Midnight Garden - Jacket - Part XXXI

Duh!

Well, I've two "duh" moments recently. The first one isn't nearly as bad as the second.

First, I realized that I had not shown you the completed beaded lilies. I finished them over Christmas weekend and forgot about them until this morning. Here's one of them:

Here's a closer look at the beading, albeit overexposed on the silver areas:

The beading actually was easy once I decided what I wanted to do. For beading, I generally have an idea of what I'm going to do, but don't actually know exactly what I'm going to do until I start stitching on the beads. Most of the time I end up playing around and doing several versions until I find the one that is just right. I always know it when I see it. These lilies took about 5 versions and I actually didn't do anything one Saturday except play around with the beads to find the right thing. I didn't actually stitch too much - just placed the beads on the surface - as I didn't want to mar the silk. Finally the right thing struck me the next morning and I was able to finish the lilies.

The second "duh" occurred last night. At this point, I have a set schedule as to what needs to be done each day to finish this project. I work better if I have daily goals. Last night, I was so proud of my self for finishing the day's task of putting in the lining. Not an easy task, as the portion between the facings in the back had to be put in by hand because of the peplum and it's curves. So, I got into bed after finishing the fell stitching to close the lining and as my head hit the pillow, it struck me: I didn't put in the shoulder pads! Ugh! You know what I did. No, I did not get up and fix it right then. This morning I took out a section of the hem (thank goodness I had not pick stitched yet!), put the shoulder pads in and refinished the hem.

The jacket, then, is almost complete. I need to bead the edge of the peplum, cover and install the snap closures and put in the label. These are little things that will get done early next week, along with the finishing touches for the skirt and blouse. I am thinking that the ensemble will be finished by the end of next week. I probably won't post final photos until the following week due to all the accessories not being here and other posts I'd like to do.

Parting Shot: Christmas Coffee Cakes! Christmas is the only time of year that I bake these coffee cakes - they're very rich and delicious and reserved for special occasions. (If you're American, they taste like Entemann's coffee cakes, but better!) The long one has blackberry and cream cheese filling and the circular one has apricot/orange filling. They also have two toppings, which add to the richness. You can see me adding glaze in the last photo.