A new visitor

No, we haven't got another cat.  Over the years, Ginny, Gonga and Scruffy have all appeared on this blog. They all adopted us and now it seems another one might have done the same.  This one used to follow Scruffy about and did come into the house, hoovering up any food Scruffy had eaten.  He followed Scruffy up to the bedroom one night too.  We did 'encourage' him not to stay, because we had Scruffy, but he was quite persistent.  Even though Scruffy is no longer with us, this cat continued to come to us, because we made the mistake of feeding him - he always seemed hungry.  Then he came in and started spending time in the house.

He has decided that my chair is his favourite place to be.  He also likes the red toy mouse.  He has certainly made himself at home.  We know that he belongs to someone in the next street and we have seen him out on the street on quite a few occasions.

We have called him Slinky Malinki (after the cat in the Hairy Maclary books by Lynley Dodd) because he has such long legs and is a thin and slinky-looking cat.  Currently he often spends the mornings with us and then is back overnight.  We are trying not to get too attached to him because he isn't ours (Chris is finding this quite challenging!)!  He is not a particularly affectionate cat, he doesn't meeow very often and has a very quiet purr. We are trying to keep him restricted to the sitting room but if the door is accidentally left open, he goes upstairs and has a good look round. I think he may be looking for Scruffy. How long he will keep visiting us is anyone's guess!

Wanderlust 2022 - weeks thirty-six to forty-two - Inks

I thoroughly enjoyed exploring Inks in Wanderlust.  We began with Distress inks, making a background and then using tea bags and photos to create linked images, showing elements of our personalities.  I chose to put a photo of my Granny and my Mum in the teabags and a stamped image of a woman to represent me - Granny gave me a love of nature and gardening and Mum gave me a love of music.  

We used acrylic inks for our next piece. We made lots of patterns using inks and blowing through straws. we then tried to bring out something we could see in the pattern.  I eventually decided I could see part of a face, so brought it out using watercolour pencils.  I think it is quite enigmatic!

Acrylic ink painted onto feathers was our next lesson.  I made envelopes and placed some family photos in them - my Mum and Dad on the left and my Granny and her family on the right with a small photo of Dad as a little boy in the middle. I have used these before, but they are great photos.

Another inky background.  This page took a totally different turn from how I thought it would be.  It ended up being a memory of Scruffy, our cat who we lost at the end of August.   I painted Scruffy in acrylic ink using a photo for reference.  The autumnal colours and leaves just seemed to work with the theme.  The two ghostly cats in the corner represent the other two who are buried in the garden, Gonga and Ginny.    

This was about using loose brush strokes, holding the brush right at the end and Acrylic ink. It is vaguely based on a self portrait but doesn't really look like me, although that wasn't the idea anyway.  Not one of my favourites, but an interesting process - letting go of perfectionism!

Much more to my liking was this layered page, using spray inks, stamps, stencils and a magazine focal image.  I like the feeling of movement with the leaves and the woman's hair. This also included a useful lesson on colour theory, so that we wouldn't make 'muddy' colours (unless we wanted to use neutrals, of course).

The last in the inks section was using alcohol inks and stencils.  I used Yupo paper (synthetic paper which doesn't absorb the ink) for the image on the left and glossy card for the one on the right.  I wasn't happy with the tissue paper image on the right as the tissue paper didn't fade into the image as it should have done. Possibly this was to do with the alcohol background.  So, I had another go... 

I kept the original which is now hidden under the flap on the right. This time I used alcohol inks and stencils on my gel plate.  I think this worked much better and the tissue paper faded as it should do.

The last theme for this year is Paper and Fabrics, which should be good.

Pocket Doodle Book 2019 pages 16 - 22 and new decorations

 I am nearing the end of this very enjoyable little challenge.  Page 16 was rounded rectangles.

Page 17 was lines in black and gold and page 18 was dots of white and gold.  I have tried to make the pages different from the previous ones so that has also been a challenge.

Page 19 was the most Christmassy image with floral and star decorations.  Page 20 was dictated by the eye patterns in the background print.

Page 21 was a mix of lines and circles (bit of a recurring theme, I think) and page 22 was more dots and lines following the spirals, in white and gold. 
In other creative news, I have been making some extra decorations for the Christmas tree, which are also a memorial to our previous and current much loved cats.

 I bought some mdf bauble shapes and painted them in suitably Christmassy colours, adding some gold stencils (oh look, circles again) and some glitter (well, it is nearly Christmas).  Their photos went on the front...

 ...and their names on the back.  Scruffy is our current cat and features on the blog now and again. They were all lovely cats and it will be a happy reminder every Christmas.

Goodbye Gonga

 We had to say goodbye to our lovely cat, Gonga this week.  He had been diagnosed with a tumour and we had to let him go. He went very peacefully.  He came to us in 2008, as a stray and quickly made himself a part of the family.

 His favourite thing to do was sleep...

 ...but he occasionally roused himself to investigate the garden.

 Ginny tolerated him (just).

He was always alert for the sound of food being prepared.  His second favourite thing was eating.

 He got on slightly better with Scruffy.

 He had his own red blanket for when it got cold.

 He would make us laugh with his 'Little Red Riding Gonga' impressions...

 ...and he did a pretty good 'Grumpy Cat' one too.

 Sometimes, he even thought he was like Bagpuss (old, fat furry catpuss).

And, we loved him.

Stitching Sundays 30

Stitching Sundays 30 - how did that happen?  Over this last 30 weeks, I have achieved far more with embroidery, sewing, patchwork and making than I would have thought possible! The photo collage above shows a variety of projects I have completed, including decorations, bunting, embroidering a felt piece which I started three years ago and trying patchwork for the first time (collage created using picmonkey).  I am sure that without the added excitement of having something to share on a Sunday, I would not have achieved so much.
Having said all that, I have decided that I am not going to continue posting on every Stitching Sunday. This doesn't mean I am going to stop making, sewing, embroidering - far from it (especially as I have discovered a love of split stitch!) - but I shall be sharing my projects on an 'as and when they are progressing' basis.
I would love to attempt to make myself a skirt that actually fits; a simple A line, knee length or a little longer, perhaps in denim, so that is the next challenge I have set myself.  I am a beginner at clothes making so am hoping this won't be a project too far!  I would also like to mend a childhood knitted rabbit toy (Gonga), who needs sorting out and a new pair of felt shorts making, so there is something else I'll be doing too.
It has been great to join in and I hope to have many more projects to share in the future.

A Triptych of Cats

 Although we had some fantastic presents for Christmas, my favourite one just had to be this triptych of our cats; Scruffy, Ginny and Gonga.  The portraits were painted by Rachael, my colleague at work, who is an amazing artist as well as being an excellent singer and an all-round good egg!

 Scruffy was the most difficult to paint, Rachael said, because he is all black.  The portraits are done in watercolour and ink.

 Ginny looks very serene and peaceful, as she does when she's just had a plate of liver or some leftover chicken or turkey. 

Of all the portraits, I think this one is my favourite because Rachael has managed to capture Gonga when he is feeling rather fed up (to say the least). He really does look this grumpy on occasions! 
The only thing is, now that we have these portraits, I rather think we need portraits of the cats we used to have too - Sammy and Mrs Cat.  I think I feel a commission for Rachael coming on...

An uneasy truce

 Scruffy has very quickly inveigled himself into our family - finding all the best places to sleep, being first to be fed, demanding to be played with, and trying to be friends with Ginny and Gonga.

 Gonga tolerates him but isn't above swiping him with a paw if he gets too close.

Occasionally, it seems as though they quite like being together.

Our latest inhabitant

Let me introduce our latest guest who decided to make his presence known last week (a really busy week due to us having a new boiler fitted with all the mess and disruption these things cause).  We know that he had been coming in at night, finishing off Ginny and Gonga's food and sleeping on the table and that this had been going on for quite some time.  However, he had always run away from us.  Last week, he ventured up to the back step and then came in for some food.  Since then, he has been in most of the time!

He has a skin problem and suffers from constant itching, so is licking his fur a lot and consequently has not all that much fur on the lower half of his body.  We took him to the vet and were told it was probably a reaction to fleas (nice) and he was given a jab to hopefully counteract the itching.  Even the vet was impressed with him, saying he was a 'nice little cat', about two years old, he had obviously belonged to someone as he had been neutered, and that we have been judged by the cat as 'coming up to the mark' for providing food, warmth, affection and general care. We have called him Scruffy, because he is, and it seems to suit him.  The vet said that cats must talk amongst themselves when they are outside, word has got around about our house and that this is why we seem to keep attracting them!

Chilled out Gonga!

Chris asked me to put this photo on my blog - it does show an extremely chilled out Gonga, fast asleep under his red blanket! If only we could all be as relaxed a little more often - perhaps life would be happier. There is a lot to be said for making time to relax in and I never feel guilty for this, whether I'm relaxing by gardening, reading, or just sitting. I know some people find this hard to do (Mum and Chris immediately spring to mind) but luckily for me, it seems to come naturally!

Gonga - the original

Having introduced our cat, Gonga, to you, here is the original knitted rabbit he is named after. I'm not sure exactly how old I was when he was given to me, but he must be at least 36 years old! My Mum's best friend, Auntie Myrtle, knitted him and originally he had a red tie, turquoise felt shorts and a yellow hat (which has long since disappeared). I am in the process of darning him, adding some more stuffing and making him some new clothes. He is a lovely toy to have as he hasn't any sharp bits and is very cuddly. He does look a bit the worse for wear now, but he was extremely loved and played with a lot. He is now in a peaceful retirement, because he is quite a venerable age, but he is still loved and has lots of happy memories associated with him.

Introducing our cats

Well, I have mentioned our cats in previous posts, so thought I should give them a starring role in a post of their own. Above, hiding in the undergrowth of our garden is 'Gonga'. He started out as Georgie, but somehow the name just didn't work for him. As a child, I was given a knitted rabbit which I called Gonga and Chris just started to use that name for Georgie. Somehow, it just stuck! As I was saying to Chris this morning, the alternative name for him could have been Bagpuss, because he is an 'old, fat, furry catpuss', but Gonga suits him very nicely. He was a stray, but someone owned him because he used to have a collar (the fur has been rubbed off round his neck). He is a large cat, about eight years old, the vet thought, and very solid! He has been with us now for nearly two years and is very affectionate.

Here is Ginny, dozing on the chair and keeping me company when I am writing my blog (as she does quite often). She is about fifteen years old and is gradually getting a bit more grumpy (like me) and having to cope with arthritis in her joints as she gets older (also like me!). She is very good at communicating her likes and dislikes. Sometimes she tolerates Gonga and at other times will hiss and swipe at him. She can be contrary but she is a lovely cat.