A TALE OF TWO KITTIES

Hi everyone

While it is not normal in my home to have four cats, at the moment I do.  Jazz and Daisy and my two little lodgers, who (oh dear) are going to their new home today.  Even though they have only been here for a few days, I will miss them - they have been such great fun to have here.  I hope the closeness that they demonstrate goes on throughout their adult life, because at the moment they clearly love each other.  They sleep cuddled up, they play (OK, they occasionally thump each other, but it is kitten play-fighting) together and share each others food.  Watching their antics has been very off-putting where my work has been concerned, but considerably better than what is currently on the television.

They are off to the vet's this morning for a health check, first jab and to be chipped and from there they are going on to their new home.  As difficult as it will be to say 'goodbye' to them, I am so glad they have a new home - so this morning was spent packing their little suitcases, collecting their cage and pen and putting them in my car and off to the vets we went.  But all is not lost, on Thursday afternoon I will be collecting Ash and Micro; two more gorgeous kittens who need some TLC while their fosterer goes on holiday.

Yesterday Daisy nipped indoors with a mouse, dropped it in the lounge and then wandered off!  Why do cats do this?  Do we look hungry?  In need of fresh meat?  Or is this payback for bringing two kittens into our home - she isn't so keen on them.  I think that what goes through her mind each time she sees them is 'I had four like you once and that was enough, so don't think I am going to look after you as I have enough on my paws looking after Jazz!'  Not much mothering instinct there.

To round off the tale of two kitties, I homed two kittens yesterday!  My neighbour, who as I have mentioned in other posts, loves black cats, is going to adopt two little black girls from Woking Cats Protection.  They are very nervous - poor little things were abandoned when very young (they are six months old now).  So very soon two new kittens will be moving in with Diva, Shadow and Trio.

Enjoy the rest of the week everyone.  Don't forget to come back on Friday for my guest blog post and I will be posting my usual bumper scribblings on Sunday.

Jill

THE LAST BANK HOLIDAY OF THE YEAR

Hi everyone

I know it isn't the last one, but the next one is Christmas and it seems a long way off - I'll forget the fact that at the moment I am surrounded by material for making Christmas cards, gift boxes, etc.

1 Crafty Tales

I haven't done a lot of craft work this week as I have tried to concentrate on my website - yes, I know I have probably written those words at least ten times in my blog, but it is getting to the point where I know I really do need to get a move on and get it published.  As you know from my blog, I love bright colours and originally my website was black (text mainly and some accents), white and lime green - the lime green was rather prominent.  I liked the colour scheme but have come to the conclusion over the last week that it really needs softening.  I therefore decided to introduce purple, well lilac really, into the colour scheme.  I have used lilac as the background side-strip colour and also in some of the accents.  I decided to use dark purple for the text, but still kept some lime green as I think it is a fresh bright colour.  I may still go for a lighter shade of lilac on the side strips, but am playing around with that at the moment.

I am ploughing through adding items, but the dilemma is that a lot of my card stock is at Bourne Mill - it is my bricks and mortar selling point, so I keep very little stock is at home.  This means I need to make stock that only goes on my website, not something that I am relishing really as it means working twice as hard (oh dear, sounds pathetic).  However, with long winter nights on their way (sorry to mention winter, almost as bad as mentioning Christmas) I should have more free time to work on stock production.  My big problem at the moment is that when the weather is good, I really want to be outside either working in or enjoying my garden.

In the meantime, this is my home page - so far.  What do you think of it?  Do you think the lilac should be a shade or a few shades lighter?  I have had some feedback that the green doesn't go well with the lilac, but the green is 'me'.  It's one of my original colours and I don't really want to lose it - plus a lot of my promotional material uses this shade of lime green.

I plan to 'go live' on 1 September, even though not all of my sections will have stock, but I think I have dragged my heels long enough and a small presence (growing regularly) on the internet is better than no presence at all.  I really cannot attend any events this year and to the many people who ask if I have a website, reply 'it's nearly ready' - especially if they asked me the same question last year!

It's time for the Handmade Monday bloggers to visit the other participants to catch up on their makes and 'doings' for the past week, but before you go, it would be great if you would consider being a guest blogger here on the Christmas Pie Crafts blog.  If you are a regular Friday visitor you will know the posts have been really great and just as good are the ones I have ready to be published.  It's a great chance for you to increase traffic to your blog and website as well as other social networking that you are involved in.  Interested?  Email me on christmaspiecrafts@virginmedia.com - it would be great to have some more Handmade Monday-ers take part.  A bit of free promotion for your new Christmas stock?

Did you read Krissy's guest post on Friday?  I really recommend you visit while you are here to read about how Krissy decided to open up her boutique.  Many thanks Krissy for being one my guest bloggers - I really enjoy reading about how people came to the 'today' stage of their life.

2 The chitter, chatter bit

News of the day: Trio broke out of my neighbour's home!  Smashed her way through the cat flap, wandered around the garden, jumped up and landed on a 6' high piece of trellis and miaowed to be rescued!  This is the cat with one hind-leg missing who has only been 'in residence' for about two weeks!  She has been exploring in sheds and garage, brought out many cobwebs (better than a duster) and seems very happy to be free.  Shadow is completely confused by her, but Jazz is interested as he likes the 'older woman' cat.  Another one of our neighbours had a very elderly lady cat and Jazz would follow her everywhere - she was a bit grumpy (Holly by name and by nature) and this irritated her very much.

I met up with Caroline on Tuesday and over large cups of coffee we attempted to solve the crafting riddle of the day; we didn't find a solution, and after lots of coffee think we had forgotten what the original question was, but it was great to take time out and catch up with what each of us has been working on.

I had a call from Cats Protection last week asking if I would be able to feed some kittens next week.  A cat-fosterer who lives near to me is going on holiday for a few days and I am the nearest CP person to her home.  I went to meet my charges on Thursday and they are so cute: one long-haired ginger girl called Fifi (18 months old) and two long-haired black kittens aged 4.5 months.  I also met some of the fosterer's own cats - three tabbies, and all gorgeous.  Not sure I can do this work without increasing the size of my own cat population.  My biggest concern, apart from wanting to take all stray cats and kittens home with me, is how I will cope with a case where the kittens or cats are not as healthy as those I have met so far.

I don't know if any of you have come across BlogFlash2012?  It is a blog-post-a-day event organised by Terri G Long (Terri's blog is about the Art and Craft of Writing Creatively).  Terri has provided a topic for each day of August and as you can imagine it must be hard work writing something new every day.  I haven't had a chance to read all of the posts, but particularly wanted to dray your attention to those created by Lesley Beeton (one of my favourite guest bloggers).  She has written some very interesting posts and I feel that most of them (all really) have a chapter 2 waiting to be produced.

I read a post on Twitter a short while ago with a link to a YouTube video about the Follow Friday (#FF) activity.  Like a lot of people who use Twitter, I take part in this and have tended to follow the crowd with a group FF tweet.  I am embarrassed to say I cannot remember who produced the YouTube (I am sure someone here will), but their recommendation was that if you want to encourage people to follow, just FF tweet one person at a time with a reason why they should be followed.  It was suggested that group tweeting can sometimes be viewed as spamming, so I decided to keep with the single FF tweet and I will continue this in future.  I did this on Friday and limited time meant I only managed two, and thank you to those same two who included me in their individual Follow Friday tweets.

The garden beckons as my neighbour has given me some lovely Primula Denticulata to plant - the garden is also the best place to be as Richard is removing the fireplace from the dining room!  The noise of the chisel and hammer are bearable, the moans and groans are not.

I hope you have a good Bank Holiday Monday - sadly I think the weather is going to be pretty grim.  I will be back on Wednesday with my mid-week catch-up and don't forget to visit on Friday to read this week's great guest post.

Jill

OOPS, NEARLY FORGOT TO POST

Hi everyone

Clearly my week of changing blogging style has thrown me as I nearly forgot my mid-week post.  Possibly also due to having a change of routine with Richard being on holiday - and the sun is still shining!  I think I had better stop blaming him for the bad weather.

I have received a few emails this week from companies saying 'now that summer is over.....'.  Please, don't say that - August hasn't finished, September is sometimes lovely and even October is occasionally sunny and warm during the day.  Summer has been so grim, so let's try very hard to enjoy summer and stop pushing ourselves towards autumn (yes, a gorgeous time of year for colour in the garden) and winter.

The Jazz and Shadow 'battle' continues.  They had a run in yesterday and this morning.  I really do think Shadow wants to be friends, but his approach just frightens Jazz.  Jazz did disgrace himself on Monday - he caught a pigeon.  Richard managed to rescue it and although it didn't look 100%, we think it might have survived.  Horrible though it may seem to everyone, unfortunately cat's are hunters, and even a bell around their neck doesn't stop them.

A couple of weeks ago Rumpy Dog commented on one of my blog posts and added a note asking if I could remove the captcha part from my comment section.  I wasn't aware I had left this on until Caroline (Caroleecrafts) pointed it out to me on Tuesday - many thanks Caroline, I have now (I hope) removed it.  It seems this may prevent many visitors from commenting as it can be infuriating trying to read the letters, and now figures, in the captcha box.  Apologies everyone, hopefully it will now be easier to leave a comment - comments will still be moderated, but should be easier to leave.

Having said 'no to leaving summer behind', I am off to plant some autumn/winter bulbs in our front garden.  I always tend to leave it too late, but this year I have decided to get a move on and do it now.

If you would like to be a guest blogger, do please get in touch: christmaspiecrafts@virginmedia.com.  Your post can be about your business, a hobby, pets, travel or something you are planning to do.  It should be approximately 600 - 800 words, have lots of pictures and links to your website, blog, etc.

I hope you enjoy the rest of the week and don't forget to come back for my Friday Guest Blogger's post - as always I know you will enjoy it.  I will be back on Sunday with my main post.

Jill

TIME PASSING

Hi everyone

Another week has whizzed by and although I have been busy I feel as though I have been standing still and have accomplished little.  Age or the time of year when the days are long and you feel you have plenty of time to do lots and actually do little?  Oh well, there is always tomorrow.....

Part 1: Crafty Tales

Up until a few weeks ago, I had been working hard on producing my mini-cards for my Christmas events.  I then stopped, moved onto wedding invitations and Christmas (sorry, a rude word at this time of year) got left behind.  It struck me this week that I am no further forward with my stock and therefore need to get a move on, or my stall will look rather empty.  However, I decided that Christmas might have to wait a little longer and as I had lots of orange ribbon (I bought some narrow ribbon when I bought the wedding stock) and some black material, I thought, hey, how about a Halloween fabric wreath.  So, here it is - it is a work in progress as you can see, but it should be ready in a couple of days time and I will then add it to my Etsy shop:

I think black and bright colours look so good together.  I am looking for a template for a bat as think I will add one to the centre just to finish this wreath off, or I may pin it to the wreath itself as perhaps the centre isn't big enough to do justice to an embellishment.

It has been a week of catching up on everything that was put aside for the invitations.  Not much progress on the Orders of Service as need information from the bride and groom.  However, there is plenty of time to work on them and they are nowhere nearly as complicated as the invitations.  It's time for to visit the other crafters who take part in Handmade Monday - I know you will enjoy the blogs and the work the other HMs have been creating during the past week so don't forget to check them out.

Part 2: Chitter, Chatter

Phew!  It is HOT.  Great weather for lazing around outside reading and doing very little and that's just what we did for most of yesterday and today.  We had a meal with a friend yesterday evening and sat outside until very late. Hedgehogs visit her garden every evening, but only one last night - think the rest of the family probably had a take-away and didn't need to come out for supper, feet up and glued to Hedgehog Street or possible Hedgehog-Enders.

I hope you have been able to read my guest post from Lesley Beeton?  Thank you Lesley, it is a great post and I think it is well summed up by Hannah's comment '....I love to hear stories of how people use their creativity in difficult times as I believe it helps others to find that part of hope that creativity brings'.  A lovely comment, thank you Hannah.  I know Lesley would like feedback on her post, so please do visit.

Did you also visit my mid-week blog post about Trio?  A must-read 'tail'.

This week is an odd combination: good weather and Richard on leave!  Those two happening at the same time have been unheard of this year.  He has two weeks leave and the first week is work (not that he is fully aware of the long list he has to tackle) and the second week is leisure.  However, as most of the work is outside, think the heat might prevent some of it being carried out and it may be a case of reversing the weeks.  However, no matter what the weather is like time off from work is always welcome.

We have an interesting situation that has developed over the last few weeks involving our cat, Jazz, and Shadow, the 3-legged cat who now lives with our neighbour.  Up to the time of Shadow's operation, they were friends. OK, they didn't go to the pub or play football, but they were quite happy to lay on the patio together in the sun fairly close to each other.  Despite being a big cat, Jazz is a softy and he wants to be friends with everyone (two legs or four, he doesn't mind), but he is one of the original 'scaredy-cats'.  His 'hello, I'm Jazz, can we be friends' attitude doesn't always work and often he gets cuff around the ear from cats who don't want to be his best pal.  When this happens, he never retaliates - in fact a few months ago a neighbour walked by with his small dog, Jazz began walking towards him (the 'be my friend' behaviour kicked in) and the dog started barking.  What did Jazz do?  Nothing, just sat there - possibly wondering why this particular 'cat' was on a lead and making sounds that didn't seem to be cat-like.

My apologies, I have wandered off of the plot.  When Shadow walks towards Jazz, he lurches because of his missing left front leg - this seems to frighten Jazz and he cowers and hisses.  They don't fight - thank goodness - but some pretty blood-curdling screams have been heard.  On top of this Daisy (who is clearly reincarnated from the women who watched with glee as heads were chopped off in the French Revolution) rushes out to grab a ringside seat!  This morning, hearing a cat scream, I went into the garden to find Jazz underneath one of our loungers and Shadow standing guard over him!  I managed to move Shadow away, lift up the lounger and rescue Jazz and carry him indoors - that's his street-cred blown to bits!  A difficult situation, and I am hoping that eventually they will get fed-up with the constant 'arguing' and become pals again.

I am off to enjoy some more sunshine - and do some more work on my Halloween.  I hope you enjoy this week and don't forget to come back on Wednesday for my mid-week post and Friday to 'meet' my guest blogger.

Jill

A TAIL OF A TAIL

Hi everyone

I am sure you remember my posts about Shadow?  He is doing very well, has settled in and become a very home-loving cat - unusual for a boy cat as they like to wander and hunt and stay out late and cause their people to worry!

My neighbour, who adopted Shadow, volunteered at the time of Shadow's trauma to help out with fostering and out of the blue last week, she received a call asking if she could take in a badly treated female cat who also had had one leg amputated.  'The cat' arrived on Thursday and we helped put the large cage together that she would be housed in for her stay with my neighbour.  Once I saw the cat I knew that she would not be fostered, she would be cat number three in my neighbour's household.  She was black and my neighbour loves black cats.  This particular one is tiny, long-haired and has beautiful large green eyes.  Despite her traumatic experiences, she is friendly and loves to be cuddled and stroked - animals are so forgiving, aren't they?

Four days after her arrival, Trio (as she has been named) has settled in.  She still spends time in her cage - as you know the weather has been very warm and it is too risky leaving her running (and she can) around with doors and windows open.   However, there are times when she is out and about in the conservatory and other rooms and she is surprisingly nippy.  After her exercise she jumps up onto a chair and drops off to sleep - after a wash and brush-up that is.

The surprising thing is how agile she is.  She has lost her back left leg and this does not slow her down or cause her to walk awkwardly at all.  Shadow lost his left front leg and walking for him is clearly not easy or comfortable, in that he doesn't have any easy gait.  It hadn't occurred to me how different movement would be dependent on which leg was amputated.

The reason why my post is entitled A tail of a tail?  Trio's fur was apparently very matted and she had to have a considerable amount of fur removed, in addition to what was required for her op.  With the exception of a small amount of fluff at the tip of her tail, her tail was also shaved and it looks like a piece of string!

I will keep you updated on Trio's trials and also let you know how Shadow is doing.

Enjoy the rest of the week and don't forget to come back and meet my Friday Guest Blogger

Jill

GOOD DAYS, BAD DAYS, SAD DAYS

Hi everyone

Is it really March?  Sitting in the garden early yesterday evening it felt like July.  Long may it last.

Jazz is progressing well - he does, however, keep chewing and trying to pull his stitches out!

Some sad news about Shadow; when my neighbour took him to the vets to check if the splint had helped to keep the plate and pins in place, it was found it hadn't.  Because his leg bones are very thin and fragile, no further surgery/pinning could be attempted and the decision was made to amputate his leg.  This was carried out on Monday afternoon and by the evening he was back home.  Animals are very adaptable and by yesterday evening, he was able to stand, sit down and walk.  He is lovely and it really is a great shame that this happened to such a young cat.

I have managed to get quite a lot of crafting down so far this week - in between gardening.  So hard to resist being outside as at this time of year - who knows when the weather may change back to its normal nippy/chilly day-time temperature.

Richard has a few days off this week, so more gardening and socialising.  Had dinner with friends last night - nice to sit back in the week and catch up with each other.  We started off the evening with some fizz in the garden - so warm (the weather that is, not the fizz) it really was just like a summer's evening.

I had some lovely news yesterday.  I have been 'drawn from the hat' by Cory of Coryographies and have won one of her beautiful bookcase necklaces and a pair of teapot earrings.  I thought they were both lovely when I entered the draw and to have been picked a winner is brilliant.  Thank you Cory.  The post hasn't arrived yet, but I will put a pic of them on my next blog post.  Do have a look at Cory's work - is is really lovely.

A mini-ish post today - thank you everyone who posted on my Handmade Monday blog for your comments and pussy-cat good wishes.  Don't forget to come back and read a fellow-crafting blogger's post on Friday.  It's a good one and of interest to all of us in business.  I am off to finish the guest post I am writing and I will add a link to that as soon as I have posted it and it is published - thank you Lesley, it will be with you very soon.

Enjoy the sun everyone

Jill

CATCHING UP

Hi everyone

Life has been hectic at Christmas Pie Crafts these last few days.  Card orders and 'things' for my event on Saturday, plus 'the return of the stray cat'.

A few months ago a big black cat began visiting my neighbour and us.  He was friendly, if cautious, and we assumed about 8-9 years old.  My neighbour and I asked around locally to see if  he belonged to anyone, or if anyone knew anything about him.  The answer was 'no'.  We fed him when he turned up at either of our homes, which wasn't every day day and he had a very healthy appetite.   Last week we noticed he was limping quite badly on his left front paw.  Richard, who as well as being a big animal lover is a coward where they are concerned when they are in pain, injured, etc said 'I think you need to catch him'.  I spoke to my neighbour, to whom he was a more frequent visitor, and as he often nipped into her conservatory, she said she would try to contain him.  Move forward to today, following discussions with CP and RSPCA, he is coming home having had his leg platted (it was fractured in two places), he has also been chopped and chipped and he is moving into his new permanent home with my neighbour.  The biggest surprise was that he is only 2 years old!  Our vet (we both use the same one) advised my neighbour that as he had been living rough for all of his short life, he had clearly had some tough times out there.

His name is Shadow - because he comes and goes like one, and here is a recent pic I took of him in our garden.  He looks pretty fierce, but is really a big softy and a beautiful cat:

I had some great responses to my request on the Handmade Monday post about guest blogging - many thanks to everyone for your advice and support.  The general feeling was to open up my Friday spot to non-craft related topics as well as craft-related, so I did and the good news is I have fabulous posts for 9, 16, 23 and 30 March - 2 craft and 2 non-craft.  It would be lovely to have some lined up for April too - so if you are keen to join in, please do contact me on christmaspiecrafts@virginmedia.com.  One suggestion was to provide ideas on what to blog about, so below is the original list I mentioned a few weeks ago but I am happy to include topics not on the list:

What inspires you to create

Do you still make (and  sell) the item(s) that set you on the road to being a professional crafts-person

How do you motivate yourself

Is blogging a good communication platform

What does handmade mean to you

That's me for today, have a great rest of the week everyone.  I will be back with my Handmade Monday post and hopefully lots of good news about my first event of this year.  Oh, yes, I forgot to mention that for the last few days Jazz has been walking around with a limp - yes, in his left front paw!  Jazz was originally a stray cat and I think this is stray-cat-left-foot syndrome.  We took him to the vets, where he is fast reaching the status of having a seat in the waiting room with his name on, and they couldn't find anything wrong.  He is on anti-inflammatory liquid but is still limping - so watch this space, as it could be another trip to the vet in the not too distant future.

Jill