Cat blanket anyone?

One of my great pleasures in life has been sewing of all sorts, but in particular, patchwork. It has been in and out of fashion with me since the seventies when I started my first patchwork quilt, a huge kingsize bedspread - talk about starting with a small project, definitely got that wrong! This 'little' starter project took me five years and could nearly have put me off patchwork for life I think! However, the mish-mash hexagon centre eventually took on a life of its own and evolved into a passable bedspread, which was finally finished during my son's baby months when I couldn't go out much. Shame eh?! We've all been there I'm sure - baby years I mean not patchworking!

I digress. From there I moved on to cross stitch, smaller projects for a start, though sometimes they seemed to take as long and once again I started with a fairly complex piece - a mother cheetah and her cubs, which hangs on the wall today. I love wildlife - especially cats (big and small) and spent many years happily sewing and creating pictures until I eventually ran out of wall space. And when I moved and had more wall space I had also bought more pictures!

So it was back to the patchwork for a while, a bedspread for a friend's marriage, one for my son, another wallhanging that was sold and went to Canada and several other small cushions and bags along the way. As well as visits to shows etc. to maintain the interest and gain inspriation from the wonderful creations of others.

Eventually 'life' took over and all things crafty paused for a while. I do think you have to be in a certain mental place to be able to create such things. Well I travelled back to that place lately and have begun once again to 'piece' as the hand sewing version of patchwork is called. Again hexagons - my favourite shape I think - but this time connected to the new addition in our lives, Sonny the cat! At least not specifically for him, but my friends' cats.

I decided last summer to make a dear friend a small patchwork blanket for one of her cats, the first of four (as she had four cats!) as an ongoing birthday come Christmas present. Seemed like a good idea at the time ! One thing led to another and now I spend a lot of time making cat blankets, or cat mats for short. If you are interested in any more photos etc. please visit http://www.cat-mats.com/.

Even for those who love cats - and I know we can be an obsessive breed - this is a bit off the wall. Patchwork blankets for cats?! But then again, why not? I am sure I am not the first to make the connection. They are quick to make, easy to wash and can be placed anywhere around the house to save on the furniture. They are also so personal and unique to the cat and its 'staff' (!), that I have discovered they become quite a talking point, especially when you get into the history of the material used, if secondhand. And a lot of patchwork is made from the scrap ends of other projects or clothes. This beautiful Rag Doll puss called Oliver certainly took to his pretty quickly!

So, anybody else out there with similar stories? Til the next time.

Sylver Zone Vintage Prints

When I started blogging (not very regularly admittedly) I was exploring things associated with the over fifties, relationships, families, some health issues etc. A sort of logical extension of that was another form of income in case all things went pear-shaped with the jobs, recession, and anything else related to paying the bills of life!

I have spent many years exploring different ways (usually through the Internet), usually unsuccessfully it has to be said, and mainly because of a lack of focus and perhaps a lack of interest in the subject I was pursuing. However, last year I developed an interest in Antique and Vintage Prints. I love books of all kinds, fiction, non-fiction, coffee table books, recipe books, travel books, craft books - so it was a small leap to then start looking at vintage books with a view to reselling the beautiful prints and illustrations that could be found in them.

To that end the Sylver Zone Vintage Prints was born. Through eBay mostly, with small success so far, but building. And I am confident enough now to start to market the whole process more, which in turn should help build the sales. If you're reading this and are interested in such things click on the title for more information and some downloadable brochures. Let me know what you think!

New Grandchild

Another new addition to the household was my partner's granddaughter, who arrived on 26th January after keeping us all waiting for over two weeks (typical female!). This delightful baby will no doubt keep us all on our toes for some years to come, and I am (apparently) an official Step Nanny, or whatever she decides to call me when the time comes! The advantage for grandchildren of split families is they invariably end up with more sets of grandparents than the traditional two! More spoiling. I'm sure plenty of you can relate to that.