Pets

I have been neglecting this blog - sorry! I have been making more regular entries on the cancer blog, so you can catch up there.

Yesterday we went to visit our daughter Helen and her partner James. As usual, Kevin had to do some sort of maintenance. This time it was the cord to the heater which their Staffy puppy, Ruby, had chewed and destroyed.



You wouldn't think it of her, would you? She looks so sweet and innocent!

Amber has settled in well. She has been exploring outside for a week now. We did take the precaution of blocking the gates with shade cloth, so she is confined to the back yard. I am hoping she is too heavy (and relaxed) to jump fences.

Fire ATCs

I have just received my batch of ATCs from the "Fire" swap. This is organised by Diana in New Zealand and members of the Aus-NZ Art Quilters Yahoo group send four to six ATCs every two months. In January the theme was Water, March's theme was Earth and May's theme was Fire. The theme for July is Wind, and I need to put my thinking cap on.

Here are the cards I received this month.

From left to right, top row first the artists were:
Evie, Marie (countries of origin unknown), Carolyn, Dorothy, Sharon (all from NZ) and Nia from Australia.

Bag finished

Today I finished the bag I made from the kit I bought at the Craft Fair. I am a bit disappointed in the size - if I ever made it again I would make it longer - but it looks quite good. Now I will have to use it!

Here are two pics - front and back.



Yesterday we collected my entry for the Melville Art Awards. Now we have it home I have decided that I will have it framed properly and then I will have a piece for the Designing Women exhibition in November. I quite like it as it is, but I think framing will improve it.

Here is the whole piece



and a closeup.



I have not been very well for the last three days (see the cancer blog). I am hoping for better days to come.

More frogstitching

I have been neglecting my sewing room in favour of the computer (I am the editor of the newsletter for one of my groups and the June issue was due out on the first of the month). I made the deadline, and so today I ventured into the room (the door has been securely closed to limit Amber's exposure).

I thought I might be able to complete this bag I had started, so that I could start to whittle down my huge TO Do list. I sewed for a while, following the instructions carefully. Then I realised - chemo brain had struck almost back at the beginning and I had sewn the outside panels together wrongly. Fortunately there were some bits unaffected by the error - the lining and the zipper insert - so about 45 minutes of unpicking saw the outside bits back to the point of error. After careful pressing and LOTS of thread removal, I have now joined them correctly, but haven't made any further progress. I plan to do some more tomorrow in the morning before my appointment with the eye specialist.

BTW - Amber is settling in well, but is a guts. I am giving her only as much food as the Cat Haven recommended, but she is very demanding. She even came into our bedroom in the early hours of this morning. I didn't hear her, but Kevin succumbed.