Mimi

July 1, 1997 - February 10, 2014

 

 

 

 

We lost our sweet kitten, Mimi, today due to age and heart problems.  She passed away peacefully as I held her in my arms.  Gone now but not forgotten.  She was the best furry feline we ever had.  My heart aches.  There is no way to describe the sadness and pain I feel right now.  But at least Mimi is no longer suffering.  She can breathe easily now as she romps and plays with her furry friends in the cat here-after.  Farewell, Mimi.  We will always love and miss you.

A Few Projects on a Rainy Day

I haven't finished too much this week.  But I did get a placemat made for Meals on Wheels.  It was an orphan block that someone gave me.  So I just quilted it and put some binding on and now it is finished. Sorry the picture is so bad.  It is really dark and dreary today.

I was also working on a Halloween quilt that I did not finish before Halloween.  I am going to sew some of the strips together and maybe make a few more blocks.  I think it is almost finished as far as the length goes. It was an easy pattern, but I just had too much to do last week.  Oh, well.  It will be great for next year.  I don't think I have ever made a Halloween quilt before.

And because it is Wednesday I will show you my hexie La Passion progress.  I am going to put this quilt on-hold for a while because I want to finish a couple of other hexie ones that I have started and never finished.

On a dark and rainy day like today there is nothing I would rather do than take a nap or read my book.  But I have a friend coming over after work and my place needs a bit of tidying up.  Mimi has the right idea though. She is comfortable and warm in her kitty bed.  She looks like she is asleep, but she is just pretending.  As soon as I snapped the photo, she opened her eyes and gave me a 'get the heck out of here' glare.  So I did what I thought was the smartest thing to do.  I left her alone to continue her nap.

Have a great Wednesday.

I am linking up with The Needle and Thread Network.

Some More Hexies Completed on This Beautiful Sunny Friday

I finished one of the motifs that goes around the centre of the La Passion quilt.  Five more motifs are started.

For the next week or so I will have to put my hexies away.  I have to get ready for our Guild's retreat.  I want to have lots of 2.5 inch squares cut so that I can just sew, sew sew when I am there.  Hope to show you more next week.

We have had a beautiful week.  The temperatures have been just right and the sun has been bright and cheerful.  I wonder if this is Indian Summer.  Hope not!  We have not had frost yet, but we have been close to it on several nights.  My DD is going up north this weekend to see the colours in Algonquin Park.  They are supposed to be 80 to 90 percent perfection!

Mini loves this weather.  She has been running around the house, scampering over furniture and up and down the stairs, like a kitten.  She even let me take a photo of her this morning.  Usually she runs away as soon as she sees my camera.

My cute kitty!

"Meow!  Why do you always have to point that thing at me?  Can't you just let me sit here in peace?  I'm enjoying the early morning sunshine and the comfortable temperatures.  Get that camera out of my face! Now!  Meow!"

Ahhhh!  That's more like my feisty little kitten.  But I know you don't mean it.  You, with the sweet face, are just too cute!

Have a Terrific Weekend Everyone!

 

I am linking up to Hexie Friday on A Quilting Reader's Garden.

 

Friday's Post on Saturday

Sorry Folks.  I was not able to post anything yesterday because I was without power for most of the day.  In the afternoon I was starting to wonder if I should eat all of the ice cream in the freezer before it thawed, but then the power came back on.  Oh, well, it would have been a delicious dinner.

I once again volunteered at DD's school last Thursday for grade 1/2 art.  We made owls.  This was a project that I had made about 30 years ago with the kids in my class.  The owls turned out great.  I think that was my last volunteer day.  The classes have been sorted out and redistributed, so that there are not as many students in each class.  DD will be teaching grade 7/8 students all day and she won't need me for art any longer.  Maybe I will do something else at the school.  I don't know yet.


I have been working on my La Passion this week.  Got the blue hexies attached around the outside.  They're not completely stitched down, but I will work on it later.  I love how this is turning out.

On Thursday evening I went out for dinner with DD and a couple of staff members from her school.  It was nice to get out and not have to cook dinner.  DH ate left-overs.  Afterwards I invited one of the staff members over to see my backyard.  She loves plants and has wanted to come over and see my garden for a long time.  This lovely patch of Fall Crocuses were in bloom.

Then yesterday my DD dropped by after school to bring me this wonderful little plant.  It is a gift from the teacher who was here on Thursday.  She dug it up from her garden and gave it to me.  Isn't she terrific?  It\s called 'Streptocarpus'.  I have never owned one of these plants before.  I love it and hope I will be able to keep it growing for a long time.  It reminds me of an orchid.

It is raining today.  It's cold and wet and a wonderful day to stay indoors and sew.  Mimi thinks I should take a nap. She has offered to move over if I want to sleep with her. Okay, Mimi.  I think I will do that.

Have a Great Weekend!

I am linking up with Hexies on Fridays at A Quilting Readers Garden.

Hot and 16-Patch Blocks

I made the last of the 16-patch blocks yesterday.  I would have started to sew them together, but it was too hot in my sewing room.  I plan to do it today, even though it is not any cooler.  The city has declared today a 'heat alert' day.  They do this only when it is really hot!  But if I don't start sewing them together, Mimi will re-arrange them for me.

I left them on my design floor overnight.  Or as Mimi calls it, 'her design floor'.  I can see that she played on them, but she didn't roll them into small, tight sausages or mess them up too badly like she normally does. Maybe it was too hot for that.

Here she is, behind my half dead plant.  I wish I had trimmed those dead leaves off.  Thanks for not messing up my blocks last night, Mimi.  Was it too hot for you?

"Meow!  It was 'H-E-double hockey sticks' hot!  That's why I am hiding under this dead plant.  Thanks for not trimming it.  I love it this way!  Meow!!:

Flower Power

I have been busy with my 16-patches and I now have only a few more to complete.  I took a photo of them, but it was very blurry.  I think that's because my batteries are just about dead.  So they are plugged into the charger at the moment and I will try again another time.

But I do have a few flower photos to show you.
First is my Yucca plant in the front of my house.  It is gorgeous this year.  It has at least 8 flower stalks.

Last year we cut the Corkscrew Hazelnut tree that was growing in that area.  It was infected with Eastern Filbert Blight and was dying a few branches at a time.  It used to cast shade on my yucca, but not any more.

My double day lily is also in bloom.  It is spectacular!  My favourite day lily of all.

My lovely Mimi is sleeping in the sun in the solarium.  It is too hot for me out there at the moment, but Mimi loves it.  Cat were originally desert creatures, so they love the heat and Mimi is no exception.

See that piece of nylon netting behind her?  She is guarding that.  It's a piece left over from when I made a few pot scrubbies.  She loves to play with it and she gets very upset if her brother, Felix, tries to take it from her.  Isn't she my prettiest flower of all?

And I leave you with a photo of a Goldfinch on a bag of nyger seeds.

I have had a finch feeder for several years, but usually the squirrels knocked it down and the finches were left with nothing.  This year my DH soldered some left-over copper pipe and made me a squirrel-proof feeder. The squirrels can't find a way to get up there and that is fine with me.  It was costing me a fortune in nyger socks.  At around $7 - $8 each it was getting out of hand.  But then I found some nyger seeds at the Bulk Barn.  For a couple of dollars I can buy enough to fill the sock up a couple of times.  The Goldfinches love it and I love to watch them.

Have a terrific Week End everyone!

Wednesday Wildflower and Some Playing Around

I drove my scooter into the ravine yesterday and discovered this patch of Virginia Waterleaf plants.

This plant is native to a large area of eastern North America.  The flowers on these plants were white, but they can be light blue or light purple too.  The leaves develop white patches and look like water marks, hence the name of Waterleaf.  Its biological name is Hydrophyllum virginianum, which literally means waterleaf of Virginia.  The leaves are edible as a salad when young.  They become bitter with age.  The Native Peoples used the roots to make a tea to treat diarrhea and dysentery.  The leaves were chewed to heal mouth sores and cracked lips.

Now that I am finished the baby quilts that were on my list, I have had some time to 'make fabric', my favourite pastime.

I have no idea what I am going to do with these blocks - maybe make another bag or a scrappy quilt.  What do you think Mimi?

"I think you have too much time on your hands.  Meow!"

I wish I had more hours in the day.  Today I am planning to make a batch of strawberry-rhubarb jam, as well as buy a few more sunshine plants for several pots that have no plants in them yet.  I also have about a hundred new members' names to add to our guild's membership list.  Ah, the joys of being on the executive.  And of course there are the usual chores - the dishes and mess in the kitchen, laundry, watering of plants, both inside and out.  Jeez, I'm tired already.

Sew long for now.

Pooh is Finished

I finished the 'Winnie the Pooh' baby quilt!  Just in time too.  The baby shower is tomorrow.

I did not have enough fabric for the back, so I pieced it.  The green fabric has little bees on it.  Thought that was fitting for Pooh's love of honey.  

Mimi did not jump onto the quilt when I put it on the floor to photograph it.  I wondered if she likes it.  But she assured me that it is fine.  She is just busy resting.  Got to get those 20 hours of nap time in, you know.  She just wants me to take the picture and get the heck outta there.

I am linking up with Can I Get a Whoop Whoop, as well as Crazy Mom Quilts.  

Have a fantastic weekend!

Wednesday's Flowers on Thursday

I haven't posted my hexies for a long time.  Yesterday would have been the day to do it, but it was dark and rainy and I couldn't get a good photo.  But today it is bright and sunny.   So here is my latest corner of my flower basket quilt.

All of the flowers and leaves are done for this section.  Now I just have to work on the 50+ white hexies that surround everything.  Blah!

And something new and different that I would like to do on my blog.  A Wednesday Wild Flower post.  As I ride around on my scooter, I notice all the wild flowers that are growing along the road, in the park and in other waste spaces.  Here is the first flower.

It is called "Coltsfoot".  They grow along the path in the ravine and in other waste spaces.  This plant is one of the first to flower in spring, even before dandelions flower.  Although they resemble a dandelion, they are very different.  Coltsfoot has reddish-brown scales on the stems.  And no leaves when the plant is in bloom.  Later on, after the flowers are gone, the leaves will grow.  The leaves are very large and roundish, nothing like a dandelion leaf at all.

You can see the scales better in this photo.  There is also a large wasp on one of the flowers.  I saw this type of wasp on many for them when I was out on Tuesday.  I have no idea what kind of wasp it is.  I think it is just a kind that is out early in spring and Coltsfoot are the only flowers in bloom.  Coltsfoot is in the Asteraceae Family.  It's botanical name is Tussilago farfara.

I love seeing early spring blooms and I also love to look at my Mimi, soundly sleeping in her cat bed.
She is doing very well, still on steroids for her auto-immune condition, but she seems to be pain free, which makes her happy, and me as well.

What's on my Design Wall

We have rain today and it is dark and gloomy.  But yesterday the weather was spring-like perfect!  The temperature went up to 13C and the sun was shining for most of the day.  My DH and I went for a walk down by Lake Ontario in Bluffers Park.  We couldn't have asked for a nicer day.

Looking south east from a bench on the shore.















Looking south west from the same
bench.












There were lots of ducks, geese and swans in the lake.  Even though there were signs everywhere to NOT feed the birds, people had brought whole loaves of bread and were busy throwing chunks of it into the water.  That always bothers me, but yesterday the weather was just too nice to get upset. There were 5 swans swimming around.  This is one of them.

So because there is not much else to do this morning, I am working at cleaning up my sewing room.  I had cut out and prepped the pieces for a couple of applique blocks.  I put the pieces neatly into little plastic baggies, but now they are playing a game of hide and seek with me.  I hope to find them as I tidy up.

So what's on my design wall?  These blue and red blocks that I was working on last year.  I only need a few more to make a lap quilt.  That is as many blocks as I think I want to make.  They will each finish at 4 1/2 inches square.  I have added lots more blue fabric to my stash since I started this, so I won't have any problem finishing it.  And I am hoping this will, indeed, be a finish for this month.

Mimi is helping me in her usual sleepy way.  I tried to wake her up for a photo, but she would have nothing of that.

"Meow!  I need my beauty sleep"

I disagree with her.  She is already beautiful enough!

First Three Applique Blocks

These blocks are from a UFO, a very old UFO.  I started it at least 8 years ago.  Because I joined an applique group a while ago I decided to finish this quilt before I start anything new.  It is from Eleanor Burns' Applique in a Day.

This block is called "Distlefink".

"Fruit Bowl"

"Cherry Wreath"

My darling Mimi is feeling much better.  She is helping me with my quilts and playing with her toys.  She also  chases her 'brother' all over the house.  He really needs the exercise, the little chubby wubby.  Mimi is toothless now and is still getting doses of prednisone for her auto-immune condition.  But she is eating on her own and often raids the hard kibble food dish.  She really likes it and is very good at scarfing down the little hard pieces without teeth.  

An Update

I can't believe how fast time is flying by.  I am so far behind in all of my sewing, reading, housework etc.  But I want to give you a bit of an update on some of the things I am working on.  First there is the Super Heroes Quilt for my DS.

Still quite a bit to do, but it is coming along nicely.

And since it is Wednesday today, I will show you a part of my Wednesday hexie flowers.  This is one corner section.  Still have a few more white hexies before this section is completed.  Then three more to do.

And last, but not least, is an update on Mimi.  She had the rest of her teeth extracted last week.  The first night after the surgery she was a horrible sight.  She was bleeding all over the place and I could see that she was in a lot of pain.  But she is such a trooper!   A couple of days later she was feeling fine again.  Then last night she freaked me out when she came to me at 1:00am with the tube in her neck hanging out too far.  I decided not to tube feed her since it looked like the tube was not in the right place.  I gave her a plate of food and she ate all of it by mouth.  When she was finished she cleaned her face with her paw.  

Then a couple of hours later she jumped on my bed again and started purring like never before.  It was then that I realized that the tube had come out completely.  She started rolling around on the floor and scratching the carpet.  She only scratches the carpet when she is really happy.  That tube must have been bugging her.  I really think she was smiling at me.  I fed her some more food by mouth and she again ate it all.  I put a call in to the vet's office.  They are supposed to call me back, but haven't yet.  I think it is time to take the tube out anyway and let Mimi eat on her own.  Mimi is quite happy now, sleeping out in the solarium, under the Norfolk Pine that I bought at Christmas time.  

I am leaving her lampshade on for now, until the tube site in her neck has healed completely.  Watching her sleep so soundly in the solarium makes me happy.

Goodbye November, Hello December

This is my last post for NaBloPoMo and I am so glad it's over.  This doesn't mean that I won't be posting any more.  It just means I will only post when I have something interesting to report.  So stay tuned.

This is part 2 of Easy Street with Bonnie Hunter.  Wish I had her handy dandy rulers.  That would make things so much easier.  It took me half an hour to make these 3 flying geese blocks.  I need to make 128 of them I believe.  And I am only halfway through the 4-patch blocks.  Still have about 100 to make.  I think this quilt may end up in a bin like last year's mystery, Orca Bay.  Maybe when I am not so busy, like after Christmas I'll be able to do more on it.

These blocks are purple according to Bonnie, but I wanted to see what a turquoise one would look like.  I haven't totally decided what colours I am going to use.

Here is a photo of my white Amaryllis.  It is not as dramatic as the red one,  The red one had 4 or 5 flowers on each stem.  This one only has 2 or 3.  But I still love it.

Mimi has been sleeping on the heating duct today.  It is very cold out.  We were supposed to get a few centimetres of snow, but so far we have none.  You can see her feeding tube.  It allows food to go right into her esophagus.  I hope this doesn't gross anyone out.  She also has scratches on her nose, which she did to herself when we brought her home from the vet's office.  She tried to push her way out of the carrier and she scratched her nose on the metal door.  I have since made a little quilted pad for the inside of the door, to protect her from herself.

Her fur is getting nice and soft again.  But all she wants to do is sleep all day.  Oh, well, that is what she did  all day before the vet scuttled her butt, so I guess it's okay.

More Quilt Show

Here are a few more photos from the Ganaraska Quilt Guild's show.  The quilts were hung close together so it was difficult to take photos of the large ones.  This one was a Dragonfly quilt.  Lots of dragonflies in the fabrics and also in the quilting.

This one was bright and quite stunning.  I was only able to get a portion of it.

Here is part of an 'Amish' quilt.  I loved the little Amish buggies, all lined up

There were lots of wall hangings.  I love the tumbling blocks quilt.

A cute little duckie quilt.

I loved this log cabin with triangles.  I was only able to photograph a quarter of it.  I can see one of these in my future.

Mimi is doing well.  I have figured out how to feed her through her tube and she seems happy.We have an appointment tomorrow to see what the next step will be for her.  Thank you to everyone who sent good wishes!

Mimi is Home, for a While at Least

Today is day 24 of NaBloPoMo and I am really tired, but I have to give you an update on Mimi's condition, so here is my post.

The vet tried to extract Mimi's teeth yesterday morning.  Yes!  All 32 of them.  She has a condition that makes her mouth red and sore.  It is caused by plaque and can only be cured by removal of all of her teeth.  The operation was supposed to take 4 hours.  I was very worried about her because I thought she would not be able to stay under the anesthetic that long. But the vet assured me everything would be fine.  About 2 hours into the procedure the vet phoned me and said that he was going to take Mimi out of the anesthetic because her blood pressure was unstable.  I wanted to say, "I told you so", but you never want to get a vet mad, especially one who has your kitty's life in his hands, so I said nothing.

So they stopped the extractions after taking only 16 of her teeth out.  They inserted a tube into her neck.  I think it must go down to her esophagus.  I have to feed her through that tube every 4 hours. She is also on pain medication and an antibiotic and she has to wear a collar to keep her from pulling the tube out and scratching her mouth.  They kept her overnight last night and my DD went to pick her up this afternoon.  We have an appointment with the vet on Monday afternoon to see how she is doing.  She is home now and is roaming around the house happy to be back.  I am happy too. She looks better than I expected.  But she will have to go back and have the other 16 teeth pulled another time.

The reason DD had to pick Mimi up was because I was at a quilt show in Orono with Debra from Patchwork Sanity - A Woman\s Piece of Mind.  It was a wonderful show.  Quite small, but friendly and inspiring.  We had our lunch in their tearoom and ran into a couple of other quilters from our guild, which was nice.  We had a fun chat.  So in keeping with my philosophy of a picture in every post, I leave you with one of the quilts from the show.  This was a tiny miniature, but it was beautiful.