Is No Space Sacred?

Hey, there.. it's me, Hannes. Again, I have a problem, and I'm coming to you for help. Here's the deal. The problem is the cat, she's sneaky annoying diabolical. Before Turbo came here to live it was just me and my Mom in the Studio. I'd curl up and nap on my ottoman to the hum of the sewing machine or sometimes I'd snuggle in right beside Mom and lay my head on her lap when she settled herself down for some hand sewing. Those days were heaven-sent. This all came to a screeching halt when Turbo arrived. She just doesn't understand, or refuses to obey, boundaries! I think it's high time for a cat-free zone. This is where I need your assistance, I want you to help me convince my Mom that "our" room should be off limits to "you-know-who". When I tried to explain how out of hand this space invasion has become, I'm not sure Mom grasped the severity of the problem. OK, I have photo proof:






Turbo on "our" (mine and Mom's) chair. I told her to get down. Getting lower is not my idea of getting down! She can be so infuriatingly literal at times!








Finally she got down... and where did she go? Right here, up on a stack of quilts, Mom's going to be so mad! I happen to know that Mom doesn't like cat fur on her quilts at all, only my fur; she told me that... I think.


I have some markers and some paper. I made a sign: "No Cats Aloud Allowed" and posted it down low on the Studio door. Now, I just figured this out, I have an even greater problem... the dumb cat can't read!

So, what do you say? Can you help me out here? Any and all ideas are welcome.

Puzzled

We're eating at the kitchen table again. The puzzle is complete, almost! If you look closely at this picture you can see one missing piece. We've searched everywhere... on the floor, in the floor vents, under the table and buffet. I went through the trash; carefully making my way through Thursday's potato peelings and turkey bones, no luck. There are a few pranksters in our family and I fully expected one of them to stroll up to the table and sneak the missing piece into position... that didn't happen. Now all eyes have turned to our night-prowling resident, the one who unfailingly brings me small "surprises" to discover in the morning... could she have hidden the puzzle piece?

..."I didn't do it, nobody saw me do it, you can't prove anything"...

Life is Good!

Stash Diving, Changes, And Other Things...

I'm getting things organized for this upcoming weekend, a quilter's retreat in the mountains... Heaven! Nothing to do but sew and eat and sew some more! The chosen project? 'String Star' blocks, the pattern is found at Quiltville; (Bonnie Hunter does it again)! I constructed this trial block, with the exception of the neutral background fabric everything is from my stash and my overflowing bin o' strings; it went together well! My son and his fiancée have settled on a Carpenter's Wheel quilt for their wedding. Working on these blocks will give me a good refresher course on setting in Y-seams before I begin on theirs.

I finished sewing up 35 totebags over the weekend for Lutheran World Relief school kits, these are being shipped from our church this next week. The bags will contain school supplies for children worldwide as well as for adult literacy programs. Using every scrap of donated fabrics that were too heavy for use in quilts by our quilt ministry, I had exactly enough!

I'm still trying to get used to the time change! I ran out of daylight yesterday cleaning out all of the spent annuals from the patio pots while readying them for the pansies that will winter over and add a welcome spot of color from my kitchen window in an otherwise gray landscape over the coming months. I got them finished up this morning, my Mom and Dad are arriving next week for a visit and I'm hoping that my Dad will help me get the new plants potted up!

The newly-engaged couple spent yesterday afternoon driving in the foothills, just a short drive away; it was a glorious day! They've set the date for next May! (That's soon!!) As I've confessed here before, change is hard for me. It seems like Kyle and Diesel (his dog) and Turbo (the cat) just moved back in. We're all still getting used to each other... and before we know it they'll be gone again. Life moves on, and that's the way it should be. Hannes will miss the cat. Turbo's newest "perch" is in the sun, on the table, in "our" studio. Hannes acknowledges her presence but doesn't even seem to mind anymore.

Life is Good, changes and all!

Boundaries

It's me-- Hannes! I'm posting for my Mom again today. She cleans our house all bright and shiny-like on Fridays and she has given me permission to use her laptop while she's vacuuming, (that hurts my ears), she says she's too busy to post today. I have a problem and I'm hoping someone can help me. As many of you know, my big human brother moved back home last Spring, that's fine with me! He holds me and pays attention to me, gives me treats, and scratches me behind my ears... just right. That's not the problem, but his cat is! Turbo has taken some getting used to. She has some really annoying habits: she drinks from my water bowl, she jumps up on the back of the sofa (sometimes when I'm napping there), and she hisses at me (that's quite rude in my opinion)! I've adapted, reluctantly, to these irritations but there's one hard and fast rule that I am having serious trouble enforcing: boundaries! This cat is one slow learner. The rules are simple, I've gone over them time and time again... the studio is for me and my Mom. Period. No cats allowed! I've barked her off, chased her away and laid down, flat like a pancake (I'm really good at that) right in the doorway to block her entrance. She still waltzes right on in. "Hello? I'm talking to you!" Does anyone have any suggestions, are all cats a bit "challenged", or is it just mine? I'm seeing some progress... but it's by inches. She has been spending hours lately quietly sitting just outside the doorway and looking in, am I getting through or is she simply taunting me? It's hard to tell, I can't trust her. I long for the return of lazy days spent napping on the sewing chair with no feline interruptions. I shudder to think that they might be gone forever, Mom says we never fully value what we have until it's gone. Thanks for reading and listening. I hope someone can help me with my problem, this is affecting my sleep.

Life is Good!
...it's even better with cat free zones...

Random Snippets...

...from a day in the life of Mrs Goodneedle. I won a book. Sioux had a drawing over at her blog and believe it or not, my name was drawn from a hat! The book arrived, "Old Herbaceous", a novel of the garden by Reginald Arkell. It's full of British wit and wisdom, I haven't sat down to read it through, yet, but this excerpt is a lovely one: "If you could peel the years from a man's life, as you would the leaves from a globe artichoke, you would find him having his happiest time between the ages of fifty and sixty-five. The awful anxieties if youth have resolved themselves... competitors are not treading upon his heels... achievement has not yet lost its glamour... ultimate success, glorious and satisfying, lies just around the corner..."
Thanks, Sioux!! I feel very lucky to have won!

I'm machine quilting, at long last, the outer borders (why does everything take me SO LONG?) "All Are Precious In His Sight" and it won't be long now 'til it's piped and bound. I'm happy with the way it's turning out, I'm in love with the BSR and these Cherrywood fabrics, too; they're yummy!... and the cat. Turbo's been with us for three months. She's become much more familiar with us by this time and actually makes frequent daytime appearances now. Hannes is coping well, although I can't report any snuggling together I can tell you that he tolerates the cat and watches her every move without barking. That's progress. They're coexisting. And yet, I wonder if Hannes isn't mimicking the cat at times. I found him sitting here the other day:This is new for him!

Tuesday was BOM at my LQS, this month's blocks are pictured below: "Casablanca". It looks so different depending on the colorway used. Naturally, (why? she asks...) I am doing BOTH! It looks happy and fresh in the bright pastels, that one is for my daughter. They're all done with templates by Marti Michell, "Perfect Patchwork". They are very accurate and make the job easy.
Next month: "Peekaboo Park", it's cute-- stay tuned...Life is Good!

Enough Is Enough

We've had a streak of bad luck at Chez Goodneedle and enough is enough! It started with the laptop crashing, from there it spread to a dead battery in our son's truck and the demise of my steam-generator iron on Friday. We learned on Saturday that the cat needed surgery (she's at the veterinarian's office now) and yesterday we were informed that there had been a rash of burglaries in our neighborhood during the night on Monday. Upon closer inspection, we discovered that we were victims of robbery too! We had invited our son's girlfriend to spend the night at our home on Monday evening; saving her a thirty mile drive home. She parked her Jeep in the front driveway and during the night thieves strolled by and helped themselves to her cell phone and digital camera. I am beyond angry over this assault to my sanctuary. Before Monday night if you had asked me if any living soul walked through our property after dark I would have answered "yes; deer, fox, raccoon, possum and maybe an occasional turkey. Not a person, though; definitely not an intruder of any sort!" I was wrong. As one neighbor stated: "we've been lulled, over the years, into a false sense of security." He's right. I don't embrace a 'lock and key' or 'alarm system' philosophy for my life and yet I can't ignore what has happened, right here under our noses, either. The thieves entered cars parked in driveways, sheds, out-buildings and carports helping themselves to whatever they could easily carry off. Along with their haul they stole a sizable chunk of my peace of mind. We'll be more cautious from now on; things can be replaced, this streak of bad luck will end, life will return to normal...

and some days, like today,
I need to remind myself...
Life is Good!

Update: Turbo sailed through her surgery. She had some unknown growths on her upper gums around the molars. We'll find out what they are through lab work. The veterinarian said although it's possible these growths are cancerous it's not probable that they are.
Thanks for your prayers and concern. She's coming home this afternoon!