Playing with Half-Square Triangles

I am working on a new baby blanket. I love the fabrics, all bright colors and Eric Carle prints from the Very Hungry Caterpillar.  The half square triangles that are the basis of the quilt are fun to play with.  I ended up spending a good 45 minutes flipping them this way and that to see the different patterns formed by the white and the bright colors.  All the different patterns were made by simply rotating easy square where it lay.  None of the blocks have been switched or moved to a different spot.  It is amazing how different each variation looks.

My Original plan:

How about zig zags? I think Marshmallow approves.  Oh, if I haven't mentioned it before we adopted a pair of half grown street cat kittens. Meet Marshmallow, he is "helping" me this morning.

Stripes?  This one turned out to be my least favorite. 

Squares?  I think I am leaning toward this one right now.  Marshmallow approves.  David suggested this one last night and I didn't like it then, so if I choose this one I will hear about it. Sigh. 

The other kitten Orerow  jumped in to help Marshmallow check out the quilt pattern. After their "help" a few square may have been moved around. (About his name, there was a mix up the the vet papers and Oreo became Orerow.  Sounds like Scooby Doo trying to say Oreo.)

I like this pinwheel/hourglass pattern but I had such a hard time trying to lay it out that I think I will wait until I have a little more experience before trying this one.  In this pic you can see the coordinating fabrics.  The Hungry Caterpillar is the backing and the green numbers will be the edging. 

This is the last variation I tried.  I tried it two ways, one with a  white center and one with a dark center.  For some reason I like the dark center better. 

I can't seem to make up my mind which I like the best.  I may have to buy some more fabric and make more quilts just so I can try them all out.  Darn. 

Goodbye Sweet Fluffy

During all the chaos of packout we had suffered a family tragedy. Our sweet cat suddenly became ill and passed away. I have been too upset to write about it before now. We have had Fluffy since he wandered up to our back porch one day almost a decade ago. He was bedraggled, missing patches of fur, and someone had shot him with a pellet gun. Of course we told Alonzo not to touch him which of course he did grabbing his tail and dragging him across the floor. Fluffy didn't bite him or even snarl at him he just lay there and purred. We decided then and there that this cat was meant for our family. After a little love and care his coat came back in and he turned into a very handsome gentleman with his long fluffy brown fur and his two different colored eyes. He greatly resembled a Miane Coon.

He would go on long walks through the neighborhood with us, he would sit in the yard with me when I was working in the garden often rushing to the sidewalk to flop on his back and present his tummy for some rubbing to people walking by. He also would defend our yard against the evil of dogs, terrorizing many of the neighborhood canines. He did learn to tolerate our little poodle we had back then, although I don't think he really understood why we would let the enemy in our house. He would sit in my lap in the evening to watch TV and if I was playing with the computer he would either head butt my hand while I was typing or firmly place his paw on the keyboard until I put aside the computer and paid attention to him.

We have no idea what happened. Monday night he watched TV with me as always. He seemed fine. Wednesday when the movers were arriving he was acting strangely and we were worried about him but later in the day he seemed to perk up. By Thursday it was clear he was a very sick kitty. We left the movers with Dakota and took the cat to the vet. She said there wasn't much hope so we held him until it was over. The vet said these things do happen sometimes and there usually is no clear reason why. We are relieved that it happened now and we could be with him until the end and not in the hold of an airplane when he would be alone and scared. He is greatly missed.

Goodbye Fluffy you were the best cat a family could have.

Can Cats Go Senile?

I think my cat is a little senile. Is that even possible? Can cats go senile?

Today was grocery day. Unloading the groceries here is a major production. First I try to find a parking spot as close to my building as possible. Today I can actually see my van from the house so not bad, only 1 building away, or half a block, you chose. Then I unload all the groceries onto the sidewalk. Next I make trip after trip to our building and dump everything at the foot of the stairs until everything is inside the building. Now comes the the fun part, lugging load after load up 3 1/2 flights of stairs to our apartment. I know it has been said, but if you are a big family thinking about coming to Frankfurt please know you WILL be on the 3rd and 4th floors of a building with no elevators.

So what does this have to do with senile cats? I leave my apartment door open while hauling everything upstairs so I don't have to fumble with the keys every single trip. It usually takes 6-8 trips up the stairs to get everything into the house. Today the cat followed me downstairs when I headed down for the second load. Then on the third trip up I found him staring at one of the downstairs neighbor's doors while meowing loudly. So I dropped off the third load and made a trip just to retrieve the cat and deposit him on the sofa before heading back down for the fourth load. On the way back up I found him in front of another neighbors house meowing pitifully. I dropped off the groceries make another trip just to retrieve the cat and deposit him FIRMLY on the sofa. On the way back up with the fifth I passed the stupid cat again and decided to ignore him and hope I wasn't not irritating the neighbors too much.

Finally all eight loads safely inside I made one more trip to retrieve the cat but couldn't find him. I walked through the basement corridor, no cat. Opened door and peeked outside just incase someone went out and he slipped out with him, no cat. Thought about knocking on the neighbors doors and asking if they let him in when I heard a confused sounding meow coming from somewhere overhead. He had walked all the way back upstairs, past our open apartment door to the very top floor and was meowing at the attic door.

I have no idea if the cat is senile or just trying to find a house without kids. Grayson likes to carry him around like a stuffed animal, and the stupid thing lets him. He never bites the kids but let him see me with a kitty comb and there is going to be blood shed, mine!

I made an extra 3 trips up and down the stairs thanks to Fluffy, who is now asleep and snoring on the love seat, right where I was planning to sit down and read my new book. He is going to have to move! I am going to read until it is time to pick up the kids, right after I put all the groceries away that is.

WHAT??? It is only ONE book. Believe me I was good! Really I was. It is a paperback too so it doesn't weigh much. I put the other six books back. I was good!

Wordless Wednesday- Christmas Kitty

Happy to be here

Although we are all happy to be here in Frankfurt, I don't think anyone in our family is happier than the cats. While the rest of the family spent the summer traveling and living out suitcases the kitties were relaxing at Aunt Teri's Summer Camp for Cats.  At least that was the plan. I am sad to say that our cats (or at least Bing) were not very good campers. Bing decided he wanted to be the boss cat and beat up poor geriatric Kitten. Teri came home one day to find black fur all over the house and poor old Kitten hiding from big bad Bing. She had no choice but to banish both Bing and Fluffy to the basement for the summer to ensure the safety of all campers.

The cats were hardly alone in the basement though. During the big crazy family get together everyone under 16 got to sleep in the basement. At one point it was pretty much wall to wall air mattresses. The cats would just chose a kid and curl up in bed with them. During the day they had their choice of beds. They also were allowed to come upstairs for a bit everyday when Bob and Kitten (the permanent residents at cat camp) had their time to stretch out on the garden.

Now that the summer camp is over the cats have had a chance to explore our new house and stake out their favorite spot. Of course it is my favorite spot too.  In the living room there is a bay window area. I shoved the love seat into the area thinking I could curl up there during Grayson's nap time with a cup of tea, the laptop, work on the blog and just relax, BUT everytime I go to sit down and have a quiet moment this is what I find!

I like it better when the cats decide to spend some quality time with the kids and leave me to enjoy my place in the sun. This morning Bing decided to keep Cody warm while he sept so I finally got a chance to enjoy the view while I drank my morning coffee.

They Made It!

So many details to deal with for this move! One more milestone has been reached, our kitties have made it to Kentucky and are settling in to Teri's house for the summer. Since we will be traveling to a bit while we are home the kitties have been sent to Teri's summer camp for kitties. We will pick them up when we are in Kentucky for the big family get together, then take them with us to Germany.

Bing seems to be making himself at home.