A tale of crafty endeavours, garden battles and feline intrigue
Showing posts with label cats. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cats. Show all posts
This is where I found Flash this morning
I've been sorting out my gigantic fabric stash into giant laundry bags. Apparently they make great sleeping places. I should probably have done the zip up as Flash has very firmly wedged himself in there ....
FFFoF "Black" Swap Part One
This Weave swap theme was quite tricky - "black" has so many possibilities. This is my piece for Sister Twisty of the amazing catfish. I was originally going for black lacy flowers and spirals, but Gavin decided evil sheep were the way to go.
Luckily I'm a bit of a goth so had lots of black supplies. I certainly got lots of practice with french knots.
I ignored everything I learnt about french knots at the RSN, no way was I going to try to thread that many strands through a small needle so I would only have to do one even knot rather than 4.
I've mostly been doing my Frosted Pumpkin Halloween Town cross stitch and designing my next Unexpected Kitty embroidery pattern, but it's been too hot to do much crafting in the south of the UK recently. Flash has also developed a liking for sleeping on my chest which doesn't help! He and Miskit are gradually getting used to each other, a few tiny spats but I caught them both sitting on the garden bench yesterday so I'm not worried about needing Jackson Galaxy just yet...
Luckily I'm a bit of a goth so had lots of black supplies. I certainly got lots of practice with french knots.
I ignored everything I learnt about french knots at the RSN, no way was I going to try to thread that many strands through a small needle so I would only have to do one even knot rather than 4.
I've mostly been doing my Frosted Pumpkin Halloween Town cross stitch and designing my next Unexpected Kitty embroidery pattern, but it's been too hot to do much crafting in the south of the UK recently. Flash has also developed a liking for sleeping on my chest which doesn't help! He and Miskit are gradually getting used to each other, a few tiny spats but I caught them both sitting on the garden bench yesterday so I'm not worried about needing Jackson Galaxy just yet...
Meet Lord Flashheart!
We adopted another cat from a local rescue shelter last weekend. This is Lord Flashheart, Flash for short:
He wasn't treated well by his previous owner, so he's really small for his age (5) and has loads of almost-bald bits where he had so many fleas. He is very talkative, loving and attention-seeking, and acts like he has lived here forever. Miskit is behaving really well, although she hisses if he gets within a couple of feet of her. I think she's more upset about being stuck in the house for a couple of weeks until we can let Flash outside.
Within 2 days he was letting me stroke his tummy, and has for some reason fallen in love with my ukulele case.
He wasn't treated well by his previous owner, so he's really small for his age (5) and has loads of almost-bald bits where he had so many fleas. He is very talkative, loving and attention-seeking, and acts like he has lived here forever. Miskit is behaving really well, although she hisses if he gets within a couple of feet of her. I think she's more upset about being stuck in the house for a couple of weeks until we can let Flash outside.
Within 2 days he was letting me stroke his tummy, and has for some reason fallen in love with my ukulele case.
Never trust a Miskit....
She looks all innocent in this photo, but somewhere (hopefully in the garden) she has hidden a dead sparrow. Seems the bell isn't working as well as I'd thought. At least the 4-a-day-inside-the-house massacre has stopped...
Noddy
We had to say goodbye to Noddy at the start of April, due to aggressive cancer. He was my constant companion for 7 years, my brave badger-chasing kitty soulmate. I will love and miss him forever, more than words can say.
FFoF Bestiary Craft Swap Part 1, books and kitties
The latest Fifth Friday Festival of Fabulousness swap was moved from Flickr to Mr X Stitch's new stitchy social network, Weave. The theme this time was "Bestiary".
I made this griffin for Sew Jenaissance (check out her blog for the amazing Doctor Who-inspired piece she made for her partner). He is made out of purple, pink and brown appliqued felt, with different stitching for his birdy front half to his tigery back half, with a fluffy thread tail. (You can also see the hideous wall texturing on one half of our kitchen. Bizarrely, the other half is smooth. The textured stuff is also cracking and falling off in places, especially where I tried to get rid of the incredibly "countrified" tiles. I try not to spend too much time in there.)
I was reading the second Stormdancer book when I was designing this piece, which is how I ended up deciding on the griffin rather than woodland creatures. I would never have normally read this sort of book (Japanese-themed dystopian steampunk/fantasy) but I'm reading along with the book club of the International Geek Girls Pen Pals Club which is introducing me to some fantastic books. Unfortunately, one of April's reads is the first Game Of Thrones book, which will probably take me the next decade to finish.
In kitty news, Miskit has taken full control of the rocking chair in my craft room (she was very confused when she found me sitting in it earlier today) and has started attacking everything that moves, therefore signalling that it is definitely Spring. Noddy has got skinny in his old age (we need to take him back to the vet for another weigh-in in a couple of months to check he's not losing more weight) so we are on a mission to fatten him up. Today's attempt - chicken livers (bleurgh). The internet is being very unhelpful over whether to cook them or not.
Finally, I have started using my Instagram account again. If you are on there, come and say hello!
I made this griffin for Sew Jenaissance (check out her blog for the amazing Doctor Who-inspired piece she made for her partner). He is made out of purple, pink and brown appliqued felt, with different stitching for his birdy front half to his tigery back half, with a fluffy thread tail. (You can also see the hideous wall texturing on one half of our kitchen. Bizarrely, the other half is smooth. The textured stuff is also cracking and falling off in places, especially where I tried to get rid of the incredibly "countrified" tiles. I try not to spend too much time in there.)
I was reading the second Stormdancer book when I was designing this piece, which is how I ended up deciding on the griffin rather than woodland creatures. I would never have normally read this sort of book (Japanese-themed dystopian steampunk/fantasy) but I'm reading along with the book club of the International Geek Girls Pen Pals Club which is introducing me to some fantastic books. Unfortunately, one of April's reads is the first Game Of Thrones book, which will probably take me the next decade to finish.
In kitty news, Miskit has taken full control of the rocking chair in my craft room (she was very confused when she found me sitting in it earlier today) and has started attacking everything that moves, therefore signalling that it is definitely Spring. Noddy has got skinny in his old age (we need to take him back to the vet for another weigh-in in a couple of months to check he's not losing more weight) so we are on a mission to fatten him up. Today's attempt - chicken livers (bleurgh). The internet is being very unhelpful over whether to cook them or not.
Finally, I have started using my Instagram account again. If you are on there, come and say hello!
Things I Did This Week
I'm not getting on particularly well with finishing craft projects. This is my Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery Halloween Sampler so far:
I've been doing this since October. I think I'm admitting defeat with linen (I've also only managed a tiny part of January for the 2013 Woodland Sampler ) and going back to Aida. I've signed up for the 2014 Once Upon A Time Sampler and would like to finish it before 2020.
I went to see the Subhumans on Sunday:
And this is what happens when I have too much rum:
I've been doing this since October. I think I'm admitting defeat with linen (I've also only managed a tiny part of January for the 2013 Woodland Sampler ) and going back to Aida. I've signed up for the 2014 Once Upon A Time Sampler and would like to finish it before 2020.
I went to see the Subhumans on Sunday:
And this is what happens when I have too much rum:
More cat news
Miskit (I assume) left part of a pigeon on my boyfriend's pillow.
We rescued both a mouse and a large frog from Miskit within an hour of each other, then spent ages in a park trying to find the best place to release the frog. I'm still worried it might have been eaten by a crow.
After coming back from a night away, we found a cat had pooped on our kitchen floor. Twice. WHYYYYYYY?
We rescued both a mouse and a large frog from Miskit within an hour of each other, then spent ages in a park trying to find the best place to release the frog. I'm still worried it might have been eaten by a crow.
After coming back from a night away, we found a cat had pooped on our kitchen floor. Twice. WHYYYYYYY?
Possibly the worst pictures of Noddy ever
And I've managed to work around the stupid Blogger/Android photo uploading thing, huzzah!
Oops
I meant to post every day in November - I guess I ran out of photos and ideas to keep it up! Hopefully it's got me into the habit of posting more frequently than every couple of months.
I've finished one of the Super-Secret cross stitch xmas projects, well the stitching stage anyway. I've painted the hoop but need to reverse-engineer the felt backing as I don't want to remove it from the hoop as it took forever to get it into the perfect position.
Just need to sew lots of embroidered leaves onto my C&G project and cut the tubing I'm using for hanging it, then I'm done except the dreaded paperwork. I then need to start tea-dying fabric for my second project.
This morning I tried to move Miskit and she hissed and scratched me quite badly. I'm concerned she now has the taste for blood after we watched Hellraiser together this week....
I've finished one of the Super-Secret cross stitch xmas projects, well the stitching stage anyway. I've painted the hoop but need to reverse-engineer the felt backing as I don't want to remove it from the hoop as it took forever to get it into the perfect position.
Just need to sew lots of embroidered leaves onto my C&G project and cut the tubing I'm using for hanging it, then I'm done except the dreaded paperwork. I then need to start tea-dying fabric for my second project.
This morning I tried to move Miskit and she hissed and scratched me quite badly. I'm concerned she now has the taste for blood after we watched Hellraiser together this week....
First post, eeeek
Hello! My name's Mad, and I am the slave of two warring cats and a large amount of brambles. I also attempt a wide range of crafts, not always successfully. I'm 2/3 of the way through a City and Guilds in Machine Embroidery and can often be found swearing loudly at a sewing machine.
This is Miskit (short for Miss Kitty Fantastico - obviously I have a Buffy problem) - tiny brain but unfortunately accomplished hunter:
And this is Noddy, former chaser of badgers, now acting like an old man because he disapproves of Miskit's presence in our lives:
This is Miskit (short for Miss Kitty Fantastico - obviously I have a Buffy problem) - tiny brain but unfortunately accomplished hunter:
And this is Noddy, former chaser of badgers, now acting like an old man because he disapproves of Miskit's presence in our lives:
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