Wednesday, June 17, 2009

No Stitching but FROGS!

Disclaimer: No frogs were injured during this photo shoot, I promise.

On Monday I babysat my little buddy John. He's absolutely my favorite human being person. He's smart, way beyond his three years. If I'm sad, this kid can brighten my day, even when that day starts at 6 a.m. We somehow ended up in my backyard which I think is one of John's favorite places and I'm not sure why. I have a swing, he has a swing in his backyard too. I have dogs and cats, he has a dog and a cat. I'm pretty sure he even has frogs in his yard but on this day he caught a baby frog in my backyard. Below you see him trying to contain the frog who really was just minding his own business, hopping along to meet some frog buddies.

Trust me there's a frog on his arm.


See peeking out there, Sir Frog Hopsalot. He really was calm considering his current situation.


The mantra of the morning: Do not squeeze him. Do not squeeze him. I finally gave up and said, "If you keep holding him that tight he's going to pee all over your hand and I'm out of soap!"
Sometimes gross works, especially with three year olds.

This picture was taken by John, Still Life with Frog. So see Sir Frog Hopsalot survived the photoshoot and is hopefully off chillin' with his frog lady friend and getting ready to make some tadpoles.




Here's the much delayed graduation picture. That's the 13 yr old to the left, the graduate in the middle and the spousal unit there on the right. The oldest was off somewhere with a pack of girls.

And here below you see my very own Angel with a Dirty Face, Polly Prissy Pants. I love this dog so much. She's my best friend, my protector, and so darn goofy.



In stitching news which is probably what you come here for, I'm almost finished with Primitive Needle's Salem Remembered. As soon as that's finished I'm going to start either Simply Live which is kitted up from a mix of threads or Cape Cod Girls which I have partially kitted up, just need a few more colors but I could start it no problem. Both of these are also Primitive Needle designs. Here's a link to more of Lisa's designs: The Primitive Needle.
I had a bit of a fabric dyeing disaster. I wanted to start HAED Cinderella-Dawe, I am having trouble accessing the website or I'd include a link you can go to http://www.heavenandearthdesigns.com/ click on artists listing 1, then scroll down to Dawe, click, then you can see Cinderella. Anyway, my fabric was a bit too white so I thought a coffee stain would darken it up enough that the light grays wouldn't fade into the fabric, well I dunked my fabric, took it out, put it on the patio table to dry, the wind kept blowing it off the table so I tossed it in the dryer. I'm not skilled at this stuff, I just do what I think I am supposed to do. I can't stress that enough. Well my fabric came out of the dryer and all the coffee stain had pooled along the edges and now the fabric just looks dirty or peed on. Fortunately this is a solidly stitched design, I was planning on matting it when I framed it, so only a tiny bit of fabric will show and I just didn't want it to bright antique white. So I'm stitching on the screwed up fabric because I'm just wild and crazy that way and have no shame. I love the way Cinderella is presented in this picture. I can feel her heartaching, the magic is gone and she's back to being Cinderella, cleaning girl. Right now other than the fabric being in hideous shape I've only stitched a bit of black and gray and there's not much to see but a blob. Will share when I have more of a picture.
I'm not sure if I've shared this link before but Beatrice is stitching The Autumnal Woods from Golden Kite. It's something like 600,000+ stitches and is the size of a blanket. She has a pretty sweet gallery of stitched masterpieces from http://www.goldenkite.com/ and when I see how much she has stitched on this ginormous piece it makes me want to pick up my needle and go to town. I just don't know if I have that kind of stick-to-it-ness. How long have I been working on Salem Remembered a piece I love?
I'm hoping the spousal unit will be motivated to paint the living room this weekend, I mean what else has he got to do? The only thing on his calendar is True Blood at 8p.m. on Sunday night, he can surely squeeze in a bit of painting right?
Keep your fingers crossed next post will be a "I finished Salem Remembered" celebratory post.
Also anyone else think Facebook puts you right back into the mindset that you are still that awkward kid you were in high school?

8 comments:

Margaret said...

Congratulations again to the graduate -- and the parents of said graduate! Glad you got to hang with your favorite little guy and frogs. :D Can't wait to see your finish! (I refuse to join Facebook. If I can resist Facebook even when my daughter is in Spain and it's the only way I can see her Spain pictures, then I'm good. :D Oh, and yes, it's a pain when the kids have weird exam schedules. Lucky for me, my two kids didn't overlap in hs, and I only have to worry about his schedule and no one else's.)

Missy Ann said...

Pick a color that goes with True Blood, like Sookie's Sugar Cookie or Coffin Lining Blue. lol

If you start Live Simply let me know. We can do a stitch a long. I've had this chart this last year and it has been calling my name really loudly lately.

Face Book - ick. If you want to know me now... you should've given me the time of day in high school.

Nancy M said...

Congrats to the graduate, so just one more to leave? That Beatrice's blog is awesome. She can really fly through the patterns. Do you see the progress she makes every week? I couldn't do that in a month! Good luck getting your Salem Remembered finished.

Lucy said...

Check out my blog today if you can.
Thanks!

Siobhán said...

Congrats to the graduate!! Three handsome guys you have there, Melissa! ;) Harrison looks just like you.

Love the frog pictures. I have to admit, I was so glad that the story didn't end with a squashed frog. LOL

Your pup is adorable!

Maren said...

LOL, I love your frogs. You should bring your little guy out to my back yard after dark. The grass comes to life with toads as big as his hands.

Congratulations on the graduation!

Dona said...

Melissa, cute frog pictures! I was kind of worried about the squishing thing when I saw them,too! I do remember catching little frogs like that.

Miss Polly is a very sweet looking dog. She looks like she's happy to have her picture taken.

I had a similar fabric dyeing incident - yikes!

Can't wait to see your Salem finished.

Carol said...

Congrats to the graduate and parents too! Two down, one to go...just like me. My middle daughter just graduated from college and will be teaching third grade in the fall. Gosh how time flies!!! I love Facebook. I am glad to make connections with people from high school that I didn't bother to get to know back then!