The Cat's Pyjamas Blog

Something for free--Really!

I have a new free pattern for Miss Annie! She is one of the projects to be on Creative Living with Sheryl Borden, so I thought I would start sharing these projects for free.  Click here to download the pattern....I just have a few guidlines for using the pattern. Go to my website to see. Its not much, really! And you can see a couple more free patterns...bookmark the page because I have several more to share. I'll be slowly adding all the ones from the tv show to that page. And I would love to see what your dolls look like--send me some pictures!!

We got our winter squash planted yesterday--that was one of the main things I wanted to plant. There is nothing like pumpkin and winter squash in the fall and winter. I bake a butternut squash and it just feels like fall. I have some tigger melons to try once again--I've been trying to grown them for a few years. I'll try something new this year and see what happens. If you like heirloom vegetables, you should check out Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds . I always get carried away when I order though--I'll bet I have 15 packets of heirloom tomato seeds!! ;)

I haven't had much time for taking pictures lately....I found this one of Sweet Pea chewing on my Christmas tree! The funny thing about this picture is--I had a copy of this picture and it was in the floor underneath some stuff. When I walked through my studio I glanced down and saw it and for a split second I thought Sweet Pea was squashed under all that stuff! LOL! 

New patterns on my website!

I have 2 new patterns on my website! At the top are "Buddies" and below that "Charlie". When you go to my website, you will see the newest patterns on the right. I've had these done for a while, just took too long to get them on my site! I have several more new ones to list in the days and maybe weeks to come. I've been doing a lot of gardening so I'm not on the comptuer as much as usual, so it seems to be taking longer to get things done.

We are working on our butterfly/cottage garden in a section of our backyard. My husband is off early so maybe we can get lots more done. I've been doing a lot of planting and I'm ready for that part to be done...ready for the veggies to start coming in. We actually have a few green cherry tomatoes and some blooms on a pepper plant. I picked up some tomatoes, peaches, onions & a watermelon at the Farmer's Market yesterday. But I'm anxious to have my own!!

I got to see my youngest nephew today--He's almost a month old now! How fun it was to watch him playing and kicking his tiny little feet! I had a lot of work to get done today but when I called Momma and she said he was with her, I rushed right over and stayed a while!

Here are some older pictures of Sweet Pea....I thought they were so funny. But when my husband saw them, he said, "Is he sleeping on my side of the bed???" LOL! He was--but he just likes that side better!

No, I haven't stopped blogging!

I know you probably think I have disappeared....I have just been gardening and working on my websites....I even listed some new patterns!! If you're getting ready for fall shows, I have a new  scarecrow pattern listed. And I promise I have more to come this week!! Tomorrow....I'll catch up on what we've been up to around here.

Junkin' & stuff

My husband was off today so we went to an estate sale--I bought an old typewriter, some number punch things (I don't know what they are called!) and some rusty stuff. My husband ended up buying a whole bunch of rusty old tools for one price, a box of guitar parts, some guitar books and a whole box of old wagon wheels. We went to eat at a restaurant in Fyffe (ever heard of it???) then to another store. I bought an old side table for my studio--it was really pretty, already painted and distressed, plus some other stuff. My husband found more tools there, of course! But it was fun....now we have to unload it all!

I FINALLY caught the short-tailed cat this morning. We've decided to call him Django....can you guess where the name came from? Poor ol' guy was pretty upset, but I threw a towel over the trap and he was fine. He is heavy -- I can't wait to see how much he weighs. He's pretty big for an outside cat!

Not much exiciting going on to share....I went junk shopping yesterday too, so I still haven't gotten too much accomplished. I do have about 5 or 6 new designs to put on my website so keep an eye out for those. I have a field trip planned tomorrow so I will be gone to the Aquarium in Chattanooga most of the day tomorrow!

Since I don't have any new pictures to share....more of baby Sweet Pea....in this one he was about 1 month old. Just a fuzzy little white ball of fur! The next he is about 2 months old. A couple of years ago he tried to get in one of these cubby holes and would fit! I even tried to turn him around and put him in backwards but he still wouldn't fit in there. Then for last....this is his first Christmas and he loved climbing the tree. I caught him here in the tree. That was cute but it wasn't so cute when the whole tree fell in the middle of the night and we had to tie it to the wall so it would stand! I don't know for sure what happened, but I had a pretty good idea. He was too cute to be mad anyway!

   

Ready to garden!

I don't know about y'all but I am ready to play in the dirt!! We planted some tomatoes and corn Saturday. Today we went shopping for seeds & plants, but it poured down rain so we won't be able to get them in the ground for a few days. Our big plans for our yard/garden is a small natural pond near the edge of the garden and a bench beside it, a small butterfly garden in the back yard and clean up around the shed of the empty house next door. No one has lived there in a while and the last person left a lot of junk out there (scraps of wood, tires, etc.) and it doesn't look like anyone is going to clean it up! So I'll just get what is on the edge and maybe it won't be a snake pit. I know for sure that rat are living there because I saw one of my cats catch one! After I get the stuff gone maybe we can put up a section of fence to block it or something. I guess I didn't notice it before because it is in the back yard of my studio--before we bought it, I didn't really notice what was back there. We have a fence up in our yard, so I couldn't see it anyway. I would love to buy the house and fix it up--it really wouldn't take much, but I think we have plenty of projects on our hands now! Frazier is now hanging around all the time begging to be petted. He even paws at me to pet him if I'm not paying attention to him!

I bought myself these little Bozo forks and spoons off ebay....I always remember one Bozo fork that hung around in our silverware drawer at home. I don't know if we ever had a whole set and Momma can't remember either, but I always loved to eat with it. It was small and just right for my little hands. My husband asked me what I was going to do--was I going to eat with them? I told him "of course!" Maybe I will have my sisters over we can eat with them. LOL! I'm sure they remember them....

I have been doing some work on my sites and actually added a few new patterns to The Cat's Pyjamas Patterns . (And new graphics too....) Its been a while! If you click the "new" button you will see the last 3 things I added. I need to get busy--I have neglected it too long. I am bad about making new things and never putting them on my site. Like I said,I really need an assistant!! I have to get back to sewing--Pumpkin probably misses sitting in the basket beside me while I stitch!! I actually have several new ones that I had on Creative Living with Sheryl Borden. I think I may make those into free patterns and will post the first one here soon!!

TGIF!!

Sweet Pea & I are SO glad its Friday. He's so happy, he can't quit laughing!!!

This has been a long week--I am waiting on it  to rain and wash the pollen away. I feel so tired from it and its hard to get motivated! We have the garden tilled and mostly weeded. I guess we will probably finish this afternoon then we can start planting. I mentioned the "fun part" and my husband said he hasn't seen anything fun about the garden yet. LOL!

Look closely at the picture on the right....Strawberry was sharing a box with Sweet Pea! When he was still tiny, when I stayed up late working on my dolls, I would bring Sweet Pea in the living room with me in a shoe box and Strawberry decided to share it with him! He was really protective of Sweet Pea and loved to snuggle with him. I still catch them snuggling once in a while, but not very often!

I have been trying to work on my website all week but I keep getting distracted! I think I'll drag out my sewing machine tonight and work on a doll. Or paint or something! 

Read more about me.....

Am I ever going to get back to creating? I'm sure I will...but right now I needed a break! I tried to work in the garden today. I couldn't walk in my sandals so I tried going barefoot and the dirt was H-O-T!!! Went to paint in my studio, but my husband had the keys....so I really didn't get too much accomplished. I did nearly get to pet Frazier though! I saw my cats keep watching out the window so I looked out and he was lying in front of the shed we are working on tearing down next door. I went outside and he watched me and meowed at me....Dill and Elvis came out there so he got to watch me pet them and play with them with a stick. He even came over and played with the stick too. I probably would have petted him, but someone stopped to ask about my car that's for sale and he ran off. I did get some good pictures--look how much more relaxed he looks compared to the photos of him at the shelter! He doesn't even look like the same cat! When I brought him home, I didn't expect him to ever come around except to eat. Luckily I followed the instructions on Alley Cat Allies (www.alleycat.org) about relocating feral cats. Everything worked out well with him!

Have you seen my Flyin' Cat in Create & Decorate magazine yet? If you go to their home page, you'll see my little Christmas Kitty too! If you don't get the magazine, you can click here to read the article about me. Who knows--maybe  you will learn something about me that you didn't know!

Oops...almost forgot....Baby Sweet Pea pictures....

 

Kittens....and going green

When I look at these pictures, I can't believe they are of Sweet Pea! He is sooo big now. I hope you aren't tired of his pictures yet--I still have a few favorites left! I think he got used to the camera when he was little and started to like it....

 

This is before he realized he couldn't keep me off the computer....we knew he was going to be a big kitty. Just look at the size of his paws!

 

Think I'll save more for another day.....its fun to see him go from tiny baby to big grown up boy!

   

Yesterday my husband worked in the garden and said that Frazier hung out in the garden with him and even MEOWED! He'll be wanting to be petted before long!!!

SOOO....I think I am a day late. Wasn't Earth Day yesterday? Anyway--what are you doing to "go green?" Here are some things I was already doing....

*Buying used instead of new when possible (furniture, clothes, fabric, etc)

*Recycle aluminum cans

*Composting

*Buying local produce when possible

*No a/c in my vehicles (not by choice, but I when they do work, I use them as little as possible)

*Never, never, ever litter

*Take old paint, etc. to be disposed of properly, not thrown in trash

*Rarely use any chemicals on my garden--use organic or natural when possible

*Donate stuff that others could use instead of throwing it away, or list on freecycle for people to pick up

Maybe there are more--please share what YOU are doing!

Here are some things I recently started doing:

*Using glass for drinking instead of plastic

*Reusable shopping bags

*composting even more

*we had a cardboard recycling bin set up at my parents office

And some things I plan to do:

*buy a Hybrid car someday

*build our new shed out of as much salvaged material as possible (this will be soon, I hope!)

*encourage others to do more to help the environment

*learn more about organic gardening

*purchase more products made from recycled materials

*would love to go solar!

I would love hearing from  y'all about what you are doing to help the environment!

Sweet Pea & Frazier

I saw Frazier yesterday--he was sitting at the edge of the garden. He stayed close by while we were out there, caught a rat, then took off under the empty house next door. I was happy to see him and see that he is doing well!

Here are more pictures of Sweet Pea....this is one of my favorites. He is 27 days old and this is about where I stopped dating them, I guess. Pardon my manicure--but who has time for a manicure with a 1 month old "baby"??? lol! To look at him here, you would never know he had a rough day in his life, would you? He was so attached to me--he went with me everywhere. I was considering getting an apron or making something to put him inside to carry him around because he even wanted to be held while I cooked!!

I was kind of sad when he stopped taking his bottle....it was a lot of work getting up in the night but I still gave it to him occasionally when he was way too old. But it was just so cute!!! Everyone that came over wanted to feed him or see him taking his bottle....

  

These last two---obviosly too old to be sucking a bottle....he was starting to look grown up!

 

I actually have a few more for tomorrow! Hope you're not tired of them! ;)

Sweet Pea's story

As promised, here are some pictures of Sweet Pea as a baby. On July 5, 2004, my niece called me and told me they had found a tiny kitten in their trash can and didn't know what to do. (I remember the date so well because its the day after July 4!) I told her the Momma would probably come back--just to watch for her. We waited several hours and she still didn't come. So, even though I really had no idea what I was doing, I went to the store and bought a bottle and kitten formula. My husband said not to bring him home--because I would never be able to give him back! He was right about that! And thank goodness for the internet--I didn't know how to raise a kitten that young and I found some really good information on the internet to help me out.

So I went to my sister's house and in the trash can was a tiny little white thing (my sister said she thought he was a rat when the kids showed her!)--the vet & I decied he was just a day old. I tried my best to get  him to take the bottle but I couldn't, so my niece & I brought him home. He was so tiny that he fit in the palm of my hand and snuggled up to me while I drove home.  Look at his picture--he just really looked pitiful....and he wouldn't eat much for a while. I won't go into all the details, but he had some problems and I didn't think he would make it.... but after a really rough night, he started eating like crazy and started to fatten up. I was afraid to name him--I thought maybe if I didn't name him I wouldn't be so attached. And I didn't want to get attached because I wasn't so sure he would make it. After he started eating, he grew like crazy and it was so much fun to watch him grow. I took so many pictures because it was amazing how much he changed from day to day. This second picture (above) is when he was 4 days old....

Here he is at 6 days old--when he actually started to eat a little. Looks at those tiny ears...he was always so white and pink, lying there sleeping on a white towel, I always said he looked like a whisper! lol! Below--9 days old & 11 days old....

 

Here he is 2 weeks old and I guess this is when he started to eat well. I always loved this picture of him cuddled in my arms! I had lots of company when he was tiny--everyone wanted to visit him!! Now, are these the cutest pictures you have ever seen or what? Now you can see why he is so spoiled....tomorrow I'll share some more pictures. These are where he is starting to get his personality. Now I've gotta go find Sweet Pea and give him a hug. lol!!