Flat Tires and Kitties

Just wondering if your Monday started out interesting? Mine did.  My car tire exploded!!! Yep, on my way to work, ran over a pair of scissors in the road (of all things). Hubby is getting it repaired as I write this. Thankfully, I was only a half hour late to work.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving (hope you all did, too!) and  a wonderful potluck at church on Sunday! Wish I could eat like that every day!!!! I have a question for all you cross stitchers out there ... do any of you know where I could find the pattern to this adorable kitty pillow? The designer was/is Kitty and Me Designs. From JCS Ornament Issue 2007. Stitched 2007 for a Christmas Ornament exchange on the Cross Stitch Crazy posting board. I'd love to find the pattern and stitch it up for myself with a little prim touch here and there.

Also, the giveaway items I won from Debbie over at Woolen Sails arrived and I will post pictures soon! They are awesome, especially the wool and wool pennies she sent in lovely prim Christmas colors.  As I write this post, it is getting darker and darker outside ... we are in for some rain/slush/snow this afternoon. Wish I was home, drinking some tea, sitting on my couch with my kitties and reading a good book! (I will be soon ... only two more hours at work to go!).  Well, I'm signing off for today. Hope you've had a good day and don't forget to visit my sidebar for some new giveaways!

NEW COUNTRY SAMPLER GIVEAWAY

Feather your primitive nest with this assortment of handpainted fabric birds, old-fashioned lighting and more!Winner will receive an assortment of handpainted fabric birds, a fragrant jar candle, an electric taper in a metal holder and a striped towel provided by The Old Granary proprietor JoAnn Gilchrest, whose home is featured in Country Sampler’s January 2011 issue. Deadline for enteries is February 1, 2011.  Good luck to all!! Click here to enter!

FREE PENNY RUG PATTERN!!!

I hope you all had a great weekend! Mine was very restful! But before I go any further with today's blog I have to share a picture of my kitty, Nicky.  Nicky loves wool, he loves balls of thread, he loves all my craft pens, he loves rolling in freezer paper, and most of all he loves yarn!  We came home to find him curled up in one of my daughter's knitting projects ... doesn't he look absolutely content!!! He is also a kitty who loves to sleep on his back with his feet in the air ... its hilarious!

I had a great surprise in the mail too! Valerie from the Wooden Acorn sent me, as a gift, a lovely feather tree.  I had admired the one on her blog that she had decorated! What a sweet lady to do this.  I hope you'll take a minute and visit her at her blog.  Anyway, I was inspired to design some ornaments for my new feather tree.  Of course, they had to be about cats!  I had some kitty buttons on hand and here is the first one I made.  I have another type of button that says "Meow."  I might make some of these to sell, too.!

And now for the free pattern I promised! This is my own little design I call "Snow Flurries" that I thought up this weekend.  I've listed my finished one on eBay.  All you need is some nice thick wool, some iridescent beads, and some snowflake buttons (I purchased mine on eBay and I'll list the store at the end of the tutorial) or you could stitch your own.

1.  First trace an 8" circle on freezer paper and iron it onto the wool you will use for your top layer and cut out.
2. Next trace an 8" circle on fusible web and iron it onto the wool you will use for your bottom layer and cut out.
3. Now for the penny circles ... trace eight 1 1/2" circles onto fusible web and iron onto your wool and cut out.
4. Remove fusible web from your penny circles, space evenly on your top wool layer and iron into place.
5. Sew penny circles to top layer using DMC perle cotton thread (No. 8) using a blanket stitch.
6. Sew snowflake buttons onto penny circles.
7. Sew beads onto buttons and around buttons.
8. Now its time to add the bottom layer of wool! CAREFULLY, iron the front and back pieces of wool together being very careful not to scorch or melt the beads or buttons.
9. Now, using a double thickness of DMC perle cotton thread (No. 8) finish your penny rug by sewing the front and back pieces of wool together using a blanket stitch!
10. Carefully, iron out any wrinkles and use a lint brush to pick up any strays threads or wool bunnies and you are finished and ready to display your penny rug.
11.  Please feel free to use this pattern for crafting and selling, but remember it is copyrighted by Cat Tales and please give me credit if you sell this product on line. You are not permitted to sell this pattern.
12.  If you would like to purchase the snowflake novelty buttons at the site I did, please contact me!

I hope you will send me pictures of your finished penny rug!!!!  Happy crafting and give your kitties a treat for me today! :)

Found a Cute New Blog!

Good morning all! I just wanted to share with you all a new blogging friend I just found! Please stop in to visit her when you have some time. She is new to the blogging world and you can find her at Libbie's Home!. She is also having a wonderful giveaway to boot! Hope you have a catastic day!

More Gnome Kitties

Hi All, hope your Monday was wonderful! Things for me were a little weird at work today, but now I'm home and can get stitchin'.

Here are a few more gnome kitty pictures I hope you will enjoy.

I also had a little time to stitch up a wool candle mat from a design by Primitive Gatherings.  I love the bright colors in this! It was really fun to stitch up and you can find it at my eBay auction site - cat_tales_booksandprims

Don't have much else tonight, gotta go get supper ready!

Take care and hug those kitties! 

Louie the Gnome Kitty

Yesterday, my daughter had another OB appointment and found out that everything is A-OK with her and baby boy.  We even got to see his profile on the ultrasound!  He is set to arrive end of January/beginning of February! In a family of girls, he is our first boy and we can't wait! We are having so much fun visiting all the great thrift stores here for baby clothes -- What deals on hardly worn items!  He already has a better wardrobe that I do. 

Molly has been feeling a lot better and is knitting away ... she has made baby boy one sweater already, and several hats.  Here is Louie modeling one of the little gnome hats.  We may have to make one for Louie as he seemed to really enjoy wearing it!

It has been a long week for me and my fibromyalgia has kicked up (I am trying to kick it back) so I hope to have a restful weekend (its supposed to rain here and that usually inspires me to sew and read).  Hope you all have a great time the next few says and as always, love to see what you make and hear from you! May the fabric always be with you!

Tuesday Greetin's!

Good Tuesday everyone! I just wanted to report that Kezzie is doing very well and he gets his stitches out tomorrow.  We seem to have the litter box problem under control by using litter I found at PetCO called Cat Attract. Kezzie really likes it.  Its scoopable, he doesn't track it like the other litters, is deodorized with natural chlorophyll, and has a natural herb blend that attracts cats (I can't smell it though). He has consistently used only the litter box for the last three days so that means he is healing up well and he likes the litter. Kezzie is staying in our bedroom until we can retrain him with this litter.  He doesn't seem to mind. He has a window to look out of, his food and water dish, and a nice comfy bed to stretch out on. And humans to snuggle up to at night.

I did manage to get some stitching done.  One is from a free pattern offered by Primitive Bettys!. I haven't cross-stitched since the 1980's but her pattern looked so lovely I had to try it!

I also did a free-hand Christmas cross-stitch with a little wool holly added to it. And I also finished my "Be Thankful" kitty.  All are available at my eBay auction site.  I've also purchased a few more holiday cross-stitch patterns to try!  However, I just received a request for 12 of my signature kitties so I don't know how much time I will have outside of that order! When it rains, it seems to pour!

Hope you have a great day stitchin! I may be back tomorrow to chat about some more litter box help! Until then, have a lovely day and don't forget to smile at your kitty.

Kezzi and Turkeys

Thank you all for your well wishes for Kezzie. The vet gave Kezzie the all clear for a bladder obstruction and sent us home with a medicine to reduce the inflammation to his bladder (sort of Advil for kitties, but not Advil, of course) and gave us more pain meds for him.  It seems to be helping, but we are still having a litter box issue which I hope will resolve as his pain improves.  We have two litter pans (which we clean out each morning) that we put on our shower floor so that he could have a "bathroom" all to himself.  He piddles sometimes in the pan with litter, sometimes in the pan without the litter, and sometimes on the shower floor? So I'm not sure what this is all about yet.  The vet also put him on a strict diet of Hills C/D for cats with bladder problems ... it comes in dry and wet. So he gets both! He loves them! Thankfully, that wasn't too hard especially since he is my Mr. Picky.

Today, Bird Brain designs published this cute little design. I'm thinking I will try to do this in punch needle (waiting for my cameo punch to arrive .... thanks for all the advice, ladies!!!) but it would also look cute in wool applique or embroidery.   Click here for the free pattern.

SHARING A KITTY COASTER PATTERN

Good Monday Morning All! Hope your Halloween was fun and very spooky! Ours was kind of quiet.  My mom and dad came up to visit and mom said "Don't buy any Halloween candy, I have tons, and I'll bring mine." So okay! Great plan. Mom and dad arrive late Sunday afternoon about 1 hour before trick or treat time begins. Mom says "I forgot the candy." Oh well, so we look around the house to see if there is anything we can give out as treats - granola bars, bananans, oranges .... nothing. So mom answers the door for the first little girl and says we don't have any candyand gives her a dollar. The little girl's eyes get big when she see the money and says "Gee, thanks, maam!!"  Since we didn't want to go broke we then turned off the porch light.  Thankfully no one came back and egged the house!

Kezzie report.  Kezzie did well over the weekend but it still exhibiting signs of a blockage so I am going to take him back to the vet after work today, so please keep your fingers crossed for him that it's just the effect of surgery and not something else.  Thanks bunches!!!

And now for the free pattern! This cute little "kitty coaster" pattern was in my free issue of Creative Times
Supplies:
• Cotton fabrics of your choice, 2 rectangles 8” x 6” for each Kitty Coaster
• Warm and Natural batting, 1 rectangle 8” x 6” for each Kitty Coaster
• Ruler, marker pen, scissors, needle and thread, tacky glue (optional)
• Thin Ribbon or Raffia or Perle Cotton and ¼” rusty bells (optional)
• Trace kitty pattern  onto card stock or cardboard.

Cut out your Kitty shape. You will make a “sandwich” layering warm and natural, with right sides together from 2 of the same rectangles of cotton fabrics. The wrong side of your cotton fabric should be facing you. Trace your Kitty pattern onto the wrong side of the top fabric. Your tracing line is your sewing line. Stitch, leaving opening at bottom of layers as indicated on your pattern. Trim seam, and carefully turn right side out. The warm and natural should now be in the middle of the two fabrics and inside the Kitty. You might need to use a chop stick or other small tool to turn the ears! Press. Whip stitch the opening at the bottom of the kitty closed. Top stitch ¼” from the edges all around the Kitty. Add bow or raffia (with tacky glue) or stitch a small rusty bell (optional) as indicated on Kitty pattern. Finished! These Kitty Coasters would make great teachers’ gifts, hostess gifts or make upa bunch using fabrics for each holiday or occasion throughout the year.

Take care and don't forget to hug your kitty today!