Crazy Quilt Valentine Pillow in Green and Pink

My seam embroidery is now beaded so this is ready for larger embellishments:

I'll share close up photos of the embroidered borders when I complete this piece.  I hope to have a few quality hours of stitching time later today.

I also thought you'd enjoy seeing this photo of my Simba:

As you can see, I put up a Christmas tree and wrap a quilt around the bottom so my cat has a comfy place to curl up and sleep!  LOL!!!

In other news, my dad's surgery went well and it looks like he will be fine.  The cancer was superficial meaning, it was on the surface.  Let's hope it stays gone.

Finally, Scott and I suspect that our Lucy had a stroke earlier this week.  Lucy is my little girl kitty in my blog banner.  I got home late Monday afternoon and I couldn't find her.  When I did, she was hiding in the corner under the bed.  She didn't come out to sleep with us that night but I didn't think much of it.  Tuesday morning, I woke up quite early at 2 am.  I spent 10 minutes looking for her and finally found her cowering in the corner behind my rocking chair.  She looked okay but wouldn't come out.  When I moved the chair to pick her up, she ran under my sewing machine.  I took her food and she did eat so I figured something just had her quite frightened.

The rest of Tuesday was much the same.  She kept hiding under the bed but she looked okay.  On Wednesday morning, she looked at me like she didn't have a clue who I was.  She seemed disoriented and confused and terribly frightened.  For the record, Lucy isn't afraid of anything.

Anyway, I was driving to WalMart on Wednesday and all of a sudden the word "stroke" popped into my head.  When I parked my car, I called mom to ask her what the symptoms of a stroke were. She said that the symptoms where a little different in animals than in humans but the main signs are confusion and disorientation.

I looked it up on my IPhone and those were really the only symptoms that she had.  Lucy wasn't walking in circles or leaning to one side.  Just confused, disoriented and terribly frightened.  The article I read did say that cats recover from feline strokes very quickly.  Usually within 1 to 2 weeks.

By Wednesday night, I was seeing improvement.  Thursday morning she was better and then more improvement by Thursday night.  She's still hiding here and there a little bit but she spent most of yesterday sleeping in my rocking chair rather than hiding under it.

It's the improvements that are making me think it was a stroke.  It took us so long to figure out the symptoms that she was having.  Anyway, let's hope the improvements continue and that she'll be her normal self in another few days.

Sometimes I wish they could talk so they could tell me what's wrong.  I have to take mom to the vet today with her dog so I'll talk to our vet about it.  I at least want to know what to look for in advance if it happens again although from what I read, cats can have one stroke and never have another and go on to lead a normal, healthy, long life.  Lucy is 12 years old.  She my youngest kitty.

Isn't she a beauty?  She the sweetest little thing.  I took this photo about a year ago.  Bubba rescued her back in 1999.  She was 8 months old when he found her.  Just a kitten.  I hope she recovers and that this doesn't happen again.

Update On Green Valentine Pillow

Finally, a day that I can stay home!  At least that's the plan for now.  I've been running like crazy lately and can feel that I need some down time.  If all goes well, I don't have to leave the house today!

Here's an update on my Green Valentine's Day Pillow:

This is ready now for beads and other embellishments.

My to-do list for today includes cleaning my bathroom, getting laundry caught up, baking some chicken for salad and stitching, stitching, stitching!  Wish me luck!

Another Valentines Day Pillow

I started on a new project yesterday.  This will be another Valentine's Day pillow:

As you can see, I'm getting ready to stitch another seam!

Marjolein asked a few questions about my Pink Valentine's Day pillow:

I thought I would answer her questions here in case anyone else was wondering about them.  The silk ribbon work is simply French Knots worked with 7MM silk ribbon that I hand dyed myself.  French Knot cluster flowers require a lot of silk ribbon so be sure you have enough of whatever color you choose.

The large, light pink flowers are vintage millinery flowers that I took off of an old hat.  I just sewed them on.

The small, dark pink flowers are new.  They're just silk flowers from a floral stem that I got at Michaels or Walmart at some point.  I just popped them off the stem and sewed them on then added beads for centers.

A quick note to Gail, I tried to reply to your message but I don't have your email address.  Thank you for your comment on liking my tall cat dolls and thank you for "Pinning" it on Pinterest!

Pink Valentine Pillow and Seam Embroidery

I finished up my Pink Valentine Pillow yesterday:

It just needed a few hearts and some butterflies.  I added a bee too! 

And here are the seam embroidery photos:

If you click on the photos, you can see them closeup!

These will be permanently available to view in my ongoing series page of Crazy Quilt Seam Treatment Inspiration photos found at the top of this page.

It seams that the vote for my tall cat dolls is unanimous!  Everyone seems to like the tall ones.  Thank you to everyone who took the time to let me know.  I will plan on a series of tall cats for 2012.

For now, I'm off to start on a new project.

Crazy Quilt Valentine Pillow Almost Done

I didn't have too much in the way of stitching time yesterday so this is almost done but not quite:

This just needs a few little hearts and some bugs.  I love bugs on crazy quilts!