- It's not all about me

Since I expect to stitch my monthly rows of patches together, I've decided to end the odd numbered months (January, March, May, etc.) with a named calendar patch as I did yesterday.

Even months (February, April, etc.) will begin with a named patch, as I did today ...

Patch #32
Rose pink linen from a thrifted blouse fussy stitched with one strand of DMC

I confess that I've been planning this patch for a while as a way to begin celebrating Melissa's 30th birthday on the 14th. Please note: in our family we do not use the V-word when talking about a certain mid-February holiday ... at least not in front of Melissa.

As I stitched, I thought ...

Thought that the color of the linen looked just like the foam my mom used to skim off the top of her strawberry jam ... spread on the heel of a freshly baked loaf of bread it was ambrosia.

Thought how it's a leap year, so there are 29 days in February ... that Melissa will not be 29 years old much longer ... and how I was 29 myself when she was born in 1986.

Thought how the red thread just didn't look right on the numbers and letters, so I tore it out. And in the gray light of a foggy morning, what I thought was variegated gray thread turned out to be variegated teal ... which was perfect, since teal is currently a favorite color of Melissa's.

Thought how Melissa returned with a zebra print cowboy hat on her 16th birthday trip to Ft. Worth with Don (who was consulting with the Fort Worth schools at the time) ... how much has changed since then ... 

And then I was done.

The sun broke through and I decided it was high time to photograph Don's assemblage of assemblages ...

aka the Front Porch Series. One piece has yet to be shown here ...

Another was only shown in process ...

And because they're hard to photograph, even in panorama ...

here they are in three takes from left to right ...