it's a frame up

my very talented son in law painted this piece and gave it to us for Christmas

this week we finally got it into a frame

we're slow, but we get there eventually

still need to put a hanging wire on the back of the frame and figure out exactly where on the art wall I'll hang it, but we're a step closer



and meantime, in the garage workshop, the DH is using his new "toy"

this is the framing for the underside of the top of the table he's building for our daughter

he built the jig out of scrap wood

nice!

and it's really nice that his shoulder has healed up enough that he can go out into the workshop and do this kind of thing again

I was reminded when I went out to take this picture that there is a chair frame out there waiting for me to haul it into the house and put the upholstery fabric on it

perhaps this week we can get started on that

having finished the zebra bracelet, it was time to get into another beading project

there on the left is what this piece looked like before I started attacking it with the scissors

I took the chain apart and removed the backing and the outside two rows of beading

then I did some repair work in the field beads and trimmed the backing to fit better and pinned the pieces together

since I want to use the beads that were in the chain as fringe tips, I needed to create a new chain, so I started a right angle weave piece (there at the bottom of the right hand picture) -- this will take a little while but I think I'll be a lot happier with the way it looks when I'm done

the petals are complete

today's stitching will be the top of the cone flower, which will be that same dark rusty color that that first layer of petals were

which means that maybe by tomorrow I'll be ready to start fussy cutting the birds and butterflies out of the print fabric

so far I'm pleased with the way this looks, and with how quickly it's progressing

right now I think it will be very possible to have this done before the deadline

the trunk of the palm tree is all attached

and the stitching of the fronds has begun

when I did the feathers on the Hoffman piece I did them pretty much free hand without using a hoop

when I got to the quilting stage, that created some challenges, so this time I've drawn what I want to stitch on a piece of tear away stabilizer that is pinned to the fabric to guide my stitching

and I'm using a hoop

we'll see if this solves all those issues



the last section of the Christmas sock leg portion is complete

originally I was going to do another section with Santa on it, but when I got half way through the trees it was beginning to resemble a knee high for a giraffe, so I've decided this is enough

at the next knitting session I'll start the heel

which means this is now 50% complete -- YIPPEE!

today, being pay day, we'll be making our monthly Costco run, and a trip to the hardware store for some stuff

time to get moving