Two new rugs and a sampler

Greetings, friends!
It has suddenly turned cool here after several days of oppressive heat, and we finally got some rain last night.  Yeah!  The garden needed it so badly.

I have a couple of new rug finishes to share with you.  The first is the Bird Dog pattern from one of Pat Cross's wonderful books.  I tried to use worms and left-overs, and the only wool I bought was the reddish brown for outside border.  The worms were a combination of 8 1/2 cut and 8 cut, but mostly 8 1/2.  To whip the border, I purchased a skein from Brenda Gervais, it was a very thick hand-dyed yarn, and was so easy to work with.  I really like how this turned out.

Another much smaller rug I completed is now on the dining room table.   It was too long to fit in one picture.  The design is from Woolen Willow.  The picture looks brighter than it actually is.

As a nice change from time-consuming reproduction samplers, I finished Frederic from Carriage House Samplings.  It is done with 1 strand DMC on 36 ct.

Now to report on the kittens!  All is going well, yesterday they started to eat wet food, and are playing with each other and beginning to groom each other.  Every day there is a surprise!  One little one had conjunctivitis and went to the vet yesterday, she told me to treat all five so that they don't just pass it around.  The little girl weighed .9 and is now named Tisha and my mother is keeping her.  All it took was taking her to the vet wrapped in a basket with a hot water bottle and she fell in love.  She is one of two tortoise shells and I learned that the tortie gene is a female gene like the calico.  There are 3 girls (two torties and a calico) and 2 little black boys.  Here they are today.

Wishing everyone a lovely weekend!
Hugs,
Melinda