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It was with a very heavy heart I had to say goodbye to my little black and white cat Frisco. He was almost 16 and getting weaker and thinner each day. His life was becoming just a mere existence so although I would have loved to keep him with me I had to make the decision to give him a dignified peaceful end, which is what the lovely vet gave him. As he passed away he stuck his little pink tongue out looking totally cute. It made me cry even more.

Frisco with Daisy

I had him since he was a 6 week old kitten. I first saw him in the vet’s waiting room. This tiny little kitten was being rushed passed me as an emergency as he had been choking during the night. As his cute face stared out at me through the cat basket I just fell in love with him. His owner said he would be looking for a home soon. Needless to say I was round at her place the next day and the rest is history.

He was famous for his beautiful green eyes.

He never really made friends with the rest of the cats and would wack anyone that got near him, but he did love any of my female friends that came to visit. He would sit on the floor in front of them and just gaze at them. I wonder who he was in a previous life – Casanova perhaps? He got his name from a line in the Otis Redding song ‘Sitting on the Dock of the Bay’ which is one of my all time fav songs.

This is my favourite picture of him snoozing in the grass with a little daisy.

He was also a great one for sitting by the bath and watching!! He would also climb on to the side and head butt me and lick my nose. Earlobe nibbling was also a favourite pastime of his (my earlobes not his).

Intrepid explorer!

It is so weird not having him around, I am sure I can see him out of the corner of my eye at times. Rest in peace little one xxxxxx

Linda xxx

Daisy’s decision to include a fisticuffs picture must have set something off in cyberspace as my agency has just sold my other cat fight image. It’s of Lily attempting to evict little Rosie from her Santa Hat.

It sold to a German magazine, goodness knows what it is being used to illustrate! Actually thinking about it Lily is almost as naughty as Daisy. These are a few images of Lily ‘caught red pawed’.

Partying hard at Christmas

Swinging on the washing

Practicing to become a tightrope walker

Hogging the catnip

Change of subject, the temperatures are gradually rising and I’m hoping for some nice Spring images. These are a couple from last year.

I’m obsessed with crocheting flowers at the moment – must be a subconscious way of wishing for Spring. I’ve just found a lovely black button which I’m going to use for the centre of a crochet Poppy. This is my inspiration image.

It’s Papaver ‘Royal Wedding’. It never fails to bloom each year, no matter how harsh the winter. If I like what I come up with I’ll put a few in my shop. I’m off now in search of a pretty colour of cotton.

Sláinte and Happy St Patrick’s Day to all of us of a Celtic lineage

Linda xx

Haven’t blogged for a while as I had to hide the laptop from Daisy as she has now got a taste for blogging, or it could be she liked sitting on something warm. She does like a warm bottom and it has been decidedly cool lately with late season snowfalls here. In fact we have all had cold bottoms here!

Thought I would generate some heat in my fingers by typing about one of my favourite books “Wicked Plants” by Amy Stewart.

I love plants and I like taking images of beautiful flowers such as this gorgeous purple Anemone

But I’m also drawn to the dark side of plants (Daisy would be proud) and Wicked Plants is full of dangerous and diabolical examples. There are no colour pictures in the book, all the pages have a Da Vinci Code like sepia design background with plant illustrations in black pen. The usual suspects like Marijuana have their place in the Illegal plants chapter but it’s the innocuous ones like Morning Glory (Ipomea tricolour) that surprise. Did you know that its seeds if eaten in sufficiently large quantities launch you on an LSD like trip producing frightening hallucinations. I checked my local garden centre and they are on sale in there, no restrictions. If only they knew!

Rhubarb leaves cause gastro intestinal problems and in rare circumstances coma and death. Think about that when you are next drizzling custard over your Rhubarb crumble!

Finally, did you know there was such a thing as a Strychnine Tree (Strychnos nux-vomica)? I always thought Strychnine was produced in dark labs by Victorian murderers with Jekyll and Hyde tendencies. It actually comes from the seed of this fifty foot tree. And for good measure the bark of one of its relatives Strychnos toxifera can be boiled down to make poison for the tip of an arrow. All good stuff to know come the Apocalypse, which I predict should arrive on Budget Day next week.

Sláinte

Linda xx

Today I have my very first guest blogger post! Daisy the Cat a legend in the cat blogging world has kindly consented to write a guest post for me. I am positively purring with excitement! Over to you Daisy……….

Thank you very much CrystalMoonCat for that very nice intro. I have to correct you though on my name. whilst I am known to my neighbours and the local vet as Daisy, my full title is Daisy the Destroyer – Daughter of Darkness. Here is my terrifying real picture…….look away now if you are in the least bit squeamish…….are you sure you want to look at this, really sure? Well OK then, on your own head be it……………………

Well I did warn you!  I am born out of the fires of the deepest depths of hell, damned  for eternity to wreak havoc on this weak and fragile earth and it’s puny little human population.

But I digress – yesterday I had tuna for supper and very nice it was too. Unfortunately I had to share it with 4 other felines but I have plans for them. I am the third eldest of five. The eldest one is 16 and after a lifetime of being thumped by him I am finally able to get my own back on him as he is a bit weak and tottery now. He’s also completely deaf and I can make all sorts of noises behind him and he doesn’t even know, tee hee. I had him cornered yesterday and was about to push him over when SHE came in and separated us. The second eldest is a bit fat and seems to only travel between her food bowl, the water bowl, the litter tray and the sofa. She has no interest in being number ONE and has relinquished her position to me. I made her sign her paw print in the litter tray to be sure. So really I am now number ONE puddy. It’s a position of immense power as I get to be in the middle of whatever is going on, I get fed first as the others stay back to let me in first and no matter how close any of the others snuggle up to HER I can always worm my way in between them.

I suppose such a position comes with an element of responsibility. I see it as my duty to see off all strangers that come around – cats, dogs, humans, spiders, it doesn’t matter to me. I’ll take them all on.  I also take my agent provocateur role very seriously and I will continue to pee down HER printers and up her sofa legs. The other day I got one in on the fleecy blanket SHE was about to sit down on. Now just between us this is my current disguise….

I’m pictured here listening in on HER private phone messages.

And this is what happens to any one who gets in my way! You have been warned!!

Love and kisses,

Daisy xx

………………..Thank you Daisy for that brief and interesting look into your interesting and slightly disturbing life.

Sláinte

Linda xxx

This is my personal list of reasons to love Australia and its people. I always think Australians have a great take on life, they are laid back with a great sense of humour. A great recipe for living!

Dame Edna Everage

My dad got me into watching the inimitable Barry Humphries. At first I couldn’t understand why he would want to watch some man dressed up as a woman severely challenged in the looks department. It was when he was on chat shows that his genius for comedy really shone through. Definitely a Housewife Megastar and Queen of the Adlib. It’s amazing to watch celebs queuing up to be insulted by Dame Edna, they just can’t get enough of her. I was watching a recording of her on the Graham Norton show and she was talking to a young woman in the audience describing her dress style as “affordable”.  So yes that’s the first reason to love Australia when it produces one of the cleverest and funniest comics of our time.

The Great White Shark

Am I the only person to have cried watching Jaws when they blew up the Great White Shark? I remember being really upset. Sadly that movie has a lot to answer for concerning the welfare of all sharks.  These are truly fish Leviathans. It is wonderful to watch how they elegantly cruise through the water with their little fan clubs of pilot fish. There’s no reason to hate these great predators, in fact they do us a great favour by keeping our oceans healthy. Just as wolves naturally cull deer herds, so the Great White does the same beneath the waves.

The Great Barrier Reef

I’ve included two pics of the Great Barrier Reef because I just can’t get enough of it! It’s Nature’s own widescreen tv with the colour saturation turned right up. What an amazing place. As you can see from the first pic you don’t need to be a Free or Scuba diver to explore it. You can puddle along with your snorkel and still take in many wonders. If you swam in around the Reef every day for the rest of your life you still wouldn’t see all the life that lives within it.  Every documentary that comes on about, I’m there front and centre ready to get my heady colour fix!

Aboriginal Dreamtime

If ever there was a race still in touch with Mother Earth it is the Aborigine. According to their beliefs all life as we live it today including the human and the animal world is part of one huge unchanging web of relationships which can be traced to the great spirit ancestors of the Dreamtime. Today in the Dreaming the events of  Creation are re-enacted in ceremonies and through dancing in mime form. Songs of Creation are chanted whilst accompanied by the didgeridoo or clap sticks.  I love that in this modern and frantic world the Aborigines have never forgotten where they came from.

Dingoes

Like the Great White Shark they suffered at the hands of the media, namely in the famous Australian case many years ago where a mother claimed that they had taken her baby.
Also like the Great White Shark they are Nature’s cleaners. As Australia’s largest terrestrial predator they do a fabulous job of keeping the rabbit, kangaroo and rat populations in check. The Dingo was much loved and held a privileged position in the Aboriginal cultures of Australia . Dingoes were also a well known part of ancient rock carvings and cave paintings. And anyway Dingo puppies are cute!

Return to Eden TV Series

This was a very popular Australian tv series in the 80s. Plot was, scheming evil man marries a plain Jane for her money. Has an affair with her best friend and plots to murder plain Jane by chucking her in crocodile infested waters. Plain Jane survives crocodile mauling and meets good looking plastic surgeon who restores her good looks. In fact she is now so good looking that she becomes Australia’s top fashion model and plots to wreak her own revenge on her evil husband and best friend.
At the time it was quite watchable but what made me really love it was the wit of Terry Wogan. The morning after each episode aired he would broadcast his take on it. I’d just fall about laughing. I think the only thing funnier than that was his Janet & John series of stories, but that’s for another day.

Kookaburra

Chosen because they just make me laugh – plain and simple. There is one called Sydney who lives in an aviary near me and I could sit there all day listening to him. Actually they are also a very attractive and intelligent bird. Love them to bits!

Surfing

This reason is dedicated to my Dad who loved to surf. It was usually in the cool waters in Whitesand Bay in Cornwall. Nothing kept him away from the beach when surf was up.  He’d surf by day and watch surfing videos in the evening, The Endless Summer being his favourite. He used to salivate over pictures of Australian beaches and one year he finally got to go there. I remember getting a hastily scrawled postcard from Bondi Beach. The excitement vibes oozed from the paper! He’d reached his Nirvana. So it’s because of my Dad that I love to watch Aussie surfers riding the waves and I never tire of it. Probably Point Break is my own fav film.  Surf’s Up Dad!

Steve Irwin

Taken before his time. I love what this wonderful man did for the not so cute wildlife of Australia. If anyone could make you fall in love with a crocodile Steve Irwin could. He had such respect for them. My heart would be in my mouth when watching him go out to rescue one. He’d always be worried about stressing it. It was through him I learned about crocodile mums being one of the most caring of mothers in the animal world. Not something you would associate with a few tons of organic armour plating! I suppose it was Steve’s enthusiasm for life and the animals that radiated up from the depths of his soul that reached out and touched us.
That man packed more into his 44 years on this planet than some twice his age. A great Australian and life model.

Well there you have it, all my reasons, well most of them anyway. Anybody have any other reasons to love Oz?

Sláinte


Linda xxx

I love dogs especially Border Collies.

When I was seven I was given a Border Collie puppy as a pet. His mum and dad were professional sheepdogs on a farm in Newtownards, County Down. I named him Prince, not very original I know but there were very few Collie dog names available in a seven year olds repertoire at that time. He was a brilliant dog, everybody loved him even our cat Charlie. She did use him a bit though. She would sit just inside our front gate making herself visible to any passing dogs. When one would come along it would naturally bark through the gate at her. She would then move back a couple of feet and let Prince come rushing up to take her place. Of course Prince would bark furiously at the strange dog and Charlie would sit and smirk at the interloper. They played that game loads of times and I never got tired of watching them.

We also played hide and seek a lot (you’ve guessed I was an only child!). I would get his favourite tennis ball at the time and throw it way down to the back of the garden. Prince would shoot off to find it and I would then run off and hide (usually in the coal shed or in the cellar). He would always find me no matter where I had hidden myself. His reward would be another throw of the ball or walkies. I do miss having a dog and I think I would like to have another Border Collie in my life. It would have to be a puppy as my cats would leave home if a fully grown dog moved in. At least being puppy dog size they could dominate him for the first few months of his life and the correct pecking order would be established!

I quite fancy doing dog agility classes. Collies are very intelligent dogs and need a lot of mental stimulation. I think I was the only seven year old I knew that rated BBC’s One Man and His Dog right up there with Doctor Who and Blue Peter. There are quite a few classes near me, in fact when I go to my local garden centre I can often hear one going on, on the other side of the hedge. I did stick my head through one day and there were quite a few dogs belting around a course.

Must investigate to see if any pups turn up in rescue centres as I’d rather give a dog a home from one of those places.
To loosely continue the animal theme this is my latest completed knitting project. I knitted the Sack of Mice pattern from Debi Birkin. It’s been on my list for ages as a pattern I wanted to try out. I’m really pleased with the result. It’s amazing that little bits of yarn knitted up in various shapes can go from this…….

to this ………………

Woofs and Sláinte

Linda xxx

I shot a short video from my kitchen window of the wildlife that came to the birdfeeder during the snowfall yesterday. Ignore background noise at the beginning, that’s my breadmaker having a bit of a churn around. My favourite bits are of the plucky little chaffinch who was ready to take on the big birds!

Wildlife at my birdfeeder in the snow

Britain sort of falls to pieces when snowy weather sets in. Schools shut down, gritter lorries become very popular and suddenly I’m missing my lovely postman. In our road which is on a hill the challenge is to get to the end without hitting the hedge at the bottom. I successfully completed the challenge today and managed to get out to the shops for some emergency chocolate.

There is more snow forecast for tomorrow. Apparently we are getting some very nice snow from France and the French are being generous as they are supposedly sending us loads of it. If I don’t attempt the hedge challenge tomorrow I’ll be staying in and trying to make a dent in my stash. I’ve got an embroidery project on the go at the moment featuring a cat design (unusual for me I know) and I’ve also just got a tea cosy commission so I’ll be working on that as well. I’m a born multi-tasker or it could be A.A.D.D.

Sláinte
Linda xx

This is a tribute post about Rosie my little cat who died last night from kidney failure. She would have been 8 years old this April, no age at all for a cat.
She was a happy go lucky friendly little thing who always trotted up to other cats to make friends. She usually got a swipe for her efforts but it never deterred her. She did have one catty friend in Pansy the tabby and went on several play dates with her.
Rosie was a rescue cat, well kitten actually. Our local cat shelter had rescued a pregnant feral cat and Rosie was born shortly after. The first picture I saw of her was actually with her back turned to the camera as she was concentrating with her brothers and sisters in getting a good position for her mother’s milk. So I fell in love with her without actually seeing her face. When I did go to visit her this is what I saw

A naughty face that just spelled trouble!

But she could be endearing, especially with those beautiful odd eyes.

Everything had to be tasted and chewed just in case

Exploration featured pretty high on her list too

Sometimes life left her a little bewildered

But she always found time to be cute and adorable

She never let stardom go to her head even when More Than Pet Insurance chose this picture of her to feature in one of their TV ads

She still liked to be normal and make friends wherever she could.

I’m really going to miss my beautiful girl.
Rest in Peace Rosie xxxxxx

I’ve been working on this scarf for a while. You can see a video of it being embroidered on yesterday’s post. Now it’s finally finished and in my shop!

I think it looks almost Harry Potterish. I have a thing about Knotwork designs, must be my Celtic roots! I’ve got another secret design on the boil as well, a sort of a cross between St. Valentine and Gaelic design. Should be able to do the big ta da reveal tomorrow, that’s if I get enough natural light to photograph it. It is so grey and dark these days I literally just have a small window of about an hour a day in which I can get any useful light. Even adjusting the white balance for tungsten lighting I’d much rather have lovely natural daylight.

As I’m typing this I’m listening to BBC Radio 4 (for non UK readers this is one of the most interesting and fascinating radio stations in the history of the world, ever!). I’m listening to it on a DAB digital radio acquired today for £10 from a charity shop! Fabulous audio quality. I’ve been wanting one for a while but could never quite justify the expense. This one is an Elan DX20 and seems to retail for about £50.

I love it when something that’s been on your wish list is found for a fraction of the original cost!

Sláinte

Linda xx

I’m in love with my scissors! They’re not just any old scissors, they’re the love of my life!

A couple of months ago I decided I needed a new pair of dressmaking shears. I’d been using the ones I’d got from Ikea which were brilliant when they were new but when you use them for cutting your hair and as a poking device their useful life slowly ebbs away. I did a bit of research mainly on Gertie’s Blog for Better Sewing as that lady definitely knows what she’s talking about when it comes to dressmaking. She had recommended Kai or Gingher scissors. I added Merchant & Mills scissors to the list as they were made of classic Sheffield steel and manufactured in UK. As I was going to the Stitching Show at Ali Pali I was sure I’d find at least one of these 3 brands there.

For such a big show there weren’t that many haberdashery shops exhibiting. Up and down all the aisles I went getting little filips of joy when I spotted their scissor sections. Only to get disappointed when the only ones I could find were those dreadful ones with the orange plastic handles. They were everywhere in their nasty plastic bubble wrapping. What I couldn’t understand was there were so many people buying lovely (and expensive) fabrics, then cutting them out with any old pair of scissors. Why weren’t there people at the stands loudly demanding better quality scissors!!!!!!

Anyway I’d given up on my hunt having resigned myself to an internet purchase. After a consolation coffee and huge sticky creamy bun (I needed a lot of consoling) I headed for the exit. I was almost outside when I noticed a small room to my left which seemed to have a lot of people in it. Off I went to have a look and found it to contain mainly college and dressmaking school exhibitors. I turned round to go out when I glanced down an aisle and saw at the end……wait for it……… a pair of these!!!

I pounced straight away. It was sheer joy to hold these beautiful scissors, the craftmanship just amazing. These are scissors that will outlast me, my children, my children’s children etc etc. I was one happy bunny on the shuttle bus back to the tube. Probably not the best thing to be doing, sitting on the top deck of a bus waving 10” steel shears around but I was happy. and I still am, they are an absolute joy to use and they have turned fabric cutting from a pain to an experience the equivalent of demolishing a plate of cupcakes!

Embroidering a Celtic design on my Singer Futura XL400

Sláinte
Linda xxx