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I've been home from Tulsa for just over a week now, and this past week I have felt better than I have since the end of January 2024, when my mom's health really started to decline. I spent most of last year in crisis mode and forgot what it felt like to live my "normal" life, so I've been struggling to find that normalcy again. Taking the trip turned out to be really good for me; getting completely out of my usual environment and having a weekend with no responsibilities to anyone, human or animal, just felt so relaxing. I know I'm not done with the grieving process, but it feels more manageable now and I am very thankful for that.

I did end up finishing Hands on Design's Botanical Bee before I left for the retreat and had ordered some finishing rounds from HOD so that I could work on fully finishing them when I got home. I don't enjoy the process of finishing and I don't have a large stash of supplies, including backing fabric, so I decided to use the fabrics I had used to stitch the designs. That seemed like it would have been a bit too plain, so I decided to stitch something on the backs and this is what I came up with:

I finished stitching the backs Saturday afternoon and was able to get them laced before I went to bed:

Yesterday I sewed them together and I now have two new FFOs!

I did the ladybug first and realized part way into it that the size 11 beads were not large enough, but I didn't want to undo it and start again, so I just went ahead and finished it; the bee turned out more like what I had been meaning to do, so I was happier with that one. Then someone on FB suggested adding a layer of larger beads to the ladybug, so I decided to try that. The red and black seed beads were too close together to add a larger white bead in every space, but I was able to fit some in and am much happier with it now:

It's not quite as good as the bee, but I can live with it!

Once I was done with those I had to think about what to work on next, and I landed on Chatelaine's Little Tuscany Mandala, which I'd like to take to the Chatelaine retreat in July:

I'm stitching it on black Belfast, which is very difficult to photograph well; hoping to make some good progress in the coming weeks, though I should be getting some models in from Heart in Hand fairly soon.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!