Is finished:

She took longer than I expected, which is good. Stitching seems to be an excellent way to keep entertained in the evenings, especially when the ad breaks are on, and at this size it’s very portable. But if it’s too fast I’ll end up with a pile of pieces I don’t know what to do with or embellishing everything in the house, or both.

Inspired by the design, I’ve made my own for Slinky. I was going to give him a snowflake for a backdrop in contrast with the fire of this one, but then a friend said he was no snowflake and suggested I do a slinky toy. Today I remembered that my childhood cat was named Frosty, so I may have to use the snowflake in a portrait of her, too. And if I do that, I’d have to do one of Pepi, the cat that adopted my family when I was a teenager, and Peri Peri, my previous cat to Slinky. (I thought the Fire Kitty could represent Peri Peri, but it definitely has a she-cat look.)

I still haven’t decided what I’ll do with them. The portraits are more like artworks than pieces to be turned into usable objects, but I think this original design would be great turned into a purse or clutch.

This is the project I’m working on now:

As with the Fire Kitty, I’ve started with no idea what I’ll do with the finished piece but I figure it doesn’t matter so long as I’m doing something and learning from it.