Guess who is 1?

Kileigh Lynn! Happy Birthday little peanut! You are so loved by everyone and such a happy little girl. You have brought nothing but love and happiness to all who know you. May your day be filled with fun, love and laughter for you. Always keep dancing Ki-baby! Love always, Gammy

Kileigh's Garden is in full bloom...

As you can see my January Bead Journal Project is done! I am shocked at how quickly this one went. Was it because in addition to a bazillion size 15 seed beads I also used some larger heart beads and silver frames? Was it because of the subject matter as compared to Novembers piece? Was it because of the building pressure I was putting upon myself because of the dreaded *GASP* Behind word? I don't know and I don't care because whatever the reason is, it is done and I am very happy with both this piece and myself. I think the background I chose almost gives it a wool tapestry type look. Do they call it crewel work? Anyone know what I am talking about even? I am not even sure I know what I am talking about 1/2 the time! Now for my next project. I will be going back to Decembers piece. I have a plan, have the beads picked out, the silk I will be using, and a wonderful new product my SIL told me about called the Q-Snap. One of the things I have always hated most about embroidery is the dreaded embroidery hoop. It never seems to get tight enough, damages the fabric and your thread always seems to get tangled on the part you use to tighten the hoop. No more, not with this product! Check out the website if you are unfamiliar with it. For all I know its been around forever, but its new to me!

AND THE WINNER IS........

SUSAN! Congratulations! I added several new goodies to the package, so it will be a surprise when she gets her winnings! I will post a picture after Susan receives her package. Don't you just love my little chicken bowl? I have a fetish for small bowls. I don't know what to do with them, but I have several tiny bowls. This one is my favorite! Look for an update on Kileigh's Garden tomorrow. I cant believe Kileigh will be 1 year old on Friday! They grow up too quickly. Hugs to everyone out there. Happy Monday!

FREEBIE FRIDAY!!

Its back! For this give-away, I have included 3 tubes of seed beads, a triangle bead tray and lots of pretty hearts just in time for Valentines Day beading! All you have to do is leave a comment on this post. That's it! Couldn't be any easier could it? I will assign a number to each post and put them in a bowl and draw a name Monday. I will post the winner on my blog Monday. I may add in a few other goodies as the weekend goes on too...Keep an eye on this page!

My BJP page is moving right along. I am filling in the background with a soft blue size 15 bead and it is slow going but worth it too! Then once I am done, I am excited to move on to my December piece. I have my beads all picked out and my silk too. I have never used silk before, so it will be a new experience. I love that fabric. It feels so nice and the intense colors are just beautiful. I will have to take a picture of the assorted colors I got.

Nothing new on the accident yet...seems the State Patrol is still investigating it. No ticket yet. I guess they are going to do a re-enactment of the actual accident. This is taking forever!

Yet Another Update!

I can't believe how quickly this piece is coming along! I think the leaves I have added gave it an almost Folk Art look. I really like it! I have named this piece Kileigh's Garden. I plan on adding a few more leaves and then figuring out what I want to do with the background. Not sure yet. I did add a few light blue beads in, but felt it detracted from the rest, so I tore it out. I love how you can do that so easily, rip-it rip-it! I don't think I will get much done today. I have a Mary Kay party to go to at Jess's house tonight. I get to see her, Courtney and Kileigh so that is a definite plus. Otherwise, I wouldn't be too thrilled. We have had several of these parties in the last year and I am Mary Kayed out! Hugs to everyone out there! I think I am going to do a Freebie Friday this week! I will let you know my plans for that tomorrow, along with what I will be giving away, so look for that!

PS. Maddux continues to do well. He is getting an antibiotic preventative every day now, so we will see how he does on that. It should lessen the frequency and or severity of his fevers. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Lots of progress!

In between meetings with our insurance company (hubby totaled his car - he hit a county Sheriff) he is ok, sore but ok! Anyway, in between the meetings and being sick yesterday I managed to get some beading done. I am liking the way its turning out so far. I am very unsure how to proceed with the background. It will come to me, but right now I am not sure how to proceed. My fabric finally came for my December project, so I may put January down for awhile and move onto that one. It might help free up my mind and open it up to ideas. We have been so worried about what will happen with this accident. Seems that its not a good thing to hit an officer of the law while he is on duty, in route to a home invasion. My husband is very good about yielding for emergency vehicles, however he had a green light and the snow banks were so high on the highway intersection that he just plain didn't see it coming. The State Patrol is doing an investigation on the accident to determine fault, so we are on pins and needles to see what will happen. I think that is why I was sick over the weekend. I don't do well with worry or the unknown. At the very least, the car is totaled. He may also get a large ticket from what we hear. Joyous Joy! The important things is both he and the officer are ok.

Lessons Learned!

Sometimes you have to learn the hard way! I did on this project. After working on this page about 4 hours yesterday, I started working around the dark purple circles. Little did I realize that the purple would show through the beads! So I wasted 4 hours and had to start over, This is my progress so far today. I have Kileighs last name blocked out with blanks for security reasons, I just don't like putting all her information out there in cyber space. Trust me though, its there. My plan is too add 5 pictures of her birth, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and 1 year which is coming right up!

January Begins!

I decided I am sick of waiting for my silk to arrive for my December page! I feel like I am just wasting my time, so I decided to get on with January's page while I wait. I hate to skip December, it completely goes against my nature. I like things to be in the order they are supposed to be in. I know, I am strange, but its the way I like things to be. In order. Here is a teaser picture. I think its pretty funny how the rough draft looks! I know in my head how it will look and its nothing like this! I also have a little container of some of the beads I will be using on this page. I bet you cant guess where I am going with it can you? I welcome anyone to try to guess! We are expecting about 6" more snow tomorrow, so hopefully I can get a good start to this page. I am excited now that I have somewhat of a plan. Hugs to you all!

PS. I am shocked! I just did spellcheck and for the first time no spelling errors were found. Gotta write that one on the calender!

Dad

Well, I am surprised to say that it has been a year to the day since my Father passed away. I am surprised it is already a year, and yet it seems so long since I saw his face, saw him smile and heard his voice. So much has changed in this last year. I have my first grandchild, both my daughters were married, as they say "Time marches on" and it indeed does. I wonder what he would have thought about both my girls getting married, what he would think of Kileigh. I think he would be happy for my girls, and I think he would get a big kick out of Kileigh. Shes got some of his spunk I think. Too bad they missed each other by just about 3 weeks, or did they? One never knows. Its so strange how life works sometimes. When I was pregnant with my oldest daughter Jess, my Grandmother passed away 2 weeks before her birth. Then when my youngest Courtney is pregnant with Kileigh, my Father passes away 3 weeks before her birth. The circle of life continues.....

I miss my Dad so much but at the same time I am glad to know he is in a better place, no longer in pain and waiting for us all to be together again. This is one of my favorite pictures of him in his beloved Mustang, taken just 3 months before his death. He looks so happy! Love you Dad!

Stick a Fork in him....

Mr Buck is DONE! I am thrilled to say the least. I seriously thought this one would never get there. It did and I am happy and can now move on.

I had a wonderful day with my oldest daughter Jess. She came over recipe book and groceries in hand and once again cooked me a fabulous lunch! She made a dish called Campanelle with creamy Tomato-Clam Sauce from a Pampered Chef recipe book called 29 Minutes to Dinner, it was yummy! I loved the light Vodka Sauce and had never heard of campanelle noodles. Like Jess said, she really liked the trumpet shaped noodles because they really held onto the sauce. She is right. This dish also had buttery bread crumbs on top. Doesn't it look like something off of a cooking show in the picture I took? YUMMY! Thank you again Jess! I sure hope this gets to be a habit! Isn't she cute still in her hat to cover her bed-head!

I wont be starting my December project yet...have to wait for my Dupioni Silk to come in the mail first! Hows that for a teaser Lynn and Carol?? That's all you are getting for now! Hugs everyone.

PS. Maddux starts a whole new protocol today on Meds to see if we can lick these fevers. Cross your fingers for him (and me too) I pray it works for my little pei-by.

Nothing But Blue Skies.....

For this buck! He is really winding down and I am thankful for that! I am really happy with how the sky turned out. I wanted it to be simple, but pretty, and didn't want the sky to take away from the main focal point of the buck. I think I succeeded. I like the look of the straight lines and clouds. I wasn't sure where I would go with the Sky but it really went where the beads wanted to go and this is the result. As I have heard, listen and the beads will do the talking. They sure did! I am hoping to finish this page and move on to the next one. I am going to do something completely different than my other pieces. Its kind of exciting, yet scary at the same time! Take care of yourselves!

PS. For those who have asked, Maddux ran yet another fever last night. Not as high as some of the others, but it went to 105.8 which is high enough to keep me awake all night. I am functioning on about 2 hours of sleep right now! Its just like having another child to take care of. He is such a sweet boy though, I have to do what I can to help him.

I am here!

My daughters came over tonight for dinner - Jess called me and asked me if it was alright if she cooked me dinner, alright??? Wow, of course it was alright! No one ever cooks for me, so it was a real treat. She made an enchilada casserole and caramel brownies for dessert. Yummy! Thank you Jess, love you much! Anyway, one of the first things she said was Wow Mom, you haven't posted anything on your blog for quite awhile. She is right - of course! So, here is a quick post. I am almost DONE with Mr buck. I will post a picture tomorrow. I am just too tired right now since its 11pm and the lighting is not good for photos. Sorry, you will have to wait til then. I got myself a new camera for Christmas. It has a super macro setting with 10.1 megapixels and an 18X optical zoom. I am really excited as my old one was a 5 megapixel with a 10X zoom. It was very hard to get good closeup pictures with the old one. I haven't learned everything about the new one yet, so I will be doing some experimenting. It should be great for bead work. Hope everyone is happy and well and beading their hearts out! More tomorrow!