Sunday, April 30, 2006

Froggies!


At long last, a photo! Nevermind that it looks like it was taken in a dim basement cell rather than my craft room that is bright and cheery in real life. (Must work on photography skills!)

This is the little frog I mentioned making. I must say, I'm pretty proud. I've made lots of amigurumi creatures, but this is the first one I've really accessorized.

Her dress is made from a scrap of calico fabric that my mom's had since the seventies. The other side of the dress is a scrap from a vintage shirt that I talked Dave into buying on one of our thrift adventures. He only wore it once or twice before declaring that it wasn't his style, so I got to take it for crafty purposes. The litle bag is roomy enough to hold a treasure or two.

I was so pleased with the result, that I decided to make a second one for my cousin's little girl. That's the one I made for Hadley on the right--you can see the red and white checked material from Dave's old shirt. I always thought it looked like the perfect shirt to wear on a picnic. Hadley seemed to like her new doll whose name she decided is Frieda.

The visit home was great, but way too short, especially cosidering it took almost 24 hours total traveling time. But it was worth it. This past Christmas was the first I didn't spend at home, but this visit almost made up for it. Nearly everyone in the family got home and it was so nice to be around people who love you just because and who share the stories of your life.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Birthdays

Today is a very special day. It's the 90th birthday of both my grandfather, Milo Schosser (Happy Birthday, Poppy!) and Beverly Cleary.

We will be flying to Kentucky next week to celebrate Poppy's birthday with the whole family. We haven't been home since we moved to California last August, so we're really excited. I'm looking forward to seeing my cousin's kid who is the only little one in our family so far and who just turned four. The frog I made turned out so well, I've make a second one for her. (Pictures to be posted soon--I promise!)

We celebrated Beverly Cleary's birthday today at the library with a D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything and Read) event. Not a lot of kids showed up, but I did get to read aloud from one of my favorite childhood books, Ramona Quimby, Age 8. I have so many good memories of the Ramona books. She was the first heroine I really identified with. I absolutely loved the books when I was small and I find upon re-reading, that they are just as good and fresh and true to kid life.

Happy Birthday Poppy and Ms. Cleary!