Humbled

January 14, 2014April 21, 2015 Susan2 Comments

The past week has been crazy. My foster kittens, Merry and Pippin were not adopted, nor was our newest foster baby, Allouette. All of them came home with me after the adoption event Sunday. I really hope someone will see how special these three babies are and give them a loving home!

This past weekend, we attended Bryn Madoc’s 12th Night event. This is easily one of my favorite events in the entire year. Visiting good friends, eating fun food…it’s so relaxed. The weather here was positively scary, big rain storms, wind…kind of the perfect weather to be with friends.

I’m not terribly comfortable sharing recognitions that come my way. I’m incredibly appreciative when I receive recognition of any kind. It means that others have found value/inspiration in what I do and they want to say thank you publicly. (Private thanks are always awesome as well.) What am I leading up to? Well, at 12th Night I was awarded the Order of the Meridian Cross. I want to share the beautiful scroll I received, made by Racaire!

Isn’t that awesome!! Never in my life will I do calligraphy like that. I can barely write my name.

I’m off the clean up something a kitten spilled while I was writing this. Crazy kittens.

embroidery · Kittens

Fosters

January 6, 2014April 21, 2015 SusanLeave a comment

Over the course of the weekend, I took the kittens to two adoption events. The kittens were really well behaved and loads of people went nuts over how completely adorable they are. Apparently, they were not adorable enough for someone to adopt.

The kittens will be spending the next few days in the kitty condo at the Petco where we have adoption events. In the mean time, we have a new house guest. Her name is Alouette. She’s a black short hair, 6 months old and recently spayed. She’s downstairs right now meeting the other members of little family. I’ll post pictures as soon as she’s over the shy phase.

Like a lot of folks interested in historical things, my first brush with embroidery was counted cross-stitch. My Mom taught me how to do it with simple patterns and DMC floss. I’ve always liked the look of it. For me, I could turn off my brain and just stitch away…until I had to count of course!

Looking for a way to incorporate what I like into a historical context, I happened upon “Stalking the Wild Assisi“, super research on void work.

Over the years, I’d collected a few books on counted work, had done a few projects, though they were decidedly modern but when I read “Stalking the Wild Assisi”, I was inspired to create my own sampler and really work on making a long armed cross stitch look good. The picture you see above is the start of that projects.

So far I’ve learned that one should always outline first. Don’t let excitement get the best of you! I’ve also learned that I really like using silk and that I’m glad I have bifocals. No way would I have been able to see any of this without them!

I’m excited about completing this porting of the sampler and choosing a different pattern to try. I got a couple of great books as a Christmas gift and plan to use them as inspiration. I’ll share the books with you next time. Right now, I need to break up a kitty disagreement.

17th. c. · embroidery · John Smith · Kittens · Pocahontas · waistcoat

History-foo

January 3, 2014April 21, 2015 Susan1 Comment

Our little guests are still with us. Tomorrow morning I’m taking them to the vet for a check up. One of them is having some tummy issues and, honestly, I’m tired of dipping cat little every hour. (And I’m running out of bags!)

I posted an album with my current embroidery projects on my Facebook page, but I thought I’d go into a little detail on them here on my blog.

To celebrate the 400th anniversary of John Smith and Pocahontas’s marriage, Historic Jamestown is creating a 17th c. waistcoat for Pocahontas. I was so excited to find out about this project! I fired off an email super quick and, in under a week, had the little sample I’m to stitch up and mail back. I would love an opportunity to work on this project!!

I’ve made progress since I took this picture. Basically, this little bird must be stitched in an outline or stem stick and the interior with a seed stitch. I’m almost half-way done with the outlining and will be heading for the seed stitch as soon as I can. I was sent grey silk to work the little bird in. So for, I’m pretty please with my work but I’m being incredibly picky, too. I’m trying not to let that slow me down!

What projects are y’all working on in the New Year? I’ll post a few more of mine as well as info on the kittens vet visit. Y’all stay warm!

fostering · Kittens

Small Things

December 30, 2013April 21, 2015 SusanLeave a comment

It’s amazing how such small things can muck up the best of plans. Take these babies for example:

Late Friday afternoon, as we were all standing around in our backyard waiting for the dogs to finish their business, these two kittens wandered in like they owned the place. We took them in the house as it was getting cold and my sweet husband asked some of the neighbors if they were missing kittens. No luck. I took them over to an emergency vet clinic to have them scanned for microchips. No chips. I contacted a local rescue group, put up notices on FB and have spent my weekend hoping that someone would claim them. No luck. In the mean time, they have been given a place in a local rescue group once the vet clinic the group uses opens up again on January 2.

In the mean time, we’ve name them Merry and Pippin because they are super attached to one another The first full day with us was awkward. They seemed unsure about their surroundings and ate like they hadn’t had a decent bit of food in days. My dogs and cat were a little nervous around them as well. Visitors! Oh my!

Today, however, they’ve settled in like they’ve been here all along. The dogs and cat are playing with them. Merry and Pippin take turns snuggling on whoever happens to stop moving first. They’re champs at the litter box and learning to scratch on a scratch mat.

Come January 2, we will hand them over and my hope is that a loving family will give them all they affection and love they so richly deserve. We’ve become accidental foster parents and it’s been wonderful.

This turn of events, however, put a kink in my plans for sewing. Everyone is still a bit under the weather so I’ve spent a great portion of the weekend watching over our guests and reassuring our own babies that they’re still loved. I’m hiding upstairs for a bit in hopes of getting some embroidery done. Maybe the kittens will pass out for a few hours while I’m away.