Of Ladies Pink, Black and Blue

This is a post entirely about ladies and I will start with the first one I mentioned, i.e. the pink one. Because she is the most astonishing, beautiful and lovely one – I’m serious, she’s even more wonderful than the Blue Lady, because she is… my niece! Her name is Eline and she was born on December 30th. My brother – remember? The wise-ass who thought his sister was a moron because she didn’t know how to take a decent photograph? – is still to send me a picture of his daughter, but until then, you will just have to believe me when I say that she is a darling. She gave her Mum a good deal of trouble: the poor dear wasn’t released from the hospital until last week, but she is recovering well and very happy to be home with baby Eline.

With half my family in hospitals around Europe (my father was in the hospital with a viral infection, too) and a sick child at home, I was very happy to have something to divert my thoughts and this something came in the shape of our new, mostly black, kitty! She arrived in our home on January 2nd and she’s keeping everyone busy, including poor old Pantoef, who seems a grumpy old sod compared with the very lively, very smart and very fast Pipien. If you thought Pantoef was bad around my stitching, think again… Pipien has a lot to learn :o) Well, I found a description of the character of an average Rex cat online and I must say it is spot on: Cornish and Devon Rex cats can best be described as a cross between a terrorist and a monkey. And here they are, my Rex cats and their Wicked Ways

Claws and linen do not a good combination make

Meanwhile, on the other side of the scroll frame...

Pantoef is still a little flustered by the lady's presence every now and then, but mostly, they seem pretty inseperable already. When they're done terrorising, they can mostly be found in an intimate position on the bed.

As you see, stitching has become a bit of a challenge :o) STILL, I managed to make enormous progress on the Blue Lady:
Before:
After:
And just to give you an idea how idiotically large this piece is, here’s a pic of the lady in front of my book case

Sigh. I hadn’t seen her in all her glory for a while, so once she was up there, I sat down for a while to feast my eyes on the beauty of her. And then I rolled her up and put her away in my closet, because I’m always so afraid of over-indulging. What if I get tired of her? I couldn’t let that happen, could I??

And anyway, there’s another piece that’s been calling my name quite loudly. It’s Wife Into Thy Garden by the Goode Huswife. You can see my progress on it in the terrorist pictures, and here's a pic of the contents of the book. Wife Into Thy Garden is second sampler on the picture (sorry, couldn't be bothered to take snap myself):

I have the Goode Huswife Book of Designs III in my possession, because it was too good to not have in my possession, but I already had this chart before the book was published, which means I actually have two copies. Wife Into Thy Garden is no longer available as a single chart, so if you would like to have it, leave a comment on this post. You have to be quick(ish) though, because I will draw a name on Thursday and let you all know who the lucky winner is in my next post (which is planned for next Thursday) (if everybody around me stays as healthy as they possibly can) (and my computer doesn’t crash).

Hope to see you again soon! As always, thanks for stopping by. I really appreciate it, especially because my own presence in Blogland has been mostly… absent.

Yours as always gratefully,
Annemarie.