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Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Obsess Much? And a scare!

Yes, I do obsess! About many things, but this blog is about my creative endeavors. So, we will discuss my current stitching obsession, Spring Carousel Horse by TW Design Works. I am loving how this one is coming together. My Mom gave me an early birthday present, a needle organizer by pako! It is much easier to stitch larger pieces with all your needles already threaded! I had to put it down to work on my SAL's, or else I would be so far behind. I finished the mane and head last night, and am now reluctantly putting it down again to work on the SAL's.

Now I just have to work on the border around it and then the backstitch. It is really weird, but I am not that fond of real horses, but I have always loved the carousel! I went horse-back riding once, and it kind of scared me! They are huge, especially when sitting on one. But my DD loves riding horses and has taken lessons for about 8 years. And watching her canter scares the daylights out of me! But she loves it, and is really gaining confidence. She walks, trots, canters and jumps the horses she rides. She has even fallen off a few times. After a few tears, she gets right back up on the horse and continues on. I envy her persistence! And I applaud it!

Here is Part 10 of Papillon Creations 2009 SAL Castles in the Air. This one is lovely and I am learning so many new stitches. Her diagrams are wonderful.



Here is the left side.


And here is the right side.


1 Now, I had set down my How Does Your Garden Grow by Papillon Creations, 2008 SAL, because of the bullion knots and I had a counting mistake and the right side top corner was off in Part 6. I set it down so I could breathe and regain my composure!! Kept putting it off, then out came Part 10! I hunkered down and got caught up. Now I took pictures of all the parts after I finished each section, but I won't bore you with all of them. Here it is up to Part 10.

I took this photo a couple weeks ago, and a beautiful, sunny, warm, windless day in SW Ontario.



I went out on the porch to go for a walk to end of the driveway to go get the mail and this is what I found about 10 feet away on the driveway! A foot and half long eastern hog nose snake!! Now I walked right back into the house, then grabbed my camera and snapped a photo of this little treat!! And ran right back into the house like the girl I am!! I don't like snakes! I hate snakes! I loath snakes! I understand that I live out in the country in a rural area, and animals will sometimes roam close, but why can't it be deer or fluffy bunnies? I emailed the picture to a couple people, my Hubby and sister. Thank heavens, my BIL knew what kind of snake it was, because I panic and over-react! (He asked me that the next time I photograph it, could I make sure I get a photo of its face! I think the next time I see him, I will punch him in the nose!!) My first thought was "is this thing poisonous?" I freaked out and shuddered for about 2 hours! I was useless! I watched it slither away into the grass. When it came time for my DD to get home, I drove down the driveway to get her off the bus and grab the mail. Now I will leave you with this visual. It was warm, so I have on shorts and a sweatshirt, and as I don't own rubber boots, I put on my puffy blue winter boots, and scurried to the SUV. Needless to say, my DD laughed at me when I explained why I drove down to get her off the bus on a cloudless day! Thanks for looking!

13 comments:

Juels said...

I don't like snakes either! When I lived in Kansas (long time ago) we had to check the wheel wells before getting in the truck to make sure a snake hadn't worked its way up there, waiting to strike. Yuck!!

Your stitching is beautiful!

Anonymous said...

I also HATE snakes & doubt if I could even have gone back out to take a pic. Actually, I don't like any reptiles or bugs (definitely am a city raised girl). Now I live in a rural area of Texas, but am not an outdoors person, so it's okay. lol

Love both your Papillon pieces. The colors you've chosen are so pretty and you are doing a great stitching job. I need to get caught up on my Castles and haven't even yet begun the other one. sigh.......
Barb in TX

Lynn said...

Melissa your stitching is gorgeous! I really love How Does Your Garden Grow. You're braver than I am. I'm afraid to tackle a lot of those specialty stitches. And did I spot some hardanger?
Snakes don't seem to bother me much as long as they're not on me! I think bugs get to me more.

DUSTY said...

Melissa, your TW Carousel horse is gorgeous as well as both of your Papillon designs. The snake is awesome. I am not afraid of them per say but do respect them, and give them a wide berth. Especially if I am not sure if they are poisonous. You do have to admit though that his coloration is gorgeous.

DJ said...

You were VERY brave to shoot that snake (with your camera that is! LOL) I've done that as well, almost stepped on a snake heading out to hang clothes on the line. I NEVER went back in the back yard. Thank heavens I only lived there a few more months! I'm shivering just THINKING about that snake! Love your stitching BTW *grin* It's AMAZING! Your stitching is so neat...it's lovely. *Hugs*

Unknown said...

Good thing you let him live, though, because guarantee it will get more mice than you could guess, and they (eastern hog nose) are very mellow guys, preferring to spread their necks (sometimes called "puff adders" because of the neck spreading like that one is doing as a warning to actually getting into it with something. So since you're not a mouse or a large bug, you're pretty safe with him.

You must live where it's a lot warmer than here; our snakes aren't out yet. Your best bet is to study out just which ones you have locally that are poisonous and learn to identify them without fail. There are far fewer poisonous ones than harmless ones, so by being able to identify the hazardous characters, you automatically know the rest are all safe to be around.

I think the thing that frightens most folks is that we don't see them until we're right on top of them, then they move and startle us. I've stepped on plenty of snakes when I was barefooted, and it never fails; they didn't try to bite me, both ends were looking for a way out!

I have made some really pretty needlepoints based on close-up snakeskin photos, so they have another good thing for us!

wot said...

Your stitching is beautiful, I wanna do that horse one day myself. And that was a really glorious snake. I love them for some reason. :)

Carol said...

Your projects are gorgeous.
I love your story about the snake:)

Linda K's Stitching Corner said...

I dearly love your WIP's....I love Horses...my one cousin use to train the horses for the Kentucky Derby and he had a regular big size training horse ranch. It was so neat to see.

I love your story about the Snake...I have a Cop Friend who had to go to a house and get rid of a Snake that was in the house. I still kid him on his Snake Captivity. It was so funny and to hear him and his buddy talk over the Police Scanner about what they had to do and was going to do that day to get this snake. It was too funny.

Carolyn NC said...

Lovely stitching and projects - and ugh on the snake!

Cindy Brown said...

Melissa, your stitching is gorgeous! Just love your projects.

I used to be like you concerning snakes, until I had a roommate in college with a pet boa constrictor. Got used to that real quick. Now when I see a snake, so long as I know it is not poisonous, I am okay. Good thing too - I have a cat that brings us little garden snakes daily. She doesn't harm them, just brings them to our patio where we watch them play dead until she goes away. Then they slither out into the grass, safe until she catches them again. I think it is a game to her!

Cindy

Tracey said...

Beautiful WIPs!! Those needle organizers are great aren't they? I used one when I did "Christ in Gethsemane" as it had a lot of blended threads. I'm with you on the snakes- yikes!

Charlene ♥ NC said...

Beautiful stitching! Yes, I too love those stitch organizers when working on a large project. They do keep you moving, don't they? Haven't seen any snakes this spring (knock wood), and that's a good thing!