My vet, having not learned her lesson the first time, had another baby. Since I had stitched a birth announcement for #1, it seemed only right to me that #2 should get something as well, and I really did start looking for something almost as soon as I heard she was expecting. Honest, I did.
I eventually decided on a Janlynn kit called “Kitten Express” (so she’d know it came from the crazy cat lady-in-training), but the name appears to have been a bit of misnomer. It was really more like “Kitten Take the Scenic Route, Sign Up for a Couple of Boring Industry-Specific Classes, Stitch a Christmas Gift and Anniversary Sampler, and Generally Forget About It for a Year”. Ahem.
I felt somewhat better when I dropped it off at the framer’s and saw hanging on the wall someone else’s commemorative birth announcement with a date of birth in March. I mean, that’s almost as late getting things done as I was! My cat had no complaints: her annual shots got delayed by a month while I furiously stitched and waited for framing, because no freakin’ way was I going to show up at the clinic empty-handed.
This really shows off the purple frame to its best advantage! My initial thought for framing had been either yellow or blue, something typically boyish, but when my framer pulled out the purple and held it against the piece, everything just – fwoom! – came together in ways you wouldn’t believe. Between the engine, the name and date, and various flowers and bottles all in purple, it worked no matter where in the picture you looked.
I did make a few changes from the pattern, though. I left off a full double border that would have taken foreverrrrr to finish (and which had the advantage of fitting the finished piece into a smaller frame), and I left out a few clouds and a really limp-looking spiral of steam from the smokestack. Unless you looked at the original packaging, you wouldn’t even know anything was missing. I also changed the lettering on the engine and flatcar from pink to glow-in-the-dark white.
This will either enthrall young Scott when the lights go out, or cause his mother to wonder why he’s suddenly afraid of the dark. I forgot to mention this groovy aspect, and will have to tell her when next I see her.
I have been assured that the second is also the last, and can now get back to something a little more grown-up.
The Witty Child 