Giglamps rambles

It's that time again, I have found more cats. The one above looks like it's going "OI!!!" And now, as a palate cleanser, here's a band of funky felines, one of whom is playing a concertina. Cat after my own heart!

Some more plant life for today, featuring some colourful flowers, encountered on a morning walk in the park. Just a tiny fraction of the excessive amount of pictures that I have to sort through...

Specifically part one here because there's a crop of other pictures somewhere , but which hard drive they're on, I have no idea... so for now, here's a little bundle of pictures from my first playthrough. Starting off in the snug, after solving a delightfully designed puzzle on a cosmic theme. I really enjoy the way the rooms in Derceto take on a shade of the different environments before either Emily or Edward fully set foot in the other worlds; it's an interesting way of conveying the gradually decaying barriers between reality and the influence of the terrible cosmic horror on the loose. (She possessed a TREE . Who does that?!!!) In Taroella proper, we're treated to this peaceful courtyard, awash with sunlight, plants and a gorgeous, earthy colour scheme. Juan here is living the dream, chillin' out with a book under a tree (not possessed) - legend. Stepping into the library, this is where the crop of pictures I found peters out. There will be more though, whe...

This is something I've chatted about before but that was elsewhere, so it's coming up here as well: a compelling, eerie, atmospheric performance of Abbots Bromley Horn Dance. The version that I'm most familiar with is, of course, Leveret's version , where it's blended with Upon a Summer's Day and has a lovely, cosy vibe, like something out of Pogles' Wood. This version, with the lonely violin in the night, occasionally punctuated by a triangle beat, is very evocative, dreamlike and liminal. I absolutely love it. This was recorded in Thaxted, in Essex, whereas Abbots Bromley is located quite locally, in Staffordshire! It is on my bucket list to go see the Horn Dance in person someday, of course. There's an overall feeling of mystery and vagueness here that really fascinates me, not just in this performance but with the history of the Horn Dance and with traditional folk music overall, with songs being mostly passed down through oral tradition until conce...

More crafts for today and to start with, here's a longstitch kit from the '80s, designed by Roger Reinardy. This one inexplicably contained some dull grey patches so I improvised with leftover yarn from a previous project, to keep it looking light and airy. With the photo, it was originally my intention to have the sheep wearing the "Scotland's for me!" thimble on its head, but no such luck, it wouldn't balance there. Alas, what could have been. A cross-stitch based on a pattern from the '80s; the designer wasn't credited. This kit was an Avon Needlecraft effort with tapestry gear to make a draught excluder, but the pattern was difficult to read, faded and damaged in places, so I remade it in Winstitch and set about making this as an incredibly long-winded proof-reading exercise, to weed out any errors in the new version of the pattern (it's very easy to get snowblind with these things.) I still need to get 'round to re-uploading this one. A sh...

Now to the intermittent world of cross-stitch patterns that I've designed myself; this is another thing where I'd like to do more of it, but just don't have the time and energy. This idea came up after playing Alone in the Dark sent me on a bit of an Art Deco kick, and the design was made specifically for the frame. I also experimented with variegated threads here to try to replicate the slightly mottled look of stained glass windows, when the light is shining through them. Of course, achieving Peak Cat, Alan always wants to play with my decorations when I'm photographing my projects, but when the project is a portrait of him, he goes off for a nap. The cross-stitch without its frame, before being washed and ironed. The white areas had to be stitched with plain thread because the colour I originally tried, a delicate mix of pale cream and pink tones, looked like it would make a nice, gently marbled effect but in practice, it just looked like the thread was dirty. And he...

For today, here's a cross-stitch that I did in spring last year, one of a set of designs from a magazine - I can't remember who the designer is and the patterns are in one of several ring binders which would take ages to rummage through, so I'll have to come back and update this post with that information later. For now, here's the cross-stitch, photographed with Alan's kind assistance.

 It's that time again, I have found more cats (and a dog!) These cats, I was initially not going to include them because they're not quite awkward-looking enough but then I saw this close-up on their immensely judgmental faces, and felt compelled to share them. This next geezer is quite charming but also weird enough to warrant inclusion here. And in closing, here's the dog. This expression on this lad is something else - he should be a meme!