Good-Bye Old Friend

I am sad today. My best four-legged friend of 20+ years died this morning.

It was time and she was suffering, but ... it still makes me sad. She was with me before I even met my husband. We've been married 15 years. She is the last to pass away of the three cats we had between us when we got married.

Maggie's momma was a dumpster cat. She crawled into the bathroom of some friends over Easter weekend and had kittens on their bathroom rug. When they got back Sunday night they found her along with four kittens. Lucky for them, the bathroom door was closed so the cats didn't get into the rest of their apartment! They used the bath tub as their litter box. The momma left after about 4 weeks and I adopted Maggie.

I like this picture because you can see the orange spot on her forehead and the one white toe she had. Good-bye Maggie! I will miss you!

I'm Back

My class ended yesterday! Yippee! In case you were worried, I passed. I was able to do a little more work on my New York Beauty project during the week in 15 - 20 minute segments. Here is what it looked like last time I posted it.

And here is what it looks like this morning.

I'm sorry I didn't take in between photos. I was just so glad to have a few minutes to sew that I didn't want to waste any time trying to take process photos. I think the piecing part is done. I am starting to think about how to quilt it.


Since I haven't posted in a week, I have a few cat photos to share. The first was taken on Tuesday, Oct. 6th.

It is Goldie and Maggie both asleep on our bed. Notice the water bottle in between them to remind Goldie to leave Maggie alone. Goldie has been slowly trying to make friends. The picture below was taken just yesterday. I did not think this day would ever come!

They stayed like this for about an hour. I'm not sure Maggie ever realized Goldie was in the chair with her.

This last one was taken on Saturday. Parker and I watched a movie in the afternoon and he felt Goldie needed some friends to watch with her.

Mystery Project revisited

I wanted handles on my Featherweight case cover. This would have been much easier to do before assembling the bag, but, *sigh*, I really wanted handles and didn't know how I wanted to put them on until the bag was completed. So I did a little unsewing; made handles and attached them to the liner; then resewed.

The handles are a 4" strip by width of fabric. Fold the strip in half lengthwise and press; open it and press each side to the center fold; then fold in half, press and stitch. Just your basic handles really.

Although my Featherweight case is probably not original to the machine, I have still heard that it is not a good idea to carry these by the handle. Someone in my mom's guild had her handle come off as she was carrying her case, with the machine inside. It wasn't pretty folks! Now my little Velma has a beautiful fabric cover with handles so she should be safe and snug for many years to come.

And here is a photo I took over the weekend of an uneasy truce that has developed at our house between the 20 year old cat, Maggie, and our new kitten, 3 month old Goldie.

This is the first time since Goldie moved in that they have been close enough (and not fighting) for me to take a picture of both of them in one shot.

Spring Break

Been perusing the Favorite Photos file again. This one was taken February 11, 2004 from the kitchen window of our house in Macon, GA (before we moved). This is Maggie sampling the "bird soup," one of her favorite drinks.

Today is the first day of Spring Break. It has been busy! I took Parker over to the Science Fair on campus this morning. He had a vision of what it was like that I knew was not accurate, so I wanted him to see reality. I'm not sure what he thought, but he seemed to enjoy looking at the projects after getting over his disappointment with reality. He was thinking it would be more like an invention fair where you could try out really cool things like an anti-gravity room. Then we went to Walmart, the grocery store, home to put away the groceries, back to the grocery store so Parker could buy something out of the trinket machine because he didn't have his money the first time, then to the paint store. We watched Stuart Little 3 (again!) this afternoon and now "mom needed a time out" so I'm hiding in my room. I have no idea what we are having for dinner.

Here's a funny story about Parker. We had our Parent/Teacher Conference on Tuesday. His teacher asked who Parker's new little friend is. She has been babysitting him during recesses and PE because Parker doesn't want him to get stepped on outside and she was just wondering who she was babysitting. It's Stuart! Luckily, his teacher appreciates Parker's imagination and goes along with it as long as it doesn't interfere with the workings of the classroom. I made a good choice and he should be in her class again next year.

Crop Circles 1

This is what I have been working on as my art project for this week. I'm calling it "Crop Circles 1." I have had this idea for a while but flying out of Alamosa last month for the wedding reminded me of it again. After I got home I drew a quick sketch. I'd like to make a larger version of this idea sometime so right now I am just trying different things. On some of the circles I am zigzagging around the outside, on others I am using a straight stitch. Some will have no other stitching inside, others will have circles or lines quilted inside. The small little orange wedge on the top row, middle circle will have little rectangles to represent the farm house and out buildings. I had planned to hand sew circles and lines in the "fields" but I used scraps from my pre-fused fabric stash and not all of my fusible is condusive to hand sewing. Maybe next time.



Here is Maggie sunbathing on the back of our sofa. Notice the cord coming from underneath the quilt in the bottom left of the photo. Yes, there is a heating pad underneath the quilt for the early morning before the sun hits the back of the couch. I hope that when I am the equivalent of 19 in cat years I will be treated as well as her.

I never thought I'd see the day

This is Maggie. She is 19 and the last of the three cats my husband and I had when we got married 14 years ago. Maggie's mother climbed into an open window in a college friend's apartment one long weekend when they were out of town and had kittens on their bathroom rug. They came home to a momma cat and four kittens living in their bathroom and a lot of poop in their tub. They were very lucky that the cats picked the tub as their toilet instead of using the whole house! The momma cat stayed around for a couple weeks then split. Maggie came to live with me shortly after her mom left. She has always been very selective of the people she chooses to grace with her presence and usually avoids kids but has mellowed a bit in her old age. She is now mostly deaf and has cataracts. This photo was taken yesterday morning before school. This is only the second time Maggie has sat on Parker's lap. The first was the day before. Will wonders never cease!? I hope not.