Rockin’ it

~ Liz A
March 26, 2021 – Rocking E — March 27, 2021 – Grace’s dandelion patch

I keep track of days in a small notepad, although I don’t always remember to read it when I’m making patches. More on that later …

The Rocking E patch was a simple, sweet memory: our first babysitting gig since Covid. We had pizza and leftover birthday cake while Meg and Paul (who both got vaccinated) went out to eat … for the first time since Covid.

The garden served as a good after-dinner diversion …

and I got a workout tracking down Ellis (who was wearing a candy pink striped dress that used to be P’s) …

All too soon it was time to wind down for bed. Unfortunately, E is no longer the “easy to bed” baby I remembered from one year ago. These days she knows her big sibs are still up having fun … and she let her feelings be known, loudly.

So I brought her back to the living room and sang the better part of my Nana repertoire while rocking E. Soon enough she started to doze.

“Do you want to go to bed?” I asked.

“Yesss,” was the whispered reply.

G and P followed in turn … another successful babysitting job in the books.

The next day, Grace posted the most amazing photo …

which I thought she had taken herself until noticing the credit just now.

In any case, I thought Jude’s framed thread beads would be the perfect stitch solution. Except, I neglected to read that note-to-self when I started to stitch today.

Instead, I went on the hunt for cloth and thread …

dyed by Deb of course.

Without a plan, and leaving the erasable marker capped, I stitched one circle freehand …

and then another and another …

I was amazed at, ummm, how circular they were … like enso. I pondered what to do next, but not wanting to draw attention away from them, I decided to stop.

They were enough … even if I did forget the thread beads.

17 thoughts on “Rockin’ it”

  2. Enough indeed Liz! I’m sorta speechless at how this all came together. Grace’s share was crazy good and your stitches, along with the print of the fabric, a perfect compliment!

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  3. How” roundly” round the rain-drop stitching is on grace’s dandelion patch, just stunning.

    How well I remember the going to bed rituals: at the age of two, our grands would pretend to go to sleep, then start to play, quietly at first (they shared a room) but their giggles gave them away. One evening, I slowly crept to the door, opened it but they saw me and tried to jump into bed, Rowie made it but Spencer aka Wolf took a leap and landed on one of his stuffed bears by the side of the bed…I don’t know who was more shocked by his antics, me or him!

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  5. There was so much to delight in this as I thought about the firsts – babysitting again! Parents going out to dinner again! By themselves again! And then the pink stripe fabric, and the shared frock…oh my goodness. And yes to rocking e in such a simple representation. But then the droplets! The perfect fabric, the perfect thread and perfect circle stitching – woo hoo! I like that you left it just there..no need to add or subtract – like Goldilocks, it was just right.

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    1. I confess there was another rocking e … I used two strands of floss and the stitching was too heavy for the cloth … not a problem as it was a quick-stitch bit … as for the circles, well, I am most pleased with them just as they are … no do-overs for sure

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  7. What a beautiful translation of photo to stitch… The word babysitting always makes me smile, because of course there is very little sitting unless they are asleep.

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    1. thanks Deb … I decided early on not to replicate the photo, but to try to capture my sense of it in cloth

      and very true about “babysitting”, as most of our grands are also no longer babies … and whatever sitting does occur is likely to be on the floor, although I’ve become a firmer advocate for my back over the years

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