Bonnie Lassie Mouser

If you regularly read my blog you will remember that last summer I adopted a new kitten who I named Bonnie Lassie Mouser (otherwise known as Bitty Kitty). As a professional pet-sitter, a lifetime animal lover, and a regular volunteer at a no-kill cat shelter (which is where Bonnie came from) I have known many, many cats, and I can honestly say that Bonnie was one of the most special cats that I have had the pleasure of knowing. 

Unfortunately, last week I found out that she had an undiagnosed fatal illness (she was tested before I adopted her, but apparently something was wrong with that test and it was a false negative). Looking back on it she had been showing signs of illness for a couple of weeks, but I just thought that she had a less fatal illness of some kind. This morning she let me know that she was ready to move onto the Next Step of death, and I had my wonderful veterinarian help Bonnie pass over. 

Here she is at the shelter at around 7 weeks old; an irresistible scamp.  

Within two weeks of moving in with us, she quickly became an essential part of our household, especially my studio.

She had an amazing appetite for life, and catnip.

And she was a great help when it came to photographing products for my Etsy store.

By the time she was eight months old she had started growing to an impressively sized cat.

 She was happy to be my constant companion, and I felt blessed to have shared her short life with her.

She will always have a very, very special place in my heart. Rest in Peace, my dear, dear friend.

? April 2012- 21 January, 2013

Christmas Presents 2012

I didn't make as many Christmas presents this year, but I think that the ones I did make turned out well. One of my sister-in-laws, my mom, and my cat Rory all got knitted projects out of some wonderful lavender mohair yarn that I got at a resale store (MAJOR score!). Of course, I neglected to take pictures of them before I gave them away...

I did, however, take pictures of some of the other gifts I made!

My sister and mom received needle-felted projects; for my mom I made a little felted version of Bonnie kitten (who she's totally in love with).

I made a mermaid to add to my sister's collection, and a shadowbox to go with it.

Here's another view of the box:

And a view of the back of the doll. I made her hair from pieces of my first attempt at spinning (it didn't go very well, but I saved the half-spun roving for just such a project).

I made a very cozy little quilt out of cotton flannel for the cats (it's the size of a throw blanket). The colors aren't ones that I would normally choose, but one of the fabrics had lucky cats all over it and I couldn't resist building the whole quilt around it- the blanket IS for the cats, after all! 

Here's Bonnie enjoying it:

I also made a little Harry Potter for someone I know who's a huge fan. 

Of course I'd never sell little Harry Potters in my Etsy store because of copyright infringement, but it turned out pretty darn cute if I do say so myself!