Cat crazy.......

Before the dawn of the Hairy Herberts I had always had cats as pets. Ever since I was eighteen and first lived away from 'home' I have had a series of  cats to keep me company, to wordlessly welcome me home and each one has left its own warm memory. I suspect that I am a cat person at heart. Which is no doubt why I bought these cat buttons without any idea what I would do with them.
They remind me of the fuzzy felt toy that I had as a child. Although my fuzzy felt was all about farm animals I can't believe it would have been complete without a farm cat or two.

As I said in a previous blog post, the remnants of felt left over from upholstery sparked this idea for brooches. And this idea is becoming something of an obsession. An obsession with consequences.

The buttons come in black, grey or ginger. To date I have made quite a few brooches mixing and matching the cat colours to various background combinations and they have generally been well received in my shop and on Etsy.

 Then I had an enquiry from a lady in America. Her passion is for calico cats.  In my ignorance I wasn't sure what a calico cat was. As it turns out it is what we Brits know as a tortoiseshell. Very pretty but neither black nor grey nor ginger.
She posed me a creative challenge which I am endeavouring to rise to. Tho, as she rightly pointed out, this project is not going to make me wealthy I feel compelled to find a solution.

Hairy Herberts centre stage

It never ceases to amaze me how dogs seem to know just how far they can push their luck and how to redeem themselves with cuteness. Hairy Herbert the younger has entered the doggy equivalent of teenage rebellion just as Hairy Herbert the elder is becoming a mature, reliable, adult hound.
I console myself with the fact that it could be worse.
They could both now be suffering from selective deafness!

Several times each week one or the other of us says " who ever had the crazy notion that two dogs would be no more work than one!!!???"

But looking at them both lolling lazily in the sunshine today made me feel very happy and forgiving.

These sunny days have turned my attention to our outdoor space. It is small and we grow lots of things in pots. In the small area where we sit I grow scented plants like this jasmine that entwines Annie. I look forward to the day when it carries its sweet perfumed flowers again.
Outdoors my collections take on a more macabre twist.
Still some coloured glass.


And these beauties which I have posted before.


This is a lovely time of year.
Everything is still to come.
I am aware,as I write this, of the exquisite nature of life and the need to savour all the details, to stop and smell the roses, or more seasonally the narcissi.
Only yesterday Dusty Springfield, on the radio, sang about living days instead of counting years. Jolly good advice I think.

Day trip to Salisbury

I can't believe that I went to Salisbury, on a jolly, on a glorious sunny day like today, and forgot to take my camera!!!!!
I saw so many lovely sights.
Instead of any of those I show you my prized purchases.
This beautiful box came from TKMax. To house I know not what. Not exactly.

 And this equally beautiful bag that came from a charity shop for the princely sum of........ £4. A bargain.
Obviously had a bit of a butterfly themed day.

Our house has sash windows. A feature that I have always loved even though they rattle and let in as much air when closed as when open. Well almost.
As you can see I have an obsession with cluttering the cross frame with coloured glass.
I blame my mother-outlaw for starting me on the road to a, soon to be out of control, bud vase collection. She started collecting them herself and for a while it provided the answer to  the christmas and birthday present conundrum. While ferreting them out from charity shops and car boots for her I got bitten by the collecting bug for myself.
And lo, I added one today. Different yet again.

Just for joy

Valentines day began with an early morning cup of tea. Nothing new there. Except today's cuppa was drunk by candlelight. The Ramblin' Randall has his own unique take on romance!
And later, the sun shone! Shone on the lovely daffs that had come out in the warmth of the kitchen. So all in all a gently cheering start to the day.




Everything looks better when the sun shines.

Except the window. Sunlight always shows up the dirt!

All the light catching glass on the lounge window needs washing too.
 But, today was a day for maximising the light and taking photographs. Not for chores.





Just for the joy of it.

My cat is winging its way to Australia......

This is the cat in question. I recently signed up to Etsy and as a result these two brooches are relocating from snowy England to sunny Oz.



This makes me ridiculously happy. And very excited. I love making things. I love playing with colours and textures. And I virtually burst with joy when someone loves what I do. If they love it enough to buy it then my joy increases to the point where I almost hyperventilate. For two reasons. First, I can easily justify making more. Happy, happy, happy. And two, my dream to one day earn a living from creative endeavour grows a little brighter. I just can't be cool about it. Not at all.
The trouble is that my "skills that pay the bills" are clinical not creative. No playfulness there. No colour. By contrast the arty/crafty side of my life feels lightweight and fluffy and in need of justification. Though the fact that it is as important to me as breathing, truly, ought to be justification enough.



Another cat. Work in progress...... And a dog, also a work in progress!


Hairy Herbert the younger is behaving like the 11 month old yob that he is. My friend has trained her dog to close doors after he enters the room!!
Very clever, quite useful too. I would happily settle for coming back when he is called. Every time. In under 20 minutes!