Cats I Have Known and Loved - Feline Friday Special Edition

Sarah from Sarah did it posted a wonderful entry about the cats that have made her life better   She invited others to do the same.   So here I go.

I have always been a cat lover.  I had a very large tabby cat named Puss when I was growing up.  Sorry, I have no photos of him.  I don't think I even owned a camera at that time.  But I loved him just the same.

When my kids were young we got a white cat from a friend's litter.  My daughter named her Snowflake.  We just called her Flakey.  She was a terrific cat.  Unfortunately she passed away when she was only 13.  It was very traumatic.

We decided to get another cat and Rascal came into our lives.

Rascal

We got her at an animal shelter.  It was love at first sight for my DD.  It took us a long time to name her.  She could be very naughty at times, so we called her Rascal.  Rascal gave birth to three kittens before we could get her spayed.  She lived to a ripe old age of 18.

And that's how Tobicat and Daisy Mae came into our lives.  They were two of Rascal's kittens.  The third kitten went to live with my sister.

Tobicat

Daisy Mae

These kittens were a wonderful addition to our household.  They were well-behaved and comical.  Tobicat had some major health issues.  He was an outdoor cat.  When he got sick the vet feared that he had been poisoned.  We think he drank antifreeze from the driveway.  His kidneys were destroyed, but we kept him alive for many years by injecting him with a saline solution under his skin.  He lived to be 17 years old.  

Daisy Mae was a quiet, gentle cat.  When she was only a couple of months old, the neighbour's dog chased her to the top of the telephone pole in front of our house.  She jumped down and miraculously didn't injure herself.  Perhaps cats do have nine lives.   She lived to be 19 years old.

The next kitten we got was Mimi.

Mimi

My mother found her on the road in cottage country and brought her to us. She was so tiny when we got her.  She fit in the palm of my hand.   Eventhough I loved all our cats, Mimi became my favourite.  I used to have her contribute to my blog posts.  She was a very smart cat.

While Rascal, Tobicat, Daisy Mae and Mimi were still alive my son begged me to adopt a couple of cats who were going to be put down.  The couple who owned them didn't want them anry longer.  They had been kept in a closet and had never even been given names.  What could I do?  So I took them in and named them Felix and Oscar - the odd couple.

Felix and Oscar

And odd they were.  And frightened.  Felix hid in the basement for several months, coming out only to use the litter box or get some food or a drink of water.   But as he got over his fear he began to stay by my side every minute of the day.  He slept on my bed at night.

Felix

We never found out how old they were.  But they had been neutered and (ouch) declawed.  They were also the biggest cats I had ever seen.

But they all got along nicely.  Little Mimi and her big brothers.  After all the trouble with Tobicat and his kidneys I decided any cats we had from then on would have to be indoor cats.

Looking and longing to go outside.

Oscar had a seizure one very hot summer's day and passed away.   We missed him terribly. He was such a funny cat.

Oscar

For a short time my DD adopted a couple of white cats from the animal shelter .  They lived with us until she moved into her own home.  Their names are Patty and Shroeder.  Patty is a white cat with blue eyes.  And as is often the case, that combination  produces a cat who is deaf.  Patty still lives with her.  Here is a photo of little William when he was very young with Patty next to him.

William and Patty

Shroeder proved to be too much work for DD.  He kept wanting to go outside.  And he didn't like William too much either.  So my son took him to live at his house.  Shroeder was very happy about that.

Shroeder

We have had other cats who lived with us from time to time. Some when their owners were away or ill.  I loved them all.  I am grateful for all the felines who have graced my life.  They make everything okay.  Now I only have Felix.  And he is getting old.  I may have to adopt a little calico from the cat rescue place.  That would make my life complete.

I am linking to Sarah did it.

String Theory

This has been my 'go to', relaxing project over the past few weeks.  I made some more string blocks last Friday,  These things are so addictive.  And so much fun!  I have enough strips to make two more quilts after I finish this one.   LOL  My scrap bag is still half full.

So far it measures about 42 X 49 inches.  I want to make it at least a generous twin size.  Then I plan to have it longarm quilted.  Just can't do anything bigger than a baby quilt any more.

We Went to the Markham Fair

All the farm animals were there.

The big stallion horse

Was nipping, of course,

On the fingers that stroked his soft hair.

The chickens and geese

Crowed and clucked as they plrased.

While the donkeys and cows

Paraded to cheers from the crowds.

The rabbits were cute!  Oh so very cute!

The wiggly pig danced a wiggly jig.

And Xavier's beautiful bunny 

Won the Grand Championship.

Xavier is my nephew.  He loves animals.  This is the third year that his rabbit has won the Grand Championship.  Way to go Xavier!

It was cold yesterday.  A real fall day.  It took me hours to warm up when we got home.  But William had a blast!  He loved hanging out with his favourite cousins, the keepers of the bunny.   He ran and jumped on averything he could find.  And he went on a few rides.  

But his favourite activity was riding in the front seat of the fire truck!  He could do this all day.

Hi Nana!

Welcome Fall

I got this reusable bag at Walmart.  Nice, eh?

It is finally cooling down here in Toronto.  I have been working on my hexie temperature quilt.  I started it on the Summer Solstice -  June 21st.  Then the heat of July hit us.  The temperatures were out of this world!  I lost track of how many days with over 30C temps there were.  And the heat kept on going into September.

But last night the temperature went down to 9.7C.  The colour I am using for that temperature range is light green.  The first light green hexie for this quilt.

To give you an idea of the heat this summer here is the rest of the quilt.

It was difficult to do any sewing in that heat.  But I did have a huge bag full of scraps.  So I decided to make a scrap quilt.  Drum roll please......  Scrap Vortex was born.

I have emptied half of the scrap bag, but there is still enough fabric in there to make another Scrap Vortex!  I am going to be busy for a long time!

A Busy Weekend

I have not been doing much sewing lately.   This past weekend was a busy one.

We started out on Friday evening by attending the Beach Jazz Festival.  Lots of music and drumming.  I wanted my Japanese visitor to experience a typical Toronto summer event.  It was great!

On Saturday I went to Pioneer Village to see the Quilts at the Creek.  It was fantastic!  I loved it.  I took many photos, but the one I thought was the best was a Veterens Quilt the hosting Guild had made.  So beautiful.

This would be great for using up scraps!  

How's this for an idyllic setting?

Sheep are not my favourite animal, but these were kind of cute.

On Sunday we went to the Grand River Champion of Champions Powwow.  This was a special event and we were lucky to get a chance to see it.  I thought my visitor would enjoy a day of colouful Six Nations costumes and dancing and drumming.  I certainly enjoyed it.

I will get back to my sewing soon.  There are only a few more days for my visitor to spend in Toronto.  On Friday they leave for other Ontario and Quebec destinations,  It has been fun having her stay with us.

A New Weather Hexie Project

I decided to end my weather hexies which I had started at the beginning of the year.  I wanted to add the overnight low temps to my quilt.  So I designed this layout.  Each daytime high is going to be a elongated hexie.  Then the overnight low will be the regular hexie to the right of the daytime one.  I was sewing up a storm until we hit the really high, humid days.  I couldn't keep up with the temps.  .  I am hoping that they will soon become available once again.. Or that I can find them somewhere else.  Right now my quilt has a hole in it.

Instead of appliqueing the rosettes to a background fabric like I did before.  I decided to outline each week with light colourd hexies.  I started with the first day of summer - June 21, 2008.  That is the first block you see.  I just finished week 5.  I'll post more about these blocks later.  I am very busy right now, hosting a Japanese teacher for a couple of weeks.  I'll be back soon.

I was going to link up with Sarah, but her site wants me to accept her privacy policy and I can't figure out how to do that.  

Scraps

I started a new quilt.  I know!  I know!  I said I wouldn't do that.  But a couple of days ago, while cleaning up, I noticed a big bin full of strips.  So I decided to sew them together to make a strip quilt.  I am using all kinds of strips.  All sizes and colors.  Only a couple of days and I already have this much done.

27 blocks completed and several more started.   I am foundation piecing them on old magazine paper.  The blocks are about 7 inches and I thought 6 of them would make a quilt about 42 inches wide.  This should take a normal piece of backing fabric 42 inches wide.  But that might all change.  Who knows.

I have cute little gold finches in my yard.  They come early in the morning.  Usually there are 3 or more on the feeder.  This picture shows only 1, but there was another one on the back.

My day lilies are in bloom and so is my Verbena.  I love the colours these come in.

Dark purple ones.

And some pretty pink ones. 

I am also going to go back to work on my weather hexies.  As soon as I can figure out what the temperatures were last week that is.  I am not giving up.

Hot, Hot, Hot!

Our weather is super hot.  I haven't been able to do much.  I started a new weather hexie project, but I haven't been able to get the tempwratures for past days.  I'll leave it for a while.

I have some more stuff to post, but William is here today and he is keeping me busy.  My son fixed my comments, so I hope that works.

Here is a bit of what is going on in my garden.

Phlox.  All over the place.

Lilies.  Very colourful.

I'll be back soon.

When Life Gives You Rain... Make Fish

It rained like crazy yesterday afternoon.  The winds were heavy too.  Trees blew over, taking out cars, homes and power lines.  There was local flooding all around the city.  Even the Eaton Centre was flooded.  All I could think of was fish.

I have been working on these for a number of months as part of the rainbow scrap challenge.  This month is aqua.  I love that colour!  They are so easy to make.  But I have to warn you.   Each fish needs 6 little squares to create the snowball effect.  That's a lot of squares!

The tutorial for them is here.

This and That - But Not Much Sewing

It's been a while since I last posted anything.  I haven't been keeping up with my weather hexies.  That is mostly because I am not pleased with the colours I chose.  Also, I would like to do a daily hexie where I can include the low temps along with the highs.  So far I haven't figured out how to do that yet.

In fact, not much sewing of any kind has been going on around here.  Mainly because the weather has turned warm and the garden is calling me.  We went from a gigantic wind storm that blew roofs off houses, uprooted huge trees and knocked our power out for 24 hours - then to sunny days with temps into the high 20s and low 30s.  I didn't know whether to turn on the heat or A/C.

We've had many blue/purple days in the garden.  My favourite colour.  The irises were fantastic.  Early in the spring we had some very nice hyacinth.

These are creeping phlox.

And a few of the many varieties of Iris.

I planted some vegetables - tomatoes, cucumbers, beans and zucchini.  I also planted a pumpkin especially for William.  It will be fun to watch it grow.  I also planted some herbs.  So now all that is left to do is water everything like crazy and wait for summer.

Peace in the Woods

I love the woods in spring time.  It's so peaceful and inspirational to see the light green buds open on branches that, for 6 months,  had looked as if they were not even alive.  I found the little woodlot in front of our main mall covered in white blossoms.  Beautiful!  Trilliums!  I hope they never build on this lovely spot.

World Turtle Day

I love turtles.  Today we celebrate them.  Are you listening William?  This should make you happy.  William loves turtles, just like me..

Weather Hexie - Summer is Here

This is my weather hexie for Week 19.
May 7 to 13.

15.9C,   18.2C,   22C,   20.9C,   10.6C,   13.6C,   15.9C

Playing Catch Up

I haven't posted much lately.  I am way behind with my weather hexies.  They were getting kind of boring.  Our weather was cold and wet all through April.  All my hexies were dark green or dark blue.  But then, a couple of weeks ago, the weather warmed up.  All of a sudden it was spring.  Or maybe even summer.  I had to add yellow and orange and even red.  I love colour.  Did I ever mention that before?

So here is Week 15.
April 9 to 15.

3C,   5.8C,   5.4C,   13.4C,   5.9C,   4.6C,   1.4C

This is Week 16.  

April 16 to 22.

4C,  2C,   4.7C,   5.1C,   8.6C,   13.3C,   15.1C

Week 17.
April 23 to 29.
Lots of yellows!

15.9C,   16.3C,   11.1C,   16.4C,   14.2C,    9C,   11.2C

The following week was even warmer.  Lots of orange and red.  I love colours1  Did I mention that already?  Oh, yeah.  I did.
Week 18
April 30 to May 6.

15.9C,   23.5C,   26.3C,   23C,   24C,   24.1C,   17.4C

Okay.  I have fixed the rosettes as best I could.  I am still a long way from the finish line.  But I will never leave each week's hexie for this long again.  It is just too difficult to catch up.

Folk Dancing

The East Toronto Folk Dance Festival was held at the beginning of the week.  It is usually held at the Town Centre, but this year they made things difficult.  So my DD, who is one of the organizers, decided to hold it at a local high school.  The weather was fantastic!  Everyone had a great time.

I took William over there on my scooter.  He wasn't very interested in the dancing, but he loved collecting pebbles, gull feathers and rolling down the hill.

And We Shall Have Snow

The north wind doth blow

And we shall have snow 

And what will poor robin do then?

Poor thing

He'll sit in the barn

To keep himself warm

And hide his head under his wing.

Poor thing.

I still have to put an eye on this guy.  It will have to wait until I find my embroidery floss.  Nothing is in its place.  I have to get organized.  

Maybe I should finish a few things.  Yeah, that's it.  Here are some scrappy star blocks.  I am going to put them together using the Quilt-As-You-Go method.

I also have to finish my weather hexie.  It has been cold this week.  And it isn't over yet.  Tomorrow we are expecting a major winter storm.  Heaving rain, strong winds and freezing rain that could cause broken tree branches and power outages..  How nice for the middle of April.

Birds

Spring is late.  

I miss the birds singing.  

So if the birds won't come to me, 

I'll just make some.

Weather Hexie

When is it going to warm up?  We had another cold week.  But the good news is... I did see a robin, several actually.

Very exciting!  I know spring is coming when I see my first robin.

This little chunky guy just pulled a worm out of the ground.  

I don't  know how he did that.  We still have night frost and often the ground is frozen in the mornings.  We had a severe storm pass through here a couple of days ago.  It rained all night and yesterday the wind was astronomical.  We had gusts up to alnost 100km/hr.  It blew a huge crane over, knocked window panes out of buildings and uprooted trees, causing power outages.  And it blew part of our fence over.  

Here is my hexie for last week.  It was Easter last Sunday so I used a scrap of fabric with chicks on it.  My birthday was also last week.  I found some fabric with baloons on it.  +  My hexi is very green.  We had warner weather in January.

So here is hexie 13 for March 26 to April 1.

7.3C   7.4C   8.2C   7.2C   5.8C   8.3C   4.6C

Linking up with Sarah