I've ordered both the material and the chart for this, so I'm in the process of stashing up!

There's something about this design that appeals to me, maybe because I'm an amateur astonomer myself, or was in my teenage years.

This beautiful chart of a tropical island was printed in the World of Cross Stitching's July 2002 issue.

I started this piece in October 2002 and since then have acquired another copy of the chart, as it was in Jill Gordon's Cross Stitch Pictures book, (see right).

In reading this book, it turns out that this island is a real atoll somewhere in the Indian Ocean. I'd love to go there someday to compare the view.

I did take this with me on holiday, I got a bit done, but not too much. I couldn't take it down the beach with me, in case it got dirty and I had to be careful not to stitch when wet from the pool. You had to jump in the pool while sunbathing to cool off because it was soo hot.

I took this design with me on the train to my Taunton dentist. 3 hours away! I got quite a bit done during the 6+ hours of travelling. Another dental visit next week may get another large chunk completed.

Jan
06

I was given this Kit in trade for some UK Magazines. I've wanted to stitch it for years, and finally got around to doing it to fulfill a stitching request: a friend wanted a dragon. I tossed out the 18 count cream aida that was in the kit (YUK! 18 count Aida, are they nuts), and I'm stitching it on 32 Count Reflections fabric from Silkweaver instead. It's a FOTM special and doesn't have a name.

Now the "Friend" who wanted this won't speak to me. Would you bother carrying on stitching it? It's a shame because I was enjoying it too!

The more I stitch on this the more this dragon reminds me of Stretch

TDee of the Yahoo Group has started another Mystery Stitch a long.

We are being sent pattern parts every Saturday.

I am stitching mine on a piece of stone coloured 16 count aida.

I'm caught up with this now and waiting for new sections, there's been a bit of a delay because the organiser, TDee has been moving house, but at least it's given everyone a chance to catchup with this and the first MSAL, which I completed on 1st March.

This is a dimensions kit by Charles Wysocki.

When I opened the thread pack last week and started pre-sorting out all the colours, they did seem a bit drab with just about every brown under the sun. But look at how the cat's rear end stands out.

I've done a little more to Poopy inbetween all my Xmas Cards. Progress at 17 hours.

I am sewing this design as it is reminiscent of a black and white cat I once owned "Topaz" who died in October 2000.

This Heritage Stitchcraft design was my first ever attempt at evenweave and I took to it like a duck to water.

With a house full of cats myself, it was hard to resist starting this design.

Unfortunately due to it's size and the fact that it is mounted on a lap frame, it's not very portable, so hence it tends to get left and is rapidly turning into a UFO.

This the second project I attempted to do. Currently it is a UFO as I need to get hold of some speciality Krenik Blending Filaments to be able to complete it.

Because I'm using the wrong materials it's going to involve a massive unpick. Can you see why I've been putting it off?

It taught me one thing: always get all the right materials before you start a large project!

To finish this by the end of 2004 is my New Year's stitching resolution

I am going to take part in a new RR with 4 other Stitching Bloggers.

This is going to be my theme:

There are five of us participating in the Robin, so to start it off I stitched my favourite cat from the first Cats in Hats series, Daffodil [below].

The four pieces I will be stitching on are:
Kim's	Cathy's	Renee's	Dawn's

The "Cattitudes" are 12 Margaret Sherry designs which were printed in a 2003 Calendar which was given away with Cross Stitcher Magazine at the end of 2002.

A group of cat-loving stitchers were so impressed by these designs that we decided to form a RR and stitch the lot. I think the appeal of these cats is that I can see a few of my own cat's purrsonalities mirrored there. Half of them have done "Comical", by falling out of the apple tree, Dyson is most definitely "Contentious" and Titch, well, he has got to be "Cautious", and my favourite of course, has got to be the "Contented" cat, Jade.

This is a huge round robin with 12 members and a 2-year stitching committment. The fabric, as you can imagine is quite large, I felt as if I were quite literally stitching under a quilt.

Current members of this RR Group are:

Piwi (founder), Vash (moi), Deborah, Kim, Tina, Nicole, Terry, Urszula and Vikki.

Below is how the Cattitudes are starting to build up on the material (the material featured belongs to Tammy and is 16 count cream aida):

On 30th January 2004 I finished the Cuddly Cats. Due to lots of personal problems I dropped out of the Cattitudes for a period of months, but now I'm back in it again and have just finished Contentious Cat on Nicole's Material.

Here's the Material with 10 of the 12 cats on it. Nearly finished!

If you want a copy of this calendar - unfortunately it is now out of print - but you may find a second-hand copy going on Ebay.co.uk - they pop up on there from time to time - try this search link: cattitudes

Started
Jan 03