Bling! Bling! the Cat

The embroidered cat is almost done. I just have a few small vines to add at the bottom. Then I'll sew the back and bottom on and put some weighting pellets in and stuffing. He'll need a tail, of course. This will probably go on after he's stuffed, and I'll embroider a ladybug on it. His nose will be needle-sculpted. I tried to leave enough space for this between his eyes and his whiskers. We'll see....

I did sew lots of beads on him, but they are hard to see in the picture. Many of the flower centers have beads, and there are some scattered on the purple flower clusters. His eyes have each been accented with a white bead. He will make the trip back to Connecticut folded up in my suitcase, and then, as soon as I get my sewing machine up and running (after grocery shopping, unpacking and laundry.....and I hope no snow shoveling!) he will come to life. Of course, the best part of having a stuffed cat is you don't have to go to the grocery store for Friskies and cat litter.....

I haven't decided what to do with him yet. I may just keep him and let him sit in my craft room or in the family room on the fireplace. Then again, I may decide to put him up on eBay for adoption. It's always hard to figure out a starting bid for something like this, since there's so much time involved in its making. I'll wait and see just how happy he is living at our house, and if he seems to be one of those roaming cats, I'll set him free.

Since I'm about ready to take on a new challenge, I think I will start on one of the patches for my ongoing Christmas tree skirt project. I found pictures on Google of the mascots from the colleges my kids attended. Since I have quite a few past years to fill in, I'll do the one for my son for 2004--the year he graduated, and my daughter's for this year. I've already enlarged the pictures so they are the proper size for the patch. Next, I will use my special giant light box (the sliding glass door with sun behind it) to trace the pictures onto the white embroidery fabric. Then the fun begins--the stitching!

I have to admit, I'm kinda looking forward to getting home to Connecticut....even though it's beautiful, sunny and warm here and there are 6 to 10 inches of snow in the forecast back there. I do miss my stuff. Even though I pack carefully, I'm never able to bring all of my stuff. And I'm most comfortable when I have my full complement of stuff. Not to mention, Tech Guy is probably looking forward to a home-cooked Sunday meal. And Big City Girl has a birthday coming up. I know she'll want the basic white cake with white frosting and sprinkles. I like that some stuff never changes.....