Snoozles

Max and Puck are officially adults, having reached their 3 year mark on Valentine’s Day.  Hmmm, perhaps I should have posted a birthday cake in their honor.  Or made one made with tuna?

It seems no matter how old they are, when it’s time to snuggle up for a nap, they look to each other for comfort and warmth.  With Max’s girth and Puck’s fluff, there is plenty  to go around.

The wind was blowing rather hard this day, so maybe something more than companionship was at work as well.  The Tribe does get skittish when the house moans.  Not-so-little Phred had burrowed under the comforter, so he was roasty toasty as well.

Adventurous Blue-Eyed Devil

Prince Charming and Puck frequently go into the garage to commune about male things.  It’s a bonding ritual, I am sure.  For Puck, this usually involves climbing all over the motorcycle.  I think he envisions himself with the wind in his fur and his tail floating behind as they roar up twisty canyon roads.  He’d look quite handsome in a leather jacket, don’t you think?

Last night they were in the garage, and I think poor Prince Charming had a momentary lapse of reason (very rare for him) because he opened the door to outside.  The Great Out-of-Doors.  And Outside Puck Scampered.  Our cats do not go outside.  It is Verboten.  Off Limits.  Does. Not. Happen.

Around the house dashes Puck hollering at the top of his kitty voice.  Prince Charming is in hot pursuit.  The backyard light clicks on (gotta love those motion sensors) so Puck can be found, until he turns around, retraces his route at full speed, and goes back into the garage.

The door closes, and Prince Charming, Puck held firmly in his arms comes back inside, white as the proverbial sheet.  “Did you hear him?!  He got out!”  Puck, apparently, did not like The Great Outdoors.

I was off doing something-or-other, and completely unaware this near disaster has happened.  From now on, Sir Puck can do his male bonding indoors.

You would think, as frightened as he was, Puck would stay far, far away from outside, but Noooo, first thing this morning, he’s pawing to go back into the garage and have another adventure.

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!

Pattern Weight

When I’m cutting out a lot of garments at once, I tend to take over the dining room table.  Likewise, I’ll do the same when I’m tracing patterns onto tissue.  There’s just more room to work, and sometimes my able-pawed assistants will even help.  Doing it this way is easier on my back, as well as my knees.

Other times I use the floor of the sewing room…

I had help when cutting this top out.

Lots of help!

Puck thinks he makes a good pattern weight.

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

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!