Time Flies!

My Daughter Jess sent me a text today that said "Mom, you really need to update your blog" and she was right! Courtney and Kileigh are still staying with us, my Mom has been in and out of the hospital, and I am finding less time for tending to my blog. I have been busy planning for Jessica's baby shower and worrying about her too! The shower went well last Sunday. We had such a nice turn-out. People were very generous to Jess, Mike and Bun. So far, Jess is 32 weeks and still on bed rest. Looks like every ones prayers are working and Bun is staying put like a good boy! His kidneys still don't look normal, but we will deal with that after he is born.

I just sat down and submitted my 8 finished Bead Journal Pages to be posted on the 2008 BJP Members Gallery Page. I still plan to finish the other 4 pages over the next few months. I am excited to tell you that there will be a 2010 Bead Journal project! Registration starts tomorrow go here if you are interested. I know I am going to give it another go! This years BJP doesn't start until January 2010, so please consider joining us! You will get far more out of it that you can believe! I know I sure did.

Life is hectic!

I have no pictures to show today, just a brief update. I am happy to tell you that Jess has reached the 30 week mark without delivering Bun! She is still on bed rest, but her contractions have slowed. If this continues, Bun may make it closer to his due date. All of our fingers are crossed for that. We would really like him to stay put until the 34 week mark for his start in life to be the best possible one.
I have had the unexpected pleasure of having my daughter Courtney and little Kileigh staying with us for the last 2 weeks. It is so sweet having a little one around again. It really makes me miss being the Mother of little ones, but its a close second to that. She is my little buddy and likes to help with everything from cooking to taking care of the dogs. So fun! I am so blessed to have the family I have. I wouldn't trade them for anything. Tomorrow Jess and I are working on Buns quilt. We are making him a Peter Rabbit quilt to match his nursery. I will post a picture when its done. We aren't the most experienced quilters, but it is turning out cute and such a bonding experience for Jess and I. Not that we aren't bonded already, but its so fun to be making the quilt in anticipation of the arrival of Grandchild #2, my first little grandson! Hugs to everyone! I have started my 9th BJP and will post a picture when I get a little further along.

February BJP Finished!!

I am so excited to finally have this one completed. I had a few glitches, mostly in my own mind. I am still not thrilled with the end result, I tried to get too creative on this one and it backfired on me. I had originally wanted to do much more with it, but I am satisfied for now. One thing i am really unhappy about is the back of the "doors" I had planned on covering them somehow with fabric, which I may end up doing yet. I tried several different ways of doing it, and none seemed to work for me. That's why you can still see the outline of letters on the backs of the doors. For now this is how its going to be!

Here is the latest 3-D Ultrasound of baby Bun. Isnt it amazing? Nothing much is different with Jess and her baby. She is still on bed rest. She went to a specialist last week and they are optimistic. Seems as though the little "Bun" has some kidney issues they are watching as well as being in a hurry to meet all of us. Jess is 27 1/2 weeks now and the Dr's hope she waits to deliver until 32 weeks or more. That would be the best thing for Bun. Meanwhile, poor Jess is getting restless just laying around with all of us family bugging her! We all are taking turns cooking, cleaning and helping Jess keep her sanity while Mike is at work. Keep your fingers crossed for them!

May BJP is DONE!!

Well! After a month (or more) of teasing you about my May BJP, I can finally show the end result! I wanted to do this page about my beautiful daughter Jessica and her pregnancy. This pregnancy so far, has been a difficult one with many trials and tribulations. I know in the end, it will all be worthwhile, but its been tough on Jess and Mike and the extended family as well! I don't want to go into too many details here, but Jess is at the 26 week mark and on bed rest. Little baby Bun thinks he needs to come into this world to early, and we want him to stay put for another 6 weeks or so! We are all doing our parts with keeping Jess company while Mike is at work, doing housework and cooking too. That's what families do when the going gets rough right?

So now about the page for May! I wanted to test myself a bit on this one. I wanted to learn how to set a cab in beads, so I set both a "Bun" cab face as well as one to represent Jess. Then the problem was how to sew it onto my page. I also wanted to use a color I don't normally use a lot of - purple! Jess has always had the nickname "J of the B" since she was a little girl. When she asked what the "B" stood for, either her dad or I said "butterflies" so I wanted to represent this in her page as well. I looked through my stash of beads and found these really pretty butterflies in purple and the color palette was born! I wanted the background to be soft and unobtrusive, so I picked this palest of gray color and for drama, selected the dark oily purple tones in the leaves and flowers. I used a dark grape for the vines, and some swarovski crystal flowers for some sparkle. The only time I strayed from this color palette, was when I used the baby blue around the bun cab (because hes a boy after all) and to represent Jess's beautiful auburn hair. The quote at the bottom reads "Mothers and daughters are closest, when daughters become mothers" Very fitting, dont you think?

Update, Elvis and a WOW!

What do all 3 of these things have to do with each other? Why, beads of course! I have been plugging away at my Starry Starry Night tapestry. I have 8,000 beads into it now. It is so slow going because there aren't any big groups of any one color. Its so easy to make a mistake and believe me, I have made more than a few. Its no easy task ripping out 94 beads in a row! Yikes! I have also done a pattern of Elvis for Suzanne Wester for sale at beadcoop. I don't have any updates of my latest BJP as it is still a secret for my daughter Jess. Stay tuned though, its coming right along!

Now for the WOW! I rarely am impressed enough by a business to brag about it, but cannot deny the service I recently got from Terri at Foxden. I ran out of a crucial color for my May BJP. It was a size 15 Japanese bead called Dusty Orchid. I went to the Foxden on Friday at 12:52 pm and placed a small order of size 15's. Would you believe they were in my mailbox the NEXT day? I was in shock! Her prices are great and she carries all the sizes of Delicas along with other types of beads including a mouth-watering selection of little size 15's. They all come in fliptops too, which I love. As I said before, WOW! Thanks Terri Ann! Check out their site for some beauties!

Carol asks "Where the heck are you" Well, I am here - sort of! I have a HUGE bead fairy project that is consuming all my time! It is a bead version of A Starry Starry Night. Suzanne Wester is the pattern maker. This project done in peyote is 10" wide X 7" long and contains 58 colors and 18,000 beads! Yes, I said 18 THOUSAND! I had to come up with a way to contain 58 different colors. This is what I came up with. I took 2 pieces of thick foam, cut 60+ little holes in one piece approximately 1" X 1". I then used double faced tape around each square to seal the edges so no beads could sneak out. I also double face taped all around the whole piece of foam. Then I stuck it to the other uncut piece, had hubby cut a thin piece of plywood, sand the edges for me. I also taped this to the plywood and had a workable bead holder! Its shallow enough to be able to bead right out of the depression, yet just thick enough to hold the little buggers where they need to be. I labeled each depression with the corresponding chart number. So far so good. I have almost 6,000 beads done. Its so neat watching this one develop. Stay tuned! Sorry to have been MIA. Thanks Carol for the kick in the butt! Hugs to All. Hi Kara!

Guess What??

IT'S A BOY!!! My daughter Jess and her hubby Mike just found out this morning that we are adding a little boy to our family! The due date is 11/24/2009. It will be another first for us, the first boy. Our family has lots of girls, so we are happy about little "Bun" being a boy, but we would have loved him/her either way! Isn't the detail of this ultrasound incredible? What a beautiful baby. I can just picture Kileigh and Bun running around playing with each other. Its so nice they will be close in age. Congratulations Mike & Jess!