fair to show you a project and not share the finished project or worse leave it in the UFO bin. I am so eager to finish so that I can show you the whole picture- with it ON. Here is the front pocket with the beautiful montees I purchased on ebay. You gotta be careful when you sew them on- they will cut your thread and be very naughty! This is the back and it also had those pretty montees. There are 51 of them so far. I am not sure if I will use more of them or not. I still have some naked places to work on but I have finally found the inspiration I was waiting for to complete it. You just can't have all that detailing and not continue it throughout t...

I had started several times on a name badge challenge peice for the Dallas Bead Society. I have to use the plastic name badge as a base for whatever I make and it had to be 50% beads. Well I came up with this as my third attempt. I decided after working long and hard on this that I am not gonna ruin  it by being cheeky and putting my name on it as it is shown in the picture.  This has taken on a new life and will take some time to complete as most of it is done in 15s. I will get the progress photo later. But, I have had to come up with and finish a different idea - before saturday!!! Well with some already in progress pieces that never grew into a full project (the beaded beads and lengths of cellini spirals) I came up with a whole new design. I don't know if it qualifies as 50% beaded, but I love it anyhow and will wear it with pride. It Has "Ralonda" written all over it (Well it does). The chain is very Victorian in its draping  and it has an art glass focal as a c...