Farewell

Life has changed here... I will no longer be posting on Piccolina Designs blog. 

For more posts, see the new blog at: House of Little Tomato

Farewell.

My New Neighbor, Mr. Frog.

The family and I recently built a farmhouse. On a farm.

It is bit of a change from suburban living.

[Enter the frog]

In this record-breaking heat, I have been spending an exorbitant amount of time watering plants. The other day, I went to turn off the spigot when I saw movement and quickly pulled my hand back. This little guy greeted me there and I thought, "Well this is new."

He let me turn off the water and even stayed long enough for me to come back out with the camera for a little photo session. I found him to be a charming fellow.

Fast-forward to a couple of weeks later. 

I woke up, walked into the bathroom to use the restroom (mind you, this is on the second floor) and a new frog decided to introduce himself...  by jumping at my rear-end from the inside of the toilet bowl. He then escaped out of the toilet and began manically jumping around the floor. 

I, understandably, ran screaming. 

A few minutes later, after the hyperventilation stopped, I took a hand-towel, coaxed him into the towel, and released him into the flower bed. 

I am now that paranoid woman who inspects toilets thoroughly before use.

And I don't find Mr. Frog quite so charming anymore.

The Peacock Tutu

I have a thing for peacocks. Our zoo has peacocks roaming free, and I cannot remember a visit , from my own as a child and now as a parent, without the sounds of peacocks calling. I hear they are excellent at eating bugs and deterring snakes, but husband won't entertain owning a couple...  yet. {Wink}.

I decided I wanted to make a tutu with a train reminiscent of a peacock tail. If I can swing it, it will be Little Tomato's Halloween costume this year... though she has a mind of her own, so we'll see how far I get with that one.

Getting to it:

... Using the brown, cream, gold, and copper tones for the body of the tutu, I 'sculpted' the tulle from a standard tutu length front to a long train in the back, adding accent tulle streaks of green in the train and small splashes of copper and blue at the eye feather locations. Then, to add a little fancy, peacock feathers and brown organza ribbon bows to the tutu. I was pleased with the end result, though it took a little reworking here and there.

The end result: