Monster!

Here he is-my first little Amigurumi monster! He is even cuter in real life!
Apparently, 'the pervading aesthetic of Amigurumi is cuteness.' So that's OK then.

New Toys

Calligraphy pen set I found in the charity shop yesterday-really nice to draw with. I also found a hand paper shredder. I spent a happy and mindless hour yesterday using it to shred old receipts with Cassie watching me. Little strange cat. They have all been spooked today by the most terrible thing. A poor fox that was almost completely hairless-it's face, tail and body-it was a terrible sight. It came back to our bin bag a couple of times and them ran away over the fence-though it struggled to get up there. I am tempted to leave some food out but am worried about the cats.

Red

I wanted to clear up my messy table, so had to use up the last of the brusho in the palette. I brushed lots of it onto these pages with matte medium. I saw a picture somewhere yesterday where the person had very red cheeks, in half moons below their eyes, so thought of leaving the red background as these and the lips. I used oil pastels which were lovely and smudgy over the plastic like surface of the matte medium.

A bit of my first failed attempt at a handwarmer was already stuck to the other page. It is fun to cut into a crocheted or knitted fabric-you can feel the scissors eating through the stitches. I like the way the colours all work together.

My usual staring at you type of person, not sure if it is a boy or a girl, but it is possibly an assassin in that jumper. (Just watched 'Abduction' tonight. Come back Jason Bourne is all I have to say about that!)

Cassie has had a space especially cleared for her on the window sill this week which unfortunately means her walking over the draining board so I have to keep wiping it-oh well it is only us and I am sure we are pretty immune to cat germs. Here she is posing behind the flowers looking very pretty I thought.

Bits and Pieces

Half term is rushing by and I seem to have spent most of it pottering around not doing much. Vets and hair have been the two jobs-I should have done the dentist too but that may have to wait until Easter. Below is Tiger, still a bit woozy from having worm stuff applied to the back of her neck and giving blood. Hence sitting in the cosy cradle bit at the bottom of the scratching post, a place none of them ever sit. It looks really comfortable too! Can you see the little shaved part. Her fur was like rabbit fur when the vet shaved it off with his clippers. The blood test was because she has lost weight-which I think is because of jealousy of Cassie causing her to exercise more than normal-she rushes over whenever Cassie is being played with! £120! I am not complaining-she is worth it-but £120! The results were fine though so that is good. She has to go back to have her teeth cleaned. Poor Tiger. Though she actually seemed to enjoy being at the vets. He had to turn the tap on to distract her so he could listen to her heart as she was purring so much!

More cats, this time of the four-eyed variety! Stare at them and it is hard to convince yourself your eyes are not going funny! Thank you Linda Sue for a great parcel with great wrapping!

I am doing another crochet course-to make amigurumi monsters. But it gave me the idea of just going round and round to make some hand warmers. The stitch looks quite different when you go round and round-I really like the texture. Then for the top bit I crocheted into the back of the stitch as demonstrated on the course and this gives another texture. I bought this yarn for the colour-so lovely-I used to have a jumper of this colour a long time ago but it got shrunk in the wash. I had one failed try-just too big and baggy around, and then could not undo it as the fluffy fibres got tangled. I started again and increased the stitches to shape them a bit over the hand. They are a bit tight to get on but once on are fine. Tomorrow I think I am going to try to make an actual monster!

The Amaryllis in my kitchen-so beautiful. It is in a very little pot, and had fallen over when we got back from Brighton. I weighted it down with rocks as I couldn't really repot it when it was so big and it has survived ok.

I finally bought a cushion pad for my hexagon cushion-the pad is not quite big enough but it will do for now. I love my row of cushions-one of the tidiest and clearest bits of the flat!

Mine is the largest of the two. The mushroom cushion is by Gennine and was bought here.

The carpet cushion was a lucky and cheap find on ebay-it is some kind of bag I think. The red cushion is an old shirt. The brown one is from TK Maxx-I love the Scandinavian look of that one. The original patchwork one was from either Tenterden or Rye-all these antique shops blend into one!

Valentine's Things

There was more than one St Valentine, and the association of the Saint with love was largely thanks to Chaucer in the fourteenth century. (So says wikipedia) Roman martyrs all the way to this-how did it happen?! I like the heart as a pleasing shape-my next favourite after the circle. We sometimes give each other Valentine's gifts and sometimes don't. This year I have got Andy a selection of delicious chocolates and some 'artisan' crispbreads which he really likes-they are pretty good actually! I never enjoyed Valentine's day when I was younger as it gave me a feeling of being left out and not understanding how things worked. I grew out of that feeling years ago thank goodness. I think it is worth celebrating different festivals in different ways, but not giving in to the commercialism of it all. In that light I was happy to see that Tracy was having a Valentine's swap. I was pleased to receive two lovely ATCs. Tracy's has gold pigment and a gently worn feel that I love.

I like the colours and patterns of Shayla's card.

Thank you Tracy and Shayla.

I made felt hearts with bells. Hope you have a good Valentine's day however or whether you celebrate it. I will be taking Tiger and Lily to the vet's for their boosters-they won't love me for that!

Bits and Pieces

A few things I have been making and doing recently. Mainly my making time has been taken up with a crochet blanket that seems to be taking forever and which I am now a bit fed up with and so doing slower. I try to do a few rows a night but over the last week have only done about four. I am determined to finish it though, if only to get rid of all the cotton yarn I have bought!

Before Christmas I bought a Hama beads set which was reduced. I know they are for children but I love them-bright and colourful and quite fun to do if you are a bit tired and can't manage much else. The only other things I have made were three camels, and now I have made three girls too. Here is one of them and her portrait in my journal.

I have got the brusho out again. The colours are so intense and mix beautifully.

A pair of strange girls done in Brighton last weekend. I used Derwent coloursoft pencils which are lovely-soft as they say in the name, and also quite intense colours.This quote made me laugh.

The felty tree I mentioned the other day and the initial sketch. Also a felt head based on the other sketch-inspired by the rainbow pom-poms which are lovely and felt onto the base well.

More brusho and white gel pen too. Summary of that day!

Off to finish a little felty thing now and have a glass of wine.

Emotional

Recently when things have made me laugh I have had a few occasions of near hysteria-usually on my own in the car-where I almost can't stop laughing. Such as today when a van passed me on the A2. It had the name 'Accurate Roofing' on the back. It just struck me as really funny and that the least a roof should be is 'accurate'. Later it didn't seem so funny but it did make me laugh at the time. And other times I have had the same thing but with crying-such as recently when I watched a programme about a project to re-introduce tigers to an area of India. There was a female tiger and a male in quite close proximity but they lived alone. Then they got together to mate and spent about five days in each other's company. Then they parted again. A few days later the male tiger was found dead-poisoned by the local people in fear for their cattle. I just could not stop! I think it is the season. I always forget how this time of year makes me feel, and how I fight against it but still it descends upon me. I am trying to eat well, do exercise etc but all I really want to do is curl up in bed! There are compensations-weekends away-this weekend we are going to Leicester to see friends-looking forward to it if you are reading Rob! Little cats that love me. Books-I am reading lots at the moment-a great children's novel called 'The Sterkam Handshake' by Susan Price, 'One' by Victoria Alexander , 'Death Comes to Pemberley' by P.D.James on my Kindle, and also 'Molesworth'-if anything will make me laugh it is that! Through Sam I discovered the short stories of John Cheever-and am enjoying those. He wrote the story that the film 'The Swimmer' is based on. There are things such as interesting toilet graffiti-of the kind you don't see much anymore-to enlighten me.

I do this-keep my eyes peeled and live like a magpie-too much like one sometimes.

And I liked the positivity of this one!

Then there are lovely surprises in the post. I have taken part in two swaps recently-this is the first-a postcard swap organised by Anne. I received a lovely selection of made and bought postcards from Lee in Australia. I love the stamps she used, the lovely photos she took to make her card, the vintage crochet touches and the pretty packaging. Thank you Lee! (And Anne!)