Friday Frolics and Weekend Stitching....

Hello!  I have now emerged from a wonderful 3 day weekend with some stitching progress to show off!  The weather was fantastic and both Hubby and I had a very lazy, do nothing but stitching weekend!  My favourite kind of weekend :o)

As you probably read in my last post, I have recently been stitching on my "Faces of JE Mystery SAL" piece again and over the weekend I just kept on going with this one!  I am finding it hard to put it away this time....

I was supposed to take a photo on Friday night before I started stitching, and another one after my Friday night effort, so that I could do a Friday Frolics post... but I forgot!  So this post is covering my FF stitching as well as a general update on my SAL piece.

When I posted last week after IHSW & FNSI my SAL piece looked like this:

She now looks like this:

I have now started filling in her skin by stitching 1 over 1 which is taking a bit of time..... (as it does!!)  I have so enjoyed stitching on this fairy which means I have to make a decision as to whether to keep it out for another few days or swap her for another WIP that is sitting in the basket.

Before I go I must show you a couple of pics.... one is of the gorgeous roses that I picked from the front garden on Sunday.  Our roses are starting to show off their Spring colours and they look amazing...

And secondly, seeing as I showed you a picture of Oscar enjoying the sun the other day.... I really should show you the other two.... Felix and Mitzi on guard in Daddy's office.....  Have no idea what was outside that was attracting their attention but they are certainly intent on something!

Speaking of Mitzi - I have to tell you what her favourite movie is at the moment: 101 Dalmatians.

We had the telly on the other night and the 101 Dalmatians movie was on while we were doing the dishes - next thing I noticed Mitzi sitting by the couch watching the TV!  I managed to grab my phone without disturbing her and took a video of her watching all the puppies.  She even barked when the 2 baddies appeared!!!  Don't think she likes Hugh Laurie and Mark Williams anymore!!  I was amazed at how glued she was to the movie!  So cute too....  She often watches the TV but this is first time she has sat for so long...normally after 10 mins or so she loses interest but not this time.  I think she ended up watching almost the whole movie!!

So that's for today!  See you again next week when hopefully I will have some more stitching to show you!

Ta-ta for now.... happy stitching!
Hugs xx

Cats in the garden!

A cat is a lion in a jungle of small bushes

~Indian Proverb~

Following on my previous post, (oops, I am supposed to be telling you about our holiday and other things, not telling you about our furry babies again).... but I have more pictures of our delightful furry babies!

As some of you may have already noticed from previous posts, we have a cat enclosure built outside on our patio for the cats to use so that they both get some sun and fresh air as they are indoor cats.  Mitzi now also uses this area occasionally as she fits quite nicely through the cat door and often joins the boys on the terrace for afternoon cocktails and midnight snacks!

While the area is of generous size for said kitties and puppy, and has all manner of sleeping accommodation, the one thing it lacked was grass!  We had thought of extending their enclosure by a tunnel out onto the back lawn but have never actually got around to doing anything more than think about it - until this weekend anyway.

Now, while we haven't done exactly what we thought we would back in the beginning of time... we did have another thought which we think will prove even more successful for all parties involved!

Let me introduce you to Oscar and Felix's latest piece of real estate...

Oscar & Felix with their newly laid paddock!

We haven't quite finished the area yet as we have one more piece of landscaping to do for them.  Where the bricks are currently standing up, Hubby is going to take out the next brick behind that one as well, rather than cut the bricks into halves, and we will then plant some cat grass and cat mint in the brick and a half space for the boys to enjoy as well.

Oscar absolutely loves his new patch of grass, Felix is still a bit unsure what it is all about... and Mitzi - well Mitzi probably wonders what all the excitement is about - after all she has her own larger grass paddock out the back!

Oscar taking in the new soft sleeping / sunbathing arrangements!

Mitzi just wonders what all the excitement is about!

Fingers crossed that the grass settles in quickly and grows well, and then all three of them will have this lovely comfy spot on their terrace just the right size for them to enjoy a morning or an afternoon of sunbathing!

As for the mowing of said paddock..... that particular event is for thinking about at another later stage!

Well, that's all for now - will be back again soon!

Happy stitching til we meet again!

Are you going to Scarborough Fair?

Are you going to Scarborough Fair?

Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme

Remember me to one who lives there

She was once a true love of mine

Lyrics from "Scarborough Fair" by Simon and Garfunkle

In Oscar and Felix's world, it is parsley, sage, coriander, cat grass and catnip!

The boys normally have cat grass and cat nip in their outside space, but recently we decided to re-do our herb pots and place them into the boys space never dreaming that they would fall in love with the coriander!

Oscar curled up in the coriander

Oscar & Felix

Luckily the coriander keeps springing back up after it has been slept on!  I saw Felix sniffing the parsley and mint the other day so I guess it won't be long before they get the royal kitty treatment as well.

I guess that I'm not the only one that loves the smell of this delightful herb.  Looks like I am going to have to buy some more coriander for us to use so that the boys can have their own pots of special herbs!

See you again real soon, happy stitching til then!

Spring is in the air.. or is it?

Our back garden - over run by the Nasturtiums!
Oops.. there is a shadow of me taking the photo...

Here's the latest weather report... Spring has sprung down under... apparently... the flowers and bees tell me it is so, but the sun is still playing hide and seek!  We have had lots of lovely rain since September began but it has stayed cold and the sun only shines every now and then!  But I am not complaining about the rain, as we desperately need the rain to make sure the dams are full and we have water for Summer!

My TUSAL photo for September was taken in the garden amongst the Lavender.  I love my Lavender plants, as do the bees!

TUSAL September 2013

Of course as per usual I am late in uploading a TUSAL pic... This month the ORT's are mostly purple and orange and some sparkles as I have been stitching on my exchange piece for the MS Lovers Halloween Exchange.  Pics to come once it arrives at its destination.  It has been fun stitching the Halloween piece... think I might just have to stitch some more Halloween designs - there is something about the purple, orange and black colours that so speak to me!!

If you are interested in keeping in touch with what is going on with the 2013 TUSAL pop on over to Daffycat's blog and join in the fun. The next new moon is on 5 October (oooh, that's my birthday too) - let's see how many more ORT's drop into the jar between now and then.

That's it for this very short and sweet post.  I have been thinking about my stitching goals for next year already and one thing that I noticed this year is that I haven't stitched anything like the same number of things as I have stitched in the previous couple of years - so I am going to have to think of a cunning plan to rectify that for 2014!

Now for some cuteness overload just to keep you smiling....

Mitzi & Oscar
curled up together in the craft room (my chair of course)
or is it their chair?!?

Oscar & Felix
There are 3 of these baskets side by side... but Felix likes to
curl up with Oscar in the same one!

Til next time, happy stitching everyone, see you again soon!

New Moons - 2013

5 October
3 November
3 December