Friday, April 6, 2012

Sewing with Cats

Sorry it's been quiet 'round these parts.  I've been catching up on some much needed rest and SEWING! YAY!

I've been blessed to have received several blogger awards over the past couple of months and I wanted to say a big thank you!  So without further ado, I will fulfill the conditions of the awards....

The first up and focus of this post is a NEW award that I am really pleased to receive!  It's the Sewing with Cats Blog Award dreamed up by the lovely Cindy who blogs over at Cation Designs.  If you haven't checked out her blog yet, you are definitely missing out!

 
 Here's my answer to the kitty questions:
When did you acquire your helpful feline assistant? Was he/she immediately helpful, or did it take awhile? What is the average amount of time elapsed between when you start a project and when something gets helped with? 

We acquired Ebi (little one) and Echo (big one) almost exactly one year ago.  They are elderly cats (both 15) whose parents moved to the United States.  We were quite excited to welcome these two lovelies into our lives as both David and I are HUGE cat lovers.


We love warm fires and cosy sunshine spots!

Needless to say we have made some very strong bonds with our little felines over the course of the last year and they've each picked their primary human (his and hers cat) and Echo is definitely a momma's girl.  I was partway through the Sew Weekly challenge when these two kitties came into our lives and I can say that Echo has definitely taken up the mantle of esteemed sewing assistant (Ebi would much rather help her Papa study).

Echo: I love attacking the thread when my Momma hand sews
 
What is your helpful feline assistant's favorite/weirdest thing to assist with?


Echo loves to be a place holder.  She loves laying on fabric and patterns and will occasionally watch me sew as well.

She has a signature pose:
How can I sew with such cuteness around?  She definitely hams it up for lots of pets!

How do you decline said assistance without losing your arm?

I'm gonna get you fabric!

Echo gets what I call 'crazy eyes'.  That's when I know it's time to get the laser pointer out and have some play time.  That or food is a good distraction!

What's the worst thing your helpful feline assistant has managed to botch up? 

I usually sew with wools and sturdy fabrics--so the appearance of crazy eyes is usually ok.  However, Echo LOVES silk and satin and let's just say that fabric is not as forgiving!  She loves how slippery and shiny these types of fabrics are (she went crazy for my Teal Pendrell blouse fabric!)



After many of my projects, both Ebi and Echo get play toys out of scraps of fabric.  We usually cut a long scrap and then attach a square at one end that we've sewn cat nip into! They love it!  You can usually see cat toys from most of my fabrics lying around our flat (case in point: photo on the let is cotton left over from the Midcentury Madness dress and Ebi's got a toy of the plaid flannel fabric on the right).


Another favourite pasttime for the pussycats is photobombing! They love it and I'll admit that I love it too!  Me-Made-May is their favourite month :)

Are you ever afraid to post too many pictures of your helpful feline assistant on your blog, for fear of being labeled a crazy cat lady?

What? You want me to move?  Can't you cut around me?

You can never have too many cat photos!  Despite this, I do try to keep my cat photos to a reasonable number and tend to post more on my facebook page ;)

There you have it...how two little sewing assistants have changed my life!  I now get to pass this blog award onto other cat lovers--whose kitties participated during the Sew Grateful Week including Tina who blogs over at Down the Retro Rabbit Hole and Struggle Sews a Straight Seam.  And just so ya know, Echo came over to review this blog post and she thinks it's about time that sewing cats are recognized for the important work they do (she really gave me an earful):

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26 comments

  1. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this post.  Yay for sewing with cats!

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  2. Mistress CatgirlApril 06, 2012 4:09 PM

    Congrats! Your cats are very cute. My cat loves playing with my patterns, a bit too much. He always ends up tearing some vital part of the pattern

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  3. Awww they are such cute little helpers! I love that Echo gets crazy eyes you can recognize, our cat Dinah totally does too. She loves to lay on anything crinkly or soft, so of course fabric and pattern paper fits right in.

    Love the photobombing, that is hilarious!

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  4. I love the pictures. My sewing assistant is a dog, and I struggle to not post too many adorable pictures of her "helping" me. And yes, she is all about the photo bomb too! My favorite is when I get a fabric package delivered. She likes to sniff each fabric, choose one, and make it her bed for the evening. That's how I know quality!

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  5. Love! Your cats are just beautiful! And Echo looks to be very helpful. Lucky you!

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  6. I think you should include more kitty pictures on your blog. They are soooooo cute. My cat appears whenever fabric appears and has to throw herself on top. Making sure the pattern pieces stay in place?

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  7. Congratulations. I love cats, I've got six and a dog that he think that  is another cat. You are very generous for hosting in your home animals of mature age.

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  8. Miss Crayola CreepyApril 06, 2012 6:25 PM

    This is hilarious!!!!

    I'm a cat person too, I have a whole Pinterest board dedicated to them :)

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  9. Wow, TWO black cats! Our old Ninny (he came with that name, and after living with him, I can understand why he was named that) is most "helpful" when I try to cut out a pattern. He needs to protect me from tissue paper, apparently. He'll let me cut around him, though. Happy Easter to you two -- does Scotland have any Easter traditions that surprised you?

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  10. Jennifer MarquesApril 06, 2012 7:46 PM

    What a fun post!  Echo is too cute!

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  11. Jennifer MarquesApril 06, 2012 7:50 PM

    My assistant is a dog too and she's the same way!  She even tries to pick her favorite fabrics as yours does; though, she's never gotten very far from the box with one. :-)

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  12. Brilliant post, and fantastic award!  

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  13. Heh, that's too cute.  Especially the 'signature post'.  :-)

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  14. I love the cat award - that's awesome!

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  15. What a fun post! And what a great award!! I love it. And Mr. Muscles (my assistant) thinks its pretty cool too ;)

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  16. My Mr. Darcy {a kitty, not human} is one of my sewing helpers, but Daisy {my doggy} helps the most. Both are very good for Mommy {me} whilst she sews. :-)

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  17. Way too cute for words! What would we do without our feline assistants. They always seem to make everything about THEM. ;-)

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  18. Your cats are soo cute. My kitty loves the sewing room too. Congrats on your award.

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  19. Oh yay, I love that people are taking this made-up award seriously! I loved reading your answers and seeing the wealth of sewing with cats photos! I think Echo could give Walnut a run for his money in the category of cutest signature pose! Thanks for playing along!

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  20. Mine a male dog. Actually not that much of a helper, because he's not the slightest bit interested in anything but lying as close to me as possible. Every step from sewing machine to iron and back, he's on my heels, so I suppose I've got me a sewing bodyguard. :-)

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  21. your cat is so cute!  extremely helpful assistant!

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  22. Soooo cute!! Sadly, my kitties currently reside with my mother due to housing arrangements that are not kitty friendly. I miss them oh so much! Though I do have to admit it makes cutting out patterns a whole lot easier! 

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  23. Love it!! I have 2 black cats too that love to help sew... one loves to steal the bobbins and the other likes to hold the fabric down for me!!

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  24. omg i think your echo loves fabric even more than my indy!

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  25. Penny dreadful vintageApril 16, 2012 9:14 PM

    Aww, what a cheeky monkey. Elsa is just the same, but I'd imagine it is even worse with threads and paper!

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  26. navywifeypetersJune 18, 2012 9:53 AM

    I love the cats!!!  

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I read each and every comment--thank you so much!

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