Thursday, July 12, 2007

PILLOWS AND PROJECTILES


My little group of three decided to make this cute little wool pillow. It is from the Blackbird Design's book, Birds of a Feather, and they call it Berry Hill Pillow. We all like to have something to do with our hands in the evening. When I finished that, I went looking for another project and came up with this embroidery project. It is also BB Designs, from their new book, Simply Vintage. It is a pattern for rug hooking, but I adapted it into a stitchery project. I love those hooked rugs, but haven't tried that yet. I am afraid of getting into yet another thing I will love to do and then have to spend lots of money to do. So for now, floss is cheap, and I have lots of fabric I need to use, so I will stick with quilts. Yeah, I am doing a little wool applique also, but so far I haven't gotten into the deep end with that.
I thought I might give a word of warning to anyone out there that is thinking about getting their child or grandchild a water balloon launcher. It sounds like such innocent fun, doesn't it? Well, on the 4th of July my daughter-in-law took the kids to a celebration at the church and got hit in the face with a water balloon that was launched from across the parking lot. She thought, at first, that her nose was broken. Luckily, that was not the case. However, her face puffed up and she got two big black eyes. She was hurting! We were so worried about her because she has had eye surgery a couple of times to correct other problems. Fortunately, her doctor said her eyes look fine (after a 2 hour exam). She is a good sport about it all, and recognizes that it was an accident. Really though, do water balloons need to become weapons?

13 comments:

Gail said...

The pillow and stitchery are very nice. Sorry to hear that such an 'innocent' toy caused such a problem, but grateful that your DIL is ok in spite of it. You just never know, do you?

Anonymous said...

Marcie, you are absolutely right. Glad your daughter-in-law is okay. I can only imagine what would happen if a balloon hit a 2-year-old or other tiny face.

Libby said...

So glad your daughter-in-law is going to be fine - sounds like a scary outing.
Your newest pieces are wonderful - birds are such fun to work with.

Knot Garden said...

I like your stitchery adaptation, I always like designs with birds. It was a good idea to use the pattern for embroidery.
Water balloon launchers sound like silly things to me.

mary said...

water balloon launchers are dangerous, even when not aiming at the face. My 9 yr old son was hit in the "family jewels" and was in dire agony for a long time.

Ms. Jan said...

Sorry to hear about your DIL--imagine how that would have impacted a child? Some people (like me) are in danger enough from then when hand thrown due to our sad lack of coordination. {G}

I love your stitchery--embroidery is such a great take-along project.

sewprimitive karen said...

Your stitchery version is so pretty. So glad that your DIL is all right, particularly since she had had eye surgery.

Susan said...

Both the pillow and the stitchery are really wonderful. I love adapting things from one purpose to another one. This looks great!

I'm so glad your DIL is okay. If they were going to be launching those things, it shouldn't have been in the direction where there were people. Or did this one just "get away" from someone?

Jeanne said...

My boys were playing with a launcher many years ago -- shot a balloon from the neighbor kid's driveway across the street and made a big dent in my garage door, even from that far away :(

Admiring your bird projects!

Jeanne

Darlene said...

Love both projects, Marci. The pillow fabric around the wool bird is adorable!

I'm so glad to hear that you're DIL is alright.

Judy said...

Yikes that bad...did the launcher know they hit someone and injured them?

Marcie, what do you mark your fabric with for embroidery? I worry about the pen showing through but pencil is hard to see after a while.

Angie said...

Those are both adorable, Marcie!! Don't you just love Blackbird Design patterns!! I know there are a couple of new books/patterns by them that I just *have to* add to my book collection. :) I'm glad the injuries to your DIL weren't any worse than they were!

Kim said...

Hey! Cool! You have a photo of you and you've changed your background. Layout too? Gee, you're a new woman! Almost didn't recognize you! Or is it all my imagination?