Remembering Autumn

Today marks one year since we lost our beloved Autumn kitty.  

We went from 5 cats down to 1 in a matter of a couple of years.  

We got Autumn and her sister (Aiden) and brother (Mosen) at the same time.  

She was 16 years old. 

 I miss that crazy little girl every day as does her calico sister (in spirit), Hallie.  

The 2 calicos used to play together all the time. 

 Autumn is in the background, Hal in the foreground.

She loved hanging out with her brother, Mosen the most. 

 She missed him when he crossed to the rainbow bridge.

She loved to eat the leaves on my flowers

Always helpful when I was on my computer

 Never left a bag un sat in

Her favorite place to be was in my sewing room with me.  She would curl up in my scrap bin.

Or "help" me sew.  

These were some of my favorite times with her.

I made her her own rag quilt so she had a place to lay and watch me sew.

We loved each other fiercely. 

 She slept like this with me every, single night, or curled into my chest.

These are the last 2 photos I took of her.  She had gotten so thin.  

She was a beauty and I miss her every day.  

I hope she will be waiting for me on the Rainbow Bridge 

with her siblings and Jack and Rimshot, Freeway, and Princess.  

I can't say goodbye just see you later sweet pea.

Love mom.  

xoxo

I Carry Your Heart In Mine

I want to thank you all for being so kind about my Autumn cat crossing over to the rainbow bridge.  Your words of comfort were so wonderful.  

It is never easy to send a furry family member on the next leg of their journey, as many of you know from first hand experience as well. 

 I saw this and was comforted by it and thought I would share it with you all.

As many of you know that follow me this was my beloved Autumn.  

She was always in my sewing room with me, frequently with her tail very close to the needle. 

 She would often lay her head so close the fabric would go over her head as I sewed. 

 She just wanted to be near me.  

I like to think that she is in an angel's lab giving them some joy!

Interestingly my other calico, Hallie has taken up the hat of sewing room companion! 

 I was working on my Ocean Waves quilt this weekend and got up. 

 When I cam back 

she was resting her head on the pieces I was sewing while they were under the needle!

Remember the Bigfoot baby quilt I was making with my friends?  

Well, there were a few extra trees.  

Which led to an extra Bigfoot being created. 

 I decided to make them into a wall hanging but it looked kind of bare 

so I wanted to embroider something on it.  

I decided to add the quote,

"I carry your heart in mine"  

I guess this is how I have been feeling about all the cats I have lost.  

I will always carry their hearts in mine. 

 Just as the new mom will carry her baby's heart in hers.  

I did the quilting on this too.  Not sure you can tell but I put a heart in a heart on the Bigfoot. 

I quilted her in a grid using masking tape for the line work.

I am especially happy with how the tree turned out with those additional triangles being made.

Here is the whole top with the binding on it.

This is the back.  I put those triangles into the binding so the quilt can be hung on the wall.

That's pretty much what I was up to this past weekend.  How about you?

~XOP~

Autumn Cat

As I sit here thinking about what to write to describe how I feel the tears are streaming down my face.  I had to make that one way trip to the vet last night with my cat Autumn. 

 She had been struggling with hyperthyroid and kidney disease.  

She stopped eating over the past few days and yesterday she cried when I picked her up. 

 I think she was ready but I was not.  

I opened the door of my sewing room for her one last time (our happy place).  

She got down off my bed and walked, ever so gingerly, into my sewing room. 

 She hopped up on the chair then on to my table and turned and looked at me with a look that said, "Where is my ice water?" 

 I went back downstairs and filled my water bottle with ice and water, like I did every time we sewed and brought it back upstairs. 

 She had one last drink and laid down on "her" quilt.  

She laid there and purred and purred.  

I sewed a bit as I know she likes the heat of the sewing machine and my light. 

 I didn't turn on the TV so I could listen to her purr one last time.  

My daughter came over to say goodbye and we face-timed my other daughter so she could say goodbye (Autumn was her cat).  It was a very difficult night for everyone.  

My hubby drove us to the vet and I held Autumn in my arms.  

We went in and although we had to wait a little bit it but 

it was nice to have those last few moments to say goodbye.  

We burried her out at the farm next to her brother, Mosen and her sister, Aiden.  

It is the passing on an era in our family life.  

We were 5 cats now we are just one.  

RIP sweet baby girl.  

I love you so much and will miss snuggling with you in bed every night. 

 I will miss your demand for ice water in my water bottle and your sweet, sweet company as I sew.  Please tell the others I love them and you all need to wait for me at the Rainbow Bridge.

I will always love you Sweet Pea!  16 1/2 years was NOT long enough.  

XOXO Mom

WIPs With Friends

How is it always Wednesday already??  

I swear the weeks go by so quickly lately.  

I forgot to show some fabric I bought last week when we were on our way home from GR.  

All of it was on sale, yay!

I did get my Mrs Big Foot all appliqued and the receiving blanket made.

My girls were "helping" me.  

I put this quilt top together and sewed a back for it. I got the batting cut and sent it to the LAQ today.

I also managed to sew almost 150 HST (three blocks worth) for my Ocean Waves quilt.  

They are all pressed and ready to trim.

We ended up with a few more trees so I am going to make another Big Foot like in this top.

I think we are going to make them into pillows.

Linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts

I almost forgot!  We have a winner!!

Christine Thompson!

I will send you an email to get your address for the charm pack.

Now it's your turn.

What are you working on.

Add your link here using the blue Inlinkz button.

~XOP~

An InLinkz Link-up

Over The Weekend

What were you up to over the weekend?  I tried out my new doughnut pan.  

They were not perfect so I guess I will have to keep experimenting right? 

 They were pretty delish right out of the oven though.

I sat down to take a break from laundry and cleaning only to have Hallie snuggle up to me and throw her arm over mine.  

She is such a good snuggler!

I tried to sew on the Hallowedding quilt but Autumn insisted on laying right behind the needle so everything backed up on top of her. 

 Every time I would push her a bit she would complain.

Finally she moved over on to the quilt I put on my table for her to lay on. 

 She is doing much better on her medicine.  

She has gained 1/4 of a pound

 (now over 6 pounds!), 

and her thyroid and kidney levels are back to normal.  

How was your weekend?

~XOP~

WIPs With Friends

Can you believe it is almost Christmas? Are you working on any last minute projects?  

I have been wrapping like a boss!  Ah and look who is "helping" me wrap! 

I was sitting at the sewing machine the other night and 

she also decided that she needed to show that machine some kitty lovin'.  

My Bernina is now HERS!

Then I decided that our new SIL needed a stocking at our house so I cut one out and sewed the front.  The next part was to cut out the lining, with help from herself of course!  

How do I manage to get any work done without her help??  

Once the requisite amount of cat fur was evenly distributed I was allowed to cut it out.

I am still working on finishing this one.  I hope to show all the stockings on Friday.

~XOP~

Now it's your turn to link up your finishes here. 

 Remember that if you do post in the link up here

 you should post a link back to this post on your own blog too.

So now it's your turn to share what you are working on.  

Please use the linky to link up and share that you linked up to WIPs With Friends on your blog too.  If using Instagram please use the hashtag

#wipswithfriends.  

We can't wait to see what you are working on!

Use the blue Inllinkz button to link up and spread the word by linking back to this post!

An InLinkz Link-up

My Weekend

I had a fantastic weekend.  

I still don't have much desire to sew, which is unfortunate as I have a LOT to get done.  

I am hoping if I just choose a block and start on that maybe it will come back.

I did a lot of cleaning and errands on Saturday.  

Hubby printed out a pumpkin cake recipe that he wanted me to make so I decided that while I was watching me Spartans WIN for a change I would bake the cake.  

The recipe is from the Taste of Home website and you can find it here. 

 It was easy to do and the cake was fabulous.  

I substituted 1 cup of homemade applesauce for the 1 cup of oil. I think it was a great substitute.  

I did not miss the oil at all.  

Next time I would cut down on the amount of sugar.  It called for 2 1/2 cups of sugar!!!  

Trying to make it more WW friendly, if cake can be that! 

 I let it cool for 10 minutes in the pan then turned it out.

This is before I glazed it.  I used powdered sugar with some pumpkin pie spices in it for the glaze.

My best friend was never far away from me all weekend.  She has decided that she loves this quilt.  With the fuzzy back it is very soft.  

She laid near me while I did lessons 3 and 4 in my EQ7 class online 

(Craft University).

In addition, I made one more block for the Hallowedding quilt.

These eyes were from a Block Lotto post.

Aren't they so scary??

It was a little tricky to make and this pair took me about 2 hours!  

They do not give measurements but rather it is a tutorial on how to make them.  T

he thing that saved me was she had them laid out on the cutting mat 

so I could figure out the sizes she used to make this set. 

 I have another set of different eyes to make but I ran out of time.  

I hope everyone else had an enjoyable weekend too!

~XOP~