“blooming cat” puzzle completed

Posted on March 28, 2026 by claire93

Above is a photo of the box . . . this is a puzzle I received for my birthday last month, from my daughter, aka Lindashee. It’s a 1000 piece, with irregular shapes, so it proved to be quite tricky to do . . . but what lovely colours! The design is called “Blooming Cat”.

zoom in on cat’s head

close up off the flowers

80cm x 41cm finished size

It’s not quite the standard shape for 1000 piece puzzles, being 80cm wide. Usually, once I’ve finished a puzzle, I take a photo before breaking it up and putting it back in the box, but this time I’m going to make an exception. I plan on gluing this one and having it on display in the house where I can enjoy those vibrant colours.

Now I can look at my very healthy puzzle collection and decide which one to tackle next!

SAL ” girl & lion” #7

Posted on March 22, 2026 by claire93

It’s Sunday 22nd. Three weeks since our last SAL update, so time to link up with

Avis, Claire, Kathy, Margaret,

Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie,

Linda, MaryMargaret, Cindy, Helen

and share photos of progress.

Three weeks ago, I had just started work on the lion.

3 weeks ago

So, for this time . . . more lion.

He might take a couple of updates to complete.

cats and cardigan

Posted on March 17, 2026 by claire93

any excuse not to make the bed

Cats and knitting don’t really go hand-in-hand . . . but I took a few cat and cardigan related photos and thought I’d group them for a blog post. First up, Abby – awwwww – enjoying a lovely long lie-in and really not wanting to get up and let me make the bed.

zoom in on odd shapes

I’m enjoying the current puzzle, which is a cat-themed one and proving quite tricky. It has lots of irregular shaped pieces so normal “puzzle piece recognition” doesn’t seem to apply to this one. Still, the result is looking gorgeous.

and I’m halfway done.

As for cardigans . . . a cardigan is my current knitting project. To be more specific, this one.

I’m knitting it for my daughter. Was a bit unsure about the shaping on the top of those raglan sleeves though. Is it the model, the photo, or does it look a tad snug around upper arms to you? Anyway, I’ve done a few changes along the way. I’ve altered the raglan decreasing (following the shaping from a different pattern). Was supposed to include lace panels on the back, but I’ve knitted the back in plain stocking stitch. However, I have added a band of “lace” all the way down both sleeves.

raglan seaming

Cardigan is almost finished. Just need to sew up sleeve seams, tidy up my loose ends, and find 7 buttons. It’s very difficult to photograph the soft green colour correctly . . . that second photo isn’t far off. It’s a sort of soft, sage green.

colourful – yarns and “blooming cat”

Posted on March 13, 2026 by claire93

I haven’t been very chatty on my blog of late, mainly because I’ve been busy with other things. Still sorting and trying to organise in the house. Getting rid of lots of books and other stuff, which means I’m making space on bookshelves and in cupboards. Which, in turn, means I can have a bit of a move-around and get rid of some bits of furniture. With Spring on the way, I’m also thinking ahead to when I’ll want to be sitting in the veranda . . . and treated myself to a new sofa cover.

Original colour of the sofa is the plain green of the cushions and around the base . . . but the original cover is grotty and from what I can make out from the label, it can be neither dry cleaned nor machine washed . . . so it’s now hidden from sight.

I also, very naughtily added to my yarn stash again. I had nabbed a bargain on @m@zon recently, with these yarns, which I showed you last month

being sold as 5 x 100g packs for approx 16€, which is less than half RRP. Tension gauge on labels had me a bit worried as to whether I could use as DK weight so I knitted a quick swatch.

And I am reassured. It can, indeed, be knitted to DK tension. That opens up a whole world of possibilities for summer tops. And, even though I’m currently working on a mid-season cardigan, I went ahead and bought in yet more colours.

2.5kg of loveliness

above is the entire haul, including the 2 packs from previous photo).

I’ve also been enjoying some very colourful puzzling. My daughter sent me this 1000 piece for my birthday last month.

I have begun.

And I’m seriously thinking about gluing this one together when it’s finished, because I think it would look rather nice on the wall.

some teen reading – “I am number four”

Posted on March 10, 2026 by claire93

I enjoy all sorts of fiction, and am currently reading some teen fantasy fiction.

Title of the first one in the series: “I am number four” and book two is “The power of six”. The author – Pittacus Lore is actually a pseudo and I seem to remember having read somewhere that there are two authors hiding behind the pseudo, making the series of books a joint project.

Anyway, I bought the first in the series (secondhand) after having seen a film on TV recently. The first volume was made into a film, which, in my opinion, was excellent viewing, but the producers didn’t deem it successful enough to bother making films from any of the follow up books.

Book one focuses on the character of John Smith, a seemingly average teenager, who has just moved to Paradise, Ohio with his guardian, Henri. We soon learn that (and here, I quote) official summary

“Nine Loric children were sent to Earth to live in hiding until they grew up and developed their Legacies, powers that would help them fight back – and help them save us. Three of them are now dead. John is Number Four, and he knows he’s next . . . ”

I’ve read the first two . . . and thoroughly enjoyed them. About to start the third.

SAL “girl with lion” #6

Posted on March 1, 2026 by claire93

Photo 3 weeks ago was this.

Since then I’ve managed a few sessions of xstitch and my fabric now looks like this.

Linking with a group of xstitchers all kept in order by Avis. We come together once every 3 weeks to share our updates and cheer each other along.