The Saga Continues

So, my DH is still in pain.  Over four nights, he's gotten approximately eight hours of sleep.  Total.  Can you repeat after me?..."This is NOT good."  He's so tired that he is feeling sick.  He tries sitting up and lying down, on the bed, on the couch, in a recliner;  all work for a short time, but no longer.  Hot compresses helped last night, but don't seem to be helping this morning.  He really wrecked himself up this time and he is most definitely feeling his age. 

Hancock got my "disposable" income for
this month.  DH actually found the
brocade that I fell in love with.  Now

I just have to do the fabric justice. 

I, on the other hand, went fabric shopping on Sunday and Monday.  I had a 40% off coupon that was only good on Sunday, and I purchased an amazing silvery-grey brocade for a court-style dress.  I went back on Monday because they had special Columbus Day hours, opening at 8am, with a 10% off everything you purchase sale.  I got two different greys for the underskirt and sleeves.  I think I'll try some specialty rouching on the underskirt, along with single-stitch patterning reproducing the pattern of the brocade onto the grey.  I want half-moon shoulders and tie-sleeves for the bodice, and I want long cuffs with a finger-loop and puffed upper sleeves for the chemise.  The key will be getting the bodice to fit correctly, so I think I'll probably do a corset or two first.  I have been wanting a custom corset for a while - one that fits properly and supports better than the generic corsets I have been using for years.  But, tomorrow is studio day and I have a long list of things I need to accomplish.  A corset, unfortunately, can't make that list quite yet. 

Progressing and Designing

I am trying to get my scheduling nailed for the year. I know that I will complete an item for Beading For A Cure, the charity against colon cancer that I have been involved with for many years. And if my friend Shruit gets our application in and accepted, I will be participating with her in a second competition piece. But I think those are the only two beading competitions that I will produce beadwork for this year.

In metal clay, I will be making charms for the charm swap at the PMC Conference in July, and I will be making some Art Clay Copper pieces to enamel and test out because it's a new product that I actually have owned for a while now and just haven't had the time to play with yet. I may or may not do more with metal clay this year - it's still very much in the air. I love the product, but I also need to work on my fabrication skills which have fallen by the wayside.
For fabrication, I will be setting enamel pieces. I need to finish my cloak pins. Then I would still like to do the center heron for my heron and chrysanthamums piece that I started more than a year ago. And I want to make more enamel. Lots more. I really love playing with enamel.

And I'll be drawing. Because my fingers are itching to pick up a piece of graphite and a sketchpad and draw. And many of those drawings may make their way into color and finally into glass because the projects that I have in the works are into sketch mode now.

And finally I'll be sewing - I'll be hand embroidering the borders of cloaks and machine sewing the cloaks themselves. I still want to do a new corset for Renaissance Faire, and I want a new skirt also. I have had the fabric for that for a couple of years, I just need to actually make the items.

Well - it looks like I'll have a busy year. Guess I'd better get going on my art front!

Stress and De-Stess

Everyone handles stress differently, and in these economic times, everyone is experiencing stress. I handle stress by diving into my crafts and art, playing with my Super Poke Pets, and working with on-line friends. My DH harumps around the house, discusses possible monetary solutions that we've already discussed 100's of times before, and generally makes himself an unpleasant person to spend time with. Although he's been making an effort to be bright, shiny and happy for me, the fact that we are having a tough time at the shop, added to the fact that he will have surgery tomorrow (probably no post tomorrow, depending on what time his surgery gets scheduled for) have placed his mood into the toilet. As you can guess, my anniversary was pretty much a "not" happening. It's the story of most of my joint celebrations with him, so it was not a surprise.

I also didn't get as much done yesterday as I wanted. But I did pick up two magazines at Barnes & Noble (looked through a wonderful book on children's book illustrating but decided against spending the money). Then I went to the fabric store and got a wonderful brocade with lining and cord embellishment for my new bodice, and I went to Best Buy for my best bargain of the day - a micro SD card for my phone which was free with Reward Certificates I had earned earlier in the year. I did spend money on groceries though, and didn't even get everything that I wanted .



(This is not my exact fabric, but it's close. Pretty, isn't it?)

Today I'll start out with a repair. I told the guy that it would be ready for him by last week and he's leaving town on Sunday, so I'd better get going. I spent most of yesterday afternoon editing a talk that my cousin will be giving about her Dad and Mom's experiences in Nazi Germany. It was pretty good, but there were a lot of small corrections that needed to be made so it took me several hours to edit. My cloak sat on the manniquin, mocking me . Hopefully I can get some work going on it tonight. And "Survivor Samoa" begins tonite, so all is not lost - LOL!