End of February

 Thank you for all the lovely kind messages on my last post, they meant a lot to me.   I got a call yesterday from the pet cemetery to say that Molly's ashes could be collected, so today I bought her home.  More tears on the drive home but her little casket is now in the cabinet along with Millie's.         I had thought I might bury them both together, when the weather permits, not sure yet, they were never outdoor cats, they liked to take a roam around our garden but neither one went off and didn't have a particular spot where they lay out there, they were always quite happy to be comfortable in home.       I'll speak to Mark at the weekend and get his thoughts.

This is the first time in my life that there has not been a cat or dog in the house.  It feels so very strange, and even though neither cats were vocal the house just feels so still and quiet, and now my lap is empty when I sit down, I miss them both so much, they will both always have a special place in my heart.  

There hasn't been a lot of crafting done this month, I haven't been in the right frame of mind; but I did finish my Stick6in24 stitching.

It's so small it hardly counts, but it's all I had the brain space for.

I'm afraid I can't remember the details except that it was a kit, it is a French design and came complete with the little wooden house shape to attach it too.

Manuela Pulled the No.1 for our next two month SAL, I have a design ready but not the threads or fabric, that's something I could do at the weekend.

I've been occupying myself this week with Spring cleaning, I've taken on a room each day and given everything a thorough cleaning, cushion covers and throws have been washed too and as of today all my windows have been cleaned inside and out, now we just need some Spring sunshine instead of this incessant rain!  The grass at the top of the garden is like a sponge and there are still puddles around the borders so not much chance of even tidying up in that area at the moment, at least some parts look like Spring has sprung.

February half term we took the kids to see Gaia at Tewskesbury Cathedral.

I'd also booked tickets for both myself and Mark to visit on the Saturday night

I had more time to look and listen to the sound track on the Saturday.  I found it really humbling, you realise just how big this planet of ours is and how very little is actually land, amazing.

I think I'll leave it there for now and hopefully pop back in again when I have something to share.

Take care

-X-

Broken hearted

Yesterday, February 22nd, we had to say goodbye to our beautiful Molly.

We knew from just before Christmas that we only had a short time left with her, but these last couple of weeks we have seen how quickly she was loosing her strength.  It's been heartbreaking to see her decline.

We were blessed to have her for 18 years and she will be in our hearts forever, she was such a beautiful gentle soul who loved to be snuggled.  

She passed peacefully in my arms, hopefully knowing right to the end how very much she was loved.

It's not been a year since we lost our lovely Millie, 12 months this June and I still miss her lovely face and quiet nature.  We were lucky to have so many years with them both, although now it seems no time at all.  

Molly missed her little buddy too, there seemed to be a sadness to her after Millie was gone, she didn't seem the same.  Who knows, maybe now they will meet up again and snuggle together like they used to, I'd like to think so anyway.

Sleep tight my beautiful gentle girl 

-XX-

What I made in January

Well that little blogging break was longer than I expected, no particular reason other than I just didn't really feel like it.  Now, because of my absence I have quite a few makes to share.

First up is Suzannah, my third Carriage House Samplings girl.   She was finished early last year but I only got round to taking her to be framed in November and by then the framers were so busy that I only got her back in January.

This is a terrible photo and doesn't do her justice.  The top of her dress looks to be in different coloured grey, It's not! In real life the colours are just fine.

Luckily they had the same frame used for my other two girls in the series, here's a close up.

I just have one more girl to stitch, Mary Margaret, and then I have all four.  I have all the supplies to start, just need the motivation.

January's stitching was all about the month of February.  I loved my little Winter bowl so much, (which was inspired by the lovely Carol), that I decided that I'd like a February/Valentine one, so this is what I stitched.

Above - Love You Too - by Hands On Design a 2023 freebie

Below - Love Is Kind - by Hands On Designs a 2019 freebie

Above - Hugs and Kisses - by With Thy Needle and Thread 

(part of the Love Notes collection)

Below Is a little Valentine freebie I found on Pinterest

And here they are all together along with a couple of fabric hearts I made to fill up the space.

The other two pieces are LHN February calendar girl and February flip-it by LK, both of which were stitched a few years ago.

January was also good for knitting.

The Birch Trees scarf by Julia Marsh is a free pattern on Ravelry.  I started it on December 29th and finished it on January 12th.  I absolutely loved every second of this knit and would definitely knit another one.  The yarn was from stash, it's undyed Falkland merino which I bought almost five years ago when I went to Yarndale.   It's unbelievably soft and squishy and will be lovely and warm.

My second knit is also neckwear, this is the Litmus Cowl, everyone and his dog has made this cowl and as usual I'm late to the party.  I cast this on when I went away with Joanne and the kids at the end of August, Joanne was doing the driving so It made perfect car knitting, I did get a good bit done on the drive there and back and managed to pick it up and do a few rounds now and again during the week. It was put to one side when I got home though and I didn't pick it up again until December. 

 

The yarn is again from stash which was bought at Yarningham two or three years ago with this cowl in mind.  The minis are called Spring Rainbow from The Crafty Bird the grey is Carrara Marble from Yellow Van Yarns.  I repeated the 10 minis twice, thirteen rounds for each of the colours and twelve rounds for the grey.  I've already worn this one quite a lot and it's another pattern I would happily knit again, perhaps in darker shades next time.

My very last finish for January was a pair of socks.

The Yarn is Opal, from their Beauty collection and Is really very soft and lovely to knit with.

So those are all my finishes for January, a good crafty month to start the year :-)

I hope you are all doing well and have had a good start to 2024, things are bumping along ok here, much the same as they always do.  I'll be back again before the end of the month to share my Stick6 finish and in the meantime I will try to catch up with blog reading, I'm way behind with that.

Enjoy the rest of February

-X-