Oh, Oh, Oh, I'm so behind!
I'm behind on so many things now. Maybe this weekend I can catch up??
I was out of town again and picked up two interesting books:
Which inspired me (not that I need more inspiration for projects at this point...) so I looked around my house and photoed some things to put away as references for a rainy day:
Victorian-ish style tea-cup cover from a tea-set
A Japanese plate
A trivet from George's parents when they went to Spain
I think these would all be nice needle-point designs.
I've still been working on the wolves, BTW, but don't know if I will succeed in finishing before Christmas, which is what I say every year for the last couple, though being so far a long is motivating me more and more to finally finish this project. I've had it for a number of years now. (I keep starting and stopping because I get distracted by other projects).
I also figured out what to give my family for the holidays this year - a while ago I found some fabric that would look very pretty with some beading embellishment:
The top will be for my grandparents and the bottom will be for my parents and Georges'. Since I'm notorious about not finishing projects, I do have a back-up plan - I have some really pretty photos I've taken during my travels this year and can get them framed as gifts. Some of the photos seem to really suit the people I have in mind and I think they will enjoy them.
The dress is going so slowly!! I completed one of the motifs on the dress itself (no more proto-types, yay!!) but have a problem with the fabric moving. Since I can't tack it down, I'm going to try making a magnetic ring to hold the fabric still and taught, so I don't have to worry about pin-holes or creasing from pinning, hoops, or other ways to hold fabric. I should be able to go more quickly then because not only will I not have to fight with the fabric anymore, but it'll be easier for me to work the needle; before I was using the ironing-board as a bead-board since it's the only thing big-enough for all the material, but it was very awkward. I can hold the ring in my lap which will be 435968 times better. My large beads are also MIA (!!), and the ones I can find are too white and clash with the ivory, so I'm off to go get more after this. Very annoying to be motivated but halted by some small design element that I only need an inch of per motif. (grumble, grumble)
I've also started cooking again and exercising, so I'm feeling really good now. Yesterday I made Thai Tom Ka soup - one of my favourite comfort foods. It was an extra treat because I had some straw mushrooms to add. A few days ago I made stuffed peppers, very much a comfort food reaching back to my family's German roots. I also walked 4 miles yesterday around the lake - such big fish and turtles!!! I look forward to going again and hope this upwards trend of taking better care of myself will continue since it makes me feel very balanced and happy.
Enough typing for today, I'm sure everyone's bored to tears by now!!