Whiskers On Kittens

I know I haven't posted a lot lately, but when your latest crafty creation is a secret, writing about it is out of the question.  Yes, my latest sewing project is gifty in nature so has to be kept a secret until next week.  Then I'll post a picture.  Even though this project has kept me busy, I managed a big finish:  the Kitty Kalendar is done!

When I finished stitching the December cat, I realized that what I had left to do wouldn't take very long, so on went the whiskers and buttons.  This is a big finish for me as I've been working on this one (on and off) since last year.  All those little cat faces -- so cute!  Who can resist?!

So now I can return to my Folk Eggs and Holiest of Nights.  And enthusiastically begin a new one - Red White and Bloom by Country Cottage Needleworks.  I've had this one kitted up for a while, ready to go. 

This weekend is Saturday Stitch Day at The Stitch Store, when I get to spend time with my stitching buddies.  As an extra bonus, my friend Maggie will be in town to join us!  And I get an extra stitch day out of it because we'll be stitching together on Friday also.  So looking forward to it!

Some good news this week for you Cosmo fans.  As you'll recall, back in February we found out that Cosmo has diabetes .  We started him on insulin shots and a special diet.  That worked so well -- too well -- that the vet took him off of the insulin.  Cosmo went back for a fructosamine test yesterday and his sugar level is now in the mid-normal range!  We're managing his diabetes with diet alone and it's working well!  The other two cats are on this diet too, so I'm hoping that it benefits them too.  Great news!

Thank you for all of your comments.  I appreciate each one!  Please keep on giving me feedback!

It Works!

Now I can serge the fabric I cut!

Those of you who have been following this blog are acquainted with my love-hate relationship bad attitude toward my mini serger.  Yes, it's as cute as can be, but the darn thing refused to work.  This new development falls squarely into the "it doesn't take much to make me happy" category.  The serger is now WORKING!  And I will give all of the credit to Mark, who seems to somewhat enjoy getting things fixed with a great deal of patience.  I was pretty much done with the thing and ready to toss it or sell it for parts, but he sat at my craft table yesterday and got the chain going after discovering that the needle had been put in wrong.  Not by me.  The former owner gets all the blame for that.  So it was up to me to try it out and TA-DAA! 

I used my Friday day off to do some stitching and watching some vintage Project Runway (season 2).  I know.  It's kind of pathetic.  But I did get my Seasonal Sampler finished!  It was a nice change of pace stitching on this giant (10 count) fabric, but it did make it a little difficult for my eyes to re-adjust to stitching on 30 count.  Cute finish though.  I need to find a nice square frame for this one. 

In my ongoing quest to get the craft room organized, I finally went through the chart collection.  I must have done a good job because I weeded out about 20 charts.  These are ones I either have stitched in the past or ones that I know I'll never stitch.  I don't even remember where I got some of them.  But during the process, I got to look at each chart I own and made some decisions about where in the stitching lineup they are.  As for the charts I'm done with -- should I do a giveaway?  Put them up for sale?  This is something I'll have to decide soon. 

These are the ones that are going!

Lastly, here's a photo of Cosmo, while he was watching me type up this post.