Attack of the Frogs......

......flower frogs, that is (although the stitchy ones came by too). I'll get to the stitchy one first. Even though my sister was here and we flew like the wind (including the day she left - Tuesday), I actually had a finish!

Be True

Little House Needleworks

I only started this, what? Four months ago? But it was the perfect piece to pick up while my sister and I were gabbing late into the night. This will be my next framing attempt. I spotted another tutorial on one of the blogs using binder clips. That should help out immensively with the pinning or lacing part.

My sister and I had such a great time! Antique malls, discount malls, flea markets, thrift stores, pet adoption events, art fairs - and so many other things, I can't even remember all of it. I didn't take pictures - she took all of them, and hopefully she'll send them to me soon. Have I mentioned that it's taken me two days to recover? And my car now has an additional 700 miles on it? LOL But we did have the best of time.

Time with my sister is precious. Three years ago we all thought that she was going to die. She had contracted a virus (she's traveled all over the world), and it lodged in her stomach. After two years of horrible fatique, missing out of work, going through a battery of tests and drugs (including opiates), they finally think they've pinpointed what it is (and the name escapes me right now, darned it). She is currently in a remission kind of state and being treated with Chinese herbs. It is a known virus, but very little is known about it and the Chinese herbs seem to be the best treatment. Right now she is in an 18 month weaning process off the opiates she was on and seems so much better than when I saw her last November. Unfortunately, the virus can rear it's ugly head again and attack her heart or brain. We are constantly praying that doesn't happen.

My sister loves flea markets and antique stores because prices are so much cheaper here than where she lives, so she was the perfect enabler for my current addiction. It seems that I've developed an addiction for flower frogs. Now I don't know how I'm going to use all of these, but we all need something to collect, right? The only other things I guess you could say I collect (besides what appears to be a scissor fetish lately) is Barbie Dolls. But this is what I found:

The one on the left is just one that I found in Frankenmuth - it has hearts on the side so I grabbed it. The one on the right is actually circa 1935-1938 and I was so thrilled to find it that I almost fell all over myself! But then I found two more of them - exactly the same at different antique stores. I bought those too (don't tell DH). One is going to my sister as a "just because" (I think she actually got caught up in my frenzy, came to me with a second one and I grabbed it out of her hand, snorting and dancing in the store - not realizing that she could possibly want it), and the third one - well, I'm not sure yet what I'll do with it - maybe fill it up. What I like about the one on the right is that not only can you put scissors in the middle, but along the scalloped edges too.

Then I found a couple clear ones:

And these:

And then this top. Actually I bought a couple of these in different sizes. I found that with good antique store sleuthing, I can find bowls that will fit these for a good price.

I also found these two things for my craft room. I love the victorian hand clip!

And then this for my dining room:


I don't think that it's an antique, but I had been looking for something like this for a while.

Another thing I almost came home with (and it's still up in the air) was this precious thing:

Isn't he adorable? He was at a pet adoption event we went to. I took him out of his cage, he licked my face and snuggled into my neck and did not come out. Wouldn't let anyone else take him either. The kids were thrilled. Unfortunately, you don't take these animals home. You fill out lengthy adoption papers proving that you will be able to take care of the animal. Well, I've done all that and we're waiting. I'm not holding my breathe because he was so adorable that I'm sure many others wanted him. But we'll see. He's a German Shepherd/Lab mix found with his four siblings in a burned out house in Detroit. Not my first choice in a dog - I tend towards smaller ones - but the kids really loved him. And he'll get big enough where I'll be forced to walk him and maybe he'll keep me in shape. I was hoping though that I'd hear something - it's my son's 16th birthday on Sunday and I know he would have been absolutely thrilled if we had gotten him.

Well, that's it for now. DH and the kids are playing putt-putt golf. I'm on the home stretch on SB's Queen Bee and trying to decide what to do next. I don't want to go back to Shores. I've decided that what I'll do next year when Kathy Barrick visits our Guild is take all three of my HoHRH pieces (all in various states of progress), hang a sign over my neck that says "Sufferer of Habitual Startitis" and call it a day. What a slacker I am! LOL So I'm off to find another project to work on.

Hope everyone has a great weekend of stitching and fun, and thank you again for all your comments. (PS. I need to learn to make shorter posts - LOL!)