Party Planning

Our annual Halloween party is this weekend...I said I wasn't going to plan one so I could concentrate on my studio, but I couldn't resist! I tried to keep it simple, but today I'm going to Momma's to pick out a place for our haunted hayride. It won't be anything elaborate or too scary since we have several little ones. Just a little spooky (think glowing eyes and ghosts). Then I'll spend tomorrow making my food and cat ears and paws for my costume. I'm pretty excited about it now!

 

I haven't written about my kitties in a while. I think it's because moved my office to my studio and my camera stays over here. I used to always have it at home and take lots of pics, but now I use my phone and post a lot on instagram. all the kitties are doing well right now. I don't think I blogged about it, but we lost Mr. Spock earlier this year. He was 17 and we've had him with us most of his life, so it is hard to get used to not having him around. Now Strawberry is close to his age. He has all but 4 of his teeth pulled (not all at once..) and just recently he lost one (and I found it!!). So now he only has 3 teeth! Besides that he seems to be well and spends most of his time in my lap whenever I'm home. We have 3 others in the house. Sissy, Pumpkin (in the photo) and Hadley. Rusty is still in my studio and there are SEVEN that live outside. Luckily none have shown up to stay since we got Hadley a few years ago. There have been some that I took to the animal rescue and they found new homes. There were 2 stray tom cats that I wanted to get fixed, but I guess they moved on before I caught them. I even had the live trap out ready to catch them, but they haven't been back. Studio is so close to being ready to open. I have a few little things to get done outside and I've got my flower beds starting to get full. Mostly I need to get my stuff put away inside. It will be such a relief to finally be done. But that won't last long...we have to get back to remodeling our home after this is done!

 

 

Patriotic Polly

Check out my newest doll in Create & Decorate magazine -- Patriotic Polly! You can find her in the July/August issue of Create & Decorate or if you can't find the magazine, order it from my site at The Cat's Pyjamas Patterns.

All kitties seem to be doing well around here. We have a new one that has been hanging around. I caught him one day to get him neutered, but he got away and he's a little suspicious of me. (Imagine that!!) But he is starting to trust me again. I've been petting him and he let me pick him up, kind of, yesterday. I'm hoping by the first of next week, I'll be able to get him to the vet. The old white kitty from down the road has been coming to see me. To start with it was about once a week. The day before yesterday, she was here in the morning, then at lunchtime, then still here in the evening. She seemed to be starving and I thought it was strange because I know her owners feed her. I tried to get her to follow me back to her house but she wasn't interested. Later her owner stopped by and said some dogs had her cornered in the garage, so I guess she came here to get away from them. :( So sad because she's pretty old. We just let her stay here whenever she wants and she eventually went home that afternoon. At least she knows where she can run & hide if she needs to.....we're hoping not to have any new kitties show up for a while. There was another but he took off before I could catch him. Who knows, he may be back sometime!

Don't pick fights!

I don't know if Smokey will ever learn...He got in a fight with a stray and had a huge infected sore above his eye and one in his ear. Poor guy--I could just imagine that cat having him by the eye and ear and not letting go! Apparently this isn't his first fight. When he came here, his ear was folded back as you can see in the photo. He is so much better in this picture. It was taken a couple of weeks ago so he is well now, just has a little bald spot above his eye where he is growing back some hair. I'm trying to trap the stray to get him fixed without much luck. I had a virus and was sick for over a week, couldn't even get out of bed for a few days! When I woke up with a temp of 103, I figured I better get myself to the dr. I'm better now, but you can really get behind in just a few days, can't you? I'd love to take a hint from Little Bit (below), but just don't think I have time to lie in the yard right now. Maybe soon.....

Oh, hoping to get the new countertops sealed this week so I can get the sink installed this weeked!!

Here I am!!

I knew it had been a while since I'd written on my blog. But today when I looked back, I couldn't believe the last time I wrote was Oct. 8. So I apologize for any of you who have been wondering about me!! We've had a lot going on--of course all the holidays, birthdays, remodeling my studio (still!) and we lost our 17 year old kitty Mr. Spock. I spent a lot of time taking care of him last fall and into the winter. He died a couple of weeks before Christmas and I guess I'm still adjusting to being without him after so many years.

I was thinking that since we are doing a lot of remodeling and DIY projects, maybe y'all would like to see that here on my blog. Let me know your thoughts--you can comment here or send me an email. I do some updates about my etsy, magazine articles, etc. on facebook if you want to follow me there, but I will try to include them more on here now. I have had some projects in Create & Decorate & in Prims magazines if you have been watching for those. I have new patterns & supplies at www.thecatspyjamaspatterns.com I started dying my own wool curls, so I have some new colors available. I have new artwork at www.thecatspyjamas.com too. I've been doing more paintings lately....

We are SO CLOSE to having my studio ready on the inside! I think my husband may have gotten a little carried away in the kitchen. I was thinking we could just paint the few cabinets in there now and put shelves on the one bare wall. He was on a job and saw someone had thrown away some cabinets. We were at Home Depot one night to look at some sinks because I HATE the sink that was in here and I wanted to pick out a sink and faucet. (The faucet was worse than the sink....) While I was looking, he mentioned there were cabinets and a sink. So we took off to look and the sink actually looked really good and so did the cabinets! It was really cold, so we went home, got bundled up, cleaned out the van and got all the cabinets, sink and can you believe it had a good faucet on there too? Maybe not the one I would have picked, but it still looks good. The sink & faucet are practically new. We got a set of 4 big cabinets to hang on the bare wall. The two in the middle have glass, the other two are open. Then I got a smaller set of 4 to go above my desk, one base cabinet that fits perfectly in a spot where we didn't know what to put there and another that my husband made an island bar out of, with casters so I can move it around. After that, he built more cabinets--corner cabinets, shelves, cabinet for my broom, mop & trash can. I finally had to say I thought that was plenty of shelves. Ha ha! He still has to make doors, then I can paint them! Then I talked him into making me a wood counter. We've made light fixtures, fireplace from old wood, made over the front door. We've just been so busy. As soon as I can, I will get some pics on here for you to see what we've done so far. I am looking forward to getting in here to work, then of course, getting outside for some landscaping and gardening projects!!

Sissy's bath time

I caught Sissy cleaning her paws and couldn't resist some photos of her....I think she had no clue I was even there. haha!!

Make Ahead meals

Ever since I saw this photo of someone's freezer on joelens.blogspot.com, I have been

wanting to make some meals and fill my freezer! So I finally made preparations & did it this week! For 3 nights, I cooked extra and prepared it for the freezer. On the first night I cooked a whole bunch of chicken and made chicken enchiladas. That was enough for our supper and 3 dishes for the freezer. I also had enough to make 3 chicken & broccoli casseroles and some chicken left over for my kitty, Mr. Spock. On the 2nd night I cooked a lot of ground beef & turkey and made spaghetti for supper. I had enough left for 2 servings for lunches, 3 dishes of lasagne and several containers of baked beans. Tonight I made homemade pizza dough and we had pizza for supper, so I have 2 crusts to make pizza later, plus I made 7 small pizzas for lunches so we won't have to buy those yucky, greasy frozen pizza for when we are in a hurry. I also made "Aunt Shirley's baked beans" in the crock pot and they are a whole meal with cornbread. I did a few other things, so now I am hoping I can be set to not go to the store for a month except for things to fill in (milk, bread, fresh veggies). I even have several breakfasts in there because I hate getting up early to cook! I will try to get some of my recipes and let you know how they turn out after being frozen. I finished all my cooking tonight, so should be able to use up the food for about 3 more weeks and take it easy and hopefully concentrate on creating now!

We've had a new kitty hanging around for a couple of weeks. I was hoping to find him a home on my own, but my kitties outside were so upset by having him here. Monday I took him to a local no-kill shelter. I was sad to take him, but I know he will find a good home. All his tests were negative, so he is ready to be neutered and start looking for his new home! I wish I could keep them all, but at 13, I am pretty full here. They can get expensive and I want to be able to take good care of the ones I have now. Maybe someday when I am rich and don't have to work.....I am still waiting for that day though!!

New jewelry!

I've been working on new jewelry... I have several new pieces, but this one is my favorite so far! I used hand-dyed fibers, plus a mixture of old and new stuff to make the pendant and the necklace is a vintage rhinestone strand. Watch my website, www.tcpstyle.com for several new pieces. Also look for my designs in the current issues of Create & Decorate magazine.

Kitties all seem to be keeping me busy around here! I've been nursing a really bad eye on Dill for almost 2 months and it is just now starting to get better. Mr. Spock still has his good days and bad days. Just a couple of months ago I thought he wouldn't pull through, but he is doing okay again. He is a tough ol' kitty!

Rusty in action

Rusty and Strawberry are both recovering nicely from getting their teeth pulled! Here's Rusty feeling good and playing. I thought these pics were so funny--he looks pretty vicious when he plays! ha ha! Strawberry is feeling so good now...he has been playing more now too. And he only has FOUR teeth left!

Today I'm listing some of the jewelry I made from vintage/antique jewelry. I'm trying to come up with a name for that that category. Any ideas? I like "salvage" in the title...Check www.tcpstyle.com in a bit to see the new stuff.

Did I mention I will be in Dalton, GA on Oct. 1 from 5-8? I will be at Kellie Smith Design Studio. Here's her site, there should be directions there. Hope some of you can drop by!

Kellie Smith Design Studio

More pics of Rusty in Action....

  

Hangin' with Poncho

I've been pretty busy with graphics & cats lately! Poncho is one of the new strays that I recently got neutered. I thought he was feral, but it turns out he is a sweetheart! He finally let me near him a few weeks ago, then I got him fixed. He was so scared at the vet and I really felt sorry for him! I had to keep him in a kennel overnight and he was so upset. But he was back within a few days and has been putting on weight and getting more comfortable around me every day. Now he'll climb in my lap and follow me around like a little puppy dog. He pats me on the ankles if I'm not petting him and meows at me constantly. He must really have a lot to say!! The other kitty I got fixed has a new home just across the road from my studio, so I get to see him every day still. He spends most of his time indoors, but does get to come out and visit.

I am getting together with my family today--we're going out to eat and to Crow Mountain orchard. Should be fun and I know I'll come home with way too much fruit and will probably be busy all weekend canning and freezing. It will be worth it when the winter gets here and I'm eating a buttermilk biscuit just out of the oven with some peach preserves I made myself! If anyone has good jelly, jam or preserves recipes, I'd like to hear them! I think they now have peaches, apples, blackberries & plums, maybe nectarines. Mmmmm...I can't wait!

My studio is coming along....we built a small closet on the back of the house connected to the back bedroom. This is where my hubby's music room will be and the closet will be for storage. (So he can get his stuff out of my way. ha!!) The closet is painted and the bedroom primed. I'll pick up more primer and paint today and we'll probably have it painted by the weekend and ready for flooring. (I saw "we", but my husband has done all the painting in this room!) Can't wait to get started on the last 2 rooms of my studio so I can officially move in and start creating here!!

CJ's new sleeping spot

Have you ever noticed that nearly every picture I have of CJ is in this ol' white wicker chair? He LOVES to sleep there. For a while he slept in a kennel on the front porch. I set it out there after I brought it out of the house and he decided to sleep in it. I felt bad to take it away....I needed it for another cat, so after I took it off the porch, he moved back to the same wicker chair again! But for some reason, he decided to move to the bird bath now. That chair has been "his spot" for so long, it seems strange to see him there! I'm sure he'll be back to the chair before long, but for now he sure looks pretty in the bird bath!

I am working on listing some vintage patterns today--some old sewing patterns, craft patterns, doll patterns, etc. Click here to see them....really good prices on them! Its hard for me to let some of these go, but I have to be honest with myself. I will probably never get around to using them. I don't won't to end up being on that show, Hoarders!! Oh, I DID get rid of something big today. I bought a set of french doors over 10 years ago. Well, I thought they were a set, but when we got them out, they didn't even match. Someone came to look and thought they were too much work. So I GAVE them away. I was pretty proud of myself, but I do like to see things be recycled and used instead of being thrown away. Maybe this will inspire me to clean out more. I've been using Craigslist to give away and sell stuff. My husband installs carpet and takes up lots that is in good shape, so I've been putting it on Craigslist when he puts it at the road. Someone is out there right now getting some carpet! I'm trying my best to "go green"!!