Poorly Cleo cat...

 I'm not sure if I have mentioned it before, but we have a visitor, a feline visitor. We are looking after her while a family member is unable to-she should be here til about June/July. Now, our cats dont really mix with others as they dont go outside of the backyard unless they are supervised.
This is for a couple of reasons. Firstly when D got them, they were about 6 years old and had always been house cats so they have never really got used to it and secondly because they are pedigree cats, I am not entirely convinced someone wouldnt try to take them-we were burgled one and Cleo went missing, we were both devastated for an hour or so until she turned up, I was secretly imagining someone taking her in a pub and selling her to someone who thought they could breed her. Luckily she had not got far-infact only as far as the living room curtains...for a cat of very little brain she did very well!! 

There she is being all brave and seeing the nasty burglars off (snigger)










Anyway, back to the visitor. She doesn't like Cleo or indeed Slinky, but especially Cleo Because she is very nosey and also very friendly, new cat hates this and shows it every time she sees Cleo...in a very hissy and sometimes smacky way and on Thursday afternoon Cleo was at the rough end of another smack, no big deal she just lay back down and continued snoring.
But, when I came back a couple of hours later her eye was all gunky. I bathed it with cooled boiled water, she wasn't happy at all. By that night it almost (or indeed did) look like her 3rd eyelid was coming out, it was horrible and she looked even more miserable than normal!
The next morning we took her straight to the vet, he examined her (after we had poured her out of the cat box) and said it was possible the smack had done it, but that the eye was definitely damaged and had become infected but the infection was caused by her rubbing it. He has given her some daily drops and we continue to bathe it each day as well. Additional to that, she now has to wear a big cone on her head..which causes much hilarity around these parts, although we are very sympathetic and letting her get away with things not normally allowed round these parts.

And here she is just after the doctors-she has dye seeping out of her eye, shes not really radioactive!










I never even thought about it before but because of the cone not only is it difficult for her to walk through doors, cat-flaps and the like, its also very hard for her to get up steps-shes only tiny and she kind of has to jump and now the bottom of the cone gets in the way so she sort of has to leap with her arms stretched right out-it doesn't stop her from getting upstairs, she just does it in a more amusing way now! Another difficulty for the 'coned' cat is also eating, again, the cone gets in the way...so we set up a special feeding station - its an upside down philladelphia cheese tub (empty) so that they food is high up so she can get to it..except she still uses the bowl and smears the food allover her new plastic accessory.....with the extra plus that she can sit for hours licking the stinky inside of her cone as she cant reach any of her furry bits now!

She is due to go back to the vet on Friday but the vet seemed to think she would heal well and be back to normal by then...but the cone stays til then!

Hope you haven't had to start wearing any plastic cones round your necks to stop you scratching...but if you have please post pictures!!

As promised...
I mentioned last time I'd been making some cushion covers for when we move-to go on the dining chairs. Well Ive very nearly finished one but seeing as today is the first day in over a week when we've had decent light to take pictures I thought I better go for it!
This is the pretty much finished cover-I'm in the process of doing the seams.

 

Not sure whats happened there but it looks like the picture is upside down! Ah well, you get the idea. I love the Dark blue and after speaking to D I think I will be doing the other 3 in dark blue as well. 

I have got nearly enough circles done for the next one and am loving the ease of the pattern, I am not usually able to crochet and do something else-eg chat to someone but this one, I can give a very good impression of someone doing this. 

Im not great at sewing in the ends as I go, I like to get a few done and then do them all-so I will choose 25 for the first side of the next cushion and do those before sewing them together. 

Other than my crochet I am still keeping busy with my seedlings. They are doing really well even if I do have far too many!

These are the courgettes, I think we have about another 6 plants at the same stage and this will be it for this plant-I read somewhere recently that 2 plants will do for the average family....hmm 

I have grown courgettes before and was really successful so I am not really too worried about them. 

I also started off doing 'just a few' tomato plants and ended up with 32 sprouting. I have disposed of some that werent really doing too well and we now have around 22 left. They are doing well but although they were planted at the same time as the courgettes they are much smaller (probably a good job as we are running out of window sill space!)

I have also planted some peas (some inside, some outside) but no real sign of them yet and some flowers-the sweet peas are doing well and will be potted on this week and some others that I have read are good for companion planting that are just starting to make an appearance. 

These are all in the hope that in the next few weeks we will be in our new home. If we aren't we are going to have a yard that is full of pots..and some very happy chickens!

Do you grow anything and maybe have some handy tips for me as a relative newcomer..?

been awhile..

I think maybe I need to explain my long (ish) absence. The last time I posted we had just accepted an offer on our house and been accepted with our offer on what (may) is going to be our new house-I cant get too positive about it incase I jinx it all. We are still plodding along with this process...it takes a while, although we saw our finances guy the other day and he said it could go through within 4-6 weeks, with that in mind and with my usual pessimism I'm thinking 8-10...who knows!

The other thing that has kept me away is that I have been ill...boo! Not ridiculously ill, just ill...but it kind of dragged on and I was given medication that made me very sleepy and kind of 'I cant be arsed with anything'. Its something I have had before (kidney stones) so I knew when things were getting bad and when I needed help. It has also involved months of me feeling uncomfy and people saying "go to the doctors!!" in angry and concerned ways and then me saying "no, its not bad enough yet!" Then suddenly it was bad 'enough'. Im fine now, it looks like some of the stones have 'passed', I'll let you work out what that means but I also think some are hanging on as I still have a grumbly sort of ache. I am also still waiting for an appointment to go to the hospital for a scan to confirm I have got kidney stones...less said about that the better or I will get a bit grumpy.

Anyway, I have had a bit of a hiatus, simply because I spent quite a while not being able to sit up..then a while just feeling shattered followed by this last week of gradually getting myself back into it. I made a very small blanket for a friend of my daughter whos baby was born far too soon to make it and that in itself took it out of me -emotionally and physically. I didnt take a picture of it, but it was beautiful I think, I made it as pretty as I could in the short time I had and I am hoping it will have helped.

In my last post I mentioned I had started a new project for the 'new' to us house. I think I said I was making a 'runner' using this  brilliant pattern for our Poang  chair however, I have changed my mind and I have made two  5 x 5 squares that are currently being edged and will become covers for our dining chair cushions. My question is, bearing in mind I like my home to be a little different, would you do all four cushions with a dark blue 'frame' for the squares or would you use a different colour for each one? I have just gone to take some pictures and the camera battery is dead I PROMISE I will take some pictures and include on the next post...but, any thoughts anyone? I am liking the idea of different colours and my inital idea is to do one in ( look here ) meadow, one in a violet and the 4th in an oatmeal that I cant seem to find but that I have lots of...what do You think?

GGGRrrrrrrrrr

What a few days!
We haven't had the bad weather lots of people have in the UK and I am really grateful for that. But we did have some bad winds which led to our back gate getting broken and seeing as D was out of the country I have had to fix it by wedging a wheely bin up against it to make sure Mrs P and Flossie don't get out-as they love to be nosey! I wonder where they get that from!

While D was away we had some news that we have been waiting for ages for-it looks like we might have had an offer accepted on a house-the week before, we accepted an offer on ours! Its very exciting but I won't really be able to accept it until we get the keys!
In celebration of that I started to crochet something and I promise I will get some pictures taken as soon as possible. I am not quite sure what it will be yet-I had thought about joining in with a 'granny a day' type project, but being realistic and saying I'd be doing the equivalent of weekdays only (5 squares a week). Anyway, we got the house news and D was away, so I was on my own...and I just wanted to get going on something for the new house so I went for it. I am following the pattern for 'flowers in the snow' from this lovely page:
http://solgrim.blogspot.co.uk
and I have to say I am loving it. It is going to be a great stash buster as even a really tiny amount can be used for the very middle of the 'flower'. The main difference I have made is that the outer colour on my 'thing' is a very dark blue. Again I will be adding some pictures but I am having mega PC problems today-its probably me that's the problem. (I managed to mess with my Etsy settings and thought I had completely locked myself out...when I got my tech assistant to help me remotely-my daughter on her mobile phone, she had no problems at all she uttered the fateful words "you are using your email account to sign in with aren't you? Whoops, I was using the wrong email address...don't tell her will you!!)

I then was able to deal with the huge excitement that was the first query from a customer on my Etsy shop...I saw an email notification last night but it was very late so when I have eventually accessed my messages today I was feeling so excited...until I opened the photo she had sent for me to create for her....it was knitted! I can knit, but I've not done it for years and to be honest I just prefer crochet-nothing wrong with kniting for all you fans, its just not for me :0)

So, now I am feeling a little deflated in the shop-type way, but am happy that people are accessing my little shop, I am also feeling more than a little excited but fearful about the house sale-only fearful about it maybe not going through, everything about the house is good and it will be 'our' first home after all this time (I moved into D's house so its always been just his, so this will be different)...right I better get going with my huge list of jobs but I think after the massive stress I just had due to my lack of techy-ness I need a coffee
See you soon!

 I found this list of questions here >
http://oddsocksandprettyfrocks.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/any-questions-answered.html?showComment=1392388565093#c282710718369279161

and thought it might be fun..it was until I managed to delete everything when i got to number 10!


1. What scares you?
Worms. I had a horrible experience when very young where, as a joke, my dad threw some soil at me when he was gardening, it went into my wellies and there was at least one worm in it. It has always affected me, not as much now but its still there.

2. What is your favourite word?
"Good morning"...from D

3. Who was the last famous person you saw in real life?
 I rarely spot anyone but when we were in New York in 2012 D tried to convince me that someone I couldn't see was Richard Nixon. It took me a minute or so to realise he's dead (1994) When I turned round it was a funny looking old gentleman with an afro- and thinking about it, it could have been Phil Spectre. However, I won because the next day, I did see someone famous, it took me ages to work out who it was though. It was Loretta Switt the actress. (she was 'Hotlips in MASH)

4. What was the last film you went to see and why did you choose that one?
Gravity. I heard a lot about it before it came out and it just sounded interesting.

5. How much cash is in your purse right now?
Probably just over or just under £5. I'm like the Queen I rarely carry any cash.

6. Which piece of clothing do you most regret buying?
Not sure, but it will be shoes, I often buy shoes hoping for the best and try to squeeze my weird feet in them!

7. What's the oddest compliment you've ever been paid?
I was teaching a three year old boy. He was doing something that he shouldn't and he saw me seeing him. He immediately stopped and smiled very sweetly at me and said "aaw you're nice you aren't you? Obviously a charmer.

8. Which book do you love so much that you want to buy a million copies and thrust them at people?
The Time Travellers Wife. It really drew me in and the depth of their feelings for each other was so moving.

9. What's your karaoke song?
I dont do karaoke but I do sometimes singalong when I'm on my own. The last time was yesterday singing with Adam Ant on TV...I was 13 again!

10. Were you named after anyone?
I was named after a song title. It came on the radio when I was at work one day and I mentioned that little nugget of information to my supervisor. Her reply was "were you? What's it called?"

11. If I gave you £1000 right now, what would you spend it on?
I would love to say something really silly and interesting to make me sound more interesting, but actually I would probably add it to our savings as we are in the middle of buying a new house..boring I know

Feel free to have a go at the questions, let me know if you do though-I'M very nosey!

I hope everyone is safe and cosy in this horrible weather. Stay safe

Nothing much to see here..

Bit of a slow few days blog-wise. Been too dark to take pics really and I've been busy with other stuff so not much to post anyway...we're in the middle of some house stuff that takes time but isnt photogenic..and the weather generally does not lend itself to interesting walks or visits.

The chickens have been very funny this last few days, living up to their 'silly' name. We, I'm ashamed to say still have got our Christmas tree, Ive been trying to take some small bits off and burn them but its been so wet and we only have a chimenea to put it in so I was fighting a losing battle really. Anyway, we had a viewing on the house so I thought I'd better move it, what with it being February now :0/   
So I put the tree in the flower bed that the 'girls' have, (used to be a flowerbed until they and their predecessors adopted a scorched earth policy as D says), so there's lots of bed and not much flower now! Anyway, before I let the girls out of their run the other day I propped the tree against the compost bin. I went out a couple of hours later and they weren't outside which is very unusual whatever the weather. when I went out later it was starting to go dark so they'd gone to bed..it wasn't til the next day I realised they were boycotting outside. I stayed outside for a while, pottering and trying to tempt them out..but no, they were too busy staring at the tree! By late afternoon they had obviously had enough and went out, but not near the tree. Just in case anyone's worried, their food and water is 'inside' where they were waiting/sulking. They're back to normal now, even Flossie who nearly had a very embarrassing accident today when the open gate blew shut while she stood behind it so it nearly pushed her flat on her beak..luckily shes a fast mover and got out of the way by shoving Mrs P in the other direction.



Seeing as there's no pictures of anything productive, how about a picture of a sad looking cat

 

During the very hot summer he got far too warm so there were regular damping downs to be had...he didn't like it but I'm sure he felt better afterwards!

Etsy shop

I have just added a link to my Etsy shop. I'm not sure if I will get any business this way but I thought it must be worth a try. I have only got three items listed right now but I am also able to offer items to order, starting with variations of the items listed.

The first item is a ripple blanket made for a relative of my partner to give to another family member. She was absolutely thrilled, telling the newborn that this was his 'forever' blanket. I was so touched and thought what a lovely way to describe the blanket that I have decided to use it in my descriptions.

I

I had been trying for a long time to 'crack' the ripple pattern so I was so happy to be able to manage it for such a special item. You can also see wobbly bear in this picture, he is kind of wedged, tummy sticking out in a grumpy manner. Even the beautiful rainbow he was sitting on didn't cheer him up!

The next listing two listings are the same pattern and layout but the different colour schemes make a big difference i think.

This is probably one of my favourite things I've ever made if I'm honest. Its quite a simple design and I'm always a bit unsure of my colour choices, but this one is just right, I love it. Different bear this time, one I made. She has a little smile and what is supposed to be a flower band on her head, shes a bridesmaid don't you know :0)

Lastly, the second flower blanket but this time a very girly one. Back to wobbly ted for this one, again he's wedged and looking a little happier this time. Again, I really like this one it's very fresh and I think having both the pink and lilac rather than just one colour throughout calmed this one down. I think just one colour may have been a little too giddy.

I hope you like them, have you got any favourite 'forever' things? I'd love to see, x