Happy Meow-A-Daze

Puck and Max wish everyone Happy Meow-A Daze

Everyone else at Thunderpaws Tribe wishes you and yours the best for the Holidays, and a wonderful 2012

Leaps and Bounds

Little Phred is growing by leaps and bounds.  At 8 months, he’s now able to leap, in a single bound from the deck of the bathtub to the top of the shower.

What does he do atop the shower?  Why, stare at the silly humans getting their fur all wet.  He’s also been known to take a nap up there.  Perhaps it’s all the steam that keeps his fur so sleek?

Not to be outdone, he is also able to leap to the top of the amoire.  He’s learned that from his older sibling, Puck.  Alas, poor Puck’s safe haven atop the amoires has now been reduced by one.  Thankfully for Puck, Phred still hasn’t learned to leap from the top of one amoire to the top of the other (separated by about 5 feet), so Puck still has at least one lofty spot to call his own.  Won’t be long though, of that I am sure!

Puck has also lost his bed atop laundry cabinets.

Bucket Brigand

He’s Lean!
He’s Mean!
He’s a Fluff Producing Machine!
He’s the Blue-eyed Bucket Brigand!

Big Boys

Maximus: 12 pounds 10 ounces

This week the Hellboys went into the vet for their annual check-up.  I knew they had grown, but hadn’t quite realized how much.  They are no longer kittens, but full fledged cats.  At least in size and stature.  In my mind, however, like all the other fur babies, they are, and always will be spry youngsters.

Max weighed in at 12 pounds, 10 ounces.  He’s grown into a fine strapping fellow.  He wanted nothing to do with the vet, and decided if he could hide his face in my arm, and not see out, then obviously no one could see him, and he would avoid whatever awaited in this odd smelling place.

Puck: 10 pounds 4 ounces

Puck, his brother (yes, despite what they look like, they are truly brothers) is a bit smaller at 10 pounds 4 ounces.  There is indeed a cat under all that fur, and you can tell when he walks on you that he is not a lightweight.

Puck also expressed his displeasure at the vet’s office: growling.  A sound I’ve never heard come out of his furry self.  Low.  Deep.  Scary.  It didn’t help that the vet tech kept referring to him as a her. He’s a manly cat under all that fur, and people had best not forget it!

Max, showing off his Tuxedo Spot

Jalie 968: Dark Wash

I finished these up over the weekend, and think they turned out nicely.  Like the other pairs of jeans I’ve made from this Jalie pattern, they fit well and sew up easily.

Changes I made this time around were to narrow the legs by about 2 inches.  This gives these jeans a leaner silhouette, which I liked.  Not the skinny jean, poured-into-a-sausage-casing look the papers are showing but narrow enough to be a stylistic nod to this trend.

I also did my usual routine of rummaging through the scrap bag for pocket and fly facings.  Why not have something colorful and zippy where no one can see?

The denim is actually rather thin, not a beefy, heavy sort at all.  It was stash utilization, probably from Joann’s quite some time ago.  My memory says inexpensive.

I decided to stretch my skills a little with the zipper and used Trudy, she of Hot Patterns fame, fly zipper insertion technique.  You can find that right here on YouTube .  It’s actually easier than the other method I had been using, and produces  polished results.

Of course, now that these are done, we’ve swooped away from jeans weather.  Highs are expected to be around 80 and more all week.   They may end up put away until October!

Max and Puck need a bigger basket

Vogue 8598: Max and Matelasse

Vogue 8598 is a princess seam shirt with sleeve variations.  This pattern struck me as classic and stylish.  One of those wardrobe staples we’re always reading about, and that’s exactly what I was after.

I chose view D: straight long sleeves.  I made a couple of changes from the standard pattern.  Once again, I altered the collar á la Louise Cutting, so it is all one piece.  My fabric was fairly textural, so I opted to serge the edge of the front and fold it under once, rather than doing a double fold.  Other than those two changes, the shirt went together very easily.

What is it about black cats and white shirts?  Max inspecting my sewing skills.

As you can see from the fabric photo at right, this has all over embroidery.  In fact, it was very flat when I purchased it off the bolt.  After washing, the embroidery pulled in, and the whole fabric took on a matelassé look.  I rather liked this, and didn’t want to lose it when I started sewing.

This meant some experimenting with interfacing.  I usually use iron-on, but this would have flattened the texture.  I also didn’t want to lose the translucency that the  white had.  After pawing through the stash, and trying different things I had a eureka moment.  Silk organza! So, the collar, front and sleeve cuffs are all interfaced with this.  It’s sewn in, so doesn’t affect the embroidery loft, and provided enough stability for button holes.

Now, remember back to all those fitting muslins in the New Look shirt?  I actually used those changes to measure this pattern, which saved me from having to do a muslin, as well as knowing which of the multi-sized cutting lines to use.  I knew that extra work would come in handy!

The other cool thing? The way the embroidery shrank also gives the fabric some stretch, even though there’s not a lick of lycra in it!

Needle and…cable?

My sewing mojo is still gone, having left home with no forwarding address.  I keep wanting to do something creative with my hands, but have no incentive or staying power for sewing.  It’s driving me completely insane!

To help combat this creative malaise, I’ve gotten out the beads, deciding to work up a project from the most recent Bead & Button magazine.  I have a friend whose favorite color is lime green (not the previously mentioned niece).  If this turns out, it will be a nice Christmas present for her.

The piece with the dangling threads is 1/4 of a beaded bow.  Two upper loops, two lower loops, attach in the middle and add a pin on the back.  I promise, pictures when it’s finished!

Oh, and the cable bit in the title – while that looks like thread holding the beads together, it is actually Fireline.  Fireline is a very thin coated cable used for fly fishing.  Available at most sporting goods stores, Fireline has taken the beading world by storm.  It’s very appropriate for use with crystals and rough glass beads – ones where the edges are sharp, and likely to cut through regular nylon (Nymo, Sono) thread.

This piece is using hex beads, which have that sharp edge, so it’s needle and cable as my creative outlet.  If anyone sees my sewing mojo, please send it home!

Maximus Cat, On Top of the World!

Wielding the Crystal Wand

My cousins daughter is the closest thing I have to a niece.  There’s enough difference in our ages; that’s how I think of her.  She too has inherited the family magpie gene.

T-shirts from Targét, to which I added a little more sparkle.  Her favorite colors are lime green and electric blue (thank goodness she’s out of the pink phase!) so I did my best to follow that with the green shirt.

The shirts are not decorated with crystals, but something called rhinestuds.  They are faceted metal, and also hot fix.  Not quite as sparkly as true crystals, but much less expensive, and more prone to staying affixed through multiple washes. Sewing for teenagers is, at best, a temporary thing as their tastes change so frequently.  Decorating something already assembled seemed a much better, and easier way to go.

I am sorely tempted to keep the grey shirt for myself, since it is very much my colors: silver and purple.  So, we shall see what the holidays bring. Maybe she’ll get it, and maybe, she won’t!

Mojo Update: still missing!

Puck scales new heights!

Hellboys 1st Halloween

Tonight will be the Hellboys first Halloween.  I wonder what Max and Puck will do when the neighborhood urchins start to call?

Just in case something untoward should happen, they’ve gotten their first collars, to be worn on special occasions, like tonight.   Puck has developed into quite a fluffy fellow.  Collar discussion around the dinner table said “No PINK! No matter how fluffy he is. No Aqua or Lavender either!” We wouldn’t want the little guy to have a gender identity complex.

Puck got something suitably macho

While Max chose something more colorful, with his favorite:  food!

The cat formerly known as….

Pip.  It just never suited him.  He was only small for a short while, not  cute in the traditional sense, and now shows signs of growing into a lean lanky monster.

Pip.  Pipster.  Pippin.

They would not do.  None of them fit him, and a name must fit the being.

Prince Charming and I had a lot of conversations about him, and how he bears such a resemblance to our beloved Empress Minnie.  He’s black, making him always well dressed.  He trills, as did she.  He’s adventurous.  He’s protective of his home.

I said we couldn’t have a little boy  named Minnie.  (Shades of Johnny Cash! No thanks!)

Prince Charming said he’d have to be Maxi.  So…

Meet Max.  Mischief Max.  Maximus Cat.

Emperor Max-a-Million