Miranda and Kittens

A couple weeks ago Angie's daughter, Miranda, came over for a sew day while her mother had a photo shoot. We had started a purse for Miranda from fabrics she picked out herself.  She came back to finish it - or rather play with the kittens while I finished it.  The kittens were still in the sewing room so it was interesting navigating around them.  Miranda loved having them there.

She kept adding to her collection.

This is her finished purse.  I think she did an exceptional job picking the fabrics.  It was beautiful.  The first day, I asked if she wanted to do a line of quilting down each seam line, but she wanted some fancy embroidery stitch instead.  I had this part done before she came the second day.

The inside has lots of pockets for all her valuable stuff.  I had everything we needed to make the purse except a large button for the loop to go over to close the top.

After the purse was finished, we had some time till her mom came, so she wanted a book cover for her paperbacks.  She picked out some orange fall fabrics.  Miranda wanted the same embroidery stitches down the seams of the strips of her book cover.  I suggested she do it herself and she eagerly did a fantastic job. 

She had help, too.  Ebony jumped up when she started and made herself comfortable on the chair.  She stayed there about an hour.

Miranda was worried Ebony would get cold, so she covered her up with the fabric for the book cover.  The pillow is a padded piece I have next to my machine for my scissors, ripper, etc. to lay on. 

Lucy had to get in the room, too, to play.  Rover was happy to oblige.  All the cats and kittens love Lucy and she loves them back.

Rover found a great bed on top of some batting.  Isn't he adorable. And so sweet, too.  He's going to make someone the best cat, ever.  And you can see, he's dog friendly.

Toula All Grown Up

If you remember from past posts about the little kitten brought in to Petsmart by a construction worker, this is her.  I took her home because I had two nursing moms. She was originally named Colby when I thought she was a he.  Then she became Casey.  When Donna and Dave adopted her, she became Toula.  Donna sends me pictures and keeps me updated about how well Toula has fit in with their family.

This is Toula today napping in a favorite chair.  Doesn't her new pink collar look so chic on her?

Toula's found a great new sister in Lexi. Isn't that just the sweetest thing?  Adopters are always asking if the cat or kitten they adopt will be lonesome leaving their friends and litter mates at my house.  Many don't believe me when I say they'll be just fine and will become close to the new animals and humans.  See????

This is Toula's new brother, Woody.  They're best buds like she and Lexi are.

Thank you, Donna, for sharing your wonderful pictures with me.  I'm glad Toula won't become a spoiled little girl at your house.  Right.

Stashbusting Pillowcases and Cute Kittens

I have got to use up some of my fabric.  I swear it mates at night and multiplies.  Having sewn for 45 years doesn't help, either.  My friend, Darlene, joined an online group where members keep track of the yards of fabric that come into the house, the yards used, and year-to-date totals of each. Also projects they want to complete in the year.  Everyone reports their weekly figures on Sunday nights. Great!  This is the incentive for me.  Except you can only join on Jan 1 of each year.  Not wanting to wait seven more months to get with the program, I decided I didn't need anybody's website or chart.  I made my own and started three weeks ago.  So far, I've used 21 yards of fabric, 3.5 yds more than I bought.  (On my way to KC this month, my car just took the exit in Columbia that went to Satin Stitches, and I had a 17.5 yard relapse.)   Eli's baby quilt is counted, a very cool tote bag that I'll write about when I get it unloaded and take some pictures, and 11 pillowcases at a yard each.  Several of these have a mate.

Pretty cool, huh?  I've made many pillowcases for gifts, and made us some, too, but I needed to replace all the 15 and 20 year old ones that weren't smelling too good anymore.  Unfortunately, I got in too big of a hurry and didn't wash the fabric first.  Some of the older fabric, especially the Jinny Beyer's, really shrunk - a lot - when I washed and dried them all yesterday.  I should have known better, but, hey, they're pillowcases.

I cut extra pieces, but may not use them, now.  If I had a yard of fabric, I could get a case and a cuff from it.

Standing on a chair to take the pictures, I saw Ebony creeping into the previous picture right before I took it.  Cropped her out, but she looked so cute sitting there, took another and have to include it.

My sewing room was the one non-cat room in my house - until last week.  Two of the three adults in the crew of nine from Truxton had bad head colds, but three different antibiotics didn't help.  I needed to separate the six kittens from them, but had nowhere to go with them except my sewing room.  I knew it was probably too late for quarantine procedures, but it couldn't hurt.  I did a quick kitten-proofing of cords and pins and moved them in.  In about 3 seconds they were exploring and getting into everything.  And loving every minute.

A better picture of Ebony.  She's so sweet.  The whole group is sweet.  You wouldn't expect it from barn kittens, but this is my third litter of them, and I've been delighted with all three.  The adult female, Velvet, that is mom to two of the six kittens is a little shy, but still friendly enough that I can pick her up.

Ranger making himself at home on one of my suitcases I haven't put away, yet.

This is Mittens, the polydactyl kitten.  He has an extra toe on each paw, like Ernest Hemingway's cats in Key West, FL.  And don't think for a minute that he doesn't know he's cuter and more special than the others.  He's even showing you first his left paw, then his right paw. The back feet each have an extra toe, too.  He's going to be a hard one to give up.

The other black and white kitten, Rover, and the black and tan tortie, Patches, playing under my chair legs.  I moved the chair over by my fabric cabinets so the kittens couldn't use it as a step to my sewing table.  As you can tell by Ebony on the pillowcases, it didn't work very well.  These guys are very active and are excellent jumpers.




Ranger resting on my floor fan base.

This is all six kittens before I moved them to the sewing room.  The adult at the top is Prince, likely father of some.  From the top down is Rover, Patches (dark tortie), Teddy, Ebony, Mittens, and Ranger.  The other male, Smokey, is the other paternal candidate.  This whole story is a regular Peyton Place.  As I understand from the property owner, Tracie, there were two males and two females.  Each female had a litter two days apart.  The black female, Velvet, had two kittens and the calico female had four.  Velvet took the other mom's four kittens, put them in her nest, and raised all six.  The calico mom disappeared.  So, it's unknown who fathered who, but they're all so adorable and friendly.......I can't keep them all, I can't keep them all....

Feeding time at Barb's Bar and Grill.  Prince (off-white) and Velvet (black) are at the top. Then clockwise are Rover, Smokey, Teddy, Mittens, Ebony, Patches, and Ranger.

Velvet, Ebony and Patches are the only girls.

Smokey and Prince didn't get neutered in time and Velvet is pregnant, again.  More kittens in about 3-4 weeks.

 Smokey with Rover on top and Teddy.  Prince and Smokey are both wonderful dads and cuddle with all the kittens.  I bet the kittens really miss their dads.  Hopefully, everyone will be reunited when we get this head cold cleared up.

It's very difficult to take a picture of a cat and have their eyes not glow like something from a Stephen King movie.

Mama Velvet.  She's about a year old, just a big kitten, really, and on the petite side.   All the Heartland cat foster moms are overflowing with cats and kittens and people aren't adopting right now due to various reasons, mainly the economy.  If you're thinking about adopting a cat or kitten, we have a wonderful assortment from which to choose.