Progress is Slow...

... because this is where we spent the last four days, 'glamping' (glamour + camping, I guess) in Holten.

Like me, Luna is catching up on the laundry and cleaning, before moving on to more interesting things!

Le Jardin & Painting

Another long post with plenty of piccies, since you haven't heard from me for a little while.

I'm still working on Le Jardin, because I have a lot of catching up to do before block #7 arrives.

This is the first part of block # 4:



The sidebar of this block:


And the main part of the block:




They are now ready to be assembled.

And here is block # 5, almost done apart from stitching the end of the washing line (coming from block #4) which the two birds at the top are holding, and the ribbon which embellishes the rabbit on the watering can.



There has been a lot more painting going on, since I managed to create a painting corner in my hobby room. This makes life much easier when leaving the layers to dry, without two young cats who are very interested in the water, the paints, the brushes; basically everything I need for watercolour painting! ;o)

o-o-o

Here are my two favourite paintings from recent sessions:

First of all, Rackwick Bay on the island of Hoy in the Orkneys (Scotland), where I'm hoping to go next year. We will be staying on the island of South Ronaldsay and hopefully there will be a little ferry or causeway to the island of Hoy, where this bay holds the most spectacular collection of boulders I have ever seen.

This painting was painted in mixed media, using water colour paints, gouache and soft pastels.

Rackwick Bay, Hoy, Orkney Islands

And this is one of my favourite places on the isle of Skye: Elgol. A different view from the usual one pointing towards the Cuillins. This is the view towards the islands of Rhum and Eigg.
Also painted in mixed media, using a combination of watercolour paints and soft pastels.

Elgol, Isle of Skye, Scotland

And whilst I was doing that, our little furbaby Luna - who hates to be locked out of my painting room - finally fell asleep on my bed and had a loooooong nap.

o-o-o

Tomorrow Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs (the designer of among others Le Jardin) will be publishing the 6th block for Snowbound. Guess what I'll be doing?

Two Furry Girls

Thanks for all your good wishes for our poor little Luna.

Here she is the day she got home from the clinic. I picked her up Thursday afternoon.
She spent the evening snoozing on the settee, feeling rather worse for wear.

And here she is today, much perkier and happier.

Last time, I promised to introduce you to our fourth cat: Minty.

The people at the shelter called her 'Minty', because she has a 'peppermint' on her breast. We decided the name suited her. We adopted her in January 2006 when she was approximately 8 months old. She had been found in the countryside three months before we met her, and she was not at all used to humans. Now she is very cuddly when she is alone with us, but she is very frightened of our two furry boys: Elvis and Kruimel, who don't understand her body language and chase the poor little girl.

On the stitching front, I'm still working on Leanne's House # 2. Part 3 arrived in the post today, as did part 9 of Tail Feathers quilt.

Frosty Knotgarden by Chatelaine is also calling out to me, so who knows what will happen after I complete block #2 of Leanne's House.

Details of Leanne's House #2 & Furry Friends

Since my last post, I've been working on Leanne's House block #2. Here are a few details of the applique and stitcheries:

This quilt is so much fun to work on! I'm truly addicted to it.

o - o - o

Our little furry girl Luna was in heat for the first time this week. She is nearly 11 months old now. This meant lots of sleepless nights for her (and for us, yawn...) so now it is time to catch up on lots of sleep.

Luna's operation will take place on Wednesday afternoon and I'm feeling very apprehensive about it. She will stay overnight at my brother's clinic and I will pick her up on Thursday afternoon, all being well. I'm not sure what I hate the most: her operation, or the fact that she will be away from home overnight :o(

Kruimel is having a relax too, after a rather restless week.

Next time I will introduce you to our fourth furry friend: Minty.