Tuesday, October 22, 2013

At last.


 An update! Well, this month has clearly gotten the best of me, as far as keeping up with stuff. Yeeesh. 

Part of that is that October is inherently busy for me. Fall is my favorite season and I like to take advantage of every nice fall day I can, hitting up the various festivals going on or just making time to sit on the deck when the weather is nice enough. (Anything in the 60's is fine. No lower than that though for Deck Time for me. At least not for sitting.) The other part is that I just stayed away for a bit because I was so sad to hear about Cathey. Reading through everyone's posts remembering her was like a kick in the guts. I don't know that I have anything eloquent to say about that (it's all been said so much better than I can fumble my way through it) but she will be missed and remembered.

I happily signed up for the newest L*K mystery sampler AND even managed to bang the first part out rather quickly this month. It's anyone's guess when I will get back to the rest but I'm quite proud to have finished the first part at least. lol
As charted, so far, except I left off some single 'snow flakes' near the pine trees in case I want to do them in beads (thinking a YES to that) and I think I have to change the parchment colored snowflakes on the bottom too. It doesn't stand out on the green at ALL. Boo. :(

I'll have to wait until more of that parchment floss comes up in the other two patterns though to see what would be a good sub for it. I don't want to have to change it twice, right? 

Seeing all the fall stuff going on though had me a little itchy for bright halloween colors so I did up a couple of quick small pieces from the latest JCS halloween issue.

(More pumpkins for Cathey? :))

Just short and sweet little ornament sized stitchies. I changed the linen on the block one from an ivory to this nice purple. It's not every day you can work a purple linen into a finish, you know? I started a bigger piece from that same issue too but I wasn't ambitious enough to drag it out and snap a pic of it. Heh. I'm about 2/3rds of the way done with it though so it might makes it debut some time soon. Maybe. (I put it away last week to concentrate on some knitting and have yet to get back to it. *sigh*)


My 'babies' are getting soooooOooooooOOo big! Almost five months old and Fitz is weighing in at over 5lbs now. Livvy is a full pound smaller - she can't compete with those boy genes! I let them out on my 'fenced in' deck and he likes to jump to the rail, dig a hole in one of the window boxes and take a nap. Dirty, dirty, kitty! lol
They still do everything together as a pair. Or almost everything. I haven't noticed any 'hormone' type activity going on with them......yet. Thankfully. My vet won't do the ole SNIP SNIP before they are solidly 5 months old so they have to wait a couple more weeks still before we are in the clear and I don't have to worry about THAT any more. Heh. :)

(And yes, poor Livvy got no pictures this time around but she's ALWAYS IN MOTION. ALWAYS. So I have the worst time ever taking pictures of her. Fitz is a fancy pretty boy lazy bum who sits and sits and is more camera ready.)

16 comments:

Loris Glassworks said...

Your Baby is beautiful! Love how he enjoys the fall days in the planter box. THanks for the lovely fall photos.

Cheers!
Lori in Atlanta

Cath said...

Great stitching . Fitz is so cute . I would love to give him a snuggle .x

Anonymous said...

Awwwww...what sweet kitties! Love those EYES!

Vickie said...

Love the pics of Fitz, but I REALLY wanna see Livvy again too. ;)

Annie said...

Real stitching progress... I love it. Looks so pretty even with the contrast issue. That contrast thing is like a hidden 'gotcha' for stitchers all the time it seems.

Aren't your kitties adorable! I've never owned any so I didn't even think about them 'dating'. Hope your vet times it right.

valerie said...

OMG, I just want to squeeze Fitz. He's so cute and floofy! Great progress on the L*K. I am trying to finish part 2 (since I'm on a roll and cant seem to find time to blog anyways) to post a photo. Love the Halloween stitches!

Beth said...

What pretty fall pictures Melanie. I love the weather this time of year it is meant to be enjoyed. Great Halloween ornaments looking forward to seeing your bigger piece. I have the L*K mystery sampler but have not started. Fitz is just too precious. If I had those two I'd never get anythig done and would spend all my time watching their antic. I'm with you re Cathey's untimely passing...so sad and mad and just generally incoherent.

Margaret said...

Oh my gosh!!!! So this is just Fitz? Adorable!!!! OMG! Love that pic of him all scushed in the flower box. lol! Seriously? 5 months old already? Wow! You are a very bad influence. I'm trying to resist the LK mystery and you're making that hard. Sigh. It's pretty so far! Lovely color on the trees too!

Julie said...

Fitz is adorable, so furry and cuddly - he looks just like a cat I once had only her name was Sophie and we also had her brother but he was a short haired tabby (strange that 2 from long haired parents were so different, all the girls long haired and him the only boy a short haired) he was named Max.

Love the purple fabric, the colours really pop on that.

Jackie's Stitches said...

Of all the places to pick to curl up I'm surprised to see a window box was Mr. Fitz's pick for a snooze! He is adorable. I hope they handle their SNIP well. I have a feeling it won't slow them down at all!

Dani - tkdchick said...

Nice to hear from you again! Your babies are just adorable all fluffy cuteness!

Congrats on the stitching finishes they look great.

Maggee said...

I really love the LK Sampler! but I have resisted so far... Your stitching is quite nice--great job! The kitties are so expressive in their little faces! I'm with ya re: Cathey...Missing her lots! Big hugs!

Melissa said...

Thanks for sharing your beautiful fall photos! If only it would stop raining here so I could get some of the same hehe :)

Love all your WIPs of course and completely understand your point on the parchment coloured snow flakes. I'm on part 1 myself and was thinking about changing the colour as well because it blends a bit too much with threads and recommended fabric.

Fitz is so adorable!!! Now if only my puppy would sit still like that!

Happy Stitching!

Melissa

Carol said...

I'm sure that your lovely fall weather has gone the way of ours, Melanie--today it was 35 when I woke up :( Oh well, it was nice while it lasted!! I just can't seem to warm up, though...brr!!

Your LK mystery sampler is off to a great start and I do love those Halloween mini finishes. The purple fabric looks fabulous, too :)

Oh, my, the kitties--I love them so much. I keep giving my husband pleading glances every time I see a cat, but he's not buying them!! His allergies are just too bad for us ever to get a cat again :( Fitz is one gorgeous boy and he looks like he knows it, too!!

Catherine said...

Oh my ~ your furbaby is precious!! Lovely stitches too!

Bonnie Brown said...

Your LK mystery looks great! I will get to mine.... eventually lol