Eli's Baby Quilt

My niece, Cheryl, and her husband, Adam, had their first baby in December. I'm embarrassed that it's taken me this long to get Eli's baby quilt finished. For some reason, being a foster mom has eaten into my sewing time quite a bit. I'll be mailing it off Thursday. One of my quilt guild meetings is Wed, and I want to take it for Show & Tell.

I only had a daughter and have every shade of pink and purple fabric ever printed. Making boy quilts is not my forte. I sure hope she likes it.

Emma and the kittens

Never say never. Just when I said I wouldn't post any more of the oldest kittens, I remembered that I never posted a video of my little neighbor, Emma, who comes over several times a week to play with the kittens. She's become an excellent helper. She scruffs and holds the kittens while I trim their nails. I think scooping is next.

Madeline's Kittens

I know, not more pictures of Jack and Jill!  However, Jill is now Ben, and this is for Madeline, their soon-to-be mom.  It's so hard NOT to take pictures of them when they're so darn cute and photogenic.  I promise, this will be the last pictures of them until their adoption-day picture with Madeline.

Jack and Ben are on the ladder cat tree the scout troop made.  It's become a favorite with everybody.

John took ten pictures, but I controlled myself and only used four.  Ben was ready for his photo shoot. 

Well, maybe not all that ready.  Must be nap time.

How's this for a Kodak moment?  Jack is not a lot bigger than Ben.  It just looks that way with him being slightly closer to the camera and in front of Ben.  The boys will be going home this coming weekend.

The Tree is Gone

The tree that split apart is just a memory, now.  Monday morning John was talking to a friend about John taking over their club's website because the person currently doing it is having health problems.  John said sure, and by the way, do you know anybody who does tree removals?  Jim said his wife's son did.  The son and a friend came out two hours later.  They had the tree cut in pieces in 7 minutes - I timed it.  An hour later, they had drug the sections to the street, cut them up more, threw them in the back of the truck, cleaned up all the debris, and loaded all their equipment.  Absolutely amazing.  They'll come back when the ground and wood dry out and take the stump out. John had gotten a replacement fence section that morning, and we replaced it in 5 minutes.  After all that work, I had to be taken out to dinner with our friends, Hank and Darlene.

Amy's Baby Quilt

T

This is a quilt I made for my hairdresser, Amy, who had a beautiful baby girl, Harper, the first part of May.  One of my quilt guilds had a retreat in February, and this pattern was the project.  Because she knew it was a girl, I used medium pinks, blues, greens, and purples, heavy on the pink, with burgundy for the small squares.

The pattern is from the book, Slice 'Em and Dice 'Em Quilts, by Nancy Brennan Daniel.  Large nine-patches are made, are sliced in half vertically and horizontally,  then the four quarters are resewn to another fabric.....anyway, you get rather odd, but unique blocks that make unique quilts.

Sonny's Adoption

 .

Sonny got his forever home today. His new mom, Pat, has been waiting for several weeks for him to get old enough for his neuter package.  She came out today, signed the papers, and took him home.  She's going to have so much fun with him.  Her biggest problem will be not stepping on him.  He'll probably follow her around like a little puppy.  

Earlier, I was missing the kittens and found them in the doorway to their room - asleep.  John's made me three of these door stops to keep the doors from opening too far and allowing Lucy into the rooms to eat the cat food.
 
Many people have asked me how I can let the kittens go after I've taken care of them for weeks or months.  My answer is always the same.  I knew going in that I was only the temporary caregiver.  It's not easy, but it's easier when you're losing one of 20 cats and not one of two or three cats.  Plus, I have 12 to 15 kittens that I know of waiting for space at my house.  When every litter needs to be isolated until they're tested, I only have so many rooms available.  Kitten season is in full swing. 

Jack, Jill & Sonny

Light, Medium and Dark are now Sonny, Jack, and Jill.  They get their package (testing, shots, microchip and spay/neuter) on Tuesday.  Being the oldest of the foster kittens, they've been allowed out of their room the last few days, and have loved every minute of their freedom.  All three found John a very comfortable place to take an evening nap.  When I reached for the camera, Sonny woke up and changed positions, but Jack, in front, was zonked out.  They'd all been running around for several hours.

Earlier, I found Jack snuggled next to a foster, Trevor, in one of the cat beds.  Before you think that my poor cats have to sleep in itty bitty beds, they have a couple dozen places to lay in the family room alone, but Trevor chose the little kitten bed.  I can't imagine that's a comfortable sleeping position, but he doesn't seem to mind.  Jack is cleaning his paw.

Sonny was waiting for Lucy to come in from outside.  Lucy can get out, but we can't because of the downed tree.  The ground is so soggy, we can't get out there to cut anything up, so we have no reason to go outside, anyway.  Makes for an interesting view, though, to see the door full of green.

The "Light" Kitten

Light's future mom hasn't come up with a name for him, so he's still Light.  I let the three kittens out tonight for a while and Light made his way downstairs to the family room where John, Lucy and I were watching TV.  He can jump up on the sofa with no trouble and wasn't afraid of Lucy at all.  As you can see, quite the opposite.  All kittens (and cats eventually) love Lucy, and she loves them back. She's the perfect dog for a cat foster home.

"Are you my mama?"











"You ARE my mama!"

The Tree We Used to Have

I admit I've been looking for new things to photograph daily for my blog, but what I woke up to this morning, I could have done without.  My beautiful 30' globe willow is now history.  They're fast growing, soft-wooded trees, and we knew when we planted it six years ago that it had about a 15-year life span.  We were going for shade and not longevity.  We've had lots of rain lately and I think the wood got too saturated and heavy.  The tree just spit into thirds like a Bloomin' Onion.  We can't get out the patio door, and the top 4' of branches are against my sewing room windows.  Neither John nor I heard a thing.  I've been wanting a new fence for several years.  This may do it.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day a couple days late to all you moms - of human and furry babies.  My daughter sent me a card with a picture of an acorn falling from a tree.  It says, "They say the nut doesn't fall far from the tree - and that scares the hell out of me."  She's such a sweet child.  She and Jason live 6 hours away in Chicago.  They love it there, but I wish we'd see them more often.

My dear friend, Madeline, is adopting Medium and Dark from the litter of three orphans.  They are now Jack and Jill and are a riot to watch play.  She's so excited and doesn't know how she'll make it another three weeks till they're ready to go home.  I'm glad she got to see and play with them now.

Light and Jack scaling new heights.  They're performing for their new mom, Madeline, and are so proud of themselves. This is Jack on a cat gym.  Doesn't he look like he just conquered Mt. Everest?

Mama Kylie's babies are getting so big.  They eat canned and dry now, but still like to nurse, too.  Kylie's found a safe place in the nightstand to get away from them for now.  Can't you hear the babies whining, "Mom, what are you doing up there.  We're going to starve!"  As you can see by the bulge of his belly, they're not starving.  I have to use the window screen every time I go in or come out of the bedroom.  They all run at me as a mob to try to escape.  They know there's a whole 'nother world and more cats to play with on the other side of the door. But, until they're tested, they have to stay in their room.  Mom's still hissy with the dog, so she won't be out any time, soon.

Although black kittens show up very well against beige carpeting, it's still just a pile of dark fur most of the time.  This is four of the six kittens.  The one I'm holding gives you a better idea of their size, now, at 7 weeks.

This is Colby, the construction site baby.  He's the funniest thing and keeps me smiling every time I see him.  He only weighs a couple ounces more than the litter I put him in with when I got him, but he's 2-3 weeks older than they are.  He's running around, flitting here and there, since he climbs in and out of the birthing box at will, and uses his little litter box.  He pounces on the younger kittens and wants to play with them, but they're only 3 weeks old and are just now walking wobbly.  He's my little mini-kitten.  Every time I see him I have to keep saying in my head, "You can't keep them all, you can't keep them all..."

My dog, Lucy, loves the kittens and thinks they're her own.  Yes, I posed Colby, but Lucy was thrilled to have a baby, if only for a few seconds before he explored a new room.  Colby tested negative for Felv and FIV the day I got him, so he occasionally gets paroled for a while.  We don't usually test them so young, but he had to go into a room with other small kittens and their nursing mom.  Mama Amy had tested negative, so the babies are probably negative, so we needed to know about him.  Getting a false positive in a kitten so young is a problem because you still don't know for sure, but getting a negative on Colby was wonderful.

My little mini-kitten, Colby, at about 5 weeks.  He's so tiny for his age, but it makes him that much cuter.