Cat Nap 2 cont..

Did you hear about the earthquake in Wales at the weekend? Did you feel it? I did. I’d never felt an earthquake before so I didn’t know what was going on; it seems most people didn’t. I think practically everyone thought there’d been some kind of crash of some sort. I was almost at the epicentre so I felt a huge shudder of the chair I was sitting on and heard a rumble. It wasn’t until I checked social media that I felt reassured that it wasn’t something bad.

Just to prove that Wales is still in one piece after it, here’s a photo I took from the car. 

It’s not bad considering we were going about 70 mph. Don’t worry, I wasn’t driving! 😉😁

I’ve continued working on my Cat Nap 2 and here’s the final piece:

It’s all embroidered by hand with stitches suggesting the fur in the various colours and from dark to light. Here’s a close up:

While I’ve been working on this, the garden has begun to sprout back into life. The privets which I cut back last year have new little leaves:

There are small leaf buds on branches:

The crocuses are awake and showing their gorgeous purple:

Snowdrops have burst forth from their winter sleep:

I bought some roses last weekend to cheer things up even more:

Their yellow looks wonderful against my purple wall. I’ve been feeling tired recently so the colour really brought some brightness to the cloudy days.

Cat Nap 2

Continuing on from my last post, I’ve taken another of my ‘Cat Nap’ drawings and developed it.

This was the original sketch:

And here is the watercolour I did:

I’ve printed it on fabric and now it’s ready to be embroidered.

As it’s Valentine’s Day today, here’s a photo I’ve taken with a rose and a heart shaped stone I found a long time ago.

The book is a volume of Welsh poetry and these particular poems are about love, “Serch” being a Welsh word for “Love”. There’s also “Cariad” which means the same thing.

I’m really enjoying watching the Winter Olympics at the moment. I watch it every four years. I’m not a huge fan of much sport, but for some reason I love this, particularly the snowboarding, the luge, the skeleton, the bobsleigh and the speed skating. If I were younger, I might have a go at one of these. Maybe.

Love to everyone, have a lovely day.

Cat Nap & Snow

January and February always seem a bit depressing to me. It’s been dark in the mornings and dark in the afternoons even on a sunny day. By about 3 o’clock the light has gone, clouds come over and the day gets gloomy.

I’ve decided to try to see things with a sense of joy this year; not so much a “New Year’s Resolution” as a “New Year’s Perspective”. I’ve realised in the last few years that we can either let things that happen get on top of us or we can choose to look at them objectively and keep our minds clearer and happier. It’s not always easy, but it’s worth giving it a try. Everything is ok.

To keep this feeling of joy, I’ve done a new experiment with a picture I drew a while ago of my cat Rusty. He’s no longer with us, but he always brought joy to me and I’m keeping it fun with this. He liked to sleep on my bed and one day I drew him while he was there. He’d often fall asleep laying on his front with his face down on the blanket – how he could breathe, I never knew!

I did a watercolour of the drawing:

Then printed it on fabric:

Then I embroidered it:

This is an experiment to see how it turned out, but I’m quite happy with it and I’m going to turn it into a small wall hanging I think. Or maybe I’ll try to find a frame to fit it in. Either way, I’ve got another one coming along soon, a slightly different picture.

I took part in the Big Garden Birdwatch at the end of January. It was a lovely way to spend an hour, watching the birds in my garden. I also made the Birdwatch bites to eat while I was there – the recipe came with the pack I was sent. They tasted ok but I think I’d put fewer oats in if I made them again.

All the birds were the ones I see regularly in my garden. Watching them can be a really good way of getting out of your worries for a while, to help you get perspective on things. I try to see if I can spot them whenever I have the opportunity.

It’s actually snowed here for the first time in about four years. I’ve been hoping for it to snow, if only enough just to have a walk in it because I find the world really peaceful in snow. It seems to bring calm and quietness. I took a few photos as usual.

Whatever you’re doing this week, enjoy it!