Duchess Dean Jones - May 1991 to June 15, 2010

Born in May 1991, Duchess Dean Jones was a gift from my sister Lory. She was seven weeks old when I brought her home and she had me wrapped around her little paw immediately. My mother never liked cats but between Duchess and Sam (my sister's cat) she was won over. The "Dutch Kitty" as she called her made it her job to keep an eye on her after her surgery.

She greeted me at the door when I came home from work, if I was late she let me know it. She loved to play and she loved to watch the birds that perched in the trees outside the bedroom window. She even tried talking to them and made pretty good chirping sounds for a cat...lol

While Sam was with us she let him do all the talking, unless tuna was involved then she became very vocal. When Sam left us she decided she had better speak up and we had many, many conversations throughout the years. Although she was a cat, she seemed more human than a lot of humans I knew.

Although she hated car trips (I imagine she thought she was going to the dreaded vet) she rode shotgun on the move to Michigan. She became quite comfortable at the Motel 6 (pet friendly) and it was probably because all the rooms we stayed in looked exactly the same. Once she got to the farm she had a whole new group of animals to watch. Geese, sheep, dogs, baby chicks...she watched them all. To my amazement the cat who ran and hid until she decided she liked someone quickly showed her trust to my husband. Obviously she knew a good guy when she saw him.

Even more amazing was the relationship she developed with Mist the Border Collie. None of my friends would believe she shared a home with a dog, let alone went nose to nose with her without pitching a fit and baring claws, but she did. I attributed it to mellowing a lot in her old age.

Unfortunately, that old age caught up with her. She lost the hearing in her right ear shortly after her 18th birthday but she adapted well. Later on she started showing other signs of her age and in the past week it all started going rapidly downhill. I spent as much time with her as I could holding her and talking to her. She left us this morning at 7:20am while I held her. She was 19 years old but she was and always will be my green eyed, pink nosed kitty girl.

There are a lot of stories and memories and I will treasure them forever. She was there during the good and the bad. She kept me sane. She was a joy every second that she was alive and I'm going to miss her for the rest of my life.

Be well my kitty girl and say hi to Sam for me.

Weird Stuff

For some reason I've been getting redirects on my blog and it's making me more than a little angry. Anyway, I've been off work sick for almost 3 weeks now and am getting more than a bit antsy.

I've got a couple of things I've been working on that I need to take pictures of and post. I'm hoping to get the camera to cooperate. I think it's time to invest in another one.

During my surfing I found a Granny A Day crochet along that I've joined (have to keep track of the group commitments) which should be cool because I've got LOTS of odds and ends yarn to use up and it will give me a chance to learn new granny squares and hopefully end up with a very eclectic afghan when all is said and done.

Now off to get something accomplished.

Snow day

Lots of snow last night and my truck didn't care much for it this morning so I'm home now with crafting on the brain.

One really great thing I came across was The DIY Dish from You Can Make This.com. They will have a series of videos on crafting of all kinds. They are also doing an awesome contest giving away TWO Janome machines. One is an embroidery machine and the other is a sewing machine. I'd love either one...I'm not picky...lol

Here's the first video:



I love the You Can Make This site. Lots of really great projects to inspire.

Tri-Color Cloche

Okay, I bought the yarn for this on October 20, 2008 after finding the free pattern in the yarn section. My crochet skills were really rudimentary at the time, but I thought I'd give it a try. I do remember trying one night and frogging it about 6 times, then putting everything back in the bag it came home in.

Over a year later, I unearth them (after moving and finally learning some actual crochet skills and I managed to start and finish it in less than a day and I'm pretty pleased with the results. Not the greatest picture in the world, but I like it nonetheless. AND it's my second finish for a project this year. I'll post the first closer to Valentine's Day in case someone takes a look at my blog.

Loft Creations No Strings Attached Challenge

I've been meaning to post about this but things have been a little crazy with the full time and part time seasonal job lately. But finally, here it is.

I've joined a string block quilt challenge that I found on the blog Loft Creations. We can only use fabric we already own (stash busting at its best!) and can make anything from the string blocks that we like. I've got some fabric at the house to start playing with but the majority is in a storage locker (towards the back with a LOT in front of it) and with the current cold snap it's not coming out any time soon.

So with a deadline of June 30, I'm going to work on technique with what I have and think about the fabric that will get hauled out as soon as it's warm enough to be able to stay outside for a good amount of time.

I've put a link to the challenge in the side bar. Unfortunately the sign up time is closed, but it's really cool to see what others are doing with their string blocks. There are a lot of really nice things coming out of this challenge. I just hope I can create something worthy. I'll be posting updates as I go.

Everything old is new again

I've decided to go back to my original blog name. It just came to me when I woke up this morning so I've made it happen. I've got high hopes for this year. I think it's going to be a very good year all around.

2010

Here's to a happy, healthy and creative 2010 for everyone!!