Thursday, November 29, 2018

Spring, Fall, and Winter Quilts


Happy weekend! I have a set of three seasonally appropriate quilts for Covered in Love.  This top was made by Marianne, quilted by me, backed with fabric from Sandra and bound with binding from Holly! A true collaboration.

One of Sandra's beautiful backings


It's a large quilt, something like 60"x80" and so bright and Spring-y. I'm pretty sure these are Kaffe fabrics, looks like his colors.


Perfect binding, courtesy of Holly

Next, another of Marianne's large quilt tops in a perfect Fall colored palette. 


I love these cozy colors and the on point setting. I backed it with more of Sandra's fabric and quilted with a loose stipple.


Finally, this darker, Winter-y quilt top was sent in by Joy and quilted by Kathy.  I really like the ribbon candy border and the little flange border.

Joy's top, quilted by Kathy

It's not overtly Christmas-y, but the dark reds give it a cozy feel.  Thank you ALL, ladies, for contributing to CiL's success!

Kitten update: In a 180 turn from last week, sweet Leena-bean was the first of the babies to go to her new permanent home. Her new mom has promised me plenty of pictures as she grows up! 

Beautiful Leena

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 400 so far! The Nov/Dec drive is going on now.  Check out the main post HERE if you want to get involved.


Linking to  Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Finished or Not Friday

Friday, November 23, 2018

Oops

Sorry y'all, Friday snuck up on me this week. I am working extra over the holiday and didn't get the post finished. Have some cute cat pictures instead. Happy Thanksgiving!






Friday, November 16, 2018

Just Kittens! (Lots of pictures)

2 days old. I turned a heat lamp on their box and they all lined up nearest the warmth trying to nurse the towel.

As most of you know, I raised a litter of kittens recently. I've been posting snapshots along with the Friday quilts, but I wanted to make a big upload for all you cat lovers.

They have ice cream themed names. From L-R in the photo above: Praline (Leena) is a mostly black calico, Waffle-(cone) is a dilute orange boy, Sundae is a grey tabby girl, and Fudge is an orange tabby boy.

Estimated birthday 9/20, found lost in a puddle 9/21, fell into my hands 9/22.  They were each about 4 ounces at first, umbilicals attached, eyes and ears closed.

Baby Leena, taking about 3-4 mils at a feeding, every 2-3 hours, around the clock.
Baby Sundae, 2 days old
Waffles, about 5 days old.  They can actually purr already and it's the sweetest sound.
Leena
Fudge
Sundae
1 week, getting chubbier

Fudge was first to get his eyes open




2.5 weeks. All eyes open and they were upgraded from a big plastic container to the bathtub!


Fudge discovered his feet early and sometimes sucked his toes like a pacifier!

3 weeks! The magical age when kitten begin to morph from fuzzy jelly beans into tiny cats

Leena-bean! Her coloration is so subtle it has been really difficult to photograph


Fudge and his feet...


Although their eyes had been open for a while it was at this point their eye sight developed enough to really see me. Sundae actually hissed at me! They said, "You smell like our mama, but you sure don't look like we expected!"



Milk mustache ;)  They were eating every 3-4 hours by this point and I was sleeping much better

4 weeks





Beginning to introduce real food and the litter box, with mixed success

New digs after outgrowing the bathtub.
Victory! Right at 5 weeks all 4 kicked the bottle for good (they still get supplemental milk poured over their food)


The boys are interested in becoming quilting inspectors

 


It's been so much fun to see their individual personalities develop.  Sweet Leena-bean is a cautious kitty. She seems to be almost more attached to me than her brothers and sister.  She seeks me out in new situations and observes from safety for a while before leaping in to play.  She's the calmest (although with kittens that isn't saying a lot). The first to lay down for a nice nap and the last to get up. The bigger she gets the more orange comes out in her tortiseshell coloration and I can tell she's going to be strikingly beautiful cat.



Fudge (below, and on the left above) is a typical little boy kitten. He plays like a wild man, but he's also a great cuddler. He is the quickest to try to escape from wherever they're supposed to be and prances like he think he's really something when he succeeds. He is best buddies with Sundae and the two of them wrestle constantly.



Sundae (above) has turned out the smallest of the litter, but big on personality.  Oh. my. word. This cat. She loves to climbs, and will race up my legs in a flash. She is the first to explore a new place, the last to lay down for a nap. She jumps on the others constantly and holds her own in kitten wrestling. She is getting harder to photograph, since she so rarely holds still.


Waffles has been the biggest all along, since they were 2 days old. I haven't weighed them recently, but he feels like he weighs about half as much again as the girls.  I learned that his dilute orange coloring is called "buff". He's a bit of a bully, which I'm hoping will turn into an advantage. I'm planning to keep him and I think he has the attitude to handle our 2 older, ornery, female cats (Rory and Rey, aka Fluffy and Demon). I love his big, goofy clodhopper feet, which still look too big for his body. He's just a big, sweet lug!

Sundae and Fudge, partners in crime

And after the playing comes the napping.

They look so innocent and sweet, right? Don't let them fool you. This was after I caught them peeing under my bed in my UFO drawers and they lost their bedroom privileges.   Nothing to motivate finishes like cat pee! I've finished about a dozen quilts in the past couple weeks so that I could get everything washed ASAP.  It's a good thing they're so cute.

I repaired this cat tree a couple weeks ago and they have thoroughly enjoyed it.

My sweet, handsome Waffle-pie

Sundae, ready to pounce



Who, us? We weren't doing anything, honest.

Jr. Quilt Inspector

Family Portrait
They've been running amok in the living room as I typed this post (and occasionally running across the keyboard, so if you see any typos, that's why.) Now they're tuckered out, Fudge asleep across my lap and Waffles, Sundae, and Leena snuggled up to my left.  Occasionally a loud round of purring breaks out from the kitten pile.

If you've ever been fortunate enough to have a bottle-baby cat you know they're special. They have no idea they aren't human and remain your babies forever.  I had a bottle-baby named Thor when I was in high school. Even at 7 years old he would beg to be picked up and wrap his arms around my neck in a hug.

I think, I hope, that Fudge and Sundae have a home together. Waffles is going to stay with me. But Leena still needs a home and she needs the perfect one since she's such a people-oriented cat. Those of you who living within driving distance of east Texas, contact me if you're interested! I'm looking for inside-only or inside-mostly homes. I didn't loose sleep for 5 weeks bottle feeding so they could be coyote snacks.  It's going to be hard to let them go after so long, but I know they are going to bring a lot of happiness, snuggles, laughs, and purrs to their future homes.