Today's the Day!!!!

I am excited to be participating in my first OWOH event. Sadly it is also the last one offered:( I want to thank Lisa for all of her hard work bringing it all together for everyone to meet across the world! If you want to find out more about the event, click on the matching icon in the side bar.

Just a little about me: I live in the US in SE Ohio. I live with my hubby of 25 years with 15 cats, a huge fabric stash, a long arm machine, several paint brushes and a fetish for all sorts of arts and crafts. I machine quilt for others for a living and love being home nearly every day. In my blog, I share my life, my talents, sometimes tutorials and now my work and some supplies to a lucky winner! I have been waiting to share my loving treasures to give away and hope you enjoy the eye candy. Sit back and have a cup of your favorite beverage as we share each others blogs.

I must say that I have had a hard time making decisions on which to give away, so I am going to leave it to you to chose by leaving a comment on which is your favorite hand painted Dotti Doll.



OH and yes, that's not all, but whoever wins, will also get a pendant necklace I have made with your choice of initials. It can be for you or some one else you plan to give it to.



AND if that's not exciting enough, I always feel the third time is a charm, so in addition I will also let you choose one of three stashes; either quilt fabric and pattern, or if you are into paper crafts, some delightful papers and ephemera or if you like jewelry making an assortment of handmade beads from paper, clays and fibers.



(Note: the beads are shown in a necklace, but they will be loose in bags to create your own)

(UPDATE: Who knew I would have this many visitors! I will have two more drawings so a total of 3 will get a good parcel of goodies! 1st drawn will get first dibs of course!)
ANOTHER UPDATE: Oh my, if there are over 300 now, I will fix another package of goodies so the last doll will also be in the mix!
THIRD UPDATE: You guys are killing me! I have 4 give aways and so many people! I will throw in another surprise package for 5 give aways for 5 years. ALSO 5 extra pendants, making the odds a bit better, so at least 1 in every 50 or less would win:) And that my friends is my final offer! I feel like a game show host. LOL

So there you have it, I am feeling very generous with the 5th and final year of OWOH to leave you with a wonderful bagful of goodies to lick, just for stopping by! hee hee May you be the lucky winner!
State your 3 choices and be sure to have a way I can contact you if you win and will be announced on Feb.17th! If you don't win this time, check back as I will have a Blogoversary coming up and another give away in the works! Happy blog hopping!

What about Bob?

Yesterday Bob and I both got our stitches out. I had gone in with an A.M. appointment. The Dr. told me that the tumor was larger than he had anticipated, a bit larger than an egg. I guess one never knows until they get right down to surgery. Anyway after the stitches were removed he told me to still take it easy and not stretch so much with my back. Also the fact that they had also found a polyp, that I have to go back in 5 years to do a colonoscopy then. I guess normally it is every 10 if all is well.

Bob's appointment was in the afternoon and they told me to come between 1 and 3:30 before they closed. To give myself some lead time, I started to get him ready to go at 1. Remember he is a feral cat? Remember he is still under my bed? Before I could coax him out by running the vacuum cleaner where he would run out and be trapped in the bathroom and when he would run around the enclosed litter box, there would be a cage on the other side he could run into and I shut the door. Walla! Well, Bob had learned that trick twice and he didn't budge with the vacuum cleaner. He knew how far he could go to get away from that thing. O.K. so now what? I had a yard stick and poked under there hoping it would get him moving, but no dice! I was able to pet him with the yard stick though. Remember the Dr. told me to take it easy and not stretch so much? Well, here I am alone trying to get Bob to cooperate and that wasn't happening! I took the mattress off of my bed and put it up against the wall and then took off the box spring thinking he would run into the bathroom. Well wrong again! He found a dresser to crawl behind. So now said dresser is pulled away and he runs behind another dresser. O.K. second dresser to move and back behind the first dresser. Now not fun at all! O.K. he is facing south so I put the kennel cage at the north end and then I go to the south side to chase him in. This time it worked! YEAH! BUT now the obstacle was to carry this big kennel outside, down the steps and into the back of the mountaineer. I wrestled it down and out. By now I can feel that I should not have done any of this to my back, but what's a person alone doing it going to do? Well, I made it to the vet in time and the vet tech had to cover him up to keep him from scratching her. As they removed the stitches, I realized that his little bottom was really square instead of rounded after they amputated his tail! I rather chuckled and with him being yellow, I couldn't help but think to nick name him Sponge Bob Square Pants! lol Bob is now under the bed again. I shall let him rest up from his ordeal and when we get a break in the weather, will let him go outside. Would hate to see him freeze his hind end off ....ah well, not that he has anything much left but hopefully his fur will grow quickly to cover.



In the mean time, Bisky is doing a bed side watch over Bob.

As for me, I quit wrestling furniture for awhile and on to working on my resolution for this year. Remember one of the items on my list was to hem up all of my pants in my closet? Well hubby got the idea that I need to do it for all of his too, so between the 2 of us, I have 22 pair to do! I resolve to do at least 2 pair each time I sit to sew and perhaps I shall have them all done in a month? Fingers crossed I get them finished and can cross them off of my ever long lists of have to dos! At least I don't have to do Sponge Bob's Square Pants! It's marked as "mended"!

Irrational Woman

Yesterday I got a call from the Pet Orphanage asking if I would foster a cat which was a drop off down the road. Of course I said no, when we already have 14! AND NO MEANS...... "But", she interrupted, " this cat is young and deserves a chance, we can put it in the paper with photos and there should be no problems adopting it out, people look for long haired cats. I would take it in myself, but I have cats already separated and can't take in any more and with sub zero temperatures......" OH, well..... let me talk to my husband first, I said and with that, he looks at me and says, It's up to you!

God, how I hate when things are left up to me! I am such an irrational woman..... so you know how things went. I am so easily swayed and talked into things. At age 56, I would even buy a pregnancy test kit if it were on sale for $1, even if I didn't need it! You know, maybe it would come in handy some time.... you know, those type of irrational people. (However I am "fixed" and post menopausal!) I even have a felting machine that hasn't even gotten out of it's box yet from this past summer! Hey, it was on sale, I know I will use/need it! I have come to the conclusion though, that I am perhaps just a hoarder. I always think I need things, but I am also a giver too. Just ask my quilt customers, I always tell them that I give away a cat with every quilt!!! (Not that any body has ever taken me up on the offer though, but I always thought it good sales tactics.)



Well, this morning I get the call from the woman that has the cat. I ask how old it is, is it male or female? She could only say that it was black and had long fur. She has two other cats that will start marking their territory and can't keep it. She was on her way into town and would drop it off. Poor thing was having to live in a box outside under her BBQ grill. She worried it would freeze to death. Well, in she walks with this little cat carrier with a bundle of fur. I take it out and announced that it was a female, perhaps 6 months old. It took but 2 seconds before this little furry creature got up on my chest and started rubbing her face all over mine and said this is home, in between her very audible purrs. The woman so wanted to keep her and was crying when she left her behind. She was so happy as she knew we would take care of her too and promptly gave me money to get her spayed to help with her efforts of living a good and wanted life.

After she left, It took about two seconds for me to name her Anise, which no doubt will become Ani....... as in little orphan Ani. or as in Ani-mal. I am sure we will soon get to know Ani's Antics. She already loves to rub noses! Notice that half of her face has white whiskers while the other half is black. She also has a wisp of white fur on her chest. She is such a beautiful bundle of fur! Speaking of which, I will have some extra tufts of fur to save... why yes, of course, I shall save it to use as embellishment to run it in the felting machine! Yes, because I am just such an irrational woman!

All In Stitches!

Lately everything is in stitches and not all in fabric! I guess you might say I had been going through stitch withdrawl with working on the house. Try as I might, I failed miserably trying to get a quilt finished before I went to the hospital to have some surgery. As luck would have it, I ran out of the gold thread I was using and had to place an order before I could go any further. Just a couple of blocks to go and the last border and I would have had it finished! Here is a peek at what I was working on.



In between working on Bonnie's quilt, we took a feral cat to the low cost spay and neuter clinic. Remember Bob? He was the one that buddied up with Tang aka Sweetie Pie who is semi feral. Bob had half a tail. Not sure if the coyotes had gotten to him or if he lost a battle in a fight with another cat. As it turned out, we were refused the neuter because his tail wasn't healed up and would break open and bleed profusely. Instead, we were referred to the Pet Orphanage who worked with us with emergency funds to pay for the rest of his tail to be amputated so that they would have enough skin to fold over, stitch and let it heal. The agreement was that we would pay for the neuter, rabies shot and antibiotic shot. That was perfectly fine with us! They covered $150. and we had to pay $65. so we were more than happy to give Bob a chance with a new lease on life.



Here is poor Bob hiding in the corner of my bathroom. His face cut up from a previous outdoor fight.



Poor Bob's newly shaved and stitched backside. Not a pretty sight! He now looks like a manx. A manx will run like a rabbit in which Bob does. He has short little legs,so perhaps why his tail was maimed in the first place. He went to the vet the night before I went into the hospital to have some minor surgery done. I had a tumor removed that was an irritation, especially when I am bent over machine quilting. It was too large to remove in the clinic so had to go to the hospital to do it as an out patient there. I also had a colonoscopy at the same time. (Don't worry, no photos of it!) lol Nothing like trying to get the most done for your money. This was the area on my back before it was removed.



It was cut out, stitched and patched up.

Then after a couple of days, I could get the bandage off. A shame the dr. didn't have gold thread either!



In 10 days, Bob and I will both get our stitches out. I wonder if I could get a "2 fer", if the vet would work on us both! Maybe I might just have to meow, but I will pass on the kitty treats. lol

I finally was able to finish Bonnie's king size quilt. I can only imagine how wonderful it will look on her bed!





Today it was nice to just stay in after getting 6 inches of newly fallen snow last night. As you can see a couple of the fur babies are enjoying taking advantage of a long winter's nap.


This is Nova who sought out the comfort of daddy's lap.


This is Cheddar resting easy on a comfy pillow on the sofa.

There is nothing more comforting than a cat or a quilt!

One World One Heart

I just want to remind everyone that the One World One Heart event will soon be here! It starts on the 30th! YIPPIE!!! Hooray!!! It's a great opportunity to connect with other bloggers from all over the world, see what they are up to and possibly win a prize in the process! If you would like to participate, click on the link at the side bar to read all about it!

I am working on my give away for the event so watch for it soon!!!! I promise it will be something delightful!

MEOW/BOW WOW!!!

I am sure you are all confused, as it is unlikely of me to paint a dog when we have 14 cats! lol I actually was a dog girl as I had grown up with them, (before I converted!) I had a dachshund as a very first pet and her name was Babs. She was such a funny dog, but she even saved our lives one night. We were living in a small trailer that had a wood stove and a spark had hit a wooden box with a pillow in it where she lay. She was barking furiously and trying to put it out and woke my mom up. Ever since then, every 4th of July we would have to keep her inside as she wanted to put out fireworks too! Then one day she fell down our basement steps, broke her back and died. It was such a sad day, but I have fond memories of her. I still remember her slick silky coat.

Eggcitement!

It feels good to do a little creating again even with little ATC's. These were created for my NING group. The theme was birds and an egg had to be in there somewhere along with the word EGG. The middle one is my favorite even though I have a warped sense of humor. lol

I also did some more ATC's for another group that I am in for another theme. You can see them and the description posted at this site with the Jan.7th posting.

The Royal Throne

The Royal Throne room is finished!

Finally an unveiling of the rest of the bathroom now that I have my shelves up! Yippie, it's all painted and complete! This is the area where the garden tub was. It now has more storage and closet space. The top portion will hold pillows, quilts and such. I think that I still want to add a piece of decorative trim, but for now, I am pleased as punch! The room beyond is the laundry room. I will show you that room later when the shelving is completed.



The bench I had, was one I bought in the 80's at a junk shop when we lived in England. It was good to do a make over. I started sanding it by hand as Zack seemed to mock at my progress. I finally got smart and got the electric sander out. Mysteriously though, my supervisor took off! lol



With this view you can see that I have added more shelving! I feel like Martha Stewart! Aslan is wondering if all of this weight will hold up above his litter box in the corner. lol



"I like it mom!"



I haven't changed this one piece that I painted while living in Germany in 1990. It was tempting to repaint it all off white and paint a mermaid on it. Then I decided to just leave it. I still like it, even if it isn't what I would like in there. What do you think? Should I find another place for it, sell it and develop something new? You see, I have this fear of letting go. Perhaps if I paint a mermaid scene on the two panels of the bench that I will eventually repaint over this piece or find another cabinet to put in the corner and paint it to match. Decisions, decisions and most of the time I am not good at that! The bottom stand is a jewelry box that Rog got me in Italy before we got married. I guess that is a keeper so won't be changing that out other than it's location.





I still have the same shower, but am looking to put a shower curtain dressing over it to make it look more cottage like. We shall see. It seems that I have to ponder on things for awhile. I did that with the wall covering. I kept going back and forth between blues and greens. Rog got a kick over it all. He says the only time that it will really bother me is when I am sitting there constipated and have more time to think about it! hmmm.... maybe occasionally I will have to take a laxative to clear those thoughts!