Any humans in here?

Not mine, it seems. Guess it's too hot for her again ....

Brain puddle

It's hot. You don't believe me? Look at the dead cat on my desk. Now you might say I don't have as much fur as he does, so I don't have the right to complain, but 1. I never showed you my arms and 2. I don't lie around on my desk like this. Instead I try to blog which I haven't done all week, shame on me.

My brain is in a puddle on the floor and my body moves out of habit. The results are not as good as one could have hoped for on a long weekend. At least I haven't been all inactive. Once again I convinced myself I needed to work on my stash. All those beads left over from other projects were getting in my way, all the little plastic bags with one, two, ten beads in them. These little crochet flowers are perfect to use them up.

Part of these pendants will go to a daycare center, as little gifts for the girls. Some others will be listed in my different shops ... once I have taken more pictures, that is. This could take a while.

And of course I'm not done yet. There are more little bags, more orphaned beads ... more flowers?

Fraud

This is not what you might be thinking of now. No online fraud, my bank card did not get stuck in the cash machine and I got the right change at checkout in the supermarket.

No, even if it's hard to admit - I'm the fraud.

Maybe you wonder why you didn't hear about my kitties for a while. Ponder has his own blog now and there he's telling it like it is. Before he's giving Esme the chance to call me out over there, though ... well, I decided I had to do it myself. Here's the photo that could ruin my reputation.

Esme claims I rented the place out as a two bedroom flat. And she was not happy with her bedroom. Mainly because there was no bed there, just a floor. With carpet, but not by far as nice as her brother's bedroom, a nice old big office chair with a clean blanket ... with kitties on it!!

So I guess I'll just apologize officially to Esme. I know she will keep me under surveillance very closely for a long time now.

Wish me luck.

Seriously now!

How am I supposed to post something on my blog with my keyboard being blocked like that??

I love them

Sometimes I say I'll sell them to the circus or I threaten to eat them with French fries. They can be so annoying when they practice their new tapdancing steps on my ribs at night or when they start a fight to get me up early for their breakfast. They can be so clumsy knocking over stuff that they usually wind through like snakes, just to get your attention. They can hurt you so much, either by turning their backs on you when you need them most (yes, it was a traumatic moment when I came home from hospital and Merlin hissed at me and hid under the bed for three hours, even if I know I had been away for weeks and probably smelled really funny) or by digging their claws into most tender spots on your body.

And then they are on the bed, on the couch or on the desk, and knowing you are close by, they'll just roll around and trust you to catch and hold them. I have watched them and they rarely do the extreme stunts when there's no one is in reach. (Sometimes they fall off the furniture, but rarely when I'm around to witness it.)

No matter if Greebo is getting ready for his training units with some light stretching .....

.... or if Ponder is rolling over on the desk just to land on my arm and leg. Hadn't I been there to hold him, he would have taken a dive right down to the floor.

Sometimes I'm easy to please, these are special little moments to me.

A photo story

First let me say that I'm not in a great mood at the moment ... which is why you don't see me around much. Believe me, that's a good thing.

This I had to share with you, though. It's what the "security camera" picked up right now, and boy, am I ever glad it did or I would have to get my sister a new necklace.

1. The master thief detects a piece of jewelry which has not been secured by a lock or something. He reaches in to check out what possibilities he has got.

2. The master thief has dug in and released the loot easily from its poor hiding place. In expert manner he checks out the value of the piece, ignoring the sceptical look of Lady Agnew of Lochnaw.

3. It's always of interest to know how long the chain is. This one is probably too long to give it to one of his girlfriends.

4. Now that the question about the chain is answered, it's time to have a closer look and sniff at the pendant itself.

5. Finally the master thief takes notice of the security camera. In an attempt to feign innocence he drops the necklace.

P.S. I cheated a little on the order of those pictures, due to bad light I had to put together pictures from different attempts to steal the Crown Jewels. Actually he tried about five times while I had trouble to hold the camera still and keep myself from rolling on the floor laughing! You'll forgive me this little artistic freedom, won't you? ;-)

The weekend is almost over ...

... which means the day job is waiting for me around the corner. It's going to be so hard to get up really early again!

As I don't know if Mabel will be overwhelmed by this fact (I found muses can get bored easily) and run away to Maui or Australia (in which case she could bring me some opals) , I took the chance to quickly work on another piece, a huge cross with lots of Swarovski crystals - blue and clear - and a faceted midnight blue glass bead as focal.

The addiction has taken over, that went quickly.

Here it is, if you want to see more pictures, you can find it here in my ArtFire studio.

P.S. "She has been telling stories about us again." "Nah, you are kidding, what did she say this time?" "She said we don't use the new box." "Doh, what does she know? Let's show her."

And that's what they did this evening. In abundance. Greebo, Esme and Ponder.

Here's just one example. Let's make the human look like a fool. Well done indeed.

Wondering ...

What it is wrong about this picture? After I almost tripped over this box for the fifth time today, I felt something was not quite right. Then suddenly I knew. There is no cat in there!!

As in all households ruled by feline emperors new boxes don't stay empty for long here. I have enough examples to prove it.

Esme often prefers her boxes not empty as in this case. I'm not sure if she ever read those books, but she camped out with them for weeks until she chose a new place to chill.

There had been another box resident before her. Gandalf still had a towel in it then that you could also use as a roof when he demanded absolute peace. Doesn't it look cosy?

I am not sure what Greebo had in mind here. At any case he looks highly concentrated. Maybe he tried to make the box take off by sheer willpower?

There are lots of pictures of Ponder in various boxes. My favorite one is this although he scared me a little with that determined look of his.

Meffi looks as if she was ready to get packed up in this picture. This is an unusual picture, the little diva prefers baskets usually in which being carried around she loves.

I have no doubt that Merlin slept in this box very comfortably. Not. You know how cats are. They never cease to amaze us.

So now back to my question.

What is wrong with that big and new and lovely box that none of our cats wants to try it out .....?

Any theories?

Surprise, surprise!

In February it will be two years that my Merlin passed away.
Ever since he's gone, Meffi wouldn't go upstairs anymore. You could tell how much she missed him. She doesn't get along too well with the black devils. Ponder is too rude for her and although she has been seen exchanging quick nose kisses with Esme, there are times when I feel I need to buy a boxing ring for them and demand entrance fees.
The last few months she has started coming upstairs again, hm, more like running, but only if she feels the need to chase Ponder. As small and slim as she is, as big is her voice and she has the whole range, from growling to hissing, yelling and yowling and a sound that I would expect from a stag, but not a little cat.

Today however she was suddenly there, standing in front of the library, Greebo and Esme behind her looking just as surprised as I did, it seemed.
She checked out everything, first the library, then the old oven that stands in our hallway until the house's hallway is finished, and now she's in the library, sleeping on the pinball machine.


I just hope this won't be a one time incident, I always felt bad that she seemed to feel restricted to downstairs.
And there's this tiny spark of hope that one day she won't mind the noisy siblings around her anymore ...

Visiting the library - a photo story

I'm not talking about a public library, but my own one at home. It's off limits for the cats right now because my light tent is there and lots of stones, finished pieces and just stuff in general is scattered around. From time to time one of the kids goes in there with me.
Today Ponder was the one. He had been like a little child all afternoon. "Play with me." "I'm hungry." "I want to snuggle." So finally we went into the library together. I started taking pictures, but then I found a waxed thread necklace I had broken and we settled in for a nice game of string instead.
I know it must seem as if I neglect the others, but Ponder is really the one who lets me take pictures easily while the others do funny stuff right up to the moment I get the camera out - then they freeze.
So here's our story.

"Throw, Mom! I promise I won't use my claws!"


Yeah. Right.


Ouch! I was too slow. When will I learn??


"That was fun, but I think I hear something."


Muffled sound: "There is something here under Roosevelt. Give me a moment." (Roosevelt is the bear's name. He has been with us since 1988 and he has seen a lot!)


"Aaaaalmost got it."


"Roosevelt, what do you think? Looks yummy?" (Enlarge the picture to see the delicious meal.)


Happy sigh. "I love dessert. Roosevelt, a back massage would be nice now!"


After stuffing his face like that, he's in the chair behind me now, peacefully sleeping.
And I can hear a snore from under the desk ... Greebo's favorite place ...

P.S. Ehm, I do know that Ponder doesn't speak, by the way, at least not the human language ;-)

Can you see me?

Ignore the cat behind the curtain .... ignore the cat behind the curtain ...

Animal instinct

The Smooshers have a whole lot of new members AND the Smooshers have a new blog task force. Today I'll combine all those new powers.
Our subject is animal instinct.
Let me think, let me think .... hmm .... what animal would you never expect me to write about? A monkey. Nah, too obvious. A horse. Sheesh, right, that's what you are just waiting for.
Hey, I know. Cats! No one EVER would think that of me!

Ok, so I didn't fool you. Who cares? You'll have to pull this through with me now. I can't risk the wrath of basement cat or the half-vampirette, the cow cat or the lady with the stripes, aka my feline masters.

Here we go. Four new Smooshers with four very different approaches to cats.

Let's start with a cat that probably just lost his or her witch. I'm not sure if she will make it back out of the cauldron. So if any of you wants to adopt a very probably homeless black cat with knowledge of spells, rush over to C Dowdle Designs.


A lot more ancient looks this little faux ivory cat. I'm sure she never had to do with a witch, I can see her much better together with a nice granny.
But even if you are not a granny, you might want to take her in? You can find her at Rueschka by Laurel Steven.


Ha! I remember when my masters used to look like that, cute and cuddly and ... oh gosh. They can still look like that and I'm wax in their paws.
Isn't this little fellow just crying out "Take me in your arms" while waiting in the studio of Artsy Clay?


Last but not least is this cat with the expressive eyes by Blue Jane. Wow, just wow. I'm hypnotized.


Talking about hypnotized, I think it's time to feed the masters ......

Hide the cookies!

Ponder has an obsession.
If he can't be a chimney sweep, he wants to be a master thief. Let me tell you, he's on the best way.

He started his career when he and his sister moved in here - they were about three to four months old - and improved his skills constantly. He has been here for five years now and he stole everything from calzone from my plate (not that he wanted to eat it) to Christmas ornaments, jewelry, scarfs, he stole wet food pouches out of the cupboard to rip them up and share them with the others.
When he was younger, he stole bread which always made me wonder about how he had been treated at the place he lived before. He gnawed on it a little and left it on the floor to die. Once he opened a plastic bowl and stole some cake, just for the fun of it obviously as he didn't eat from it. That taught us to store bread and cake in a safe place right away.
Funny enough he doesn't like snacks much, neither the kitty nor the human kind and he loses interest in all of his stolen goods pretty fast.

Just now I looked up and this is what I saw.



No way, mister!
He looked a little hurt. I'm such a spoil sport.
So he went downstairs and puked into the kitchen.

I love cats.

Do you believe in ghosts?

Late at night this weekend Ponder was sleeping in the hammock. As I have been working long lately and am knackered when I come home, I don't have much hammock time for him. He hates being robbed of his special time at the computer, therefore he enjoyed it thoroughly on the weekend. So much in fact that my feet fell asleep trying to accommodate him the right way.
Suddenly he jumped up, though, ran to the staircase and started staring upwards while making these funny high-pitched sounds that I had never heard from him before. From his sister, yes, but not from Pon.

I called him, but he didn't move. So I went over there to look for the exciting spider, fly or bug that fascinated him so much. Nothing. I heard nothing, I saw nothing. He kept looking up there for five minutes, singing. And I took the chance to take a picture. Suddenly he looked at me, walked over the tall guy's desk and demanded to be snuggled again.


I still wonder what he heard or saw. Ghosts? Spirits? Some kind of rare, invisible bug? Something in the attic that my ridiculously weak human ears couldn't hear? A mouse, a weasel or a bat? Is there a ghost living in our attic? Did he wait for the feline portal to open up to attend a cool party? Or did he just think it was time to scare me a little?
I don't know and I probably never will. Darn. I want to be a cat in my next life.

Ugly beads - a challenge, Part 2

I didn't think I'd be back so soon. Seems that Mabel did some overtime and she came up with a few ugly bead designs.
I have to warn you, two of them are not really me. As I said, this challenge is pushing me over my personal limits. Yes, it's true, I did NOT use a crochet hook for them. Don't worry, it didn't take me long to go back to my beloved hooks as you will see on piece #3.

1. The green beads with the black spirals on them
Actually I like these beads although I'm not much of a green lover. Had they been a little smaller, I might have tried to combine them with crochet beads, but somehow I felt I had to pick up the spiral pattern. And maybe the 70s worked their way up in my brain again ... or in Mabel's ...
I did a little test and although it doesn't "flow" on your neck, due to the slightly springy nature, it's amazingly comfortable.


2. The "painter palette" beads
One problem with these beads is the "filling". While the powder in the green beads cleaned out pretty nicely in vinegar, the palettes have something inside that almost looks like concrete. I tried to clean it out as much as I could, but I was a little afraid to break them (in fact when I dropped one, not even from very high, it broke), so I looked for a way to cover the holes. My Bali silver beads were too small, the Bali cubes were not at hand which is always a problem if you have a sleeping feline on your feet and are too scared for your life to move, so I settled for seed beads instead which turned out quite pretty, I think. Probably the silver even would have been a little dull in the combination. Strung on silver and finished off with a black double suede cord it didn't look ugly to me.


3. The vase
Everyone saw vases in these beads. But what to put into the vase? Flowers, yes, but how? This is what I came up with. Crocheted blossoms with seed beads, green leaves and everything held together by sterling silver wire through the hole of the bead. It's a pity that the beads are so heavy, they would make nice earrings otherwise!


Now all that is left are the matryoshka beads and four more vase beads. I have another idea for the vases, but that will take a little longer, as for the matryoshkas I'm still pretty much at a loss. Some wire, some earwires, I know, but that would be so unoriginal, don't you think?
Again - I'll keep you updated ;-)

P.S. And while I struggled and worked and thought and designed today (I haven't even shown you my beach pebble pendants yet!), someone else took the chance to occupy my computer chair and to look adorable. Esme, my half vampirette (she lost one of her fangs recently, therefore half).

Where would I be ...

... without my secretary?


Unfortunately he joined the union and they made me give him regular naptime. Wherever he chooses to take them.

It's the cat's meow

Believe me, these cats are the cat's meow. Click the picture for more and have fun!

Its the cats meow

Curated By: CatsWire

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