Remembering French

Wow, where has the time gone?  I still haven't gotten around to doing much quilting but decided to make a polka dot puff bed to donate to Small Paws Rescue  in memory of my beloved French.  French was surrendered to a rescue due to unfortunate family circumstances when he was nine years old.  I adopted him and he lived with us for six and half wonderful years.  French has been gone since 2007 and we still miss him each and every day.

Here is the bed I made and donated to the auction.   Click here to go to the Small Paws auction page and you will see some amazing items that have been donated.

Crazy for Catnip

I am working on kitty crafts this week as the items are needed for a craft show on Saturday.  Catnip mice, puff beds and kitty kick pillows are the items I must get done and I am making good progress--whew!  Catnip grows all around my yard and I try to harvest some every year and Sunday I took one of my large bunches down from the barn rafters and stripped it so I could use the good stuff in my crafts.  Here is my catnip bunch before I stripped it.

And here is what it looks like now that I am ready to craft.

MimiMe is such a helper when it comes to making catnip mice and he wants to be right in the middle of all of the action.

All of the mice are completed and now I just need to finish the kick pillows and stuff the puff beds before the end of the week.  Once the crafts are done I hope to get back to some quilting.

Quilt Poem

The following was read at our September quilt guild meeting and I thought it was too funny.  I don't get much done as it is and if I follow these "rules" I'll never get anything done!

FROM 1949

Prepare yourself mentally for sewing.  Think about what you are going to do . . .Never approach sewing with a sigh or lackadaisically.  Good results are difficult when indifference predominates.

Never try to sew with a sink full of dirty dishes or beds unmade.  When there are urgent housekeeping chores, do these first so your mind is free to enjoy your sewing.  When you sew, make yourself as attractive as possible.  Put on a clean dress.  Keep a little bag full of French chalk near your sewing machine to dust your fingers at intervals.  Have your hair in order, powder and lipstick put on.  If you are constantly fearful that a visitor will drop in or your husband will come home, and you will not look neatly put together, you will not enjoy your sewing.

Twinkie is checking to see if we are getting any visitors because he knows I am not neatly put together to accept visitors!

Tea and Meringue

My travel friend and I spent last week visiting London and had a wonderful time.  The weather was a bit rainy and it did hamper some of our planned outdoor activities but it didn't interrupt our tea time.  We did get to the Orangery and once again the raspberry meringue eluded me as the kitchen is undergoing a major renovation and the menu was limited.  But not to worry as I eventually found a pile of meringues at the Borough Market and was able to satisfy my meringue need.

We also took a couple of hours to have a lovely high tea at The Sanderson Hotel where they have an Alice in Wonderland theme.  It was fun but I'm not sure it was worth the price as it is quite expensive.

My favorite place ended up being Maison Bertaux as the pastries were beautiful and so tasty.  I had a wonderful raspberry tart that was the best.  Now if I had remembered to take a photo of it I could remember it forever but sadly I must have been too distracted by the tart to remember to get my camera out.

All in all it was a great trip and I would do it again in a heartbeat.  I am happy to be home and now I have to get busy working on some kitty crafts for a craft show in two weeks.