Valentine Cat Dolls

I had some stitching time yesterday between wrapping my Christmas gifts and doing laundry.  Here's an update on my Pink and Blue Cat Doll:

Today, I plan on doing a little baking and then some more stitching.  I don't care to spend the entire day making cookies, just 2 or 3 batches.  I'd really like to do some sewing but that's going to have to wait until after Christmas.

I expect to finish up on this kitty doll today so I'll post an update photo tomorrow.

2012 Series Of Cat Dolls

I finished up on my Green and Pink Valentine Pillow last night:

I doubt I'll have any sewing machine time until after Christmas.  But when I do get these pillows sewn together, I'll post more photos.

For now, since they're small and I have several sewn up, I thought I'd start on my 2012 series of Crazy Quilt Cat Dolls.  These are the little 6 inch kittens.  Again, when I have some sewing time, I'll work up some of the tall cat dolls:

Yes, this is the first of the Valentine Cats!  Since these are small, they're perfect for me to work on in between holiday activities.

Finally for today, my mom asked me to see if anyone would like to have this Better Homes and Gardens book:

It's free for the cost of shipping.  I can ship it in a flat rate Priority envelope for $5.00  (USA only please.)  The first person to leave a comment telling me they want it can have it.  I accept PayPal so let me know.

Seam Embroidery on Valentine Pillow

Not too much in the way of stitching time these past few days.  Typical for the week before Christmas but for today, I thought I'd share what I do have.

Here is an update on my current project, a Valentine's Day pillow:

The little red heart is a brooch that I found at a flea market this past Summer.  And here is the seam embroidery on this piece:

Be sure to click on the photos to see the seam embroidery up close!  I'll add these to my Crazy Quilt Seam Treatment Gallery for future reference.

As you can see, I used a lot of cross stitches in these borders.  It's the perfect way to add hearts to the design.  These are all worked with my waste canvas technique.

How Nightmare Got His Name - A Christmas Story

I didn't get to doing any stitching yesterday.  After taking mom and her dog to the vet, I was so tired when I got home, I laid down and fell asleep for a few hours.  I woke up when my husband got home from work.  He surprised me with a new, big screen television.  We've been wanting one for years and he's been working his butt off every Saturday for months now.  Well, there was a method to his madness! 

Once he got it all set up, we ordered delivery and watched Christmas Vacation.  That has to be the funniest Christmas movie ever made!

Anyway, back to my Lucy....I talked to my vet yesterday when I was there with mom and yes, he said Lucy did indeed have a stroke.  The reason she was so frightened is that a stroke causes temporary blindness.  She's almost back to normal now.  She's always been a happy, little bouncy kitty.  Not afraid of anything, very independent and very talkative.  She's talking like crazy again.  Huge relief.  Our vet said that she may never have another one.  I sure hope not.

I shared photos of Simba and Lucy yesterday but not my Nightmare.  Did I ever tell you the story of how he got his name?

We adopted him from our vets office when he was only 3 weeks old.  His litter was found on a construction site in Woodstock, Illinois.  One of the construction workers was able to rescue the kittens but not the mother.  He took the kittens to our vets office.

We had taken Garfield in for his shots one night just before Thanksgiving and the receptionist was holding the tiniest little kitten I'd ever seen.  Scott and I adore black cats so we asked if they had a black one and they did.  The next week, I called the girl that handles the adoptions.  Normally, they don't adopt kittens out until they're 6 weeks old but she knew that I would do what was necessary for such a young cat and she let me take him home at 3 weeks.

Anyway, a week or two later, Scott was putting the Christmas tree up, trying to get the lights on it and our tiny kitten, whom we had not chosen a name for yet, kept climbing up the tree.  Scott kept pulling him out and finally, after about the 5th time, Scott said to him, "you are a little nightmare!".  LOL!!!

Well, we looked at each other and both knew at that exact moment, that "nightmare" was the perfect name for our little black kitten.  And Nightmare has lived up to it!

Nightmare is 16 years old now.  He's had a heart problem (cardio myopathy) since he was 1.  You would never know it.  He bounces off the walls and he's always into something!  So far this year, he hasn't tried to climb my tree.

Bubba always says that Nightmare will live to be 25, just out of spite!

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.