Cat Lady

Sometimes, you meet someone special. Sometimes, that someone is a cat.
Before I had my son, I had Mischief. She was my first baby. She spent her days napping and living up to her name. She spent her nights on my bed. She learned to use the toilet. She hated dogs. She didn't really care for cats, either, including her own kittens.

We've had other cats, but none had her slightly snobbish attitude or playful nature. Tom cats came and went, but Mischief always stayed.

I've been working on this quilt for quite a while now, primarily because knew it would take up a great deal of time. I thought the large collection of different batik fabrics would be wonderful on the black background. I picked up a great pattern book that had all these wonderful cats to applique. I didn't really know what I would call it, but then I just knew.

Thirty cats, no two exactly the same, cover this wonderful quilt. Sometimes you meet a quilt that will have to be pried from your cold, dead fingers. I think this is the one.

Mischief passed a few years ago after a stroke. She was sixteen years old. She had lived in Hawaii, New Jersey, Maryland and New York state. She had also flown in an airplane over part of the Pacific Ocean and traveled across the country by car. She was my first friend in a new state. She raised one human, one puppy and two tom cats.

I think she would have liked to shed on this quilt. What else would a gray and white cat do with a mostly black quilt?

Sewing bliss and yarn.

Today, I took Honey to the airport. I also stopped at the JoAnn Fabrics to see if they had another sewing machine for me to kill. I lucked out. I found a machine that will meet my needs, and it was on sale.The only problem I have with the new sewing machine is that it does not use the same bobbins as my last machine. Now I have more than twenty bobbins that I can't use. Grrr!! Maybe I'll be able to find a machine that can not only use those bobbins, but that can tolerate my level of usage.

On the horrible two-hour drive, I got stuck behind big, slow things at least twice. Nothing makes a long drive seem longer than going slowly.

Once home, I ate lunch and the postman was kind enough to bring me a wonderful box.I'm sure this picture does not capture the wonderful colors of these fingering weight yarns. The names are wonderful, too. From left to right: Wicked Witch, Looking Glass, Seven Dwarves and Evil Stepmother. (J and C thank you so much for the gift card. I spent it all at once, I'm afraid.)

Remember, life is too short to knit with bad yarn. Check out Knit Picks for great yarns!

Puppy Kisses

Sometimes, an idea gets away from me.

I realized, at some point, that making quilts for baby boys is difficult. So much of my fabric has one flower or another on it. Great for quilts, in general, not so great for the sons of manly-men.
I decided that puppies were somewhat manly and picked up some coordinating fabrics. Once I started cutting, I realized I had enough for two. That worked out just fine, though. I needed two.

Every little person deserves a quilt to call their own.

Mish-Mash

Sometimes, you just get side-tracked. Honey wanted a four-part GM screen. Something with space to hold 3x5 cards and room to clip notes for the players. After cutting, fusing, gluing and generally cursing at the project, we came up with this.The folded screen.

The outside of the screen.
Finally, the inside, complete with 3x5 cards. Sorry about the color on this one. My camera was being troublesome in the bad, indoor lighting.


Here is the fabric I received in the mail yesterday. It is all washed and waiting to become wonderful skirts.

What grows on trees...

Sometimes, I get inspiration from the oddest places. Sometimes, I get a simple request.
This time, I got a request from Tia for some felted slippers. She picked the yarn and I did the knitting and felting. The result? A tree full of slippers.

Disclaimer: Felted slippers DO NOT grow on trees. Not in Montana, not anywhere.