Gryff: AKA Coontastic Gryffindor Update 25 May 2020

[richardandtracy]

Rosemary,
Our current 100% Maine Coon 'Ozzie' plays fetch with his little tinsel balls. He drops them at our feet, we throw them, he brings them back for us to throw again. Goes on for up to 20 minutes before he gets tired. This can happen (if we let it) 4-5 times a day. We have a chandelier in our living room, about 6'1" floor clearance. He has, on a number of occasions, hit it with his back paws or tail while leaping to catch the ball.

Gryff, on the other hand, didn't. He was rather less of a live wire than Ozzie is, and was happiest sitting regally somewhere overseeing his subjects.

Steve,
I agree it seems a pretty good colour match, with a similar bias towards being darker than the input image as was found with my 'I'm Watching You' eyes. I need decent weather to photograph my DMC thread card. Photographing it indoors needs a flash, and I've found the flash is darker around the edges than the middle. If all else failed, I could write a program to adjust the photo as I know of no filters that will correct for this, but I think a photograph out doors on a bright but cloudy day would be best. In the last few weeks it's been frosty & sunny or cloudy & wet, meaning I haven't had the conditions I want.

Regards,

Richard

[RosemaryD]

...We have a chandelier in our living room, about 6'1" floor clearance. He has, on a number of occasions, hit it with his back paws or tail while leaping to catch the ball...

That's impressive! It's really interesting behaviour to see in cats. I can understand why they will chase something then play with it (hunting instinct) but to bring it straight back to be thrown again is different, very dog-like. I do miss animals, really would like a few cows but need to win the lottery several times to afford land round here so I expect I will acquire a cat at some point, although I've resisted so far as I don't want to turn into a mad cat lady!

[richardandtracy]

Personally I can't see a problem with being a mad cat lady. We have 4, so are already down that road... Our last house had been owned by 13 cats and an elderly lady. Her dad had built the place in 1898, she'd married the boy next door & lived there until she was 93, in 1990 and died in the house.
OK, not everything was perfect. One cat was so feral we inherited it, as it couldn't be caught. The warming drawer in the oven had 2" of mouse droppings in it, and the back of the larder (aka under stairs cupboard) had a prism shaped heap of mouse droppings across the end, a mere 4" high & 6" wide. The cats were so over-fed they didn't do mice. Also the house had electrics from 1937, a kitchen with one cold tap (no hot) and an outside loo, no inside loo. The bathroom had a bath in it. No sink, no taps, and a light that hung into the bath..
Took us years to fix. In the end sold it for 3.9x what we bought it for, after 12 years.

Regards

Richard.

[fccs]

I heart Gryff!!

[AlwaysGoofy]

I love the new update on Gryff. I'm so glad you'll finish the tail before you move on. It's been delightful reading all your stories about your cats and house.

[richardandtracy]

I said I'd put Gryff away at the end of the month or when I'd finished his tail. Well, as it happened, they occurred on the same day. Because the orange of his tail tints the snow adjacent to it, there is no hard & fast boundary, but I think it and the tint's complete:



What you can't see is my new gridding fishing line. It's 1.8kg breaking load, red, and has a diameter of only 0.105mm, or about 1/4 the width of DMC floss, barely possible to see even with a light shining one it, but does a good enough job in most areas. If I ever feel my wallet weighs too much, I may get some slightly thicker line.

Regards,

Richard.

[rcperryls]

Gryff most certainly has one of the greatest "ends" that I have ever seen. Fantastic stitching. I don't think I'd be able to put him away. But since February is a short month, he will be back soon!

Carole

[karen4bells]

Awesome update!! I love the detail and precision in this project!! Fantastic stitching

[vanessanjf]

This is looking amazing i can't wait to see more

[wendywombat]

Gryff most certainly has one of the greatest "ends" that I have ever seen. Fantastic stitching. I don't think I'd be able to put him away. But since February is a short month, he will be back soon!

Carole

See you soon, Gryff!

Lovely tail BTW!!

[kingfisher68]

Beautiful, just beautiful. Well done. Wonderful stitching & amazing colours on this project

[CarrieGF]

absolutely stunning. i am sorry to see this go out of rotation. its splendid

[AlwaysGoofy]

I can't wait for Gryff to come out again to play. You did a great job at finishing the tail before the end of the month. It is truly amazing how beautiful and true to life your chart and stitching are.

[fccs]

Great update on your beautiful Gryff. I'm always sad to see him go away for a month, but I know he'll be back. And in the meantime, we get to see your other masterpiece.

[richardandtracy]

Thank you all for your kind comments.
I will miss Gryff, but am enjoying the move to Luz at the moment.

Regards,

Richard

[Squirrel]

Well Done Richard, its looking great.

[richardandtracy]

I have been working on Gryff off & on this month. Time available & progress has been rather short. Mostly because the weather has warmed up and I've been out doing other things. Including, but not limited to, putting curtains in our soon-to-be motorhome, making blocks of flats (apartments) for 8 sparrow pairs, making a hefty timber stand for my cnc lathe, making pen parts and that sort of thing. And not least of which, digging through and eliminating 18" deep accretions of sawdust in parts of my workshop.

Anyway, continuing with the snow under Gryff's tail:

And the progress:

Hope to do a fair bit more this evening.

Regards,

Richard.

[rcperryls]

Good progress and I love seeing Gryff!!!! Never can get enough of him!

Carole

[karen4bells]

Another amazing update on this!!

[Lorna]

What a lovely cat you had he is magnificent, just think when you have finished this you can hang him on the wall and say hello to him everyday. My cats are my babies so I know how valuable these things are. Lovely work as well.