It only took three years to finish.

I took this Jeanette Shanigan workshop at Bead & Button about three years ago. It took me a long time to finish. Why? I don't really know. I had the flower embroidery part of it finished during the class, so maybe it was just the tedium of stitching the two pieces together.

I even put it in the center of my studio table to force me to finish it, but all I did was push it aside and work on other things. You can see an example of this in this photo, which I originally posted on my blog in May. See? There's even a strand of beads for another project lying on top of it!

I took the class with my mom. Don't tell her I told you this, but hers still isn't finished.

The pattern called for some spiral rope type of embellishing around the edges, but that was a little much for me. I like things a little more simple.

There's an article about Jeanette in the latest issue of Bead & Button. She has coordinated a Bead Artists Against Breast Cancer project that is really amazing. Bead artists submit their small beaded squares of a particular theme (this year's theme is roses) and Jeannette sews them together into bead quilts that are then auctioned off to raise money for breast cancer research. View some samples of the quilts on her site.

The surgery to remove the cyst on my ovary is tomorrow. I cannot have any solid food today. I thought I should post now in case I get cranky from hunger later! :) The recovery time is two weeks, so I'll see you back here as soon as I can.