Goodbye Chester

It's been a sad week this week as on Saturday we had to say goodbye to my loving cat Chester. He was almost 16 and although he'd been looking his age for the past couple of months he still had the energy to race around the house when the mood took him.

 

He had to go to the vets on Thursday as he had an intestinal blockage, they sorted him out but he never really got over the procedure and by Saturday morning we knew that he wasn't going to recover so we took the only choice that was left and had him put to sleep. I miss him already as he sat on my knee most evenings or at the side of me if I was stitching, but I know we made the right choice and as much as we didn't want him to go, it was the kindest thing to do.

 

I did manage to finish my ornament for this month, it's been a lovely quick stitch to get me back into stitching. I've not had chance to finish it off as I'm waiting for some trimmings that I need to do it. It's a freebie pattern found here.

I've also done another bit on my Beatrix Potter, I really think that it's time that this UFO was finished. I was hoping to finish this pattern this month but didn't quite make it.

I've also nearly finished knitting a cardigan for Becca my granddaughter, just the button band to do so all in all not a bad month for my crafting.

Now that the girls have all left home I've made the small bedroom into my craft room, another "work in progress" but I'm getting there. It's been lovely having all my stitching and cardmaking stuff on hand instead of looking in drawers or in boxes under the bed. I even felt inspired to make some cards again and really enjoyed myself.

I can't wait for some sunshine, we seem to get rain most days or it's freezing. It's my check up at the doctors tomorrow for my depression so I hope the sun is shining so I feel ok about cutting back my tablets. If the sun's shining I can cope with anything.

Love and hugs,

Stitching and strawberries

It's been a busy few weeks since I last posted on my blog, time has a habit of flying by when you're having fun. Lily as usual has kept me busy and so has my poor cat Chester. No sooner had I posted the pic of him on my last post, he got attacked by another cat and was quite seriously mauled. His head and neck had to be shaved and as the other cat had nicked a vein, he had to have staples in his head and chin to stop the blood. He's now on his third lot of antibiotics because his jaw keeps swelling up and if there's no improvemnt by Sunday, then he's got to have an operation to investigate. I hope that it calms down for the weekend, he's getting a bit too old to be put under.

We've also had a couple of visits to Chester to see my new grandson Joshua, who is now a happy and healthy 12 lbs. He's having to have physio on his neck as being overdue in the breech position has made his neck weak on one side but Sharon says that you can see improvement after only a couple of sessions.

On the stitching front, well, I've hardly picked a needle up in the past two weeks as Tony has been off work so we've been doing all those little jobs that need doing around the house that I can't manage on my own.

I received my exchange gift from Carien for the Gift of Friendship bookmark exchange, this is what she stitched for me along with the card kit that she gave to me.

I stitched for Debbie who said that she liked flowers and butterflies.
She let me know that she loved it and the colours that I'd chosen were her favourite.

And finally stitchy wise, I have to say a big thank you to stitchin' sweet Sue for the goodies that she sent to me. A few weeks ago on her blog she posted a pattern link for some felt strawberries and I happened to comment that I didn't have any red felt left. No sooner had I commented than she offered to send me some which she did in double quick time along with some charts and a skein of Weeks Dye Works thread that I'd never tried, indeed a true act of kindness. So Sue, just for you, here is my effort of making those strawberries and I now realise why you said that they were flying round the room.The garden is rewarding us after all our hard work.

The chillis are waiting for some more sunshine to ripen but we've picked loads of tomatoes, sweet peppers and we are giving cucumbers away as fast as they grow. It's certainly been a good year for the greenhouse.......

hugs,

Rainy days and Mondays

I've had that song going through my head for the past couple of hours, especially the first line ...."talking to myself and feeling old", probably because that's how I've been today but rainy days don't get me down, in fact I love the rain on my face (as long as it's not cold rain) and since I've retired, Monday is just another day to do as I please, within reason.
Last week when we did have some sunshine, me and Lily made the most of it and got the paddling pool and play mat out and went for a splash.
She really enjoyed getting me and her mum wet! I can't wait for her to get her first words out, she is trying so hard to tell us something and she "talks" for ages in her own little way. She is so comical. Last weekend was my sister's 70th birthday party and it was the first time that Lily had been on a dance floor. She kept trying to catch the flashing lights that were on the floor and she just went round and round in circles until she was dizzy She didn't want to give in though and she got quite upset when it was time to go, but with kisses from everyone and a balloon to see her on her way she was smiling by the time she left.
On the stitching front I have finally finished LHN Natures Beauty, I say finally because when I'd put the last stitch in and sat back to admire my work I noticed that I'd stitched the flowers on the left of the verse half a stitch lower than the other side. Tony said that it wasn't noticeable but I knew it was there so I had to rip it out and start again.
I started another LHN called Starlight Sampler and I've also put a few more stitches into my Beatrix SAL so I'm happy to say that I'm feeling good about my stitching.
The garden at the moment has a mind of its own, some things are growing and some are definitely heading for the compost bin.
These are my first tomatoes of the season, followed by a sweet pepper or two.This is how the garden looked a couple of years ago; last year we decided to get rid of the drive down to the shed so that we'd have more lawn. Tony has decided to get rid of his old kit car that lives in the shed so we won't need the driveway down there any more once it's gone.And this is how it looks now, it's looking a bit bare but we intend to put some more shrubs in when we get round to it. The borders are filling up nicely thanks to all the seeds that Chris sent me, even the seedlings that she sent through the post survived and grew.Some days I wonder what I've done with my time but when I look back at these photos I know where my time went and I'm quite pleased with the results. Some days it's been hard work but I love being out there, it's so peaceful.
And finally, this is my old Persian cat Chester; he's twelve years old now and this is how he spends most of his day. Wouldn't it be nice to be so relaxed.

Hugs,