Cats, cats, cats, and more cats, part 1

I said I might do a post on all my cat bags, but when I thought about it a bit more, it came to me that I could extend that to cats in general.
I have quite a few around the place, some because I fell in love with them myself, others because for some weird reason people think I like cats and have given me a lot of items over the years. Really strange, I know. Why would they think something like that? 😂
"Oh, just give Cat something with a cat on it and she'll be happy." Well, you know I probably will be!

I called this post part 1 just in case I can't hold back and need to share more of the craziness. Actually I'm pretty sure that's going to be happening.
As usual when I do something like this, the order is completely random.

This beautiful cat looks so much like my first cat White Dude, we just had to have this painting.
It hangs next to my bed and unfortunately der Dekan loves to push the frame, so it swings. He knows exactly that's getting him my attention. Not in a good way, but if he's starving - which usually is the reason - he'll take what he can get.
Main thing is the old lady gets up, she'll be doing the right
thing then for sure. I fall for it way too often, he started training me very early on.

When I brought home my beloved yellow mugs, I couldn't leave the pottery workshop without a cat, could I? It would really have been very rude to do that. I liked the funny look of this one.
It's a salt cellar, but I rarely use those, so instead this cat is guarding some of my cat books now.

Talking about cat books ... I may have two or three ... or maybe hundreds. Crime, stories, picture books, photo books, children books, tales, humor, facts, guidebooks ...
This one is not only of the very first cat books of my collection, it's also one of my all time favorites, "The cat who came in from the cold". A small cat sitting on a upturned bucket in a puddle of rain water - or in other words, a book about the cat distribution system. Longden took the cat (who had lied about not having a home) inside and Thermal did what cats do best - take over the place.
I love all of Longden's books that I have, but this one is dearest to my heart.

There's a story to these earrings. They were made by a fellow jewelry artisan from the UK. The first time I wore them to work, they still had open earwires. I lost an earring almost right away and although I could pinpoint exactly where I had been before losing it, it was nowhere to be found. I was so sad!
Until I went to the ladies' room and suddenly felt something poking me. Such a naughty little earring. It must have fallen into my neckline, found its way into my bra and managed to crawl to the back of it where it poked me.
My guess is the earwire got tangled in my long hair and then ... heck if I know. When the artisan heard about it, she was so sweet to send me a pair of closed earwires which kept the travelling earring in check.

I have several portraits of my own cats made in different ways. I have to show these two in one picture because Merlin and Meffi belonged together. My little lovebirds 💗

The pendants were hand painted by my dear friend Dawn (not just her hand painted pendants are gorgeous, by the way).
They have a little special surprise on the back, but that's between Dawn, Merlin, Meffi, and me, I have never shared it.

I made this pendant and ring in my silversmith class. Unfortunately it was the only one I could attend, but at least I got some good pieces out of it.

Did you know that my friend Denis, who works in animation, designed my logo?
I love it so much that I asked Kirsten from Quernus Crafts, who makes adorable polymer clay critters, if she could capture Denis (I named him after his creator) in clay. This is the result.

I haven't forgotten that this post was inspired by cat bags, so my last item today is one of my everyday grocery totes. There are several designs of them. They fold up nice and small, so I can put several of them in my shopper if needed. They are super sturdy.
You can find these tapestry inspired designs from Europe over the USA to Australia. I got my bags at a market, one of those where you can find anything from brushes to aprons, graters to candles, and so on.

Are you ready for more cats?