weekend progress

still plugging away in bead land. i got a little distracted while watching the bachelor last night because i was laughing too hard. 

i'd like to say that i'm more than halfway done on the blue beads?

it's starting to take shape and come together. but i seriously can't wait for it to be done!!!!

this stocking just can't catch a break!

you guys.....

remember this stocking that ended up giving me a heart attack when i thought it was lost forever and then it was found?

well i was so overcome with joy and relief that i had it back, that i overlooked the fact that they monogrammed the wrong freakin' initials on it!

last i checked, my first name starts with a "K" and not an "R." grrrr.

but the silver lining of this story is that i had this finished and monogrammed long before i ended up getting divorced and changing my last initial back anyways, so it works out. 

the issue i face now is, where do i go to have the monogramming re-done without ruining the entire thing? i don't want to send it back to the same finisher, so i'm looking for any other options that will handle this with some extra tlc. 

can this be saved?

got my head in the clouds

happy tuesday! i hope everyone had a great MLK weekend. i spent mine in the clouds...

if you recall from our previous episode, i left off here

UGH. i knew i was in for it. it doesn't look like a lot, but beading takes up significantly more time than plain stitching. ok. so i tuned the TV to the bravo channel and powered through the cloud while housewives screamed in the background.

here's where i landed on saturday night. wahoo!

sunday's progress wasn't as spectacular. we slept in, went to a late breakfast and watched football while i slipped in and out of naps due to the fact that i stuffed myself with runny eggs and biscuits.

between the afternoon and sunday night, i made a little headway. 

that meant that monday was the day. we had MLK off from work so i knew that it was now or never. i was going to power through and finish these damn clouds once and for all!

and i did

it took a lot of pricked fingers and 4-letter words, but i gave myself a lofty goal and finished it. now i can "reward" myself and finish the blue outlines and be done with this thing!

but first, help me decide which i should stitch next....

this?

or this?

my current WIP

i generally don't post too much here about my job, in an effort to keep my work life and my personal life separate. but for the purpose of my current WIP, it involves a little bit of both!

i am a project manager at Peter Mayer, a family-owned advertising agency here in New Orleans. i've been here for almost 5 years and love working in a fast-paced environment with creative people. one of the cooler parts of our building includes "the bead wall" that hosts the agency's former logo made entirely out of mardi gras beads. 

me and cricket in front of the bead wall, 2013

i like having personalized needlepoint pieces because it tells a story. so i took a picture of the bead wall and had annie from needlework vault paint it on a canvas for me. the perfect size for a christmas ornament. i knew that i would bead most of the canvas.. after all it is the bead wall. which is precisely why it sat in my stash for close to 3 years, it was an ambitious endeavor and i always had other projects i was working on. 

i pulled it out last month and started mapping out my plan. again, i wanted to do as much from my thread stash as possible, so i used my sundance beads and got to work. 

i've neglected to post until now because it has all been somewhat mindless work. progress doesn't seem as enticing to show because the beading process takes significantly longer.

luckily, my sweetheart has been busy with work, so it's given me more time to devote to making headway on this! originally i thought i would bead the entire blue background, but that would have been boring. i decided to break it up with framed scotch in metallic ribbon floss, and using the beads as the frame. it adds a fun pattern and helps make it more dynamic. as of last night, i finished all the lettering and moved on to the 2nd cloud. i figure i'll "reward" myself by outlining the scotch in blue beads once i can complete the monstrosity that is the clouds.

i could have probably done way more to this canvas to make it pop. i could have "don-beaded" or i could have stranded the beads and couched it down in a cool swirly design, but honestly i wanted it to go as quickly as possible. i know i'll love it when it's completed and finished, but the process to get there is less fun compared to other projects that i'd like to move on to. have you ever had a project like that?

2015 stitching goals

happy 2015!

i'm setting my sights on a few projects that i want to complete this upcoming year, and hope to continue making a dent in my stash!

(ok maybe not finish the entire nativity, but at least start it?)

so i know i'll definitely have to make a purchase for this special project. my cousin and his wife are expecting a baby boy in may! i'll add his initials and birth date for a special christmas surprise next year. 

i've also got a secret project i'm currently working my way through, more about that later. i'm not sure how much of this list i'll be able to get through, but i'm going to try my best!