Because I didn't like any of the Hawaiian themed charts I could find, I dec ided to create my own birth sampler for the soon-to-be second great nephew. The Hawaiian alphabet only has 12 letters so I found a native Hawaiian a nimal starting with each of the letters. A couple of them were tricky, I h ad to sit with the Hawaiian-English dictionary on my lap and go through eac h entry, writing down the names of animals I thought I might be able to sti tch. Then I had to check on line to see if it was endemic to Hawaii or had been brought over by humans. Some of them might be a challenge to stitch because, for instance, I'm having a hard time finding a line drawing -THAT I LIKE-that doesn't look too cartoony. The rest should be OK. I was pleas antly surprised at the number of drawings or clear photographs that I DID f ind just in one evening and morning. :-) If the picture's not great, like the Lau Wiliwili Nukunuku'oi'oi (a long nosed butterfly fish), I could fin d a detailed enough description to substitute a fish I can find already cha rted and adjust the colors to match. Same for the Pueo - a short eared owl . Even if the picture doesn't match exactly, I can make sure it at least L OOKS like an owl and that the colors match on the face.
Now "all" I have to do is to decide which alphabet to use, and how I want t o arrange it to fit "Killian Kaawaloa Nerney and the date in there somewher e. I guess I should probably start looking through my books to see which animals I can make from charts already published (and in my stash) and whic h one's I'll have to do myself.
Unfortunately for DH, not much else has gotten done since I came up with th is idea. :-) We're sort of "taking a few days off" anyway this week. When I commented that, here I am finally home to get work done and I don't feel like doing any of it", he replied that by the time it warms up enough for h im to go outside and get anything done, he's already talked himself out of it. Besides. It's WINDY outside. I was looking up onto the hill and hear d a tree crackle and then fall up in the woods somewhere. I'm obviously sa fer indoors stitching or cooking dinner or maybe making a cake for dessert. We haven't had dessert for a while because, if we have it, WE EAT IT and neither of us needs the calories if we're not outside burning them off! Liz from Humbug