The Cat's Pyjamas Blog

I'm paintin' my room!

I'm taking a lunch break and eating a tomato sandwich so I thought it would be a good time catch up here! (Those are my little mater plants in the picture....at least its a start!) I got up today and decided to paint my bedroom--like I didn't have enough projects started already. Now I kind of wish I hadn't started it. There is so much stuff in there I just have to move it around and so far I only have some trim painted and the doors painted. But I know I'll be glad when I'm done. Right now its pink--I'm painting the walls a shade lighter than my studio. I had bought some shades for my kitchen in my studio but I brought them over here to go in my bedroom. Hopefully they have more at Home Depot!

My husband's work van has been leaking transmission fluid so he's been driving my truck for the past two days! I needed to go buy some compost to finish planting the garden....so instead I am painting. Guess I'll get compost this afternoon.

Let me tell you what I did yesterday....I designed myself some post cards & had them printed & I ordered stamps for them a couple of days ago. I printed labels and put stamps on over 100 of them yesterday and I was so proud. I had them ready to take to the mail box when my husband got home. Then he informed me that postage went up yesterday. So I had to order 100 one cent stamps to go on them. I had some 2 cent ones left over that I can use too. I was soooo aggravated when I found that out! I guess I am going to have to increase my pattern prices since they include shipping. Postage has gone up twice and is supposed to go up again in a few months and I have never increased my prices. I hate to have to do it. :(

Happy Mother's Day! (a little late!)

I hope you all had a great Mother's Day weekend! I'm not a Momma but I still had a good weekend! We worked in the garden, got the pond dug and lots of plants put around it, put up some trellises for the beans, sweet taters and small melons. I finally finished painting the door for my bathroom in my studio so we can get started on the floor in the next room. Saturday morning we started tearing down an old building. We thought we were just getting the doors, but when we got there, we found out we can get the whole building. We weren't really prepared and couldn't fit much in my truck, so we worked on it a couple of hours, then had to come home to get ready  to go again....Saturday afternoon we went to Momma & Daddy's for a mother's day/Momma's birthday/Kenyon's birthday get together. We cooked hot dogs on the grill and ate lots of good food. We stayed there until about 8:30 (and I wasn't ready to go yet!) then went to see my mother-in-law. We stayed there until after 11:00 pm....probably way past everyone's bedtime except mine! ha! But it was fun getting to visit with everyone. Everyone gathered around Jackson at Momma's house....and of course I took tons of pictures, but this one is my favorite. Everyone keeps saying he looks just like my brother and I couldn't really tell until I looked at these pictures when I got home and now I definitely see it. He's just starting to smile....what a fun time!

Did  I mention there's a new kitty hanging around? I don't know if he belongs to anyone or not, but he certainly is a hungry cat! He has been coming every evening when we work in the garden so I started putting him out some food. He's extra friendly and it didn't take long for me to get to pet him--he was mostly afraid of my cats that all followed me out there when I tried to pet him. I really think he's one of the cats that belonged to a lady that lived a few houses down from us. She died not long after we moved here and she had 2 cats-one solid white one that moved across the road. (She used to visit me but got "mad" after Rusty came and won't come back now!!) She had another one that looked just like this one--my neighbor says his name was Coon because he looked like a raccoon (the mask on his face?). He looks older and his teeth aren't so good, like an old cat. So I really think this is the cat. The guy who took the white cat told me a while back that he didn't know what happened to the other one. Wherever he came from, he can keep eating here as long as he wants! ;)

I thought I'd share a photo of my garden--even though it doesn't look like much here! I do have some watermelons and winter squash growing on the right now and I have a trellis across the back and one on the row to the left for my tigger melons and beans. When (if????) everything starts growing, I'll take another picture for you. I even have a few things left that I have to plant!! This garden is a lot bigger than what I'm used to!!!

Did you recognize Frazier in the photo at the top? He loves the garden and loves it when we come out there to work. Believe it or not he even loves to sit in my lap! I never imagined he would be this friendly when I first picked him up. And it makes me so happy to see him rolling around in the garden and knowing how happy he is now.

Something for free--Really!

I have a new free pattern for Miss Annie! She is one of the projects to be on Creative Living with Sheryl Borden, so I thought I would start sharing these projects for free.  Click here to download the pattern....I just have a few guidlines for using the pattern. Go to my website to see. Its not much, really! And you can see a couple more free patterns...bookmark the page because I have several more to share. I'll be slowly adding all the ones from the tv show to that page. And I would love to see what your dolls look like--send me some pictures!!

We got our winter squash planted yesterday--that was one of the main things I wanted to plant. There is nothing like pumpkin and winter squash in the fall and winter. I bake a butternut squash and it just feels like fall. I have some tigger melons to try once again--I've been trying to grown them for a few years. I'll try something new this year and see what happens. If you like heirloom vegetables, you should check out Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds . I always get carried away when I order though--I'll bet I have 15 packets of heirloom tomato seeds!! ;)

I haven't had much time for taking pictures lately....I found this one of Sweet Pea chewing on my Christmas tree! The funny thing about this picture is--I had a copy of this picture and it was in the floor underneath some stuff. When I walked through my studio I glanced down and saw it and for a split second I thought Sweet Pea was squashed under all that stuff! LOL! 

New patterns on my website!

I have 2 new patterns on my website! At the top are "Buddies" and below that "Charlie". When you go to my website, you will see the newest patterns on the right. I've had these done for a while, just took too long to get them on my site! I have several more new ones to list in the days and maybe weeks to come. I've been doing a lot of gardening so I'm not on the comptuer as much as usual, so it seems to be taking longer to get things done.

We are working on our butterfly/cottage garden in a section of our backyard. My husband is off early so maybe we can get lots more done. I've been doing a lot of planting and I'm ready for that part to be done...ready for the veggies to start coming in. We actually have a few green cherry tomatoes and some blooms on a pepper plant. I picked up some tomatoes, peaches, onions & a watermelon at the Farmer's Market yesterday. But I'm anxious to have my own!!

I got to see my youngest nephew today--He's almost a month old now! How fun it was to watch him playing and kicking his tiny little feet! I had a lot of work to get done today but when I called Momma and she said he was with her, I rushed right over and stayed a while!

Here are some older pictures of Sweet Pea....I thought they were so funny. But when my husband saw them, he said, "Is he sleeping on my side of the bed???" LOL! He was--but he just likes that side better!

No, I haven't stopped blogging!

I know you probably think I have disappeared....I have just been gardening and working on my websites....I even listed some new patterns!! If you're getting ready for fall shows, I have a new  scarecrow pattern listed. And I promise I have more to come this week!! Tomorrow....I'll catch up on what we've been up to around here.

Junkin' & stuff

My husband was off today so we went to an estate sale--I bought an old typewriter, some number punch things (I don't know what they are called!) and some rusty stuff. My husband ended up buying a whole bunch of rusty old tools for one price, a box of guitar parts, some guitar books and a whole box of old wagon wheels. We went to eat at a restaurant in Fyffe (ever heard of it???) then to another store. I bought an old side table for my studio--it was really pretty, already painted and distressed, plus some other stuff. My husband found more tools there, of course! But it was fun....now we have to unload it all!

I FINALLY caught the short-tailed cat this morning. We've decided to call him Django....can you guess where the name came from? Poor ol' guy was pretty upset, but I threw a towel over the trap and he was fine. He is heavy -- I can't wait to see how much he weighs. He's pretty big for an outside cat!

Not much exiciting going on to share....I went junk shopping yesterday too, so I still haven't gotten too much accomplished. I do have about 5 or 6 new designs to put on my website so keep an eye out for those. I have a field trip planned tomorrow so I will be gone to the Aquarium in Chattanooga most of the day tomorrow!

Since I don't have any new pictures to share....more of baby Sweet Pea....in this one he was about 1 month old. Just a fuzzy little white ball of fur! The next he is about 2 months old. A couple of years ago he tried to get in one of these cubby holes and would fit! I even tried to turn him around and put him in backwards but he still wouldn't fit in there. Then for last....this is his first Christmas and he loved climbing the tree. I caught him here in the tree. That was cute but it wasn't so cute when the whole tree fell in the middle of the night and we had to tie it to the wall so it would stand! I don't know for sure what happened, but I had a pretty good idea. He was too cute to be mad anyway!

   

Ready to garden!

I don't know about y'all but I am ready to play in the dirt!! We planted some tomatoes and corn Saturday. Today we went shopping for seeds & plants, but it poured down rain so we won't be able to get them in the ground for a few days. Our big plans for our yard/garden is a small natural pond near the edge of the garden and a bench beside it, a small butterfly garden in the back yard and clean up around the shed of the empty house next door. No one has lived there in a while and the last person left a lot of junk out there (scraps of wood, tires, etc.) and it doesn't look like anyone is going to clean it up! So I'll just get what is on the edge and maybe it won't be a snake pit. I know for sure that rat are living there because I saw one of my cats catch one! After I get the stuff gone maybe we can put up a section of fence to block it or something. I guess I didn't notice it before because it is in the back yard of my studio--before we bought it, I didn't really notice what was back there. We have a fence up in our yard, so I couldn't see it anyway. I would love to buy the house and fix it up--it really wouldn't take much, but I think we have plenty of projects on our hands now! Frazier is now hanging around all the time begging to be petted. He even paws at me to pet him if I'm not paying attention to him!

I bought myself these little Bozo forks and spoons off ebay....I always remember one Bozo fork that hung around in our silverware drawer at home. I don't know if we ever had a whole set and Momma can't remember either, but I always loved to eat with it. It was small and just right for my little hands. My husband asked me what I was going to do--was I going to eat with them? I told him "of course!" Maybe I will have my sisters over we can eat with them. LOL! I'm sure they remember them....

I have been doing some work on my sites and actually added a few new patterns to The Cat's Pyjamas Patterns . (And new graphics too....) Its been a while! If you click the "new" button you will see the last 3 things I added. I need to get busy--I have neglected it too long. I am bad about making new things and never putting them on my site. Like I said,I really need an assistant!! I have to get back to sewing--Pumpkin probably misses sitting in the basket beside me while I stitch!! I actually have several new ones that I had on Creative Living with Sheryl Borden. I think I may make those into free patterns and will post the first one here soon!!

TGIF!!

Sweet Pea & I are SO glad its Friday. He's so happy, he can't quit laughing!!!

This has been a long week--I am waiting on it  to rain and wash the pollen away. I feel so tired from it and its hard to get motivated! We have the garden tilled and mostly weeded. I guess we will probably finish this afternoon then we can start planting. I mentioned the "fun part" and my husband said he hasn't seen anything fun about the garden yet. LOL!

Look closely at the picture on the right....Strawberry was sharing a box with Sweet Pea! When he was still tiny, when I stayed up late working on my dolls, I would bring Sweet Pea in the living room with me in a shoe box and Strawberry decided to share it with him! He was really protective of Sweet Pea and loved to snuggle with him. I still catch them snuggling once in a while, but not very often!

I have been trying to work on my website all week but I keep getting distracted! I think I'll drag out my sewing machine tonight and work on a doll. Or paint or something! 

Read more about me.....

Am I ever going to get back to creating? I'm sure I will...but right now I needed a break! I tried to work in the garden today. I couldn't walk in my sandals so I tried going barefoot and the dirt was H-O-T!!! Went to paint in my studio, but my husband had the keys....so I really didn't get too much accomplished. I did nearly get to pet Frazier though! I saw my cats keep watching out the window so I looked out and he was lying in front of the shed we are working on tearing down next door. I went outside and he watched me and meowed at me....Dill and Elvis came out there so he got to watch me pet them and play with them with a stick. He even came over and played with the stick too. I probably would have petted him, but someone stopped to ask about my car that's for sale and he ran off. I did get some good pictures--look how much more relaxed he looks compared to the photos of him at the shelter! He doesn't even look like the same cat! When I brought him home, I didn't expect him to ever come around except to eat. Luckily I followed the instructions on Alley Cat Allies (www.alleycat.org) about relocating feral cats. Everything worked out well with him!

Have you seen my Flyin' Cat in Create & Decorate magazine yet? If you go to their home page, you'll see my little Christmas Kitty too! If you don't get the magazine, you can click here to read the article about me. Who knows--maybe  you will learn something about me that you didn't know!

Oops...almost forgot....Baby Sweet Pea pictures....

 

Kittens....and going green

When I look at these pictures, I can't believe they are of Sweet Pea! He is sooo big now. I hope you aren't tired of his pictures yet--I still have a few favorites left! I think he got used to the camera when he was little and started to like it....

 

This is before he realized he couldn't keep me off the computer....we knew he was going to be a big kitty. Just look at the size of his paws!

 

Think I'll save more for another day.....its fun to see him go from tiny baby to big grown up boy!

   

Yesterday my husband worked in the garden and said that Frazier hung out in the garden with him and even MEOWED! He'll be wanting to be petted before long!!!

SOOO....I think I am a day late. Wasn't Earth Day yesterday? Anyway--what are you doing to "go green?" Here are some things I was already doing....

*Buying used instead of new when possible (furniture, clothes, fabric, etc)

*Recycle aluminum cans

*Composting

*Buying local produce when possible

*No a/c in my vehicles (not by choice, but I when they do work, I use them as little as possible)

*Never, never, ever litter

*Take old paint, etc. to be disposed of properly, not thrown in trash

*Rarely use any chemicals on my garden--use organic or natural when possible

*Donate stuff that others could use instead of throwing it away, or list on freecycle for people to pick up

Maybe there are more--please share what YOU are doing!

Here are some things I recently started doing:

*Using glass for drinking instead of plastic

*Reusable shopping bags

*composting even more

*we had a cardboard recycling bin set up at my parents office

And some things I plan to do:

*buy a Hybrid car someday

*build our new shed out of as much salvaged material as possible (this will be soon, I hope!)

*encourage others to do more to help the environment

*learn more about organic gardening

*purchase more products made from recycled materials

*would love to go solar!

I would love hearing from  y'all about what you are doing to help the environment!