Stitching hijinks…

I thought I would show you a little snippet of what I've been making with the "blues" I showed you back in November. Remember these?
 
Well, I'm quite taken with Art nouveau at the moment… all those swirling, free form flowers, leaves and stems. Gorgeous stuff. I enjoy playing with motif manipulation and repetition too, so I'm kind of combining the two. There has been loads of cutouts for the flowers and leaves… tiny scissors required for these.


 
These have all been appliqued over Christmas…
 
… and, after a bit of stitching, contemplation, unpicking and restitching… I think I've decided on a stitchery combination for the swirly stems.
 
It's been lovely, being able to sit and stitch over the past few days. I have really missed taking these quiet moments that seem to have eluded me right through December. Curling up in front of a good documentary, needle in hand, coffee close by… sounds relaxing right? The thing is, my little gray Selkirk-Rex and I are in the midst of a rather long-winded battle. I think the Christmas tree is quite defined in its purpose… sitting in the corner, showing off it's collection of Christmas attire, twinkling of an evening, adding that Christmassy atmosphere… you know how it goes. BUT NO! Not in the eyes of this little cat! (Here she is enjoying a bag we had removed Christmas decorations from. I think there still may be one or two beneath her!)
 
Did I mention her name is Evie (short for evil)? … those eyes say it all. You can see her planning her decoration hijack and general hijinks, while she hides. This is what she conveyed to me through her persistent behaviour, cheeky peeks from beneath the tree and angry glares when I locked her away.
 A Christmas tree is like a toy shop. Decorations are ripe for the picking (or swiping) and are just begging to be chased (or dragged) from one end of the house to the other! I do try to resist, sometimes I'm just worn out from all the swiping and chasing you know. But then suddenly, the sun will appear from behind a cloud, and cause a little sparkle on a particular decoration that catches my eye, and pounce, I'm sucked right back in!
So, as you might guess, my stitching hasn't been particularly relaxing… in fact I've had quite a work out, retrieving decorations, chasing the trail of tinsel tearing through the house, trying to remove the little terror from beneath the tree… and just as I find my place and am ready to take a stitch… well you get the picture.
 
Oh and tinsel? Tinsel is delicious! You can chew it off into bite sized pieces and then leave them all through the house. It's called decorating!
Needless to say the tree will be disassembled on time this year, so I can finish the remainder of my swirly stem stitching, and then onto the… actually I think I'll leave you in suspense.
 Happy New Year everyone… and may all your New Year's resolutions involve stitching.
Until then,
Melissa x