Not Stitching! GASP

Well I haven't been stitching for the past few days, but now there IS a perfectly logical and quite good explanation. Meet Tuxedo Cat (Tuxi), the newest addition to our family. He is 4 months old and quite a handful when trying to stitch. At the moment, he's following the mouse around as a type, so forgive any typos as I CAN'T SEE THE MONITOR! He likes to try and catch the pointer, silly boy. But come stitching time, LOOKOUT! He's all about trying to nab the needle with the floss on it and he seldom misses. I spend more time fighting him off than making any actual progress, so I try to limit my stitching time to those times when I have PLENTY of time to deal with him, or when he's sleeping. Which isn't very often, LOL.

marisa

New Beginnings

I've got quite a bit of catching up to do here, so here's my second post in 2 days. This is a piece I have started for my mom, it's called Oriole and Chickadee. It's by Barbara Sestok and appeared in the August 2001 issue of The Cross Stitcher. I'm stitching it on 20 count pewter Lugana; there will be a companion piece to go with this one called Warbler and Bunting (same designer and issue) that I will stitch on the same count fabric but a different color. My mom loves to watch the birds on her farm, and she loves realistic looking pieces. Since the count on this fabric is so large, I'm stitching over one. This has given the added benefit of looking more like needlepoint than cross stitch; needlepoint being one of my mom's hobbies before her health turned bad. Anyway, I hope she likes it.
Tuxedo Cat (Tuxie) came home with me last night. He strolled out the carrier just like he owned the place and has had no complications at all fitting right in. He loves his feathered and belled teaser toy, and plays contentedly for extremely long periods of time, so far we tire long before he does. He's had previous experience with dogs, and our dog has had previous experience with cats, so they are not having any issues. Unless, of course, you count watching a 75 pound Doberman try to figure out how to play with a 4 month old kitten without 1) breaking it, or 2) getting accidentally clawed. They've given us many giggles in just the 48 hours that Tuxie has been with us!

Made It Past the Holidays

Whew! What a holiday season! As usual, it snuck up on me, what with a house remodel that just will not end, school projects and field trips and now, my own job, it seems this holiday season was even sneakier than usual. But, I made it through, had a nice Christmas, David's first at home in 2 years and we were even able to get Christmas down and Birthday (for Emily) up in record time, AND throw her an impromptu party over the school break. She's decided to postpone her big party until spring so we can have a pool party at the city's big pool, complete with water slide, hot tub and wave machine. Even I am excited about that!

Here is a neat little magazine freebie I stitched for my kitchen, his name is Le Chef and he was designed by Bennie Harman and appeared in the June 2007 issue of The Cross Stitcher. Over the holidays, I hang my nicer ornaments from the chairs in the dining room, and I'd like to stitch some kitchen themed small ornie-sized pieces to hang year round. I'm trying to redo my kitchen Tuscan style, but still keep it mobile since we move about every 3 years (such is the military way) so accessories are the way to go for me.

The big news for today is that we are supposed to be getting a kitten tonight. You see, I work part time at a vet clinic and yesterday one of the lab technicians brought in a black and white 4 month old male kitty he had rescued. Kitty has been getting his health checked, and today gets tested for feline leukemia. Last night my co-worker kept bringing him out of his cage and playing with him, and he's just the sweetest little guy in the world, I couldn't resist. So I am going to bring him home tonight. David isn't too pleased since he's professes to hate cats (secretly, he's a cat lover) and Emily is not pleased at all. She saw me get clawed up pretty badly from a cat I was trying to rescue and hasn't liked them since. But, I am a huge cat lover and haven't had one since Dandi died 9 years ago; it's time for a new one. I told Emily she could name kitty but she hasn't picked anything yet. I figure Lexi, our 10 year old Doberman, will most likely name him "AAAACCCCHHH GET OFF MY NOSE!" She's familiar with cats but it's been a while for her, too!
marisa