Hugo

I've been messing around at home with my new camera, trying to get to grips with all of the different settings and functions. Some of them are still a mystery, I must have a look at the manual sometime, I'm sure that will help :)

Today my (willing?!?) model was Hugo. He's the shyest of my four kitties, very nervous and doesn't like any kind of attention unless it's on his terms. I managed to catch him in a sleepy moment today and got some shots before he could realise what was happening and disappear in to the cupboard!

This close in shot isn't as sharp as I would have liked but before I got another chance at it he'd run away...

I'll be back.....

Wow I didn't realise how long it had been since I'd posted. I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has popped by and left comments and also to those who have emailed me from time to time to make sure I'm ok.

My workroom has been sadly neglected this year and my sewing machine has a layer of dust which has just never happened before!! From today I am going to start having a massive clear out and reorganisation of all my stitching paraphernalia so I'll be newly inspired and ready to go again in the new year.

In the meantime hope you all have a fabulous festive season.

Inspector Hector

I'm happy to say that we've had some good news for a change. The family crisis that I mentioned a while back, while not averted is not going to have as large repercussions as we first thought so things should be business as usual here for the foreseeable future.

I shared a picture of Inspector Pip a while back, well not to be outdone here is Inspector Hector (and he rhymes!) checking out that piece of tucking I did in my workshop a couple of weeks ago.I don't think it met with his approval though as I only had time to snap a quick picture before he wandered off looking bored!

Checking In

I have been back from the conference for a few days but have had a really busy weekend. No time for stitching that's for sure. Actually I did try doing a few bits yesterday but got really frustrated as my old sewing machine just wasn't playing nice. I'm going to have to wait for my regular machine to get better. So things my be quiet on the blogging front for another week or so.

As I don't like to post without a picture, here is one taken a few weeks ago. Please let me introduce you to Inspector Pip of the Quilt Police.

Look at that bad ass stare, no-one messes with Inspector Pip!

Laurel's Cats

Well first things first, I finally feel like I am coming out of the other end of this tonsillitis. This whole week has been a struggle but I'm finally starting to feel like me again which is great. I'm looking forward to catching up on all the emails and blog reading that I have been neglecting!

Secondly the winner of the drawing for the copy of Stitch magazine is Vicki W. Congrats Vicki, I know we chat a lot through the blogs but I don't think I have your snail mail addy so please could you email me :)

Thirdly, the main reason for the post os to share the last of the set of postcards that I started while on holiday. Of course I couldn't resist when the theme 'Cats' came up :)

My original plan was to design a few of my own crazy kitties but time ran out and I needed something that I could work on while I was away as the mailing deadline was immediately after I got back.

When Vicki's parcel arrived just before I left I found the perfect inspiration in a beautiful piece of Laurel Burch fabric she had sent. I cut out the motifs and added them to a plain black background. Then embellished with some hand stitching and sequins.

I love the fun, vibrant colours in Laurel's designs. Here are a couple of close up shots which makes it easier to see some of the hand stitching I added.

More Xrays

I'm still feeling pretty ill. My head is fuzzy and I'm having difficulty concentrating on anything for more than a few minutes. I have plenty of things that I want to share (no not my germs I wouldn't inflict them on you all), but typing anything that makes sense to go along with them just seems too much like hard work at the moment.

So for now here are the rest of the Xray cards. They are all alike but each of the kitties has swallowed something different, naughty, naughty.

X-Rays and Tonsillitis

Yesterday was supposed to be a stitching day spent with the other members of GWE but unfortunately I have come down with a case of tonsillitis. While I generally feel ok in myself I didn't really want to go and spread my germs around and my voice is pretty much lost. I did spend some time working on my Steam sketchbook and have an idea that I am happy with for my exhibition piece now I just have to get on and do it.

As my sketchbook is currently for my eyes only today I thought I'd share a picture of one of the sets of postcards that I stitched while on holiday.X is for X-Ray. I have been looking forward to the letter X almost since the beginning of this alphabet swap as I knew I had the perfect fabric to use. The wonderful yellow fabric in the background is from the parcel that I recently received from Vicki. I decided to add lots of little hand stitched X's to the background, the idea was to try and symbolise all of the X-rays flying at the kitties.

I am way ahead on this swap, and haven't done my W's yet but as I knew what I wanted to do and it involved plenty of hand stitching it was the perfect thing to take away with me last week.

Back to work today which I'm not looking forward too, fun things like stitching will take a backseat again, but thankfully I have a few more finishes from my hols to share yet so hopefully enough to keep me going for a few more posts.

Packing

Tomorrow we are off to the Lakes for a week, the weather forecast seems to be rain and cold nights so if you can send some sun our way as we're camping :)

Of course one of the most important things about camping is making sure everything is packed (remind me to tell you about the time we managed to leave the tent pegs behind). I have no idea how much time I will have for stitching but let me tell you I'm going well prepared.I have this little tub which doesn't take up much room.
but now it's packed to the gills with 12 postcard tops waiting for some hand stitched embellishment, plenty of threads

My little UFO cross stitch that I told you about a couple of weeks ago

this cute little embroidery design (I'll find the blog link for you when I get back)and there are a few more surprises besides.

I've also stocked up with a few new magazines

and this great book that I picked up the other day.

It will be interesting to see just how much (or little) of this I will have done when I get back.

Hope you have a lovely week, I'll look forward to catching up on my blog reading when I get back. Before I sign off I thought I'd share this picture of Hector sitting on top of the cupboard door, he used to do this when he was little seems like he's having a second kittenhood!

See you in a week!

Treasures Received

I didn't think I would have a whole lot to post about this week apart from the cross stitch update tomorrow but thanks to Vicki in Canada I have some wonderful treasures to share.

We were paired up recently in a fabric scrap swap hosted by Quilt Pixie. Now the idea was to have a scrap swap in December but we got a bit excited and put our packages for each other together straightaway and mine arrived today.

We made up a few rules of our own and decided to swap not only fabrics but some other embellishments too. Here are some of the lovely fabrics I received, too many to have them all showing in one picture.
I was also lucky enough to receive some pieces of silk. I've always been a bit scared to work on lovely silk materials so have never purchased any, no excuse now!

Some lovely beads and buttons.

Some yarns.

And finally a delightful notepad, some candy and a few pressies for my kitties.

Here is a little video of Hector messing around with his new toys. Sorry you have to hold your head sideways for the start. Photos I can handle videos, lets just say I need more practise!!!.

Crazy Cats Row Robin

Over the last few evenings in amongst housework, looking after MIL and working on other projects I've also been trying to get my Row for the Row Robin done and am pleased to say that I got it finished last night so let me introduce you to my bunch of crazy kitties.

This is where I probably sound slightly crazy when I say that when I picked up the basic blocks each of the kitties whispered me and told me what they wanted to look like so they came together very easily..

Blue kitty was full of love so he wanted a heart and some hand stitching.

Brown kitty is a bit of a misfit, he's had a tough life and is by no means pretty with his odd sized eyes and scruffy patches.
Green Kitty, loved the patterns in his border fabric so decided he wanted to be dotty, and he loved the idea of having different eyes. Orange kitty, is a bit snooty. He loves his pristine coat and wanted nothing more than a collar and tag.And pink kitty spied some scraps which hadn't yet been clear away on the worktable and knew they were perfect for him. It was difficult trying to get a decent picture of the row joined up, this shot of it pegged on the line was about as good as I could get.

I also made a very basic journal to send round with my quilt, cover made from an old greeting card I had in the draw.
I decorated the pages with plenty more kitties! My row is now all packed and ready to begin it's journey across the pond, I can hardly wait to see what this is going to look like in a few months time when it's ready to come home again.

And now for something completely different...

... anyone that knows me, knows that I am a totally incompetent when it comes to cooking. DH does most of the cooking in our house, unless it's beans on toast. Well recently for some reason I have had the urge to venture into the kitchen and yesterday I made my first ever apple pie.
Ok so it's not exactly pretty but it tasted delicious, nothing beats home baked, maybe this could be the start of a whole new life in the kitchen for me?

The drugs kept me lucid enough to venture away from the cross stitch and start on the embellishment of my row robin blocks too. I didn't get too far along the line but at least a start has been made.
Also I drew the winner of the postcard giveaway. Well done ROBIN C, thanks for leaving a comment, please could you email me with your snail mail so I can get the card in the post. Thanks to everyone who took part, and in general I just want to say a huge thank you to every one who takes the time to leave comments here. I do love to blog and it's nice to know that I'm not on this adventure alone!

Janet's Cat

With the healing hearts done, it's time to move on to the next UFO.

This is the Kitty that I started in the Janet Bolton workshop that I took a while ago. I came away from the workshop feeling a little disappointed. I'm a huge admirer of Janet's work but I just couldn't seem to get to grips with the small pieces that she is so skilled at using so my kitty is quite big.

Even though he is not quite in the same league as Janet's work I fell in love with him again when I spotted him in the UFO pile, I wonder what he will look like when he's done?

Row Robin - The Beginning

I didn't have much time for much stitching yesterday evening but to prove that I wasn't totally idle I did starting piecing my blocks for the Row Robin that I have signed up for. There is still a way to go as I have borders and embellishments to add before I join my blocks to make the row but hey it's a start.
I've chosen a really simple quick to piece block pattern and hope that the other ladies will use the time they save on the piecing to have a bit of fun and embellish these kitties to death.

WIPS list

I just want to thank everyone who has left comments on the giveaway post so far. I haven't had the chance to email everyone individually (for some reason although I can access the Internet my email and bloglines are both playing up and I can't get on all the time). Anyway you are all in the draw :)

The only thing I have stitching wise to share today is my work in progress/to do list. On the work table this week are

• 20-30 mins a day on Siberian Gold
• Make progress on the hearts cushion
• Start cutting fabric for my row robin blocks
• Start set of postcards - theme cats :)
• Do some work in Steam sketchbook
• Continue Hang in there cross stitch UFO

Phew! I think that is more than enough to be getting on with. And just because I don't like posting without a picture here is a shot of Hector with his 'are you really pointing that thing at me again' face!

Crazy Cats

Ok so you are probably getting sick of seeing these kitty cards by now, but I love making them so there may even be a few more to come! After my recent private trade with Andrea, Andrea said how much her young son really liked the cards. So needing no further excuse I thought I'd make him one all of his own.This time I used some buttons to embellish as I thought they'd be a bit less girly than sequins, and after sequins buttons are my favourite embellishments! I also got my return package from Andrea from our trade. Look at these wonderful fabrics.
And also in the package was this cute box and pen. I have a collection of cat buttons, beads and trimmings so this great box will be a perfect home for them.Thanks for a great trade Andrea!

Oscar

A couple of weeks ago I featured three of my four kitties in a post. The fourth, Oscar, is a dirty stop out, he rarely comes home, but today we were honoured by his presence for a little while. So I thought I'd give him post all to himself.

I know the picture is dreadful but when I used the flash his eyes went a very evil looking green.

There are just 2 things you need to know about Oscar, he loves to be cradled like a baby and give him a piece of cheese and he'll be your friend for life!

Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat

I'm still feeling pretty tired this week and the sleeping fiasco last weekend hasn't helped matters so I decided to take a mid week day off work yesterday and have some me time. Of course me time means stitching time :)

I decided to try and make inroads on another of the postcards swaps that I owe in. So I took some of this fabulous fabric.Some of these kitty heads (I'd cut them off a larger piece of fabric a while ago and saved them even though they weren't full heads, knowing that I'd find a use for them someday!)And some of this ribbon. After I had put these ingredients together they were still crying out for something else. I was stumped for a while until a couple of the kitties started purring and convinced me that they were feeling ever so slightly Bollywood. So a bucket load of beads and sequins later here are the finished cards.


Now it was only a couple of posts ago that I took the less is more approach to my orange postcards. These are definitely from the school of 'the more the better', lol! Ok so they might be a bit over the top but I had the most fun putting them together :)

Sleepy kitties

Posting that picture of my sleeping kitty the other day made me realise that I haven't had a cat post for a little while. So I made a point of grabbing the camera and went on a house safari to find my furballs. Well 3 of them anyway, the 4th, I think, is being fed by someone down the street which makes me mad, and he rarely comes home anymore :( Hector has managed to squeeze himself onto a tiny space on this window ledge between my thread boxes. I think he thought that if he tried to hide behind his paw I wouldn't be able to find him!
Hugo, pretending to be asleep in the hopes that I disappear and take that darn camera with me!
And Pip, well I think the 'are you really taking another picture of me' look says it all!