Kitties are grown

The Kitties are now two years old. We ended keeping two of the kitties and of course, Mama cat. They enrich our lives and make us laugh. I need to take some photos. Lots of photos actually.

The local gallery where I was selling the things I make has closed and I have quite a box of things that are in need of homes. They include some zen drawings and some needlework.

Since I haven't blogged for so long, I'll see how this goes.

Where did my Muse Go?

Something has happened to my muse. I no longer stitch and make fancy things with thread and needle. As a matter of fact, thread and needle are put away. Since the kitties came into my life, nothing is the same. These kitties are like a large exclamation mark that happened one Monday morning and things changed and I love those little bodies dearly and most important they love me. It is a brand new life for me.

I am doodling and learning to draw. I should say that I am trying to learn to draw, but I don't want to say that. I have filled about two sketchbooks of doodles which can be seen on my other blog, "I'm All Tangled Up". I have drawn many more since I started that blog. I have even sold one of the ACEO cards that I drew.

At one time, I looked and sought new threads and fabrics. Now, I look for new pens and paints, mostly pens. My husband says I create with pens what I once created with a needle and thread, the problem is there is no real use for drawings except to look at. But I keep doodling and drawing. I draw many dots, lines and circles and still can't imagine leaving a vacant place on the piece, just like I did with my embroideries.

So, the question is what to do with this Crazyquilting blog. Maybe I should change it's name and keep on going with the cats.

I have another blog that is about doodling and I need to keep it going as well.
I have many photos of the Tiny 'Tudes that I made so long ago. Many, many photos of my stuff and I have thought of just taking the cats off this blog and making another for the kitties or not. Then, I would post a great many of the photos that I have of my fabric pieces and close off the Crazyquilting blog.

It is strange, I look at all the photos of the pieces I have made and think they are lovely. I still have many pieces in boxes which I will be selling at a local gallery. But I look and wonder, did I really make this lovely thing? It would be very nice to make such lovely things again, but needlework is not there for me anymore. Perhaps 60 years of embroidering is enough for this lady.

So there you have it. Stay tuned. Onward through the Fog.

The Kitties at 5 weeks

The Kitties are growing. It seems that what takes two years for a human to do, kitties do it in about four or five weeks. Of course, they don't do quite as many things, but walk, meow, eat, and potty in the box takes about four or five weeks. Here they are a portrait. One of the few times they are actually still without playing. I put a video up on UTube if you want to see some kitties play and mama cat taking care of them.

As you can tell I am doing a lot of kittie watching. Brand new experience for me. They are barricaded from the rest of the house right now, but that little girl with the white and black nose can climb right over and walk around. What I am going to do when they all learn that I don't know. But I'll be finding out, that I know for sure.


Here is a little movie of waking up.

Not Exactly Needlework and Crazyquilting!

It's a miracle.

Seems that we have newborn kittens in our house. They are fun to watch.

The mother showed up at our door "barefoot and pregnant", so instead of chasing her away we began to feed her. We had chased her away all fall and winter, but this time she just came up to us and started purring and would let us pick her up. She won our hearts. We didn't know whether she was a he or a she until she started bulging a lot.

Boots is not a very big cat, but was big enough to deliver 2 kittens at 6am and 2 more at 2pm. The first kitty out sort got dragged around a bit, but since the mama was doing this on our bed and had awakened me crying and screeching, I got a hold of the little one and got it into the box. Then, she went into the box cried out and had another. She just didn't know what was going on and nothing like that had ever happened to her before, apparently. It had certainly never happened to me before. Everything seemed pretty calm, but then she began walking around again and lay down screamed again and had 2 tinier ones. She was just done in and couldn't do anymore so I had to move the last kitty to where her mouth was so that she could take care of it without having to move. I felt like a midwife. That's really hard work in the corner of a box on a hot day and in a hot room and the mama was worn out and panting.

The good part is we have homes for the kitties.

Now, the mama gets out of her box whenever we are near, which today has been a lot because the nest is beside me at the computer. She wants to be petted and praised and she gets lots of that. The first two kitties are larger and they are scrappers, always flaying away at each other. The last two kitties, first thing from the womb, put their noses together and became friends. They are about half the size of the others, but still very active and compete for the food source.

It is strange to me how blind they are. Of course, their eyes are shut, but the mother purred her way through labor and she still purrs. I think they hear it and start rooting around, often in the wrong direction. Sooner or later they bounce and roll around enough to get headed the right direction and then they start climbing over all the others or up the mother's tummy, sometimes the climb almost over her back. Then, I think some milk leaks out and they know it is time to pay attention and begin to seek more and finally I can hear them sucking. That is my opinion, I've no idea how they find the right place to be. The mama just lies there, hour after hour. Must be really boring, because she is a very active cat outside of the house. Sometimes, she gets up and lies on the tile where it is cool. Or the kitchen wherever we are, but sooner or later she goes back, lays down and the kitties begin to root around again.

Michelle's Blouse -- Its a collage!

Look at the wonderful blouse or some would say it is a top, that Michelle Obama is wearing. I think she looks so great in it and it was just right for a poetry/spoken word jam. The closeups show that there a sparkly things on some parts.

Obama could have been a little more photogenic in this shot.

Some Crazyquilted Coin/Card Cases

The Vision Board, The Secret to an Extraordinary Life

I'm very excited to be taking a class from Chaska Peacock. Please join us, I'm sure it will be worth your time and effort and it is a fun thing to do. Chaska will be teaching this wonderful class and you can sign up at her website. She takes Paypal. The Vision Board class runs from March 15 through April 13.

The class is based on the book The Vision Board, the Secret to an Extraordinay Life. by Joyce Schwarz. The cost of the class is $30.00 and is payable by paypal to Chaska.

Prosperity Doll

This doll is a result from a class instructed by Chaska Peacock at mai-liispeacocknotes.blogspot.com/ . The class was a fun thing to do and I made many new and good friends.

It seems to be a good exercise to sit down and list the "things" in life that we want, not necessarily that we need. What is it that would make us truly happy? Sometimes it is a case of be careful what you wish fot, because you just might get it.

At any time though it is a good exercise and so I began to make my list. This doll carries that list in her hand. She also wears a watch face for a pin on her costume. I would like to have more time, not just in a day, but in life in general. She also has a house on her headdress, because we need and want a house of our own. The list has a few other things on it.

On Prosperity Doll's waist is a fancy cummerbund that was once a hair holder and I glued a golden cat to it, because I love cats and they enrich my my soul.

To make this doll have my desires and not someone else's, there is my face on that holographic buckle. Buckles make good headdresses after all and one thing I know is that that buckle needed a home as part of its destiny.

This photo will enlarge if you click on it.

I chose to make a list of the desirable things that we would like to have. Health, money, a house, and few other things that are meaningful only to us.

She has watch for a brooch, because I feel that I would like time and a watch face does symbolize that. Also, she has a house on her head dress, because we are expecting to buy this little house we live in. She has a cat on her cummerbund, because I need cats to nourish my soul.

As to the colors, I just like them. She has a hand painted chiffon shift over which she was a stoll of an intricate and colorful print and another of gold netting. She needed the ribbon around her neck just to keep her neck warm.

The only thing this lady really needs is a suitable name and I just haven't found out what it is yet. Any suggestions will be appreciated. Just email me at crazypieces@gmail.com. (I don't know how to make that a link yet.)

Easter is Coming and It's Time to Make Eggs

Notecards are fun to make. To me, the best part is that they are finished fast. Sometimes, I work on projects and then it takes as long to make the item, whether it is pouch, purse, album or whatever as it does to do the crazy quilting itself. With these little note cards, you can do your needlework and then just get out your glue and stick it to a card. I enjoy that!

So, here is a sample of the fast work. Eggs and more eggs. We don't dye them at our house, I just make them in an evening. Some, I mounted on felt backgrounds for hanging and some went onto note cards. These are note cards. I'll get the felt backs out in a day or so.



The card that is below was printed from a card that was sent to my "Daddy" when he was young. His aunts lived in Guernsey, Channel Islands and they cards they sent him were very interesting. This one says "To Greet You". There are others that are for little boys, this one seemed to be a card that was sent to the entire Hamon family. The colors are lovely.

Comfort Dolls

Since I had some crazy quilted pieces on my work table, I decided to make some dolls for the Comfort Doll Project that Pat Winter sponsors. It is such a worthy project and it is fun to make these little dolls. This one just evolved as most cloth dolls do. For some reason dolls don't necessarily follow along with what we had in mind. This little person needed some hair and a face. I sewed on a button face which I had and the hair line was still not existent. There was a cute little tassel so it went upside down on the top, I sewed a curtain ring on top so that she is a hanging doll or not.


The next little person just didn't have room for a face. Any anyway there is a little fairy face in the fabric somewhere near the stomach. She did however need some hair and so beads became the hair do of the day. She also is a hanging doll or not.0

And so off they go in the mail to Pat Winter.