Look what arrived in the mail!

Silk.

Ribbon.

Yumm.

The buttons are stash.  They’re glass and while they look really dark here, they’re a darn near exact match for the fabric.  They’re just the right size, too so hurray for serendipity.

When we last left our intrepid heroine, she was here:

And here’s the progress I’ve made.  (And no, the fabric hasn’t changed colour – I took these last night, under artificial light.  Went from blue to kinda greyish – darn colour temperatures!  The pictures I took in natural light are accurate.)

Not a ton, admittedly, but I have completed the smocking on Flower Power, made the Valentine’s pouches and made a sample for the quilting class I taught last week.  Plus worked and wrote and generally kept my family fed and dressed and out of the pool halls 🙂

As you can see, I completed the top band and have made about five rows of progress on the second.  Haven’t started in on the beadwork yet, but that will come as soon as I finish the trellis diamonds.  The backsmocking is done, too and when that’s done, I can pull out the pleating threads and get on to the ribbon work.