Simone Sightings

I hereby cheerfully announce two, not one, not three but TWO, yes TWO Simone sightings - today. For my dear readers who are as yet not introduced to Simone ... she is a beautiful, yet terribly timid Siamese/Ragdoll cross I "adopted" from a cattery on Oct. 6th, 2008.
I was informed that Simone was "spastic" (no evidence of spasms so far), had only produced one kitten, hence was being given away for free by the breeder, and was bullied by the other free roaming cats in the cattery. I was Simone's "last chance" at life, so she immediately came home with me as I have an oh too soft a heart.
Simone has been in hiding in the basement since Oct 6th!Most "experts" will tell you to keep cats separated while the new one adjusts to her surroundings, hence the basement. Being extraordinarily timid, Simone immediately picked a hiding spot behind the TV in the entertainment unit! I allowed this for 1 1/2 weeks since she seemed comfortable, but have since pushed back the TV forcing Simone into a newer - more accessible hiding spot. She is now residing under the loveseat. Each week I pin up another portion of the skirt on the loveseat to reveal her more and more. We currently have the loveseat pulled away from the wall so Simone can not back up against the wall. Every day 2-3 times per day I go down and lay on the floor and talk and purr and sing and make all kinds of silly (but quiet) noises to Simone. I have attempted to reach out with my hand, but she has quickly reminded me (claws in luckily) that she is not yet ready for any touchy feely stuff.

Soon I will have to upend the loveseat so Simone can not hide under the couch at all! Iris at first was taking this all with great difficulty, hissing and growling and much tail wooshing! Now she goes downstairs into the basement and looks at Simone then walks away. It seems to be a Mexican standoff at this point. Wish me luck - here's hoping that lovely Simone comes upstairs by the holiday season.
TTFN

The Generosity of Friends ...

So, for our friends at sea, and those who might wonder Does this woman have any friends left? YES, I am very happy to relay that I have many many friends, and most of them are very supportive, sensitive, thoughtful, and in this case very generous. I was recently overwhelmed with the gift of this fabulous Eastlake parlour table, which as you can see immediately received the place of honour in my front window! The time of its inaugural portrait was our Canadian Thanksgiving, hence the pumpkin decorations. I expect I will be auditioning several fine linens/crocheted tablecloths until I find just that perfect one! This could take months ... so expect a possible series of pics. How did she know ? How perfect for my room? How exquisite! How do I say thank you?

By bragging about it to everyone I know!

THANK YOU! THANK YOU ! THANK YOU !

I must admit I have been remiss in expressing my gratitude as at the time of the table receipt was also the occasion of adopting psycho Simone, my new 18 month Siamese/ragdoll cross. In hind sight I should have taken the more friendly Flamepoint Himalyana/Scottish Fold cross, but Simone was just so beautiful, and I hope will in the end be a better friend to Iris. No pics yet as psycho Simone is still hiding under the couch in the basement - we're going into week three now .... stay tuned - it's going to be a bumpy ride!

My Messy Life

So - here it is ladies - MY creativity room (or at least one part of it). As you can see I need lots of visual and auditory stimulus, hence the TV, the bulletin board with way too many notes, and all the rest of the clutter. BUT - it's organized - sort of, cobbled together over the years! My sewing table is actually one half of my former dinning room table (a garbage salvaged piece of furniture) the other half extends off to the left under the TV tower. On top of the TV is a vintage porcelain lady pin cushion I purchased at a local auction.
Behind the sewing machine (one of 4) I have a vintage paper stand which now holds my freezer paper role 'cause I do a lot of applique and like the freezer paper method. The small wooden plaque on the wall above me is from Moscow, a souvenir from my father's last trip to Russia. You can just see my little Babuska doll on the small doll's table.
From a former bathroom I am re-using the toothbrush holders, and glass flower frogs, to hold some of my frequently used sewing utensils, like my seam ripper, tweezers, tube turner, and mini iron. I also use the soap dish to hold current bobbins and threads, and finally a cotton ball holder to house all my various sewing machine feet (hidden behind the sewing machine). Tucked beside the sewing machine is a former treadle sewing machine drawer which houses several varieties of pins, and a pamphlet box with my machine manuals. The drawer unit contains some of my ribbon collection, button collection and other odds and sods which we all collect!

Under the sewing table tucked beside the counter I keep two large wicker baskets. they were originally purchased for under the bed "out of season" storage, but quickly became fabric storage!!! One houses all my Batiks - which quickly overflowed into two more sea grass baskets under the ironing board. The other holds my "favourite" UFOs ....... To my right is a shelf tower which holds a couple of treadle sewing machine drawers filled with thread, plastic organizer boxes filled with misc much needed supplies, like buttons and bobbles and ribbons and lace, and fastners etc. Just before the window you can see one of my door knob hangers I made last holdiay season! I used a vintage glass door knob and decorative brass washer (is that the name for it?), drilled a hole thru a painted wooden plaque and Voila! I have one in my bedroom where I hold recently worn scarves or necklaces ... very handy object d'art!

Here's a front on shot of my cutting counter (cutting mat leaning up against it!) As you can see I have this month's fabric postcards arrayed on the white metal fan a friend gave me for this very purpose (shout out to C M-R and Thank You). The counter is also a salvaged kitchen unit my father dumpster dived for one day (he'll never admit that he dumpster dives ... but I got the bug from him), then repainted and resurfaced with a useful but ugly arborite top. It's just the perfect height and width for cutting fabric, and since it backs up onto the room's window - it's wonderful to stand at and rotary cut on a beautiful sunny day.

On the left is another cobbled together book shelf with way too many quilting books - but how can you get rid of any??? In front of the bookshelves is my wooden ironing board, currently draped with my 2008 "Blue Hawaii" challenge piece. Behind the ironing board is my design wall ... 2 pieces of styrofoam insulation with baby flannel stretched over top and held together and held on the wall with large alligator clips. The pressback chair is one of a pair I purchased while garage saleing one day - a real bargoon - $25.00 for the pair whoohoo!

So, that's my sewing room, messy as it is. It goes together with my messy life...
TTFN

Lost Brains

So it's official ... I have finally and perhaps irrevocably lost them. I don't really know where I put them but they have definitely left the building.

This past weekend I had another one of my all too frequent I Don't Know What I Was Thinking episodes - you know the kind, where you go out, and against your better judgement purchase something/ volunteer for something, or, in my case adopt another psycho feline!

WHAT WAS I THINKING ???

Well, I was thinking that poor little sweetiepie Iris is driving me crazy wanting to play all the time, and I, lazy mummy that I am, want to sit and quilt...
So, now that Iris is all settled in and happy and well adjusted, I had better find her a companion. When the Kijijii cat deal fell through silly me then responded to a Penny Saver ad to "give a home to a wonderful Himalyan/Persian/Ragdoll - FREE" . Yes ladies - you guessed it, I once again got taken in by the "FREE" word.

So, now I have psycho cat (a beautiful cross between a Siamese and a Ragdoll), ensconced somewhere in the nether regions of my basement - ohhh I hope she's still in the family room and not in the laundry room where she can get into the rafters and hide forever ....

Ok, ok, calm down. I must remain calm. Let us remember back to the early days of Iris
(named after the famous British woman writer Iris Murdock) who hid under my bed for 2 weeks and would not come out! Maybe we'll get lucky again and this baby will warm up to Iris and me tout de suite. In eager anticipation I have decided to go ahead and name this new, as yet unseen baby ....... wait for it ....... Simone, after the famous French feminist Simone de Beauvoir. From what I can remember seeing of her at the kitty mill - she looked French. I know - she's half Siamese ... so I suppose she's actually Indochine which means she must then be related to Margeurite Duras, another favourite French feminist writer.... Come to think of it I did have a all white cat one time named Pearl which I always associate with Duras' famous novel The Lover. Oh .... don't get me started down that existential path!

Pics will be forth coming whenever Simone finally decides to come out of hiding and pose for us!
Wish us luck!!
TTFN