Cats & hearts

Hello Friends ~ Here it is Wednesday afternoon the 4th of January. I’m sipping on a cup of green tea, sweetened with local palmetto honey, served with an almond poppy seed muffin.  This little break is hitting the spot. The muffins are from a box mix bought at Aldi’s on special, so not something they carry all of the time. Delicious and light. I set this little vignette up just for the photo, muffin is now gone and the tea cup is now on it’s coaster on my desk by the keyboard.

The heart above is finished except for

sewing on a back and stuffing it into a little pillow.

Here it is close-up. Ribbon roses which started out as cream and I colored them with my alcohol markers for coloring silk ribbon. There are seed beads, bugle beeds and fresh water pearls. Plus the rose cameo in the center, and mother-of-pearl buttons. I crocheted the border using Perle cotton. French knots and chain stitch done with embroidery floss. It is approximately 7 1/2 inches wide by 6 1/4 inches high.

Now for my first new project of the year, painting the black metal hearts that are hanging outside on my front wall.

This photo below was taken right after the cottage was painted last March, so no plants set back up yet. My ‘creative space’ is in that little bumpout room, 6’x8’.

Before

After ~ hearts painted aqua.

Now for some cats. These are Zebra longwing cats.

These cats are devouring a passion vine that I got at Butterfly World last year. There were LOTS of these cats in various stages of growth, but when I went out later, there were quite a bit fewer and I saw a lizard close by.

This was a bloom in October. The vine looks pretty shabby right now, but there is new growth and there are flower buds on it as well. The cats don’t eat those, just the leaves.

The cats turn into our state butterfly pictured below sipping nectar from Hamelia paten blooms, a favorite of theirs.

Another cat featured in this post, is Miss Tork.

Yesterday I was reading a gardening, widow friend’s blog, Gladsome Lights, and she metioned a little book she was given for Christmas. It sounded like one I would love to read, so I went to Amazon and found a used, but in very good condition book for $2, plus $3.99 shipping, so I ordered it. My first purchase of this year. I am looking forward to reading this and enjoying the woodcut prints inside.

Yesterday morning a light rain fell on my gardens, today a heavier one fell, neither lasting very long, but both better than nothing.

I need to mow, so hopefully will have some dry grass to do so before it grows too much higher.

Well, that’s it for now. Thank you all for your kind comments, they mean a lot.

Enjoy every moment you are blessed with, count your blessings, learn lessons from mistakes, love & forgive others.

FlowerLady