There's a New Cat in Town!

It's been really nice to hear from so many of you who have missed this little blog while I took an unplanned, extended break.  I've been away from home a lot in the past few months - visiting with family, attending Mountain Quiltfest in Pigeon Forge and AQS in Paducah, with a couple of quilting retreats thrown in for good measure.  All in all, good things but they didn't leave time for blogging.

However, this little charmer is one of the main reasons for my blogging absence .... meet Rocky!

As many of you will remember, we lost our sweet Gypsy a year and a half ago, and decided to take a while to just be the two of us before thinking about adding another cat to the family.  Because of her age (18-1/2), Gypsy had lots of health issues which required that at least one of us be at home to care for her daily, so travel or vacations were just not possible the last five years she was with us.  We weren't looking for another kitty, not even close .... but I ask you, how could I resist this little guy?

First cuddle!
See the snow on the ground?

Rocky stole my heart in early April when I went to visit my mom in the NC mountains.  He had a home down the road from them, but mostly chose to live outdoors.  Several months earlier, smart kitty that he is, he decided that he wanted to be Mom's kitty - probably because he was jealous of their cat, Gus, who pretty much gets treated royally like the King he is.  He had taken to sitting on their doorstep and begging to come in every time they opened the door.  But they couldn't let him in because Gus had already made it clear that he would not accept another cat in the house.  They were terribly worried about him because quite a few cats had begun disappearing from the area - taken by coyotes.  His mom and at least a couple of his siblings had already met that terrible fate.

That look on his face .... "Yep, she's mine!"
(And look at that totally adorable dirty little nose!)

I took one look at him and thought he was simply adorable.  Definitely too cute to become coyote fodder!!!  My defenses were broken down further when I picked him up and he began to purr happily and curled himself up contentedly in my arms.  Since he was primarily an outdoor cat, he still had his thick, furry winter coat - the first night I was there it snowed! - and felt like a cuddly teddy bear.  He was also dirty and covered in fleas and ear mites, and had an open abscess the size of a quarter behind one ear where he had been defending his territory.  He was a typical 3-year-old tomcat, and not even close to what I would ordinarily have chosen for our next kitty.  I resisted.  I really did.  At least the first day.

After that, I was a goner.  My poor husband was so understanding.  Even though he really wasn't ready for a new cat, he told me to bring him home if I really wanted him.  He said he was surprised it had taken me this long to fall in love with one.  He knows me pretty well, doesn't he?

Rocky has adjusted to being an indoor kitty much more easily than I thought he would

So I brought this little mountain kitty home, pretty much put him through torture at the vet's office the first couple of days, and then we began to think of names for him.  We really had a hard time coming up with a name for him - something that fit him perfectly that we both liked.

See those super sharp claws?
Yep, we had to clip them pretty quickly!

My first choice was Dickens, because he is so fun-loving and precocious, and I loved the connection to my love of reading.  But no one else liked it.  I suggested Teddy because of his fat little chipmunk cheeks (Theodore of Alvin & the Chipmunks!) and his soft pelt, but my husband said he needed a more dignified name.  Around and around we went with no name really working for us.  We tried to think of something that would harken back to his NC mountain roots, but nothing seemed to be that just-right name.  Finally I declared enough was enough and named him Dickens.

For three whole days, he was Dickens.  Until I decided to look up the name "Dickens" to see what it means and where it comes from.  And learned that it is another name for the devil!!!  Whoa Nelly!!!!  No way was I going to be calling the devil's name every time I called my sweet cat!  I went running downstairs and told my husband, "That's it.  We have to change his name!"  He laughed when I told him why, but agreed that it had to go, especially since he had never liked it to begin with.  But we were back to square one.

How could such a sweet little guy have such a wicked name?  No way!

Later in the day, My Guy said it was hard for him to think of names because the little guy was still very shy of him and had not had a lot to do with him.  He hadn't had a chance to get to know his personality.  I said he hadn't survived for 3 years in coyote-infested mountains without being cautious and he would learn to trust him.  I said, "He's a survivor and deserves a strong name."  Immediately, my husband said, "Rocky!"  Because the band Survivor sang Eye of the Tiger as the theme song for the Rocky movie.  We both knew right away that it was the right name, even if it was for a convoluted reason LOL!  And to top it off, the road that leads to my mom's house is called Rocky Lane.

Did you want to use my iPad this morning, Mom?  I'm a little busy here ....

It has been an adventure incorporating little Rocky into our home!  He's a ball of energy and I have had to practically child-proof our home!  He's learning not to claw the furniture, not to pull pins from the pincushion, not to wake me up at 5 in the morning to play ... well, we're still working on that one!  Thankfully he had been trained to a litter box as a kitten and picked up that habit quickly!

Nope!  Not writing in your notebook this morning!
I think I'm going to have to confiscate this here pencil.....

He pretty much believes that anything that takes my attention away from him should be destroyed, or at least pushed out of the way.  In typical cat fashion, he immediately lays on top of my iPad, computer keyboard, organizer - anything that keeps me from holding or petting him!

Whatcha doin' Mom?

But he loves being a Quilter's kitty!

He always seems to decide that this is the most comfortable chair in the house when I'm ready to sew....

And he found this quilt on the back of the sofa his first day with us!

Does he look content, or what?  

Then, a few days later he discovered my favorite blue-and-white Pineapple Blossom on the recliner in the studio and made himself at home....

I have so many photos of Gypsy sitting on this same quilt - such bittersweet memories!

Gypsy - taken during her last year with us.
(Can you tell from her expression that she wasn't quite as "sweet" as Rocky? LOL!)

Then yesterday, I laid my Montego Bay quilt on the sewing table while I cut strips for binding it.  When I came back to the table to sew the strips on, this is what I saw....

So hopefully I'll get that binding on today.  I need to take it to my guild meeting on Tuesday as my monthly UFO Challenge project.  As I'm typing this post, he's back on the quilt this morning, watching me calmly and sending me telepathic messages about my chances of reclaiming "his" quilt.

What do you think of my chances of getting this quilt bound by Tuesday?
Yeh, me neither =^..^=

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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March-ing Forward!

I've got sew much I'd like to get done in March - my To Do list could stretch a mile!

Hoping those March winds blow Spring in to us quickly!!!
My March Country Basket from Quiltmaker 2003

Fortunately, I also have two retreats scheduled this month as well, so there is a slim chance that I could actually accomplish at least one or two items on that Megalist :*)

OMG, it's March!

One of my main goals for March will be the OMG Challenge.  My guild's Challenge number for March is #4, which for me means to complete my Joy Wallhanging Kit.

This kit is at least 2 years old, if not 3, and before today it was unopened.  Yep, I need to finish this puppy from start to finish.  My only hope of accomplishing that feat is the fact that it is fairly small - and OMG! - I'm just now finding out that there are no instructions - wow!  So I can't tell you what size it is supposed to finish.  In the kit are the pieces of fabrics, a picture of the finished project, and the pattern for a much larger quilt .... that's it....

It shouldn't be too difficult to figure things out though.  I'm thinking I'll have to consider the long, thin cream-colored background piece as my starting point and trust that it is cut to the desired size.  I can easily make the applique shapes, place them where I want them, and add the borders.  Phew!  Okay, I'm breathing again ... 

One of the other things I've really wanted to concentrate on this year is to reduce the number of scraps in my bins.  Don't get me wrong!  I love having scraps and I am definitely a very scrappy quilter.  But I like to move those scraps through, use up the old and make room for the new, you know what I mean?  My bins are overflowing and it's time I started moving some of them into projects.

With that in mind, in addition to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge and 365 Quilty circles, I think I'm going to link up when I can with Confessions of a Fabric Addict for her new linky party I May Have a Scrap Problem - on the first and last Wednesdays of each month.  Sarah is planning to post a monthly goal for cleaning up her "Scrap Problem" on each first Wednesday, and then post her progress on each last Wednesday.

My plan will be to dig into some of the many, many project ideas and patterns I have collected over the years to make one scrappy something each week.  The goal will be four a month, but I think I'll be happy if I end up with two.

I'm all the time seeing cute little patterns, like Lazy Girl's Sweetpea Pods, and of course I have every intention of making them right away ... but you know how that goes don't you?  So I decided, what better way of testing out some block designs or a new pattern to see if I like it than by using my scraps?  Besides, I really don't like cutting up yardage for a small project - I usually regret that when I need the yardage and a big square of it is gone!

I've already picked out my four projects for March, and I'll be posting progress along the way.  I'm really excited about this!  As an added bonus, I can link most of these up with Sharon Vrooman's Let's Book It  :*)  Yay!  Win - Win - Win!!!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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OMG! February Bites the Dust!

My February OMG! project is done, and I am reminded of just how nice it is to have a finish =^..^=

"Fall" side of QAYG Reversible Table Mat

BUT, of course ... it's even nicer to have TWO finishes in one .....

"Christmas" side of QAYG Reversible Table Mat

And Bonus ... this UFO is not even a year old!  

Although I was already pretty familiar with the fun quilt-as-you-go (QAYG) technique, I decided to make a new runner when my guild offered a small class at the monthly sit-n-sew last year.  I love supporting our small classes at the guild!  Without the Music City Quilt Guild and its caring, sharing members, my world today would almost certainly be a very different place!  So whenever I'm able to come together with my guild friends and promote the art of quilting, I'm there!

Unfortunately, as is often the case with most of these one-day classes, I never got back to it and it became this....

I have so many of these little half-done projects sitting around!  And my guild's UFO Challenge and the OMG! blog party are perfect opportunities for me to whittle them down to this....

Yay - the EMPTY project box!!!!

Some of you may have noticed that I originally called this the QAYG Reversible "Runner" - any eagle eye readers out there?  Well, yes, this started out as a runner with six blocks.  But try as I might, I just couldn't arrange those six blocks so that they had a pleasing pattern I liked - they were always off balance.....

I was left with two choices:  make two more blocks so I could complete two large squares, which would have made a really large runner; or leave two of them out and make it a smaller square .....  I spent less than two seconds on this decision LOL!!!  And just like that, - voila!!!  It became the QAYG Reversible Table Mat instead!  Those two extra blocks will become candle mats or thread catchers or something simple and cute.

The last thing I wanted to show you is that I used a new binding technique on this project.  Double fabric to match each side of the quilt!  All machine sewn and surprisingly easy to do too.

It did take me a little bit to figure out the measurements of what to cut for each fabric and how to attach it to the quilt, but in the end it worked really well and I'm very happy with the results.

Now, be sure to head on over to Red Letter Quilts HERE and check out all the lovely finishes for this month!!!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Adventures on the High Seas!!!!

Back in November, I joined a group of 8 other guild friends who signed up to go on a quilter's cruise to the eastern Caribbean in February.  It seemed like such a long time to wait, but then suddenly I was packed and it was time to go!

As I shared here, I was plenty nervous about it too!  This was my first ever cruise, and I have a history of motion sickness along with a healthy respect (bordering on sheer terror!) of great bodies of water.  Yes - I found myself wondering why I agreed to go too!  Never let it be said that quilters cannot talk other quilters into just about anything LOL!!!

Happily, I was never seasick even though the waters were pretty choppy most of the time.  I am thankful to those of you who recommended the acupressure Sea-Bands - they worked beautifully!

And although I suffered a little claustrophobia after we had been at sea for 40 hours nonstop on our way back from St. Thomas, for the most part I was so busy I didn't even think about it.  When I did happen to think about it, I quickly turned my mind away from thoughts about the amount of water churning beneath our ship and what could happen in said waters if we encountered problems that would force me to abandon ship ... like perhaps an iceberg!  Yes, I know, we were in the Caribbean, but stranger things have been known to happen my friends!  Like most of you, I grew up listening to stories about the Titanic you know!

Anywho.... fortunately for all concerned, the voyage proceeded entirely without mishap - no icebergs lurked, no lifeboats were deployed, and a great time was had by all =^..^=

Our ship was the Holland America Line's Westerdam - this was our first sighting of the ship outside the window of the building where we were waiting to board...

The cabin I shared with my friend Joanne was nicely laid out with a balcony view.  I have to admit, I'm glad we didn't just have a little circle hole in the wall to look out of!

Most nights we returned to our cabin to find that our cabin steward had folded cute little "towel animals" on the bed for our amusement ...

While we waited to depart, we noticed quite a few other cruise ships in the harbor as well, lined up and ready to go!

Several times throughout the cruise, we saw other ships out on the horizon, they were especially easy to see at night with all the lights.

Last night of the cruise, and I'm looking rough!!!
The other ship looks so close in this picture, but it really wasn't at all.
Notice the Sea-Band on my wrist :*)

I was constantly amazed at how close to land these behemoths docked...

At one stop, this HUGE yacht was in the harbor.  I wondered if Tiger Woods was in town....

But no....  The Attessa IV is owned by a billionaire by the name of Dennis Washington and it is valued at $250 million!!!  I had hoped to meet him in port, you know, maybe run into him at one of the many diamond outlets on the islands?  Have a glass of wine together, invite him to stop in for dinner in Nashville with me and My Guy sometime?  But, alas, it was not to be.

Before we docked at our first stop in Grand Turk, I attended a little seminar led by our "shopping guide" Jake from the ship, expecting to be told what parts of the island to avoid, where to find what, etc.  

Tableau in the wall just before reaching the jewelry shops on the ship...
I thought this one was pretty funny!  The "Bait" of course is a diamond :*)

Turns out his job was to represent all the diamond companies who had shops on the ship and the islands, because all he told us about was the places we could go to get diamonds and other expensive stones, and how much less expensive they would be if we bought them there.  Geesh!!!  I do have to admit though, several of my friends bought some really beautiful pieces of jewelry at great prices while on the trip.

Visiting the islands themselves was different for each one.  In Puerto Rico, several of us visited the rainforest.  I admit, I was not really very impressed, but there were some nice sights.

And may I say, I now understand why my favorite color is AQUA!!!

The famed Caribbean island beaches are indeed surrounded by the most beautiful water I've ever seen!  Half Moon Cay was my favorite of all the islands for its beautiful beaches..... that's our ship anchored out there in the distance, and to its left is the small tender ship that carried us back and forth to the island.  We were told it could hold up to 300 people at a time.

Notice the water colors range from white nearest the beach, to every intensity of aqua, all the way to deep marine blue at the horizon where it is deepest.  Wow!!!  I'm telling you, it was the most beautiful beach I've ever seen!

We had to be taken to the island by tender because there was no harbor for big ships.

The water here was so pure, it was still white quite a ways out .....

Evening meals on the ship were quite an affair, and menus were well beyond my normal fare....

I sometimes had trouble finding something I recognized!  Two nights we had "Fancy Shmancy" night and everyone dressed up.  Some ladies were in very formal evening attire!  Of course, this was an opportunity for the cruise line to take pictures and sell them to us at exorbitant prices LOL!  Mine were always horrible, so I was never tempted to buy.  We did get our waiter to take a picture of all of us our last night aboard though....

One of my favorite experiences on the cruise was the nightly entertainment.  The Vista Lounge was the ship's theater and main show lounge.  It has a full-size stage and auditorium seating capacity of 850+ seats on the main level, plus two balcony levels.

The ship had its own troupe of Westerdam Players who put on several live show productions for us - and they were amazingly good!  Definitely as good as anything I've seen on stage in Nashville's TPAC.

One night they had a comedian and another a magician.  Our favorite performer was Toni Warne.  She was a finalist on The Voice UK in 2012 - and I can definitely see why.  She sang Barbara Streisand, Doris Day, Celine Dion and more - and she did it beautifully!!!  Below is a YouTube of her audition night on The Voice.  I promise you will not regret watching and listening!  She explains in the video why she is bald.  During our performances she wore hats and scarves, very successfully I might add.  She was a very dramatic and fascinating lady :*)



Then early last Saturday morning, we awoke to the lights of Ft. Lauderdale and were docked by daylight.

That's the RC Oasis of the Seas docked beside us.

At 8am we were called to disembark, herded through lines like cattle through customs, and then bused back to the Ft. Lauderdale airport - where we met with total, utter chaos!!!  That place had us all packed in there like sardines. We couldn't even check in until 2 hours before our flight - and some of our group had 3 o'clock flights!  Joanne and I were glad we had booked a noon flight out and didn't have too terribly long to wait before checking our baggage and heading to the gate.

Once at the gates, many people couldn't find a place to sit, even on the floor.

I believe most of the cruise ships had come in during the night and departing flights were crammed full.  Maybe they deal with this every Saturday morning?  All I know is that I would hate to work there if that's the case.  I may have been more claustrophobic here than I was on the ship!

At the gate, we were about 1/2 an hour away from boarding when they started calling a flight for Atlanta to come to our gate for departure 10 minutes after us!  Even the gate assistants didn't know if we had been moved to another terminal.  Finally they told us we were still at B6, and so was the Atlanta flight but it would be delayed an hour or so.  I didn't envy those Atlanta travelers having to stay in that airport for another hour or more!

A few hours later, we touched down in Nashville and were quickly scooped up by My Guy who drove us home.  I have to admit - I missed him SO MUCH!!!!  I don't think I'll be taking any more cruises without him.  I kept thinking how much he would have enjoyed so many of the activities, and how much fun it would have been to experience them together.  This was a quilter's cruise so he really had no interest in coming along, but next time it will be me and him for sure!

I'm pretty sure he missed me too!  He made this cute sign to welcome me home, and had it sitting next to my beautiful Valentine's Day roses....

So there you have it.  My first cruise... done and in the books!  Thanks for reading along and sharing the adventure with me.  If you got this far, I can only conclude that you are really bored and should immediately go sign up for your own cruise adventure - very soon!!!!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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