Top left clockwise: Fabric ribbon streamers by Casey Baudoin, Unititled by Mariehochaus on flickr, Small Stripe 1 2010 by Georgia Gray, Treasure Ring Box by yours truly
Archive for May, 2012
I made the above pattern the other day. I just sketched a kitty and rabbit, scanned it and colored it in photoshop. It was a result of noticing a lot of garment fabric patterns with cats or rabbits lately. So I thought, why not both? Below are some of the patterns I’ve noticed. Top row, Victoria Beckham line of dresses with a cat pattern, bottom left, H&M rabbit pattern, and bottom right, Urban Outfitters rabbit pattern. I actually have that UO top.
It’s been a roller coaster of emotions this week. Bishop still hasn’t come home. There have been tears for missing our cat, for fear that something might have happened to him, for relief when we hear news that someone might have spotted him and tears for the idiocy of others as well as the pure kindness and love shown to us by friends, family and complete strangers.
Immediately after posting the original post last week, our neighbors rushed over saying they just saw Bishop in their back yard but that their dog also saw him, barked and scared him off the opposite direction. It’s so hard, because we live for any tips we can get, but unless we also see the cat, we can’t confirm if it was really him or not. Half of the tips we’ve received we have actually been able to spot the cat and it wasn’t Bishop. Unfortunately, whether we see the cat in question or not, we find ourselves altering our search based on these supposed leads.
It’s hard to be in the house and not have him here with us. We find ourselves doing things that we would never do if Bishop were around and it kind of catches us. My studio door, or the door to the storage part of the basement, wide open. Leaving the door out to the garage wide open, hoping he will wander back to us.
Some of the tips we found were to hang as many posters as possible, and we have done just that. I’ve been very disappointed by (mostly commercial) establishments not allowing us to hang a missing poster. Also, people tearing down the posters I hung up on telephone poles. We visited all the local pet stores, and animal clinics to hang posters and only one actually had a location which might be visible to people coming in or out of their business. By far I was most saddened by PetCo and PetSmart when my posters were designated to small out of the way locations, both hidden by other larger displays. For a place that is supposed to be in support of animals, they sure didn’t help me at all. I understand this was probably a reaction to people trying to post their “for sale” signs, but I’m not trying to sell anything.
There was a postman yesterday who went out of his way to hunt me down and provide a tip to me. And then unrelated, yesterday this was in our mailbox:
An envelope addressed to us, and inside a hand scrawled letter, obviously by a child who lives 2 houses down. If you can’t read it, it says “Google: How to find a lost cat 19 steps wiki how. This is what I found to find a lost cat, and it has good ideas. if you have any more questions come to XXX South 8th Street in (our town) and provides her phone number! On the inside it says who she is, her parent’s names and that she saw our cat the night he disappeared and where she saw him, AND that we should write back WITH pictures! Oh my gosh. Tears. So sweet. I will definitely be writing her back.
Meanwhile, we continue to hang our posters, call out for him and hope that we get more leads from the newspaper ad or posters with sightings. We are especially encouraged by the many stories people provide saying their cat returned a week, 2 weeks, or 3 weeks later, etc. I hope we won’t have to wait long and try to remain positive. As soon as we find him, I will update. Thank you for the support.
The Giveaway a great success! Thank you everyone for stopping by, leaving a comment and participating in our virtual picnic. I loved everyone’s creative ideas of things to bring to the picnic and I even learned about a few new items too, check out the comments on the giveaway post.
There were 56 comments total and the random number generator revealed that Comment number 54 was the winner. Congratulations Trish, who is bringing fresh fruit salad to the picnic. Your picnic pouch will be in the mail shortly.
Monday night, in attempt to get some cool air in our bedroom, I opened a window with a screen. Our cat Bishop loves to be in the window sills and he saw that I opened the window immediately. I remember playing with him on the bed for a minute, while he tried his best to scramble away to the window. I went into the bathroom to take out my contacts and assumed he was just in the window sill hidden behind the blinds and curtain when I got back.
It’s not unusual for him to spend an entire night in the window, looking out. What was unusual was the next morning when I woke up and he didn’t immediately come to me. See, the mornings are our time when Bishop comes up to me purring like a loud motor and just can’t get enough affection and attention. I wasn’t too startled and called for him a few times. With the windows open over night it had gotten cold in the house, so I went around and closed all of the windows and continued calling for him. Surely he was in one of his warm hiding spots, like Matt’s undershirt hamper in the back of the closet. Nope, not there. I continued calling for him before Matt finally woke up asking “he still hasn’t come?” He got out of bed and we both hunted the house calling and looking for Bishop. Matt started to worry that he had gotten out, but I said “no, he’s here somewhere”. When we still couldn’t find him after a while it all of a sudden hit me, the new window I had opened in our bedroom. I lifted the glass and touched the screen and the entire frame swung out freely. I shouted “NO! HE GOT OUT!” and we both rushed to the yard calling his name. Unfortunately, he had probably slipped out the night before around 10:30 p.m. There was no sign of him in the yard and my immediate fears went to him laying in the street from being hit by a car. I’ve often said that if he were out on his own, he wouldn’t last a few hours. I find temporary relief when I don’t see him in the streets. I figure he is hiding somewhere, but this relief is only temporary when I start envisioning him being hit and then running into a bush to die, or being accidentally locked in someone’s garage.
We always joke that he is such a little spoiled prince. He’s beautiful, but can be vicious. He plays fetch, carries his favorite toys around the house in his mouth, and taps us on the shoulder when it’s time be fed, BUT, he bites Matt’s ankles has to be gassed at the Dr.s office because otherwise he makes the Vet bleed. Think, a cross between Colin from The Secret Garden and Joffrey from Game of Thrones, a horrible brat, but at the same time shiny and pretty. He always wants to go outside, but to him outside means rolling around in the lush lawn while chewing on sweet grass, always within our constant reach and safety. In reality, outside can mean death by other animals, cars, dehydration or starvation to a cat.
The first day I thought he’d be home at noon for sure, because that is when he is fed. He is a cat who doesn’t like to miss his meals. Matt stayed home from work and kept vigil but he never came home. This got me really worried but I hoped that he would wander home that evening. We read all sorts of tips about how to get your cat to return home and have followed everything. When he didn’t return that night reality started sinking in. The next day we put up signs, passed out information, and Matt’s mom stayed at our house while we went to work. On the first day we had one phone call response but when we went to check it out, it wasn’t Bishop. Tonight he will have been gone for 3 days. This morning when I woke up I definitely felt reality sinking in that we may likely never see him again. It’s so heartbreaking because he really is part of our family. I told Matt “even if we can’t capture him, I just wish that someone would call and say they saw him” this way we’d know he is still alive. This afternoon we got our answer.
First let me shout out big thanks to The Daily Chronicle, who allows people to post FREE lost pet ads WITH a picture. While Matt was at work he got a phone call from a woman that saw the ad in the paper and believes she saw Bishop the night before at her house, hiding under their car. We believe that it was Bishop because she described him as wearing a collar with a bell (which I accidentally omitted from the ad), AND that he was very frightened and kept hissing at her. Before Bishop I always thought cats only resorted to hissing as a last resort, but Bishop hisses at everything and everyone. Bring him inside when he hasn’t had his fill of grass yet, hiss. Barely graze his tail when passing by, hiss. A person casually gazes in his general direction, hiss.
The caller lived in a location near our old duplex and it looks like he might have been headed that way. We are thrilled. Matt immediately left work to go to the area to look for him, pass out more signs and talk to people. I was on cloud 9 the rest of the work day and had to keep reminding myself that we don’t have in our arms just yet. At least we know that he is out there.
It has really meant so much to me, the kindness of friends and family, as well as complete strangers. People who have offered to watch over our house while we are away, people who have hit the pavement looking for him, people who have helped spread the word, and those who have prayed and sent good kitty-come-home vibes. If you can send any additional prayers or kitty-come-home-vibes I will be grateful. I hope to report back soon that he is home, safe in our arms again.
Let’s have a picnic!
I’ve participated in the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day before with great success. I think I’ve even met a few of my regular readers through taking part in the past.
Today I’d like offer one of my picnic pouches to one lucky reader. It’s a zipper pouch covered in “grass” with a picnic blanket lining with a mushroom and an ant (what picnic is complete without an ant or two). ALSO, I’m throwing in a grass journal and a scrappy leaf keychain.
This giveaway is open to everyone. To enter the giveaway just leave one comment on this post letting me know what item you would bring to our virtual picnic. Entries will be accepted until Friday, May 25th, at 7 p.m. CST. Thank you for participating.
Check out the SewMamSew Giveaway Day to enter other giveaways on other blogs.
This past weekend was the Na-Da Farm Barn Sale, my first official solo booth. Going into it, I was getting more and more nervous and stressed. Last minute, my sister-in-law was sick and couldn’t make it, but fortunately Matt was able to come in her place. During set up, I started getting so overwhelmed that if my sister and Matt hadn’t been there I might have just laid down in the grass and started crying. Emotional much? Instead I had to keep chugging along. The tent I was supposed to borrow didn’t work out, so I bought a new one. The buckets of sand we brought to anchor the tent down were worthless and the high winds across the farm fields caused, not only my tent to try and take flight, but also all my products inside. Fortunately Anne Marie’s son brought by two large cinder blocks to keep me anchored. My weather fears going into the sale were mostly rain related. The plan for my framed pieces had to be altered, and instead of each piece standing up on display they had to lay flat on the shelves. Believe it or not, by the end of the first day we all had wind burn and chapped lips.
But it was only a rough start, I promise. The rest of the sale was great. This sale was unlike any sale I’ve done before. Get this: both days before the show began there was a long line of people waiting to get in and get first dibs on everything as soon as the gates opened. I know… what?! What a difference a well promoted show makes!
This show was so refreshing. A beautiful property, elegant booths, and kind customers. The back of my booth was facing the entrance and the back wall of my booth had my yoyo quilt hanging from it. There was a pretty steady stream of people approaching from behind marveling at the quilt and a few people explained to us that it was the first thing people see when they were coming in. Lots of people had questions about it, what is it, did you make it, how did you make it, etc., etc. It’s a yoyo quilt. Yes, I made it, starting when I was 15 years old, and my mother is a quilter and provided lots of the scrap fabric for me. And finally, you sew a seam around a circle of fabric, pull the thread tight, then squash the fabric flat, then sew the individual pieces together, much like my framed pieces inside the booth.
It was a great show! Not only did I recover the cost of the booth, but the cost of the new vendor tent AND MORE! Last year when we went to the sale, I felt like there were a lot more handmade items. This year, I think I was one of only a couple of booths that were entirely handmade and not vintage or repurposed/revamped vintage. Still, I did really well. The jewelry, art reproduction/prints, and paper products were very popular.
I was able to snap a few instagram pictures, but because I was manning my booth, I didn’t have many opportunities to take pictures of the rest of the event. Fortunately, there is a lovely slideshow here at the Na-Da Farm blog. It was a great show and I’ll hopefully start listing the remaining product on etsy soon.
I think I’m finally over the hump on prepping for the Na-Da Farm Barn Sale this Friday and Saturday. I still have to price things and I have some display stuff to work out but at least all of my yoyos are framed, my paper products are bagged, and my pendants are on actual necklaces, which is more than can be said for my Etsy store.
A few weeks back I finally bought my first issue of Uppercase Magazine. I’ve been enjoying the magazine through other readers online for a while. I really love the style and materials used to put together this publication, but every time I saw a copy of the cover online I thought it looked like a paper sample book. The book is printed and produced entirely in really nice quality, heavy weight, flat, non glossy, papers. Below are pictures of what some paper sample books look like, not all are spiral bound.
I work for a printing company and paper vendors always give out paper sample books and they look JUST LIKE Uppercase Magazine’s cover, only smaller. Funny thing about that is that I was surprised to see the size of the magazine when I first bought it. I pictured it to be smaller like the paper sample books. Also, the inside of Uppercase is obviously a real magazine while the inside of a paper sample book has staggered papers of all different colors and weights, etc. I brought the magazine to work and everyone agreed, it looks just like a paper sample book. One of our sales reps asked where it was published and I saw it was in Canada. Well, apparently a lot of the paper companies are also in Canada.
The magazine has a tagline “For the Creative and Curious” and is filled with great interviews and wonderful artwork. Each issue has a theme and call to artists to submit work based on that theme. I would really love to submit some work some time. When I bought it I only read a few pages a day because I really wanted to savor it. The magazine only comes out quarterly, I think and costs $18, so it’s a bit pricey.
