Some stitching, some nails, and Toby

This week I thought I'd work a bit on Santa's Village so that's exactly what I did.  I'm working on the Post Office and if I work on it tomorrow I should finish this block off.  I think I have number 4, but I'm not too sure.  I have number 5 for sure so if there is no 4, I'll just drop back to the other side and start on that house.

I've been painting my nails all along, but not taking any pictures of what I've gotten up to.  I decided to give it another go with the photography bit with decidedly poor results.  I'll continue to try with the photos... and with getting better clean up on my nails.  Anyway, for the first half of the week I wore what can only be described as a hot mess.

I used Essie French Affaire (light pink) and Jamaica Me Crazy (shimmery fuchsia) for the base coats.  Sinful Colors Opal Glitter is used on my ring finger for an attempted gradient.  And then I went crazy with random rhinestones.  Why are they funky bumps on my pointer finger?  Well, originally it was French Affaire pink and then I decided to add some dots in Jamaica Me Crazy.  But I didn't like the dots so I painted it all over with Jamaica Me Crazy and went with the purple hearts.  Like I said, a right crazy mess.

Thursday night I decided that the hot mess had to come off and I wanted to try some galaxy nails.  I read through this tutorial and went to town.  As usual, there's more enthusiasm than accuracy.

I definitely need to find something smaller to use as a dotting tool and fight my instincts to make nice symmetrical patterns with the dots.  This one requires a lot of polishes, and I actually used less than the number listed in the tutorial.  Here's the list: OPI Russian Navy; China Glaze Spontaneous and Grape Pop; NYC French White; Sinful Colors Opal Glitter; and ELF Skinny Jeans, Lavender Mist, and Mint Cream.  Quite fun.  Next week, I'm feeling a skittle and maybe some practice on stamping since I have plenty of time to muck about with it on Monday.

Sunday has arrived and I put some more time into O Holy Night.  I'm still plugging along at Mary's shoulder, but I'm quite please with the progress so far, given how little time I do stitch on it.  I am stitching this on 28 count Dwarf Blue by Picture This Plus.  The faded grey-blue feel of the fabric is thus far working well with the muted tones of the flosses.

I had a question asked about my spring hoops and if the stitches get ruined by using them.  I'd have to say that as far as I'm concerned the stitches are fine after spending some time under the hoop.  They do get a bit squished, but they spring back to life after a pressing.  I don't like to use them when doing beading, though.  I have to be extra careful about placing the hoop around the beads because they can get caught in the hoop and that will distort the stitching.  But otherwise a bit of pressing and everything comes out just fine.

And lastly, here is Toby with his pig.  He's not actually actively chewing on pig. He was just laying on the couch, watching Top Gear with us and holding pig in his mouth.  Silly dog. He's going to have to give up his prime spot on the couch here in a month though.

That's all from me for this week.
Hugs and Stitches,
Kay