Atari Art (Cross Stitch)

1. Space Invaders. 14 ct fabric, black, 2011. This is my most recent, made for my youngest son, and is probably my favorite one in the collection. By this time I'd learned to work on black fabric instead of filling in the black with floss (as with Miss Pac Man) and larger count fabric, too. My eyes can't handle the small ones anymore! I thought initially that compared to all the others the tones of only green and orange might seem dull, but I was wrong, it's plenty colorful! I played this game frequently with my brother, and always used to get performance anxiety when that last one standing used to go all super-fast-spazzy, whipping back and forth across the screen . . .

For this one I just printed out a screen shot and then drew out the invaders, the shooters, and the numbers for the score. It's a little hard to see in the photo over there, but I messed up on one of the invaders and added like two extra rows to its body, making it look extremely fat compared to the others; can you spot it?

SPLAT!

2. Frogger. 14 ct fabric, white, 2010. My very favorite Atari game growing up. We didn't get it until I was in about sixth grade, but I was fortunate enough to have cousins who not only had it for their Atari(s) but were extremely good at playing it; I owe all my abilities to Jill, Heidi, Amy, and Paul---thanks guys! This one was done with them in mind for my youngest daughter and was probably the most fun to make. I tried to find a screen grab that had a challenging traffic scene but didn't want to over-do it on the top level. If I ever get the motivation to do another one I'd probably include the log-snake.

If I could do it all over again, I'd probably do it against a black background (as with Space Invaders), the white just seems to wash it out too much. Maybe cut a few of the cars from the bottom section out, too, but I really do like the way the bright colors resonate down below.




3. Miss Pac Man, 22 count fabric, 2009.

This one was for my oldest daughter (here it hangs in her room next to Princess Leia); she's a girly girl, a princess girl, and Miss Pac Man was the closest thing I could find to the stuff she likes. This is the one that cost me my eyesight, y'all. 22 count fabric was NOT a good idea; nor was doing it on white and then filling in what ended up being solid black after everything else was in place. I started in the middle, with the ghosts (which I drew out first), and then went with the white pellets since you really have to do white before black (or any other dark color) if you don't want the white to get bled into. . . so white pellets against a white background with a tiny count fabric again, was not smart of me. I think I was working on this for over a year. Turned out nicely, but damn. My eyes hurt when I look at it.

4. Pitfall, 28 count fabric, 2008.

My first piece, for my first child and oldest son. I think he may have been going through an Indiana Jones phase at the time. This, too, was way too small a count of fabric and probably ruined my eyes just as much as Miss Pac Man, but it's tight. I did it with two strands of floss, so the x's don't even look like x's but solid color, which is cool. My cousins played this one, also, and getting to the gold and silver bars will always remind me of my cousin, Paul. When I played it, I always had to have him get past the jump-on-the-alligator-heads part for me; I was awful at that. I was thinking of doing another project with the Pitfall elements sometime in the future, like maybe a bell-pull or something with the snake, the fire, the scorpion, and the treasures.

Frogger.

Finished! Now to find a frame. . .

Progress.

Started the diving turtles last night! I would have rather been at Machete, but hey, this was nearly as much fun.

Harlem. Frogs.

Whatever it Takes by Paul Tough.
This is the story of a man who wanted to overhaul the school system and community in Harlem, his name is Geoffrey Canada. And like Salt 'N Peppa said and said it best, WHAT A MAN.

It's a very emotionally charged, frustrating, inspiring story, very much worth reading, and will make you want to hug a teacher or Geoffrey Canada himself. It's stories like these that let you know that there are really people out there who care. A lot.

And mostly what they've figured out is that
1. Parents matter, early experiences matter (are you listening, Judith Rich Harris?)

2. Doing a good job in anything takes hard, dedicated work.

3. (this is *my* take, not something that the book preaches) Teachers never get the credit, thanks, or pay they deserve. So many teachers out there go to the mat for our kids time and time again; please, PLEASE give them the respect and gratitude they deserve. Next to parents, they have the most important jobs in the world.

4. Pediatrician/developmental specialist T. Berry Brazelton still knows what he's talking about. LISTEN TO THIS GUY, READ HIS BOOKS, DO WHAT HE SAYS.

5. If you need any sort of push to think/read outside the box, read this book; it will very much make you appreciate what you have. That about says it all.



and on the lighter side: GUESS WHAT I STARTED LAST WEEK? (cue opening music)