ending one week, beginning another

making progress is a good thing!

the quilting on this is coming along nicely -- I've just started working on the "shadows" below the bottles on the window sill -- so far I like it -- 

I'm hoping to get this piece finished this coming week -- still have not decided how I will finish the edges -- I've been thinking about using a very tight machine satin stitch around the edges and leaving them uneven and somewhat "ragged" -- we'll see

 have finished stitching down this bird -- have one more to do at the other end of the "perch" -- the pieces are somewhat "fiddly" as this is all hand stitched raw edge applique and some of those pieces are smaller than the size of my little finger nail

on to the next bird (which is all blues, and smaller), and while I'm working on that one I can think about what I'm going to use for the background 

 

for a number of years I've been building some sort of "stuffie" as a stocking gift for members of the "clan"  

this year "Mr Cute" is in his first year of middle school (!?!? how DID that happen?!?!) and his school mascot is a bulldog, so I decided he needed a bulldog as his "stuffie"

the pattern does this all in white, but I know not all bulldogs are just white, and that pattern thing in that case is just a suggestion as far as I'm concerned - I'm adding little splotches of brown in random places

so far the body and the 2 front legs are ready for the assembly, and the yarn arrived this week for the appropriate sweater vest for the dog to wear (I get to "make up" that pattern on my own -- it wasn't included -- no problem, I've knit a few vests!)

feels like there was an inordinate amount of time spent on medical stuff this past week -- the annual "smash and flash" of the mammogram and checking on blood pressure and tweeking the meds, trying to get it to the proper balance -- nothing serious, just annoying as it takes me away from the studio

this coming week is the dreaded every 5 year check for colon cancer --- the procedure itself isn't all that bad -- just a little nap while they take a look around -- but the prep for it is torture as far as I'm concerned -- and again, it takes me away from the studio -- I'll be happy to be done with it 

see y'all on the other side