My 1st Caturday!

Have I mentioned that I just love Becky of Becky's B-Thrifty Blog.  Becky is a sweet, stitchin' lady who just so happens to be a teacher!  (Anyone who is a teacher has a special place in my heart!)  She's also in love with the same things as me- kitties, thrifting, embroidery, old TV, Elvis...should I keep going?  Anyhoo, she's wonderful and has the sweetest feature on her blog, Caturday!  Isn't that cute?  I thought so, which means I'm totally going to have a few Caturdays around these parts.  I figured with three cats, I'll have plenty of material.  A big thanks to sweet Becky, for the inspiration!

Everyone likes pictures of cats, right?

Oh...you don't?  

Sorry!  You'll probably want to avoid my blog for the next few Saturdays Caturdays!

Hmmmmmm, what to share??  As my first Caturday, I should probably kick it off with the OGK, (Original Gangster Kitty) Mama Sass.

It all started with her. A crazy lioness of a cat.

The guy was pretty anti-cat for a long time.  Understandably so, after several bad experiences with an old roommate and her kitty.  However, after getting the big guy, Tequila (Yes, we're aware of the female emphasis there.  It's a long story, for another time.) he warmed up to the idea.  One night a co-worker called to tell me she was bringing over a stray kitten.  However, she  arrived with a "teenage" adult kitty who was promptly scared away by the dogs in the house.  Eventually she came back and we became one big happy family- Dillon, Jackson, Tequila and Mama Sass.  We were surprised, but not the least bit upset, when this skinny-minny gave us 5 kittens!!! (That, too, is another story entirely!)

,

Sadly, after having her litter and being fixed, she changed quite bit.  When the babies we kept were old enough to be developing their own personalities and exploring their space, she became very hostile towards them.  She fought them all of the time and eventually ran away.  We put up posters and checked every shelter around for months, however we never saw her again.   After seeking some advice we found that this was pretty common with feral cats who become domesticated for a short period of time.

I was still pretty devastated.  Having grown up in NY, I didn't even know what a feral cat was until Sass came along.  With the weather being so temperate here, most people let their cats out all year-round.  I'm still torn on the subject.  (It's been the topic of many a heated discussion 'round these parts.)

After she left I felt so guilty, however, I'm convinced that she only moved a few blocks away.  There is a huge college that maintains a colony of feral cats (with controlled breeding and health-care, of course.)  There is one that looks just like Sass.  She has yet to approach when I call, so I mainly look crazy, but I'm used to that.  I still think it's her.  I also still miss her terribly.  Maybe it's wishful thinking but I still hope that it's her.  And that maybe she cruises by here every once and a while, just to see how her babies are doing.  You never know, crazier things have happened.

So, yeah.  That's Mama Sass, our first kitty.  She's a beauty, no?

Thanks for tuning into my first Caturday!  I'll be back very soon with more fun stuff.  Having missed you guys so much lately, I'm trying to make up for lost time. See you soon.  Have a craftastic day!

Seemed like a good idea at the time...

I found this embroidery needle stuck in a little planner that I use sometimes.  I tend to find needles and pins in all sorts of my stuff.  I never want to leave them around for animals (or bare feet) to find, so I stick them in my stuff.  Like papers, or my shirt or my pants.  Our couch is leather, so luckily, I've gotten out of the habit of putting them in the couch ;)

This is one reason why I love listening to Stitching 'n' Junk.  I can always relate to the silly stitching stories- like random floss sticking to you in public or stitching yourself to your project.  

What silly stitching habit do you have??

The Bag Bag

Like I mentioned in the last post, I've got a ton of happy mail lately.  Getting the mail really is one of the best parts of the day.

I won a giveaway on Cynthia's blog, The Sewing Dork.  

Check out the cute handmade bag she sent me-

It's a bag of bags!!  And it's huge, great for me since I tend to haul around a lot of stuff.  I can't wait until Spring rolls around again so I can bust this out.  It's so bright and cheery!

And inside was a whole bunch of fabric!

She said that she was just including some scraps, but let me tell you, she was very generous.  Some of these "scraps" were bigger than fat quarters!  So many cute prints too.... I'm already brewing up tons of ideas to use them for.

A BIG thanks to Cynthia!!

Be sure to visit her blog, she makes tons of great stuff.  And posts tutorials for them, too.  Right now she has the "Sew What Holiday Challenge" going on.  It's already a week in, but I'm still thinking of playing along.  Anyone else want to join in?

Well, it's time to enjoy a bit of South Park and eat breakfast for dinner (the best!!!!)  Despite the fact that getting appliances as gifts used to irk me, I LOVE the waffle iron the boy bought me.  It creates such yum for my tum.

See you guys tomorrow!!

I love Strumpets Crumpets!!

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this or not, but I <3 Strumpet's Crumpets!

(Click on the photo for the source, Becky's Flickr!)

Becky has the cutest blog!   It's jam packed with crafty goodness, plus pictures of her sweet little dog, Mickey.  What's not to love?!  Please, go check out her blog!  From embroideries to afghans, paper crafts to aprons, she really does it all.  And fabulously, I must say.

I mean, just look at these invites.  Printing black on black...genius.

(Click on the photo for the source, Becky's Flickr)

Remember a few weeks ago, I mentioned her crafting supplies swap?  Well, so far it's been a raging success for me.  I was able to send some supplies to loving homes where they will come to good use.  I'm sure that I will be able to come up with lots more to giveaway when I deep clean the crafty closet.

And Miss Strumpet's Crumpets herself sent me a whole pile of wonderful!  Thanks, Becky!

Yay!  Business cards!  Exactly the kind I was planning on buying, since I'm making my own.  I love it when things work out that way.  Now for a little stamp carving.

A few days later, I found another little surprise in my mailbox.

What a sweetie!  And with perfect timing, how did she know that I needed all of these bookmarks?

I had just gone on a library binge the day before.

 Again, just funny how things work out.  Don't you think?

Well, off to craft a bit.  And clean a bit- meh.  Having a job again is making me super conscious of time, so I'm cramming in as much as possible.  Yay, for super productive days! 

I'll be back later today though.  I have lots of happy mail to share with you, I've been such a lucky girl lately.  Hope you are having a super productive day too!  See you soon.