I love this picture of Mickey Mouse seeing himself as Walt Disney in his version of the Norman Rockwell self portrait. I did this in counted cross stitch and when it came time to have it framed there was no question in my mind that this frame spattered with paint was perfect. It’s still one of my favorite cross stitches.
Calendar pictures for 2022.
All pictures are of Martha’s Vineyard.
My dad was a police officer in Newark, NJ. For many of his years on the force he worked in the Emergency Squad division. During the long hours between calls the guys would keep themselves busy in various ways like cooking. Near the Christmas holidays they always came up with a special project, like candle making for instance.
In 1956 they made Santas. I still have ours. Santa stands about 3 and 1/2 feet tall and is made from press board. After the outline was drawn the guys cut out the Santas and my dad set to work drawing the features, clothing and bag of toys. At that point our Santa came home and my mother and I painted him. I’m not sure how many coats of paint we used but Santa was spread out on our kitchen table for about a week before he was completely dry. I don’t know what kind of paint we used either but here it is 59 years later and he’s not chipped or faded. This was the only time I ever remember the three of us doing a family project together.
I love everything about this Santa, even the buttons being on the wrong side… but the thing I love the most is that he looks like my dad… a self portrait so to speak.
Below is my daughter Patty age 2 and 1/2 in 1966…… and her daughter (my granddaughter) Tiffany age 2 and 1/2 in 1991.
Here’s to Christmas memories, old and new. ❤
My dad was a police officer in Newark, NJ. For many of his years on the force he worked in the Emergency Squad division. During the long hours between calls the guys would keep themselves busy in various ways like cooking. Near the Christmas holidays they always came up with a special project, like candle making for instance.
In 1956 they made Santas. I still have ours. Santa stands about 3 and 1/2 feet tall and is made from press board. After the outline was drawn the guys cut out the Santas and my dad set to work drawing the features, clothing and bag of toys. At that point our Santa came home and my mother and I painted him. I’m not sure how many coats of paint we used but Santa was spread out on our kitchen table for about a week before he was completely dry. I don’t know what kind of paint we used either but here it is 61 years later and he’s not chipped or faded. This was the only time I ever remember the three of us doing a family project together.
I love everything about this Santa, even the buttons being on the wrong side… but the thing I love the most is that he looks like my dad… a self portrait so to speak.
Below is my daughter Patty age 2 and 1/2 in 1966…
… and then her daughter (my granddaughter) Tiffany age 2 and 1/2 in 1991.
Here’s to Christmas memories ❤
This is my wall of Vineyard counted cross stitch projects. The Vineyard map in the upper left hand corner was the first one in 1993. Tisbury in the bottom middle was the last one in 2011. There were other non-MV projects done in between the Vineyard ones and I also did eight more of the Vineyard maps during that time too.
These are not the only Vineyard counted cross stitches I’ve done though. The one closest to my heart is the Tabernacle designed especially for me by my daughter Deb. (please excuse the glare).
The Tabernacle is my favorite place on the Vineyard for many reasons and so this picture means more to me than I can ever put into words.
This is my counted cross stitch masterpiece. My daughter Deb took a photograph of the Tabernacle… blew it up to an 8×10 and charted it by hand on graph paper. There might have been computer programs for that but this was the early 1990’s and she didn’t have one and I’m not sure we even had a computer!. She also bought the material and my daughter Patty bought the threads and that was my Christmas gift that year. All I had to do was sew it. People always ask how long it takes to do projects so I kept track. Over the course of 3 months I sewed a total of 138 hours… every inch of the picture is counted cross stitches… even all the blue sky… and there seemed like endless amounts of that. After it was finished we took it, along with the original 5×7 photograph and had it framed. For a couple of years I just wasn’t happy with the frame though so when I had my other MV counted cross stitches framed I gave this picture a new one. I also added a little plaque at the bottom that says The Tabernacle, Oak Bluffs – Martha’s Vineyard.
But I had said I couldn’t do it… ever… I would never be able to do counted cross stitch. Too hard. Too boring. I had too many excuses. Then my daughter Deb saw the counted cross stitch of the map of Martha’s Vineyard and the rest is history. We figured if I was ever to do counted cross stitching surely something Vineyard related would get me started. She even said that if I hated doing it she’d finish the map for me. Sounded like a good deal and so I began. One X after another… counting, counting every single stitch… but then it started looking like MV and I was pretty impressed and proud of myself.
We even got written up in the Vineyard Gazette… June 21, 1996
❤
My mother did these two counted cross stitches over 80 years ago.
Gay Head Lighthouse still had the lighthousekeepers house attached to it.
Only 4 lighthouses instead of 5 on the Vineyard map – do you know which one is missing?
My counted cross stitch of Gay Head lighthouse done in 2004.
My map done in 1993. Which lighthouse is missing on mine ?
(Edgartown lighthouse is missing on moms.. East Chop on mine)
Recently I had a birthday – a big, scary one. To ease the transition into a new decade I decided I’d like to spend part of the day doing something with my daughters Patty and Deb. We rarely do anything together and so I wanted it to be something we’d all enjoy.
Last August Patty and I went to Pottery Pizazz to paint pottery and had so much fun that I decided it was what I wanted the three of us to do. (CLICK HERE)
Patty brought home made chocolate cupcakes (two had chocolate pudding in the middle…yummm) and a birthday balloon.
Took awhile but finally we chose what we wanted to paint and then set about our task.
Patty’s
Mine
The pottery painting was Patty’s present to me and this is the gift card she made.
Me and my girls.
(The above picture has been tweaked … ya think 🙂 )
I still have one more gift to collect so stay tuned in March to find out what it is and where Deb and I are going !!!
I don’t knit. My daughter Deb does knit and so I accompany her to interesting knitting events, like… NY Sheep & Wool Festival and The New Jersey Yarn Crawl.
On January 14th we went to NYC to the second ‘Vogue Knitting Live’ at the Hilton.
It’s not just about sweaters, socks, shawls, mittens and such… look at these clever ways yarn is used… (CLICK ON PICTURES TO ENLARGE)
and displayed…
I call this MANnequin ‘Mr Softy’.
Lunch…
and the view from my table.
My attempt at a sunset picture from the train on the way home.
Nice day.
MV Obsession 