Video games and training

My suspicion for this week was confirmed. There was so much information in this training class, that I had to pay close attention 100% of the time. I got tiny amounts of progress done during lunch breaks, but even then, that wasn't every day.
If you combine this with the fact that the new Lego Avengers video game came out this week, I didn't get much work in. My husband and I really enjoy playing those Lego games together (yes, we are kids at heart). We even made plans for the evening:
We had a Gamestop gift card from one of our credit cards, so after work we went straight to the game store and picked up the game. As soon as we got home, we got comfy, and started up the game. Shortly after that, the pizza (that we had ordered ahead of time, earlier in the day) was delivered. We had a great evening of pizza and video games. I love my husband. :)

Even with all this going on, I at least managed to obtain my minimum goal of getting both strips attached to the main body of the purse. I'm not sure exactly how high I'm going to make this, but so far I have 10 stripes on it.

Then, on top of that, I got sick with some crud the past few days.  I'm finally getting over it, thank goodness.

Some work

I got a little bit of work done this past week.  Let me first show my progress on my Candy Cane Christmas project. Here is where I last left off:

Here is where I am now,I got some more done in the corner.

 

I also got some more work done on something that I am making for myself.  With all the chainmail stuff I have been making, I decided to experiment and make myself a purse out of aluminum and rubber chainmail. I love how it is coming along so far, but I have already determined that these purses are not something I would be able to make and sell. There is just too much material and work that goes into this. 

Here is what I have done so far:

 You can see that strip and a half that I haven't yet attached to the main body. The 2 outer edges will eventually attach to each other, making the main body of the purse. I still need to make quite a few more strips to attach until I get it to a nice size, but I love it so far! 

Here is a closer picture of it (you can click on the picture to make it larger, too):

This coming week, I am going to be in training all week at work. That usually means I will either be so super busy that I won't have time or feel like working on anything (most likely) or I will have plenty of time and energy to work on something when I get home (hopefully).  

At the very least, I am hoping to finish attaching these strips to the purse body.

I'm still here! I promise

So, I can honestly say that I have not been so busy in a very long time. Only a few posts ago (because I haven't been keeping up) I was talking about my very first craft fair. Well, over the course of the rest of the year, I went to a total of 5!
I have been having such a blast, that I am hoping to attend even more over the course of this year. My first one is scheduled for mid-March, and from there, who knows?! I have been getting into the craft fairs so much, that my husband bought me a wagon/cart for Christmas, to be able to transport my fair stuff with easier.

My Kickstarter was a success! I was able to get fully funded and I shipped all the rewards out to my backers. The feeling of accomplishment I had after finally mailing off the last few rewards was a big weight off my shoulders, let me tell you. I did have a great time with it, though, and I hope to possibly do another one this year.

Stitching-wise, I have only stitched a little bit on my Christmas project. I was starting to get tired of making all the chainmail, so I took a day off to stitch, instead. I don't have any pictures of my progress (since there was very little).
I do have some pictures of some of my chainmail items I have been making, though. Here are a few of my favorites:

Top left: My large ring byzantine bracelets
Top right: Stretchy chainmail dice/money bag
Left: Scalemail poinsettia ornament
Bottom right: Assorted colors, barrel weave Stretchy chainmail bracelets.

These are just a few of the things I have made. I have several earring types, bracelets, ornaments, keychains, etc. I have been very busy!

I want to start posting new things that I make here on my blog to share with everyone. I will still post my cross stitch updates as they come along, as well! I am going to try and update my blog once a week like I used to. It seemed as though posting updates is a big part of my motivation when stitching, and I think it will help keep me on track with my business making chainmail, as well. Stitching will be my relaxing activity to prevent me from burning out on all the chainmail.

If anyone has stuck with me during my hiatus and is reading this, I would love some feedback!
Thanks guys!