except-ional

i'm a Yes ... But-ter...

and i argue with myself...
just about anytime that i say anything, it will be followed up by 

yes ... but
there's almost always a but in there somewhere...

Melissa is Except-ional...

which is the same as saying yes ... but

but (you knew there was gonna be a but, right?!?) nicer and more politically correct

last year i found the Gerbera Garden pattern and used it to make a leftover throw...

the leftover yarns made a pretty throw, but (there it is) it was worsted weight and there are very, very large spaces between the petals - my knees can fit between them...

so when i decided to crochet a field of daisies for my room, i knew i was gonna hafta buy smaller yarn (like the pattern SAYS to use)... 
i like the colors of the original Gerbera Garden pattern, and i LURVE orange...
 but (another one) my room doesn't like orange...

so i went to Hobby Lobby and bought a bunch of sports weight acrylic yarns (there would be no crocheting or knitting going on if i had to use wool ... there WOULD be a lotta Benadryl lotion slathering) in colors that i thought were gonna play nicely together
 and started crocheting... 
but (were you waiting for it?) then i remembered that  i didn't like the pattern's directions
At. All.
 so i changed the way the flowers were connected to each other and crocheted some more...

yuck

in the meantime, Melissa decided that SHE needed to make a field of daisies, too 

except she chose peaches and purples and greens
 (to go with her birthday roses quilt)

by that time, i had given up on making THAT afghan, and finished off the mess i'd started by making a scarf...

still yucky

i whined for a while...

i still wanted to make a field of daisies for my room

but (there it is again) i wanted it to be pinks and purples and blues...
so i went BACK to Hobby Lobby, bought some more yarn, and then crocheted for a couple of months till i had this...

better ... MUCH
in the meantime, Melissa was working on hers ... 
she, too, had a hexagon-shaped lovely afghan... 
except she decided that HER field of daisies needed to be a STAR...

 it's EXCEPTIONAL, innit?!?

"There are always exceptions," replied Flea. "They are what makes you exceptional."
Mo Willems, The Story of Diva and Flea

and seven to grow on...

even before i finished putting together eight squared , Melissa told me
 i want one just like it...

just like it?!? i asked

yes, she said

 except... 

i would like peach-colored roses

and a purple background

and pillow shams that will fit my king-sized pillows

so ... NOT just like it?!?

and then she reminded me that she was gonna be thirty in december, and maybe it could be her birthday quilt

well ... that will mean a quilt with 30 roses instead of 64...

even though i knew i didn't want to make another 64 of those stinkin' paper-pieced roses, thirty didn't seem like all that much...

okay, she said

except...

i'd really like it to be square ... how are you gonna make thirty roses into a square?!?

easy - the front will have 25 roses and the back will have the other five...

okay, she said

except...

i really kinda need all thirty roses to be on the front...

huh?!? you NEED all thirty roses to be on the front?!? how 'bout five rows of six?

okay, she said

except...

that wouldn't be a square ... i really need it to be a square...

you NEED it to be a square?!? okay, how 'bout i make it 6 roses by 6 roses? and that would give me till your 36th birthday to get it done...

okay, she said

except...

i want it this year...

when i was a kid and i said i wanted something, my dad would tell me that people in Hell want ice water ... and i remember thinking that people in Hell would probably settle for ANY kinda water...

anywho...
 long story short...
is it too late for that?!?
 i pieced the 36 roses and put them all together...

 then i bought all the purple Lakehouse hydrangea petal fabric i could find 

from wherever i could find it 

and added some pale green batik
cuz i couldn't find enough purple Lakehouse hydrangea petal fabric

and a naming block rose for the backing 
and sent it off to Liz to be quilted... 

i was gonna name Melissa's quilt

  and one to grow on 

(that's what my mom called the extra candle that she added to my birthday cake)

but with all those extra roses, it's

And Seven to Grow On...
cue the angels...

Your thirties are just like your twenties ... except you look ten years older and everything is a little less fun.

anonymous

some 'splainin'

because sometimes two words may not be enough...

it never occurred to me that maybe, just maybe, not everyone knows about training dragons...

Halloween is a Big Deal around here and Melissa ALWAYS dresses in costume...

when she was little, i made the costumes for her...

Flower Power

my very own Little Mermaid

Princess Bumblebee

unless i ran outta time - then my mom would help out...

Miss Kiss

clownin' around

and now she makes her own... 

baneling bridesmaid

Lieutenant Ihearya

the ranger's apprentice

 this year she decided to be Toothless from

  How to Train Your Dragon...

Toothless - the Night Fury

she spent MONTHS crocheting the shawl...

the wings of a pitch black dragon

and she told me that it was totally worth it!!!

night furies

tru dat

assiduous Apis mellifera

making a mess...

trim ... trim ... trim

because this...

 looks like i finished the cross-stitching in 1998 ... and then it was lost in the Great Pile of Stuff for eighteen years

was finally made into a pillow...

and the pillow sorta kinda goes with these... 

too bad there are no cookies in that cookie jar

how 'bout a closer look at that little picture...

Sweet Melissa

anywho... 

the red table complained a lot ow!!! you're scratching me!!! when i placed the cup on it, so those pinwheels and a bunch more and that bee and a bunch more are gonna grow up to be a table runner someday...

Honey is sweet, but the bee has a sting.

Benjamin Franklin

over grown