Block 1 of Tail Feathers is finished. Well, as finished as it is going to be for a little while. There is a patchwork strip to go along the top but I'll do that in a month or so when I have more fabric strips to choose from.


It's been such fun - I'm so looking forward to block 2!

And here's one log cabin block again - lots more to do but I'll build those up gradually too as the fabric strips arrive.

Labels: patchwork and quilting

My first cute little Tail Feathers applique birdie is done...


And so are my first just-as-cute stitchery birdies. I used French knots for the dots instead of satin stitch because I love French knots.


And the first log cabin block too. I just love this quilt so far!

Labels: patchwork and quilting

Yesterday the postie brought a fat envelope from the lovely girls at Buttonberry. I had trouble restraining myself from snatching it out of his hand while he fiddled with a recorded delivery for Martin. I knew it would be the first block of Tail Feathers!


You might notice that the fabric looks a bit, erm, used. That's because I promptly took a couple of hours off (I did work all weekend so I reasoned it was justified!) and started...


The three mini blocks were very quick to piece and the kit comes with transfers for the stitchery, so that is so much easier than tracing. And the applique uses bondaweb, so all-in-all a really fast start. Lots of stitchery to do though. Here's a close up of my cute bird - still a couple of tail stitchery bits to do.


Lulu is still doing well - she weighs 2.9kg now, so a lot healthier. And I'll leave you with our butter-wouldn't-melt-in-his-mouth Trevor. Only a couple of weeks ago he presented us with a bathroom of feathers and a baby rabbit in one day. The baby rabbit was fine - we had to chase it all round the garden but eventually caught it and released it. The bird was just feathers. The down side of cats!

Labels: cats, patchwork and quilting

Here's long overdue photo - Holly and Ivy Sampler by Country Cottage Needleworks, which was actually stitched over the Christmas holiday while we were at my mum and dad's.


I've misplaced my little stitching notebook, so I can't remember what the fabric is, although I think it was a Lakeside Linen.

Labels: miscellaneous stitching

Time to catch up on some of the stitching posts that have been waiting to be shared since the beginning of the year!

Today it's St Reatham. I was stitching this on the train when I was working
in Cambridge and I have to say I haven't picked it up since I lost my job in February. Much as I love it, it's a bit sad to see it still. This is about a year's worth of train journeys and it's over halfway there. I will get back to it one day!


We're settling back to a two-cat life. Lulu is doing well. She is still too thin but has put on a fair bit of weight. She follows us round everywhere and thankfully shows no desire to go out apart from going to the loo. She's not even glanced at the gate at the end of the garden. She didn't relax or sleep much at all for several days but finally had a good sleep on Friday.

We had yet more bad news this week with a family member in hospital, but hopefully it's nothing serious. This year is really turned out badly. But the good news is that the freelance work is going OK - so much so that I signed up for a new block of the month! My Antique Flower Garden is coming to an end and I'm almost up to date with it, so shortly I'm going to be shaking my tail feathers!

Labels: over one stitching, redwork

Lulu says thank you so much for the good wishes and prayers. She is constantly talking and very, very relieved to be home. And we can still barely believe we have her back. Look at her little pinched face. She weighs 2.5kg right now, so a lot of weight to put on. She's just bones and fluff.


Goodness knows what she has been through. I've hardly let her out of my sight! And she's hardly left us. She's been outside to go to the loo but no further than just into the garden. And we don't want her to go any further. Trevor is pleased to see her too - he's missed her. And there is constant tuna on offer right now, which he isn't turning down!


And she's straight back in on the photo action. Here she is wondering what I've been doing for the last 3 weeks. Not a lot really - I was too upset. But some patchwork did get done.


And here's some more!


Off now to sew while keeping an eye on my girl.

Labels: cats, patchwork and quilting

After almost 3 weeks our beautiful girl is home! Very skinny and weak but alive. We are so happy!

I was stitching in the garden a couple of hours ago and suddenly there she was, going down the path to the back door. I barely recognised her - she was so thin and her face looked so scared and different with dull eyes. I grabbed her and ran for the door and the cat food.

A couple of hours later and she's lost the scared look and seems much better already. She's talking a little and just now rolled over and did a happy trill. She's eaten almost a tin of tuna and drunk lots. She was always a small cat but now she is really skin and bones. We rang the vet but they said just keep an eye on her and get her to drink lots.

We're sure she has been trapped - she is so thin and her back legs are raw at the back as if she has been trying to get out of something. She sounds hoarse too, as if she has been mewing for help.

But, she is home, and with lots of tlc, which she will definitely get, we hope she will get better fast. And we hope she never, ever, ever goes investigating again!

Thank you all so much for your support, best wishes, and prayers. It has helped so much.

Labels: cats

Just to let you know that Lulu is still missing. It's been a week now. I really can't describe how we feel at the loss of our two precious girls within 10 days of each other. Although it's possible she may return, this is so out of character we are really expecting never to see her again. I don't have the heart to do much right now and may be away for a bit. If there is any good news I will be back asap.

Thank you so much for all the posts about Polo, I really appreciate them. We still miss her terribly.

Please can you now pray that Lulu comes home. She's been out for more than 26 hours now and we're seriously worried. She never, ever goes out for this long and most of the time she doesn't even go out of the garden. We need her to come home safe and sound.

Yesterday our lovely Polo gave up a short fight for her life. We are devastated.

She had had a cough for a couple of weeks and an X-ray suggested possible asthma, but she suddenly went downhill very fast. On Tuesday she was fighting for breath and we took her to the vet hospital. She was put on oxygen and various meds, but never recovered and slipped away yesterday just before we could get to see her. The vet suspects a type of lung cancer but we don't really know.

She was a gorgeous cat and we miss her talking to us, charging about, bouncing Trevor and being the monkey she was.






I hope to be back soon with stitching.

Labels: cats