I CAN QUILT!!!

As an attempt to "lighten" my stress levels, I decided to try my hand at, what I call, traditional quilting. Now, I've made quilts before, but when it actually came time to "quilt" (the locking of all three layers with stitching) I always fell back to the old standards of a) "stitch-in-the-ditch" which is just sewing a straight line around the block design; and b) "straight line" quilting, which is essentially stitching straight lines down the entire quilt in equal intervals to make squares or diamonds.

This time, I took some green and gold fabric and made the traditional block called the "windmill" block. I used a complimentary striped fabric for the sashing between the blocks. After constructing the quilt top, I prepared to freemotion quilt. This means that you drop the feed dogs on your sewing machine, step on the foot pedal and move the fabric with your hands, guiding the thread in a design by using the needle as a "stationary pen". It takes practice and I'll be the first to admit that my stitches are not even -- some got very tiny and some REALLY long. But I had a great time and am really pleased with the outcome!

Here is a photo of the finished quilt.

As you can see, the corner blocks were quilted in a spiral design. The North / South / East / West blocks were quilted with a flowing wind swirling design and the center block was my old standard "stitch-in-the-ditch".

Believe me, after all is said and done, this really helped my stress levels as well as giving me a wonderful sense of accomplishment!

Rough Times Felt Everywhere

I know I haven't posted in a VERY long time, but it has been hard to motivate myself between the economy, foreclosures (we're just barely hanging on to our wonderful house) and my husband's deteriorating health (and he's only 50).

With his surgery last year, his health has not improved -- only gotten worse. The surgery has caused paralysis in his feet and loss of feeling from the waist down and he still has weakness in his legs! This has caused him to work less and less, with less and less money each month to help us meet our bills. I've been anxious and depressed, so this wonderful blog has suffered.

But now I'm resolved to pick up the pieces of my life and go on. My husband and I will work together to get through his health issues and I'll pull myself together and get back to the things I love.

Gage Street Cat Capers Part 4

The Great Escape II

The birds were driving Shadow crazy! She sat on the screened-in porch and her tail whipped in frustration. So close -- they were so close, and she couldn't reach them.

"Whoa!!!"

Shadow whipped her head to the source of the exclamation to see Inari pushing out a screen from the north side window. Another instant, and she was out the window and outside. Without a second's hesitation, Shadow leapt across the floor and out the window, too. Soon, Squall and Renoa were racing from the house to the porch.

"What's going on here!!!" Nik, the oldest son, exclaimed from the back yard. "What's Shadow doing outside."

Shellie stepped outside as Nik scooped up the little barn cat. "Where did she come from?"

"I have no idea!" Nik responded. "Wait! There's Squall!" He dumped Shadow in his mother's arms and raced after his male cat.

"Hey! Hey, there!" Came a voice from the street.

Shellie glanced towards the sound and saw two neighbors standing on the sidewalk on the other side of the street.

"Are you looking for cats?"

"Yes!" Shellie exclaimed as she jogged around the house.

"They getting out of that window on your porch." The person responded pointing to the north side.

Nik walked around the house, now holding Squall and Renoa.

Shellie grabbed Inari as she tried to bolt passed. "No you don't!" After depositing the four cats back indoors, Shellie and Nik did a kitty head count. "Thank goodness! All accounted for!"

"Let's nail that window down," Nik suggested.

"No, there's a latch on it that I couldn't catch. Maybe you can."

Nik grabbed the hook and forced it into the eye. "There! No more kitty escapes!"

Life's Hard Knocks

I haven't blogged in quite a while -- mainly because so much has been happening in my life.

In March, by hubby went in for surgery on his spinal cord blood vessels. He'd been experiencing weakness in his legs and was falling down with no warning. After months of testing and finally undergoing extensive MRIs, it was determined that the blood vessels supplying his spinal cord were malformed. What was supposed to be a relatively short hospital stay, ended up lasting for nearly a month with me driving 65 miles each way, every day, to visit him. He has finally been released from the rehabilitation hospital and is recuperating at his sister's house (no stairs). This has been a major upheaval for our family. Add to the fact that his insurance does not cover short-term disability (and the cost of gasoline), we're scrambling to make our bills on just my salary.

Enter the backed up sewer in our basement!

Yes, we discovered raw sewage backing up into our (unfinished, thank God) basement. After calls to a local plumber and an estimate of over $7,000 to repair, I've learned a hard lesson about calling for service out of the Yellow Pages. 1) If you can, research the company before they do the work. 2) If it's an emergency and you can't check beforehand, don't commit to any work without getting other estimates. 3) DON'T LET ANYONE DIG WITHOUT CALLING J.U.L.I.E.!!!!

Unfortunately, I had an emergency and couldn't research the plumber beforehand. However, the very high estimate had me calling 2 other plumbers before I agreed to any additional work. (And yes, I'm going with another company who gave me an estimate at half the cost.) As for #3, well, the original company dug up my front yard to discover 70 year old orange burg pipes (tar paper sewer pipes from WWII era). Thus the $7,000 cost. And yes, this company did NOT call J.U.L.I.E. before planting their backhoe shovel. They broke through the pipe (to rod it out) leaving raw sewage at the bottom of the hole each time we use our water / toilets. They also clipped a wire on our gas service. My current company contacted J.U.L.I.E. whose representative gave me quite an earful on the original plumber who I chose out of the phone book. And yes, they have received multiple complaints against this company which is in danger of losing it's license to practice in the State of Illinois.

A hard lesson learned, but tomorrow, this unfortunate incident should be behind us and when my husband finally returns home, we'll have a new sewer line and "clean" basement. I've got my fingers and toes crossed that nothing more is discovered.

The Story of Mew

In August of 2007, we experienced heavy rains and flooding in our area of Illinois. Luckily, our home is not near any rivers or streams and our basement, for the most part, keeps dry in the rainy weather. But part of the main street of Somonauk was under water and the lower areas were very wet indeed.

I often choose to sit on our screened in porch in the evenings as I love to enjoy the breezes as I read after a hard day's work. This particular evening, I kept hearing a kitten mewling outside. As we have a large family of feral cats next door, I didn't think much of the sound, though I did note that this was the second evening that the little thing was calling.

My oldest son, Nik, came out to join me as he likes to keep me informed of news and information he gleans from the internet. While talking, he noted the kitten mewling outside. I reminded him that we already had 5 cats and besides, the mother had to be around closeby. We listened for another few minutes, when Nik couldn't stand it any longer and declared that he was going to go see if he could find the kitten. I warned him again that we could not take in another cat.

With that, he grabbed a flashlight and went outside. Now our street is extremely busy. It is a main north-south road in Somonauk and we have continuous traffic through the day and evenings. Nik walked around the house, then crossed the street. After a few minutes, he came back very agitated. The kitten, he stated, was very young and looked abandoned. I assumed that the little one was at least five or six months old, still small, but as a feral cat, had adults and siblings around. Nik insisted that the kitten was a lot younger and may not be weaned. When he explained that he tried to get close to the little one and talked to it, I became concerned. He had crossed the street. The kitten was across the street. He crossed back over to report to me. What's to say that the little cat wouldn't just follow him across the road and get killed by the traffic.

Both being animal lovers and cat people, Nik and I were upset and trying to decide the best way to handle the situation, when we heard the mewling at our porch door. Sure enough, the kitten had crossed the street (safely, thank goodness) and was now at our door crying. One look, told me that Nik was pretty close in his age assessment. The kitten was barely weaned, looked half-starved, had a runny nose and eyes and was crying piteously. That did it!

I told Nik to help me coax the kitten inside the porch so that we could keep it safe overnight. We intended to take the little one to the Humane Society in the morning, but were afraid that left on its own, it would continue to cross the street with possible deadly results.

Well, it may have been half starved, but the kitten was not about to let 2 strangers get close. She led us around the house, from one door to another and then bolted under our cars in the driveway.

There Nik and I were, on our hands and knees at 10 o'clock at night, trying to coax a feral kitten from under the cars. Nik finally distracted the little one, grabbed one of its legs and gently pulled it out.

We put the kitten in our porch area and put out a little food and water, then turned in for the night.

Now Steve is adamant about having too many cats. As it is, he is not happy that I decided to bring cats back into our lives during our brief separation. He loves animals dearly and animals just love him back, but he really didn't want the responsibility of pet ownership again. Needless to say, I kept insisting that the kitten was bound for the Humane Society in the morning and that I was not going to allow anyone to keep it. But I knew, inside, that once he set eyes on the little beauty, his heart would be lost, just as mine was.

So, the next morning after we got up, Steve made a beeline for the screened in porch. I tried to intercept him, but he ignored my reminders that the kitten was soon to be gone. Sure enough, as soon as he sat on the denim sofa, the kitten climbed up, started to purr and suckle his shirt, then closed her eyes and totally relaxed. (She still wouldn't let Nik or I get close!) That was it! Steve looked at me and grinned. I threw up my hands in surrender and called the vet to see if we could get the kitten in for a checkup.

Mew (she got her name for the 2 nights of crying) turned out to be 6 - 8 weeks old and weaned, with fleas, ear mites, and a respiratory infection. The vet treated her infestation and gave us the necessary medications to get her infection cleared up. He warned us to keep her away from the other cats for at least a week to 10 days. They then checked her for feline leukemia (she was clear, thank goodness) and we brought her back home.

Mew has lived with us since that day. She is a treasure. After she recovered and was brought in to the other cats, Mew adopted Rocx (the next youngest cat) as her buddy and the two of them play and fight like siblings. Mew has an interesting face and body and after some on-line searching, I believe that she has some Maine Coon blood in her. She is a wonderful grey and beige long hair, with extremely large paws, short legs and the ability to pick up objects with her claws.

She is now 7 months old and is already surpassing Shadow in size. Her paws remain large, getting bigger as she gets bigger. She has the most beautiful gold eyes, that turn to green when she stares at you. At this point, cuddling is not in her plans! But when she wants to be cuddled, she is the most loving sweetheart in the house.

Childhood Winter Memories

With the recent heavy rains, flooding and cooling temperatures, I am reminded of another fond childhood memory of winter.

As I mentioned before, our street East Riverside, curved around following the Little Calumet River to join with Markham Drive, completing a large U of our neighborhood. On Markham Drive, between the road and the river were trees and pathways that us neighborhood kids used as our private parkland.

One winter, I think I was in my early teens, we had weather similar to this year's. A stretch of heavy rain over frozen ground that forced the Little Cal over its banks, through the wooded area and into the street. I believe some of the houses opposite the woods had flooded basements as the water nearly closed Markham Drive to traffic.

When the river crested, we had a deep freeze. I mean, a real deep freeze!

As soon as the neighborhood kids were allowed outside again, we explored a natural wonder in our private parkland. The river had frozen a couple of inches, then receded back to its banks leaving a ceiling of ice in its wake. Being small, agile explorers, we found an opening and spent a wonderful day of crawling around the cold ground under a sheet of ice. It was glorious!

Of course we pretended to be fish looking up through the ice, or polar bears swimming under the arctic.

A few years later, developers purchased the entire area between the river and Markham Drive with the intent of putting up houses. The neighborhood kids protested for weeks while the contractors tore down our beautiful trees and leveled our bike paths. We finally tried pointing out the flooding problems of the Little Calumet, but all in vain (after all, what adult businessmen would listen to a bunch of kids!)

They built the houses. Every other Spring or so the Little Calumet flooded and the new owners suffered with flooded basements and lower floors. Us kids found other areas to play and ride our bikes.

The wonderful ice-ceilinged winter became just a fond memory.

Gage Street Cat Capers Part 3

*The Great Escape I

Shadow wandered into Inari's room, plopped down on the floor and sighed over her paws. "The fresh air feels so good, but I really want to be outside."

Inari glanced at her from her perch in the window. "You know they only let us outside while they're home. They don't want us to get hurt."

Shadow smirked, "how can I get hurt on the porch roof! The only thing to get hurt up there are the birds I catch!"

"You've only caught one," Inari pointed out.

"Caught what?" Rocx asked from the doorway. As the youngest cat in the house, she was forever following Shadow around asking questions.

"I am the greatest bird catcher in the cat kingdom!" Shadow declared. "Not only that, I'm the greatest hunter in the world!"

"Three birds and one mouse, big deal!" Inari yawned. "Squall caught a bird -- and a bigger bird than you -- at the small house we used to live in."

"Ha!" Shadow retorted. "He caught a stupid pigeon! They can barely tell their beak from their tail feathers! I, on the other hand, have caught robins, house sparrows, grackles and I even caught a mouse when I was a kitten -- and I ate it!"

"Eeeewwww!" Rocx exclaimed in horror. "You ate a mouse?!"

"It was wonderful!" Shadow sighed in remembrance.

"How do you catch a bird?" Rocx asked, her eyes wide in awe.

"If we could get on the porch roof, I'd give you some pointers." Shadow rolled on her back and looked at Rocx upside-down.

"I have an idea," Inari fairly purred as she thought it out. "They've only put one of those sliding screen things in the window and nobody's home. I bet we could push it out."

Rocx sat up straighter and looked at the black and white female. "You think so?"

Inari nodded. "Sure. We can knock out the screen, get on the porch roof, maybe even jump down to the ground."

Shadow rolled back over and eyed Inari suspiciously. "Maybe we can get the screen off, but jumping down -- no way." She turned to Rocx. "Listen kitten, it's too far to jump and there's too much danger on the ground. If we get the screen off, you stay with us on the roof."

Rocx looked adoringly at Shadow. "Anything you say. You are so brave."

"Give me a break," Inari breathed in disgust. "Well, come on." She said louder and jumped from her window perch.

Inari, Rocx and Shadow walked into Shadow's room and up on the window sill over the porch.

"If we both push out, it should fall." Inari looked at Shadow.

"No, I've tried that. When Ben goes out to smoke on the roof, he slides this part over." Shadow replied and demonstrated by pushing the inner screen slightly.

"Hey, it moved!" Rocx whispered in awe.

"Let me see that," Inari said and hooked a claw in the screen carefully. She pulled and the screen slid more.

"I think I can squeeze out now." Rocx said excitedly and put her nose in the opening, then pushed.

The screen clattered to the roof top leaving the window open and the way clear for the cats.

"Wow! We're outside, we're outside!" Rocx squeaked in delight.

"That's right," Inari coaxed. "See, it's not too far to the ground."

"Don't do it, Rocx," Shadow warned the younger cat and shot a furious look at Inari. "We're just out here for fresh air and to see if we can catch any birds!"

"Uh, oh," Inari groaned, "there's Mom and Dad's car now."

"Well, I'm staying out here and enjoy the evening." Shadow declared and looked over at Rocx.

"Me, too." The kitten piped up.

Sounds of voices and footsteps reached the porch roof from the stairway. Inari crept to the open window and peered in. She could see the two adults walk on to the upstairs landing and cross to the master bedroom.

"Wait a minute," Steve said out loud. "I thought I saw Inari outside just now."

"What?!" Shellie replied, "Did Ben leave his window open?"

The two humans walked into Ben's bedroom, noticed the open window and black and white faced cat staring at them and began to laugh. "I guess I'll have to crawl out there and bring them in," Steve sighed.

All of a sudden, a grey flash of cat zipped through the window, out the door and down the stairs, followed by the mottled black and tan streak of Rocx.

"I guess that just leaves Inari," Steve chuckled.

"I bet she's the one that put them up to it," Shellie replied. "Just hoping that Shadow or Roxs would take the opportunity to jump off and disappear."

Inari scowled from the window. "How did she figure it out!" She hissed. "Well, I am not coming in so easily." She promptly walked to the edge of the roof and sat down.

"Inari," Shellie called softly. "You don't come in now and I'll leave you out there."

Steve grinned and walked back into the master bedroom.

Inari kept her back to the window and flicked her tail obstinately.

"Okay, Nar," Shellie stated and slowly began to close the window.

"Wait, Mom!" Inari meowed loudly and scrambled for the rapidly closing window. "I was just joking!"

"Uh huh, sure you were," Shellie replied scooping the large female cat off the window sill and she slid the window completely closed.

*These posts are not in chronological order.