In my blog I plan to chat about nature, crafts, baking, gardening, beekeeping, family, and whatever else seems appropriate at the time. Sit back, relax, and enjoy!

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Happy Birthday PA!

This is my pa...I probably get my love of nature from him. 
 

This is the house my brother and I grew up in.
  
 Can you see the resemblance of the house on this pillow?  Kind of...Please say yes.
 
 
 For Christmas, our family draws names for our gift exchange.   And most of the time I TRY to make something for the person's name I draw.  But, I also buy them something, as we have a money limit, plus they might not like what I made and I don't want them to be disappointed.  This year, I decided to forgo making Christmas presents.  But then we had Wool Scrap Saturday.  And with encouragement from my friends,  I decided to give this idea a try.
 The idea was to make a pillow that says "oh what  beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day."  The reason for that is because whenever us kids would be asleep...in the morning....our alarm clock was our Dad coming to our door and singing in baritone, "Ooooh what a beautiful morning.....Oh what a beautiful day."  UGH!  So I stitched the house, and it was way too big.  So I stitched it again.  Results above. 
And we had two trees on the side of the house when growing up, none in front.  So I stitched the tree on the side of the house...and added a few leaf beads.

 And even though the scene is daytime, I stitched a few stars.  The one star with a few beds trailing behind represents the UFO Dad and I saw when we were sitting in the front yard! True Story:  We were sitting in the front yard in lawn chairs....those old aluminum kind with the plastic webbing that last forever....anyway we saw something in the sky.  We couldn't figure out what it was, and jokingly called it a UFO.  This was in the 1960's.  UFOs were just a myth.  But the next day in the paper, there was an article that several people saw it! 
 I needle felted the suns rays and added a few beads (because I'm trying to embellish more)

 The mouse represents the mouse that my Brother swore he kept hearing in the attic.  My parents never believed him so he snuck up in the attic and set a mouse trap, which went off during the night!  He was right!
The roses under the windows weren't at the house.  They are at the house he and Mom live in now.  Pa is a Master Gardener.  As I recall, we had rocks under those windows.  I remember Pa picking up one of those rocks and heaving it at the dogs that lived across the street, that were chasing me home!  They were mean dogs.   I wanted to add a lot more stuff to this pillow, but time ran out and I can't draw very well.  I wanted fishing poles and baseball bats in the yard.  I wanted a baby in a bassinet in the window (My sister was born while we lived in this house)  But since I had less than two weeks to make the pillow, with other Christmas activities going on, and I can't draw very well...I called it quits at this point.
 
 And that is how I sneak in a Christmas craft post
 with a birthday post!!!
Wish my Pa a Happy Birthday!
It's today. (he wasn't really happy in the picture below.  I also get my NON-love for scraping windows from him!)


 HAPPY
 BIRTHDAY
PA!

6 comments:

  1. Your gift ROCKS!! This one really made me smile. You are a lucky/blessed daughter with a father like that. Happy Birthday Pa from Alabama....

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  2. What a great gift for your Dad. Bet he loves it. You done good.

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  3. What a great present, love it and the stories which go along with it!
    Happy Birthday to your Pa!

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  4. Your cushion is just lovely. Well done. I love all the embellishments and I'm sure your dad loves it too. Birthday congrats to him - he has a distinct look of James Dean leaning against his car or did James Dean copy the look from your dad? Philippa xx

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  5. loved that pillow::::and it brought back a few memories as well:::::::Dang Uncle was a good looking man way back when::::and now a very good looking guy for his age as well::::::he is a lovable guy!
    you cousin

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Cindy