UFOs and FOs

This is a little UFO that has kept me occupied and amused over the past week:


This little seagull chick arrived in our back garden a week last Friday and has been there ever since. I didn't expect him/her to last the weekend given the number of cats that live near us, but he's still here and appears to be quite well. His mother or father visits regularly to bring food and he shelters up by the house, in a corner, in the evenings and when it's raining. The RSPCA website advised putting abandoned chicks on a high surface like a flat roof, but our flat roof gets full sun (huh! that's a joke at the moment) and a chick died of dehydration up there last year, so I decided to leave him where he was and let him take his chances. I expect he'll fly off soon. I'm guessing that he fell out of the nest - a height of at least 25 feet - so it's pretty amazing that he survived at all.

The FO of today's title does not, unfortunately, refer to knitting but does apply to some sewing that I have done recently and could, in a less obvious way, refer to a much more long-standing project, namely Bethany. It is debatable whether she is a project that will ever be finished, at least in my lifetime, but I'd say she was well on the way to becoming the person she will eventually be. Anyway, the FO in question was this:



her prom dress. I have shown pictures of the dress before at varying stages of completion, but this is it in all its glory, net petticoat and all. Bethany was very pleased with it and received many compliments, which was a great relief. It's so long since I made any clothes that I did wonder whether it would pass muster, but my worries were thankfully unfounded.
The prom was on Thursday at this hotel and a jolly good time was had by all, as far as I can tell (though obviously, mothers are the last to know).
Bethany was accompanied by her friend Misha, who had rather wonderfully co-ordinated his accessories to Bethany's dress:



A striking couple! (Bethany would like it to be known that she and Misha are not, in any way, shape or form "a couple" and never will be OK? They are friends, just friends, nothing more, so don't start...)
There were some lovely dresses on show at the prom but I have to admit to feeling very proud of the fact that my girl was the only one wearing a home-made dress, shrug and necklace and still looked every bit as stylish as the others (more so in some cases, but now is not the time to start that discussion...)

In other news, there has been some knitting (still on the birthday present but it's slow going at present) and some spinning (an experiment which has not turned out as I envisaged) but nothing interesting enough to merit a picture so you'll have to make do with this gratuitous picture of Mollie.



Edited to add:
Shortly after writing this post, I noticed that the seagull chick was limping quite badly so I contacted our local wildlife rescue who came to take a look. The chap decided that given the number of cats around and the fact that a chick died on our roof last year, he would take our baby away. The parents did not like it one bit and tried to attack quite viciously.
I feel a bit sad, but I'm sure it's for the best.

PS In reply to Peri's comment, Mollie is too tired for a blog takeover at present; after all, she's spent all day hard at sleep work and needs plenty of rest.