A few piccies

I picked up Crescent Dreams from the framers yesterday & I'm really pleased with the results:

I decided to take some arty type photos in Dad's garden, by the lavender I planted as a tiny plug a few years ago & it is now this enormous bush, which is always swarming with bees collecting pollen. The frame is silver with a tinge of gilt and both mats are in shades of lilac. I shall be giving it to Sharon next week, although I don't really want to part with it now! :o)

To the left you can see the aforementioned lavender bush. I love lavender as a plant, although the fragrance I find quite sickly. Give me a beautiful rose fragrance anyday!

Catkin (right) came up to see what I was up to. She doesn't like having her picture taken & doesn't usually stand still for long enough! Catkin is approximately 8. She turned up unannounced on my doorstep one day and decided she wanted to live with me - she tried to follow me in my front door! I already had 2 cats at the time and didn't really want to have another, but when she was still hanging around a couple of hours later, I felt sorry for her & let her in. She made herself right at home and has been there ever since.

Her elder 'sister' Bobbi is now 14 and I've had her since she was 6 weeks old. I was first introduced to her when she was a tiny 1 week old kitten - she didn't even have her eyes open! She sat in the palm of my hand & mewed contentedly. She's never been a lap cat, but has a very sweet temperament. She is the image of the 'Felix' cat, although a little rounder in the tummy department! Unfortunately, Andy is allergic, so my kitties have to remain with my Dad.

Last but not least, I have a stitching progress picture for my one and only TW - Egyptian Sampler:

I've been stitching this on & off since 2004, in the run up to my holiday in Egypt. I've left it at Dad's house, so now whenever I visit him, this is the one I work on. I've been working on the Queen square, as you can see. After that, there's two bands to complete and then onto the border...! I have several TWs in my stash, but they have so many colours & blends, I don't think I could cope with having more than one on the go at any one time! I will definitely start another TW once this is finished. I'm wondering if her beautiful Illuminati will be finished by then - I saw it on her blog the other day & it looks amazing so far. I have more than enough to keep me going in the meantime though! Have a great weekend everyone. :o)

Good thoughts & vibes needed....

Catkin, my gorgeous kittie (who is in my profile photo), has been hurt & has an injured leg. I'm not sure how it happened. My 2 kitties live with my Dad as Andy is allergic. Dad said that Catkin has been limping and won't let anyone get near her, not even his carer who feeds them each evening. I don't think it's broken as she wouldn't be as mobile as she is, according to what Dad has said. I'm really worried about her though & am going over first thing tomorrow to take her to the vets to get it checked out. I would really appreciate any hugs, vibes, good thoughts right now.

On a stitchy note, thanks for all your comments about Crescent Dreams. I can't believe it's my only finish so far this year. I'm quite close on another 2 WIPs though, so hopefully I'll have some more HDs to share with you very soon. Snow Princess is coming along - I've got another 2 columns to do and I'll have finished page 5. I'll share a photo update once I'm doing my page 5 HD! ;o)

Crescent Dreams finished!

My first finish of 2007........

Thanks to my bruv for taking the photo for me! :o) Unfortunately it's a little dark, but it shows the peach colours on the blanket well. I swapped the aqua stars for opal ones and made bead ropes out of 4 different colours of bead. I'm really pleased with the finished result. I've also had several cuddles with the recipient over the last couple of weeks whilst they've been down on the south coast. Baby Catriona is gorgeous - she slept face down on my chest with her hands under her head and her bottom in the air for hours and hours! Awwwww..... :o) I'm hoping to get Crescent Dreams framed within the next few weeks, so I'll share another photo once it's done. Since then I've been stitching my Snow Princess. I'm probably a couple of weeks away from finishing page 5. I have a couple of weeks off work at the end of June/beginning of July as it's Wimbledon once more, although as money is tight I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to visit this year. But it means I should get a fair bit of stitching time in - my goal is to finish the top row of pages on Snow Princess by the end of Wimbledon!

I went up to London last night with my SIL and nephew to the Royal Albert Hall. We went to a concert by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, titled "FilmHarmonic" which may give you an idea what it was all about! They were playing well known film scores with a section devoted to John Williams who celebrates his 75th birthday this year. So we had themes from Mission Impossible, Pirates of the Caribbean (yay!), Gladiator, ET, Star Wars, Chariots of Fire, Superman, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Great Escape, Jurassic Park and a few we weren't familiar with. It was fabulous - the orchestra was about 100 strong with such a variety of instruments! We agreed that it would be great to be on the percussion instruments at the back - they looked as if they were having a great time!!! I especially love the music from Pirates & Gladiator which sounded fantastic. I think I'll have to dig out my soundtrack CDs tomorrow whilst I'm stitching. ;o)

New project!

But shhhhhhh! It's a secret! :o)

(Yes, another wobbly scan I'm afraid folks... ) Isn't she adorable? What a sweet little thing she is! This is my WIP of Mirabilia's Crescent Dreams which I started on 1st April. I've converted the blue blanket to lilac and instead of blue or pink accents, I've opted for peach shades which look lovely against the lilac. Unfortunately it doesn't show up as nicely on the scan. I'm planning on adding either silver or opal beads for the stars and instead of ribbon I might make a bead rope for the dangling stars. I'm going to add baby's name and DOB too, once she makes an appearance! It's officially 5 days to go, but you know what babies are like. ;o)