BFF 17 coining a new term

 we were both doing "filling in" tonight. And having a nice chat, my BFF even got to fit words in the right way and not just sideways.

I was mentioning that adding some stitches to the sky in addition to those on the pattern had crossed my mind but I was holding firm on not Deborahizing (aka adding things on and making things more difficult than they need to be) and my BFF noted she had been thinking in the opposite direction of leaving off the whisp of light blue cloud and the backstitch seagulls. We have therefore decided that leaving elements off without replacing them with something else will henceforth be called doing a  Roni. After all our word for complicating things is a lengthening of my name, so a word for simplifying is a contraction of hers. 

I finished all of the cross and half stitches this evening. Roni's eyes did not feel as cooperative as mine tonight so she did not quite get there. She has off screen time dispensation to get to the point of Backstitching and we will both be doing that next time. I say next time and not next week as we will have a two week gap due to other commitments of a Wednesday evening.

I have taken this weeks update snap in the frame that came with the kit, partly to see how the sky looks and if my shortened rocks gives too much sky that might need more cloud to balance it.

CLICK HERE to pop on over to my BFF's blog and her updated.

Sunday Stitchings March

 I suppose I could also link this post to the gifted gorgeousness as the pattern was a gift, but as it is currently my Sunday Stitching project it gets a post all of its own.

I started with a touch of blue, which let me back into the shades of brown in the edge of the eyes and then whilst that thread was in the needle then I kept going with that. It feels like it filled out quite a bit in the time frame.

 

Gifted Gorgeousness March 2025

 For an explanation of this link up (if you did not get here from Serendipitous Stitching) CLICK HERE  and if you are a crafting blogger perhaps you might like to join in.

You can find the rest of this months participants by Clicking THIS link

This delightful gift for my mother arrived quite serendipitously today, on the 15th of the month and the day of the link up so it certainly had to be shared. 

This was made by a lady I work with, but have never seen. We mostly communicate via Teams or e-mail.

At one point and I can't recall when our crafting was discussed and she does that magic with wool and a hook that I never have got the hang of. A later mention that my mother liked owls and this was the result.

 

He came with a little card with pansies, which just happen to be a favourite of hers. I took a quick picture, you can see a previous project on the left, which just shows I am still using them, and behind and to the right my current quilting project.

I told my mother she should have her picture taken with her Howlett, this is as much as she was willing to feature in a picture.

 

Thank you Elspeth.

BFF SAL 17 Sagt mir, wo die Blumen sind

 my brain offered up that phrase, yes in the German (where have all the Flowers gone) whilst I was stitching the pink in the section most impacted by the miscount of the grey. Which has resulted in there being less flowers on my piece than on the patten. 

And why that and in the German? Once upon a time in addition to French (which I struggled with) my school decided some of us would "do" German. So for a year I tried to do both languages. Not particularly successfully, and the teacher though that learning songs might help. So we did, Where have all the Flowers gone, which to be honest I thought was originally in German and translated to English and not as is the case the other way around. And an odd song that also circles back on itself about an egg stealing dog. Now in my memory that is 

 Ein Mops kam in die Küche,

Und stahl dem Koch ein Ei.
Da nahm der Koch den Löffel*,
Und schlug den Mops entzwei.
Da kamen alle Mops,
Und gruben ihm ein Grab,
Und setzten ihm einen Grabstein,
worauf geschrieben stand:

"Ein Mops kam in die Küche..."

Now I had to look up Mops tonight as I wondered if my memory was off as that is not German for Dog, but apparently it is for a Pug dog. So I guess the version we were taught was with pugs (ok I had to look up the everything past the first line ). Neither are what you would call jolly, and as a final song, well the teacher presented Elvis singing I don't have a wooden heart and noted his accent was perfect!

The year of German had a detrimental impact on my French and neither language continued after that experiment year.  

I find it very amusing that knowing I struggle with spelling in English (hooray for the spell checker, although I do occasionally stump it with what word I may have been trying to spell) and the sad state of my attempts at European languages, I am now trying to learn Korean!

So this evening sewing generated trip down memory lane for languages and a for song lyrics randomly generated by my brain. Sometimes my BFF and I have conversations that devolve into song lyrics, part of our same but different and also different but the same vibe CLICK HERE to see her progress and also see what I mean in the title of her blog.

Next session I have blue to sew and the backstitching if I get that far. 

Oh and that reason for trying Korean, and a link to their most recent original song 

Mind my language teacher may have been onto something about singing and languages, but perhaps not in the way she approached it. People who sing, hear the nuances in sounds and in hearing the differences perhaps they find it easier to then make the relevant sound. After all in English we say someone has an ear for languages not a mouth!

So on that thought a double video link , this one to a solo performance. Although I don't think he "speaks" all those languages he certainly sings them well.

Sunday Stitching into March

 and I thought I would do more of the cat, some of the shades around the white, to make those stitches more visible.  However, when I pulled it out that is not what my eyes felt like doing.

My eyes wanted colour, and it is not wise to argue with your eyes.

So a little more of the mid pink and a new shade were the order of the day.

At least it has stopped looking as if the cat is wearing a fez.

BFF SAL 17 A very Queen of Hearts solution

 to last weeks problem with the puffin...

Off with his head! Well that was the bit that needed unpicking, so at the beginning of this week  with off sewing time corrections I started here.

The evening was mostly shades of grey.

And finished with a little bit of colour at last.

Click here to see my BFF's Update