Monday, December 31, 2012

So long, 2012!

Bhu:  Mai mom sez to tell you all that we did not have telephone or internet service for the past two days and she is P-I-*-*-E-D!  She loves to rant and rave about how CenturyLink does not deliver what it promises but still goes ahead and takes all her green papers.  She sez if we didn't have cell phones, we'd be up a creek.  I say if she was more kitteh-like, she wouldn't have these purroblems!  She don't lissen to me, though.

Patty  Au contraire, mon cher!  I "lissen" to you all the time.  Next year will be even better.  Next year (which is tomorrow, btw), I am going to try to solve the mystery of why you go into the bathroom, sit in the corner facing the wall, and yowl incessantly!  At the top of your lungs like you were a wolf howling at the moon!  What's in there?  Sabryin is convinced there is a kitteh ghost in there, or something of that nature (or UN-nature, as it was). 

Bhu:  It's mai sekret and I'm not gonna tell.

Patty:  Yeah, well I figured.  I'll find out, nevertheless.  Aside from that I want to tell everyone who visits us and whom we visit that we hope their Noo Yeer is great, even though Sabryin and I are way too sick with horrible colds to breathe much less party!  So we will be staying home tonight, feasting on left-overs in the fridge and sloshing down a big bottle of bubbly (sparkling cider, of course)! 

So long, 2012!  Hello, 2013 (and you better be good to us)!  xxoo Patty

Monday, December 24, 2012

Kissmess Greetings

This has been a wonderful weekend!  I am a person who has never stopped to relax during the holidays, but this year I decided to not focus on the work for pay and concentrate more on play!  Rather than going in to the office, I'm taking care of things via e-mail and the internet.  So, here's what I've been working on.  This is one of the blocks I found the other day . . .  made by
 Ann Ross, Port Elizabeth, South Africa, July 1990.  I'm proud of myself for writing the names, locations, and dates on these blocks.  Most of the blocks were made very well, but some had to be taken apart and sewed back together so they would be 12-1/2".  Some were so far off, I had to add strips of fabric around the edges.  I don't feel this ruins it; I rather like it.

This fabric is a Peter Pan print circa 1990.  I'm not certain of the exact date, but it has been in my stash for a long time.  There were four yards, just enough to back each block and cut 1-1/2" width strips for the sides and long rows.  These projects are also great for using up bobbins and spools that have just a little bit of those odd color threads left from completed projects.
 This is just one tiny corner of my sewing room.  I'm embarrassed that it is so messy, but it is what it is.  See that little quilt on the chair?  I completed that last night.  It's 19-1/2" square and I'll be putting it my etsy shop as soon as I can photograph it.  Also on the chair you can see some of the remaining 70 blocks that will be made into more QAYG quilts.

Bhu don't care.  He just wants to catch some rays and snooze.  You can see his furs are growing; the number of horking-up incidents is also growing.  Time for a visit to the groomer, I should say.

Bhu, Sabryin and I hope that you have the day off tomorrow and that you are able to play!  xxoo Patty


Pee Ess:  Here are the names on some of the other blocks in this quilt. 
Sharon Kendall, Lincoln Park, MI 1/90
Susan Wilson, Surrey, England 11/89
Valerie Malcolm, Australia, 3/90
Myra Alder, Eastwood, New South Wales, Australia
Debbie Bloxom, Wales, 2/89
Bernice Wacholz, Greenfield, WI  3/89

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Day One Without the Mayan Calendar

Bhu:  Hey mom, we're still here! 
Patty:  Or so it seems, Bhu.  There's all sortsa stuff out there that we don't know about so keep your eyes and ears open and take cover if you hear a loud bang.  In the meantime, we will have to take things one day at a time. 

I'm going to try to write a couple of letters this week to old friends who sent holiday cards!  I stopped sending cards several years ago because I was convinced that it was another one of those holiday traditions that is so ecologically unwise.  But it is such a treat to hear from people who are so far away, even if it is only once a year . . . whatever it takes to get them to say Hi -- I'm cool with that.   So in order to comfort my qualms about the ecological ramifications, I am going to make my own cards from stuff I already have.  One of my fondest memories is of sitting at the kitchen table in my little two-bedroom apartment in Astoria, Queens (I had just turned 20) with my box of watercolors and Prismacolor pencils painting angels, christmas trees, holly and cardinals on paper I'd cut to greeting card size (this was, of course, pre-Hobby Lobby).  I had to put the cards on the radiator to dry; I always mixed my paints too wet! 

Bhu, Sabryin and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  We'll be back on Chrismas Day!  xxoo

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Monday, December 10, 2012

Born This Way

Sabryin:  How come you are so beautiful, Bhu?
Bhu:  I was born this way.

Patty:  Bhu was enjoying a sun puddle on the day after thanksgiving.  His luxurious muff fur billows about his little doll face.  As you can see, his body furs are growing back and now we face the difficult choice of either having them shorn or listening to him horking up every fifteen minutes!  Seriously, the fur he ingests is what causes most of his digestive problems!  Gluttony causes the rest.  Sometimes when I am gone all day and forget to prep his food dish for the eventuality of a late return,  he is waiting at the door to let me know immediately that he is out of food!!  Once I start feeding him, it seems he does not want me to stop!  He gobbles it up, asks for more, gobbles, more, gobble, more . . .  until there just isn't any more room in his belly and he waddles off to a corner somewhere to purge.  Yes, he has an eating disorder.  Shame!

Anyhoo, I am not a big fan of Kissmess.  I don't DECORATE, although I like a humble little tree with fabric bows and a kitty star at the top.  Also, last year we put the tree lights up around the living room and keep them there all year, so in case either one of us is in a grey mood we plug them in and they cheer us up right away!  I HATE shopping and I always think I have waaaay more time than I actually have to handmake things (anyone else suffer from this affliction?).  In trying to develop a ritual-free lifestyle, I gave up sending cards about five years ago.  Some of my friends and family are insulted by this; some understand completely and are, in fact, making a similar attempt! 

Bhu:  I love getting cards, by the way.  Bring on the ritualistic gift-giving, too!

Patty:  You're really going for purrrfection with that gluttony thing, aren't you, Bhu?  Hmmm.  In any case, we hope you are surviving the season, not too stressed out, and enjoying every minute.  Is anyone having an End-Of-The-World party on the 21st?? 

xxoo