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-

Summer's last hurrah

 Summer decided to make a comeback this week, just as the children went back to school! July and August were mostly a washout but this past week we have had temperatures of 30°C every. Single. Day.  Phew, It's been hot too hot to walk about really but you know what they say, only mad dogs and English men go out in the midday sun! Ha ha.

Mark had a few days holiday this week so we decided to take a little over night trip to Upton on Severn, a pretty little riverside town about an hours drive away.  This was the view from our hotel room.

The town itself Is just one street really but there are a few interesting shops as well as the usual charity shops that seem to be in every town nowadays.  There was a lovely fabric and yarn shop and I might have bought some sock yarn home with me -  Only one ball though, I was good 😁

There was also the loveliest cafe / book shop that I've ever seen.  We spent a happy half hour in there, but I could have quite easily have curled up on one of the many chairs dotted around with my book and a cuppa.  In my dream house I would have a room like this, with bookshelves full to over flowing and big squishy sofas and leather armchairs.  In reality that's not likely to ever happen but I can dream 😉

Henry's Cafe and book shop - Upton on Severn

This was one of the houses along the river, Isn't it beautiful? Oh how I'd love a nosey round inside there!

 Now I bet this would have a room to accomodate my dream library with the squishy sofas🤣 

We had a lovely breakfast on Saturday morning and then set for to explore Tewksbury,  another historic riverside town a short drive away. 

The town of Tewksbury grew following the building of the Abbey in the twelfth century, the ground being consecrated in 1121.  Tewksbury is also in the History books as being the place where the Battle of The Roses took place in 1471 when The House of York were victorious over the Lancastrians.

Each July the battle is re-enacted at the Medieval Festival

Tewksbury Abbey, which apparently has the largest Norman tower in Europe

The town still has some lovely old black and white buildings, this one has a date under the window, 1765.  Hard to believe that these building have survived so long, I wonder if buildings of today will last as long, they certainly wont be as pleasing to look at if they do. 

If you love to browse around second hand bookshops then this certainly is the place to come! 

This was one of two book shops that I got lost in for a while.

We really enjoyed our couple of days away and didn't have to travel too far to have some time out and some lovely scenery.

September in the garden - We still have some bits of colour here and there, although It won't be long until I have to empty the planters, most are past their best now.  A lot of things haven't done as well this year, not as many roses and the hydrangea flowers haven't seemed to have lasted so long, the red one has been particularly disappointing, the leaves have been very small compared to how it looked last year.

I don't think I will plant as many pots up next year, the garden falls to me to look after as Mark has no interest in gardening at all, he will help If I ask but he wouldn't go out there on his own accord so I  may as well make it easier on myself.

Update on Molly - Since I wrote last time Molly had to visit the vets again, this time she spent two nights there.  I took her back because she hadn't pooped in two days.  Turned out she was a little dehydrated and constipated, the stitch they put in wasn't helping as there wasn't enough room for her to pass what was there.  Poor thing must have been so uncomfortable!

They took the stitch out, gave her a relaxant and put her on a drip to rehydrate her, she has also had a vitamin B12 jab to help increase her appetite.  After all that she finally 'went' and they were happy for me to collect her on Tuesday.  

Fortunately she hasn't prolapsed again, she will have to continue with lactulose to help her and have another vitamin B12 jab next week then the vet will want to see her again about a week after that.  Her blood test came back all ok so hopefully, (crossing my fingers), this is all a result of constipation, which can be sorted.

She's been out in the garden enjoying the lovely weather this week and I hope she will be back to her usual self soon

-X-

Hello, is there anyone there?

I disappeared there for a while, It wasn't intentional just busy with other things.  As well as not writing a blog post I've not been reading all of your news either, I'll try and catch-up over the weekend, although not promising as I'm off on a little adventure with Joanne and the kids next week and things need to be sorted and packed for that.  But more about that when I get back.

July was a slow month for any crafty makes, I finished a pair of socks, sewed another small bag and fully finished a previously stitched ornament, not bad considering everything else going on, (another bedroom decorated and the loft re-insulated), but I always expect more of myself.

First off are the socks......These are the Rose City Rollers socks by Mara Catherine Bryner.

I lost the ball band, (again), but I'm pretty sure the yarn is another Mr & Mrs Rabbit yarn.

I like the rolled cuff and they are very comfortable, I'll definitely be making more of these in the future.

There was plenty of fabric left over when I made Bonnie's little bag and she asked if I would make one for her friend's birthday so they could have the same.  I'm pretty sure there is still enough fabric to make another one, certainly got my money's worth from that particular purchase :-)

I also finally got round to fully finishing the little PS peice I stitched back in April

There are only a couple of weeks left of the school holidays, those six weeks or so have gone really quickly! I've only had the children a few times while they have been off as mums and dads have taken holidays from work to either go away or just have days out.  Jenny James and the boys made it back home safely after their wild fire escapade in Rhodes.  Their luggage was sent on a couple of weeks later, although they are still missing their hand luggage which contained the boys Amazon tablets, headphones and Olivers Nintendo switch and games, as a ten year old boy you can imagine how he is feeling now not being able to play minecraft with his friends!  Fingers crossed these bags will turn up eventually but as there were thousands of people evacuated or moved around that they may well have to accept that they will not get them back

  

I had the boys for the day on the Monday after they came back from holiday, as Bonnie was out for the day with her friend, (the one I made the bag for), I offered to have Jacob too and we went to Stourport for the day.  There are loads of things to keep the kids occupied there in the Summer, the small fair is open and they had great fun on the rides, Oliver and Arty on the water dingy was hilarious to watch, Oliver was playing it safe then Arty pulled the wheel to one side and they kept spinning around, he is such a little devil, so funny though.  Managing 3 boys on my own was a challenge but I came through unscathed, albeit shattered.

Oliver and Arty won a fish on the fair, Arty wasn't too bothered but Oliver bless him, he was so excited, they haven't got any pets so this made his day.

Notoriously fairground fish don't last too long but as I write this they are still going strong :-)

There have been another few outings since which I might mention another time because I don't want this post to be too long.

This morning I've had to take Molly to the vets, I won't go into detail of the mess I got up to this morning but you can have a guess when I tell you she has a rectal prolapse. 

The vet did a procedure, (again you can guess what!) and fingers crossed it will stay put, if not she will have to have it stitched.

Poor thing, she must be so sore but is on pain killers and lactulose now for a few days so will hopefully be feeling better soon.

Right I'll leave it there for now, It will be time to show our finish for Stick6in23 when I post again :-)

Take care

-X-

P.S.  Just in case you are wondering, Molly does have her own lovely bed where she would be much more comfortable, but no, she is choosing to lie, rather awkwardly It has to be said, on the mat!

It's Official

December 2010 was the coldest in the UK..... EVER, well in the last one hundred years anyway. And just to prove that it's still not over we woke to snow again this morning. Within half an hour everything was covered in the white stuff. As it was such a nasty morning i dropped Stevie off at College before work, the round trip would usually take about 20 minutes, this morning it took me an hour, the traffic was backed up all the way, I'm not a patient driver so was pretty miffed when i got into work (half an hour late!!). By mid morning the snow had turned to rain and things were back to normal on the roads. Good job too as Joanne has her second driving test tomorrow afternoon, could you please keep your fingers crossed for her? She has her little KA all ready, plus it's costing a fortune for all these lessons and tests!!

~~~~~~~~~~

I made a start on Molly on 1st January

Quite a lot of brown going on at the moment, but i love the way it's looking so far. Most of this was done whilst watching repeats of Downton Abbey. Did anyone else watch it? What a great series, I'm having Downton withdrawal, and we have to wait until the Autumn for the next one to air! The house that was used in the series is Highclere Castle, it looks wonderful, you know me and historic houses, i can already feel a little trip coming on in the summer, lol

~~~~~~~~~~

I had to order some more threads for Molly from So and Sew this week and this chart found it's way into my basket.

I just love it! but whats not to love? it has a house and an alphabet, two of my most favourite things : -)

Talking of Sew and So, have you visited their site lately? If not take a look, it's been revamped and browsing is much easier, now you can set up a password and save your details, review orders, create a wish list and, i noticed they have gift certificates too. I wish i had ordered them over Christmas now though, i could have avoided the VAT increase that happened on 4th Jan, missed out on saving myself some pennies there.

Thank you for your visits and your lovely comments and encouragement, I'm glad there are such lovely people out there:-)

Edited to say that Joanne just got back and she PASSED her driving test!!

Until next time...x

Boxes, Baskets & Calendar Cats!

Millie & Molly would like to send you all a BIG thank you for your lovely comments about their photos :-)

The calendar came into the shop on Friday and i went to pick one up straight after work
Introducing the calendar girl of 2011!

Apparently there were almost 200 photos entered in the competition, didn't she do well to get chosen! I can report that the fame hasn't turned her head one bit, she is still the same self assured Molly who gets her own way with everything :-)

The local paper that featured the competition are doing a follow-up on it so my mug shot will be in there in the next couple of week (I'm preparing myself for the comments from work about that!)
~~~~~~~~~~

Last week i was in and out the house for one thing and another and couldn't settle into stitching except for finishing another LHN ornament.

This is Peppermint Twist made up into yet another puffy pillow (are you getting fed-up seeing this type of finishing yet!)

I left off the button, i didn't think it added anything to it.

While i was out and about last week a few things made it home with me. My LNS had this limited edition DMC box in, it's on sale with 40 threads included but Sharon said if i wanted the box she would knock off the price of the threads, how could i pass a chance like that!

Isn't it great! (you will have to tilt your head to one side now because i just couldn't get blogger to co-operate!!)
It fastens with rustic string a a little heart toggle. I think i only ended up paying about £6 for it, bargain!

Continuing with the bargain hunting, i came across this little box in a local department store

It's all shabby & chic and i love it! When i get round to sorting more of my threads out this is where they are going :-)

I've saved the best bargain until last, while i was collecting "the calendar" i spied this

How gorgeous is this shopping basket!! It cost me all of a fiver! I said to daughter #2 that i felt like i should be walking in a picturesque village somewhere do my shopping, she said, i think you look like you should be skipping along in a wood wearing red cloak, lol - kids what do they know!

Until next time x

Whoooohoooo Our Very Own Super Model!

No, I'm not talking about cars, I've had it up to here with cars, lol (but thank you all for you good wishes and sympathies, i'll update on news another time)
I want to share some happy news with you this time.

A couple of days before we went on holiday i saw a competition advertised by the Cats Protection League in our local paper, they were looking for photos of cats for their 2011 calendar.

Despite much snickering from my family (they think I'm the crazy cat woman) i entered a photo I'd taken of Molly.

It had slipped my mind, what with one thing and another going on but i got an e-mail last night telling me that Molly's photo had been chosen to feature in the calendar!

I was over the moon :-)

but, it gets better

I emailed them the photo as they asked, and today i got reply to say that Molly has actually been chosen as the overall winner and her photo will appear on the cover of the calendar, and we also get to choose which month she will be! How cool is that!!!

Even better still is that she has also won a photo session with a professional photographer who will come to our house and take a set of photos which i will the be given on a disc (insert big grin here!)

Here she is the super model herself in her winning shot

And because i have 2 beautiful girls i can't leave without showing a photo of Millie too, after all a mother has no favourites ;-)

I wish now I'd got a better photo of Millie too, then i could have entered them both, although It's harder to get a good shot of Millie because she is so fast and she thinks everything is a game, and being all black makes it harder

Millie

I can't tell you how much we love these two little faces, they mean the world to us.

Until next time x

Catch up Friday

Thank you for all your lovely comments on my Christmas Tree ornament, i really appriciate your visits. I'm really getting into these cute little finishes :-) My LNS had The Merry Skater and The Red House LHN charts in last week so i made a start on MS, i should finish it off tonight and will share photos next time. Rubie Owl is still banished to the cupboard waiting for me to rip out my mistake, still can't face it yet!

~~~~~~~~~~

The weather here has been lovely again this week, hot enough for Molly to do her thing in the garden~~~~~~~~~~

Seriously, she can only manage a few steps out there sometimes and then she flops, legs akimbo, lol. While Molly lounges in the sunshine outside, Millie, (who is much 'posher' and more refined!!) prefers my bed, she will venture out when it's cooled down, though not at night, I'd never let them out at night.

That's it for this week then, we are going on holiday on Monday, to Halkidiki, just for a weeks R&R, can't wait for a dip in that pool and time lounging on a sunbed with my book and a glass of something cold:-)

Until next time x

New Start, Snow & Daft Cats!

School was out again today because of snow over night so Stevie had yet another day of sledding. Last night was only about the 2nd time I've parked in our street in a week because of the weather, just my luck, i managed to inch my way down this morning, sliding the last bit, luckily there were no parked cars for me to hit towards the bottom of the road! The main roads weren't much better, I'm sure the gritters haven't been in our parts. This afternoon after work i left my car out of the street again, just in case!

I know this is a pathetic amount of snow compared to other countries but believe me, even this amount causes havoc in the UK, we are just not used to it and don't have the resources to cope with it, no snow ploughs and we are running out of salt and grit!

~~~~~~~~~~

When i was uploading some photos i remembered that i hadn't shared my framed Zippity-do-da with you, so here you go. Hard to get a photo of all of it with my small camera, but you get the idea, the frame i chose in the end was a white-ish distressed one which matched Stevie's room.

~~~~~~~~~~

My new start for 2010 was actually started on Boxing Day

Quaker Row by Midnight Stitching
I'm stitching on 28 count with Threadworx 10342. Still not really sure about the colour but it's staying put now! I just realised that i haven't quite finished the squirrel stitching. (does anyone else think that squirrel looks a little crazy?)
~~~~~~~~~~
Finally, this is my snow cat, molly, insisting on going out to catch snow flakes

She didn't wander too far from the door though i can tell you!
That's it for now, except to thank every one for their lovely comments on my last post and Fa-La-La, even though the stitching caused me so much greif i'm glad i stuck with it now, it's still sitting on the mantle in my bedroom just to remind me, and i did get the beads up of the floor, well, most of them anyway :-)