The plan is to make and donate 50 kitty related things to the Cats Protection to use in their shelters or to sell as fundraisers - my way of helping them to keep going.

So to kick it off, here are 3 fleecy cat blankets -

The fleece was a total bargain - Asda sofa throws, £2 each...or 2 for £3! How ridiculous is that? I should get 4 blankets out of each throw! The red are backed with a cotton fabric, the white has an appliqued heart and machine blanket stitch edging. They're big enough to line blankets, cover "their" side of the sofa - kitty sized!

Then I made 8 catnip sachets -

Fleece back, Laura Ashley's mimi fronts with appliqued felt hearts. Stuffed with a little polyfibre fill and lots of catnip. :)

Total of 11 down, 39 to go!

Meet Juniper and Catalpa!

Kitties were collected at the weekend, and are settling in well :) Juniper has been on antibiotics for a stomach problem, so kitty litter tray has been vile to put it mildly. I'll be pleased when his tummy is back to normal - this has been a baptism of fire into the world of having house cats!

The pair of them are nosey, exploring everywhere they're allowed to right now. I still have them confined to the kitchen and living room but they'll be allowed free run of the house next week.

I've been busy making them more kitty toys, as well as knitting up a batch for the Cats Protection to sell or use in their fundraising - will blog about those later on.

In the meantime, my life is full of furballs and I'm loving having them around.

New Family Members!

Before I moved, I lived in the middle of nowhere, and adopted a stray middle-of-nowhere kind of cat. Semi feral, he happily ate all the food I provided and stole as much heat in the house as he could. We loved him to bits :) Our new house is pretty urban, surrounded by other houses, with main roads less than half a mile away. Sadly, it was not the kind of place Cat would enjoy or thrive in and with a lot of tears, we gave ownership of him to a couple in the lane who promised to look after him. He's obviously happy to be able to stay put on the same cushy deal that we offered him, and in typical feline fashion, he misses us...not.

Today we took a trip to the Cats Protection League rehoming centre to see if the void could be filled. We looked at cats and kittens, some miaowing for a fuss which we duly gave them. All shapes and colours - a kitty for every occasion! And it was great, but each cuddle was definitely a "I'm cuddling a cat in a rehoming centre" moment.

Then the staff led us to a small building with an outside run a little distance away from the other cattery buildings. No individual or dual compartments here - just one big living area for the four cats that they currently have that qualify. Immediately, a cat invited itself into my arms and butted my chin with his head. In that instant, he felt like he was mine. DS occupied himself with a large tabby in the corner, and we were both smitten - we'd very much like these kitties to adopt us, please. Nobby (what a name!) is very tiny, black and white, 12 years old(!)...bear with me, it gets better...only has one eye, his ears have bits missing and has a dribbling habit. Benji, DS's playmate is a tabby at the spritely age of 8. Both are fiv positive, the feline equivalent of hiv. They will always be indoors cats because of the fiv. Between them, they've spent 18 months in the centre, overlooked.

They are beautiful boys, Benji is a little shy but Nobby will help him settle in. I can't see Nobby having any problems at all. I've never known such a friendly, trusting cat.

It was only after I came home, having arranged for the home visit on Monday, that their ages really played any part. I know they're both middle aged, but there is no reason why they shouldn't live until they're 16 or more. Not as long as we'd like, obviously, but we all have plenty of time to enjoy the time we have :)

Once the home visit is over, we can bring them home when we like - it'll be better to wait until the weekend, so I'm not flitting off to work, but I'm not sure I can wait that long!

Squeee!

New to blogging, and I suspect this will just be a record of my own collection of ramblings, and a place to easily bookmark those blogs that I visit regularly.

Hopefully it'll also be a place where I can keep track of some of my projects too, and smile (or groan) when I look back on them all.

I have recently moved house, still in the hell of having boxes to unpack so this initial post should make me guilty enough when I see it in a few months time to finally shift my arse and complete the unpacking process...