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Posted by Kate on Wednesday, June 06, 2007I know you have all been missing the Kate and Zoe crafting stories... well maybe its just me...
I ordered some buttons from Sewing Stars, a Providence-based crafter. I am going to put them onto a new bag/pocket book I want to make. I decided one section of the bag will have a bunch of pin back buttons on it. So I started searching etsy for more buttons, which I am grumbling about having to pay more for shipping than buttons are worth, but without a big craft fair to go and scoop them up at, what am I going to do?
And then I decided to design my own! Very exciting! I ordered them from Kitty Crossbones on etsy. I get 100 pins with up to 10 different designs. I figured I would make a bunch of promos for Moses and Zoe and then the rest I will come up with designs that can sell in my shop and use for my bag.
I got out my currently very small button collection to see which of my fabrics they match.
Zoe promptly came over to supervise. I found it most amusing that she first pretended not to know that she had sat on anything at all and then was suddenly fascinated by what was under her.
What am I in the way?
On to more interesting things...
Labels: Cats, Crafts, Etsy, Sewing
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Enjoying the Weather
Posted by Kate on Wednesday, April 18, 2007I just finished digging two more tree holes. So tiring! Of course getting up at 3:45am doesn't help with the energy thing. I brought Zoe out with me and hooked her up to her super long leash. Is it wrong that I have that leash attached to the bird feeder?
She was very good. Mostly because she was staying perfectly still to hide from the birds. At one point the bird feeder was full of birds and one landed in the grass about 3 feet from Zoe. I was so scared that she was going to get it. I clapped my hands, but they both ignored me. Luckily Zoe didn't strike and the bird flew away unharmed. I am so torn. I want to let Zoe hunt, but I desperately don't want her to actually catch anything. I love the birds. I think of them as my super low maintenance pets. Even easier than taking care of fish.
Luckily Zoe is not as stealthy as she thinks she is, partly because of the huge red leash she is dragging around. I didn't count on the birds being so oblivious though. The one that landed in the grass wasn't even eating off the ground, he was just waiting for a turn at the feeder. Crazy.
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Our Gardener
Posted by Kate on Sunday, April 15, 2007
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Happy Easter, Easter Bunny!
Posted by Kate on Sunday, April 08, 2007So our ambitious tree planting goals are on hold. It is much chillier than we were expecting. We have had frost the past couple of days. When people in New England speak about their own weather and say, "If you don't like the weather wait a minute," they clearly haven't spent much time in North Carolina. Last week high 80's, this week high 20's. Really all winter I had no idea when I woke up in the morning if I should wear short sleeves or a heavy coat. Then spring came and it was so warm and nice for so long and now it feels like winter again.
So instead of planting, I am baking. We are bringing cupcakes and pumpkin bread to Kate and Peter's today. Pat impressed me by finding Easter-themed cupcake papers. The pumpkin bread is baking right now and it smells so good! Is pumpkin bread just a fall/winter thing? Well it feels like winter, so we are going to have it.
Zoe has reached new heights of spoiledness. Not only does she beg me to put her harness on, now she begs to drink out of a regular glass. And I am not about to share with someone who sticks their tongue in my water, so she gets her own... Have I crossed a line? She's just so cute about it. I am a sucker.
But anyway, Happy Easter, eat some candy.
Labels: Cats, Outdoors, Weather
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My Day Off
Posted by Kate on Tuesday, March 27, 2007Today was my day off after 6 days on. I guess thats how it works, when you have to work the weekend. There were so many things I wanted to accomplish today. I didn't even get half of it done.
I did get some pink snap dragons and another pink flower and planted them next to our mailbox. There are a few perennials there that have already come in, but not bloomed. I wonder what color they will be.
I also got Zoe a 20 foot leash that is made to train dogs. It is very handy. She likes to explore the yard at her own pace. Which means any time I get bored and decide to sit down she decides to move on and explore something else. Now with this super long leash we can both do our own thing while out in the yard.
Labels: Cats, Homeownership, Outdoors
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Pets In The Weather This Monday
Posted by Kate on Monday, February 26, 2007
It is super nice outside today. I took off my jacket because it was too warm for it. Zoe had fun exploring the yard until a neighbor came outside. When of course she ran for the back door. But she definitely is getting braver. Yesterday it rained and she totally didn't understand it. Just kind of acted like I might be responsible for it and would I please knock it off so she could go out and explore?
To see Hershey in RI weather today check my Mom's blog.
And if you take a pic of your pet in the weather today, put a link in the comments so we can check it out!
Labels: Cats, family, NewEngland, Outdoors, Weather
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Photos As Promised
Posted by Kate on Friday, February 23, 2007
Here are the work in progress stitches. I think they are all going to be items that you would hang on a wall, but I am still working out the details.
Here is the puppy quilt for the special order.
Here are both quilts all ready to go.
And silly Moses. He was watching Zoe and I out the window yesterday. So I figured why not give him a chance at it. I put the harness on him. He crawled away from the door and flopped down. I think he may have been playing dead. He didn't move until I took the harness back off of him. I guess I don't have to feel guilty for not taking him outside anymore.
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Good and Bad
Posted by Kate on Wednesday, February 21, 2007Things are not good with my car. They ended up charging us more than they quoted and now it is much louder than when I brought it in. I can't get the image out of my head of this news expose I saw, where a mechanic was beating on someone's car with a crowbar to make more money. Something is definitely different with my muffler than when I dropped it off. We are bringing it back over there at lunch time.
I have been working on some embroidery. I got a pattern at Sublime Stitching. It is much more fun and addictive than I remember. Gram tried to get me into when I was little. I still have my unfinished tea towel with a half a bunny on it. That was counted cross stitch though and this isn't.
This week has felt very 1940's with the quilting and embroidering and all. I made some more cards too.
Zoe is hooked on going outside with her harness on. We have been going out almost every day. She now meows at her harness to signal her wishes. She is so funny when I pick it up. She gets all excited and chirps and tries to stick her head through the harness opening. I really need to record it. She is definitely part dog.
Labels: Automotive, Cats, Crafts
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Weekend Recap
Posted by Kate on Monday, February 19, 2007
My car is at the mechanics. Apparently my oil pan rusted through and is leaking. It is going to cost about $320 to fix. Really I should be happy that I haven't had to fix anything on my car in a long time. After all it is a 99. My Sentra has been good to me over the years. Having to find a new mechanic to trust is one of the down sides of moving. Also finding a new doctor and eye doctor and stuff like that, not fun.
Pat and I went for a few walks around the neighborhood this weekend. Pretty chilly out there, but it was good to get out and get some exercise.
I finished a baby quilt for a custom order. I like the way it came out. It has cute little dogs on it. I will have to take a picture of it before I send it out.
We rented Junebug and Talladega Nights. Pat gave a two thumbs down to Junebug and said he liked Talladega Nights more than he thought he would. I am not sure how I feel about Junebug. I wouldn't call it a favorite or anything, but I found it kind of interesting. I was the one who wanted to rent Talladega Nights, because I enjoy Will Ferrell. I thought this movie was alright. It definitely wasn't on par with Elf or Anchorman, but it was way better than Kicking & Screaming.
Today we finally had the locksmith come out and change our locks. Yay! I finally have my own key to our house! Moses got very freaked out by the locksmith. He apparently does not like tall men with hats who use power tools and leave doors open. He first decided to take cover under the couch and then fled upstairs where he lodged himself under Pat's desk behind his computer. When I went up to check on him, I found him back there visibly shaking. Poor thing. I wonder how long it will be before he decides it is safe to come back downstairs.
Labels: Cats, Homeownership, Outdoors, Sewing, Weather
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Upcycling
Posted by Kate on Sunday, January 28, 2007Today I made Zoe a cat bed. She has been dying to get into the bag of fleece that I have been using to make the baby quilts and any time I left a scrap around she was sure to find it and drag it over to me. So I decided to make her a bed out of it. The bottom fabric is cotton leftover from outfits that were made for my sisters and me when we were kids. I don't remember if Mom made the outfits or if Gram did, but Gram is the one who gave me the fabric, so my guess is her. The filling is plastic grocery bags. Zoe loves the noise of these bags and rushes to sit on them if we leave one out.
As soon as I was done making it and walked away to get the camera Zoe plopped right into it. She has spent about 90% of the day on it. 
I wonder if it is considered Upcycling, since it is made from fabric scraps and plastic bags that I have been meaning to take back to the market...
I also finally posted the second baby quilt on mosesandzoe.com. 
And I ordered some business cards from Office Depot. Kat sent me a link to a coupon for business cards for .99cents and I decided to check it out. Unfortunately I couldn't put the new logo I just drew on it because you could only have text, but hey .99 cents... maybe I can try to print my logo onto the cards. So my total order with tax came to $1.06, I am wondering if they are going to send an Office Depot truck to our house to deliver it. I feel a little guilty, but not that guilty.
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pictuRES
Posted by Kate on Wednesday, January 24, 2007I was taking photos today of the Owl Art Cards
and somebody just couldn't resist the spotlight...
I also took a little video in which I happened to speak. I was so surprised by my own voice. I am always amazed at the idea that people think I sound like that, but this time I even caught my RI accent busting out. And here I am always priding myself on not having much of an accent. There was a clear "pictya" where a picture should have been...
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Gloomy Weather = Lazy Weekend
Posted by Kate on Monday, January 22, 2007Such gloomy weather, yuck. I did manage to get a bunch of Valentine's Day cards onto MosesandZoe.com amazingly enough. 
Saturday marked the beginning of my love/hate relationship with spray adhesive. It works wonderfully. The cards came out great. Unfortunately there is glue everywhere. I haven't figured out the magical trick to control the spray adhesive. It is way too cold to work in the garage so I have covered the floor and my work table (AKA "Pat's First Table" which is also our dining table/coffee table) with newspaper and aluminum foil. My fingers were totally coated in adhesive, which actually kind of hurts. I tried soap, and then Goo Gone, but it wouldn't come off. I went to Pat in despair and he really came through for me. He dug into his college art supplies and pulled out Turpenoid, an odorless turpentine substitute. It worked immediately and the pain went away, soon to be replaced by incredibly dry skin.
I am about to begin the process again, as I have cut out a bunch of owls from fancy papers and silks. Now I just need to begin gluing again... Either that or sew the satin binding onto the second baby quilt... Or take pictures of the second black, white, and red pillow that I fixed...
We have become the popular house for birds. Yesterday there were tons of them, including three eastern bluebirds, which are my favorite. Plus there are lots of house finches, and what I think must be sparrows, and doves, and these little black birds with yellow beaks, and one bird that had a dalmatian head. Perhaps it is time I went out and bought a bird book. Ha ha. Even Moe has taken to watching the birds which he usually ignores.
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Locked Out
Posted by Kate on Monday, January 15, 2007I locked myself out of our house today. I stepped out the back door to see what the weather was like and I saw Zoe headed for me so I shut the door. And it locked. I pressed my face to the window and Zoe put her paws up on the door and meowed at me. Clearly she would have let me back in if she could have.
I banged on the door and the windows and rang our doorbell a million times and yelled Pat's name at the window. The men working on the house next door seemed amused. Pat apparently was listening to music on his headphones pretty loudly. Lucky for me it was really nice outside... because I had no shoes on. Eventually Pat heard the knocking and came to check it out.
Cold weather is headed our way so I will have to be more careful!
I have been working on a few baby quilts. I decided to put a satin binding on the edge. It is harder than I thought. I am going to try to finish the first one tomorrow so I can post it on MosesandZoe.com. Here is a pic.
Labels: Cats, Etsy, Sewing, Weather
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Other Stuff
Posted by Kate on Thursday, December 28, 2006Lately Pat has written a bunch of relevant topical posts and I thought it was time to get back to a rambling random post. So here it goes:
Zoe has started fetching again. She used to be all into fetching water bottle caps, but then she got bored with that and refused to bring them back. Now she has claimed a little pink pom pom. She carries it over to me in her mouth while making a pitiful moaning sort of meow. Then she drops it and gives a series of chirps, which is of course my cue to throw it for her. She is really not a "trained" cat at all, I am the trained one. So I throw it and she races after it and sits on it and grabs it in her paws, gives it a death shake with her teeth, brings it back and we start all over.
Before Christmas Pat and I rented "Little Miss Sunshine." I really liked it, especially the end. I found the last ten minutes or so of the movie very amusing and watched the ending about four times before we had to return it because it was only a one day rental. We also rented "Akeela and the Bee," a movie about a girl from a bad neighborhood who enters a spelling bee. Another feel-good movie. We were going to rent "An Inconvenient Truth" but their three copies were all rented out already.
My Mom and Bill stopped by on the 26th at about 11:00 at night and then left the next morning after a breakfast and a walk around the neighborhood. Bill also helped Pat remove a stubborn license plate screw. Pat was practically doing an Irish jig when Bill pulled out his tools and removed the errant screw. Pat had spent days WD-40ing the screw, but couldn't get it out without the right tools.
They are coming back on the 30th after visiting Bill's daughter's family in Suwanee, GA. We are going to put them right back to work! Bill is going to help us install our Christmas presents of a new shower head and programmable thermostat. And my Mom is going to help me hang all our pictures. They are only going to be around for one night again and then headed back to RI. Way too short of a visit!
I am working on making more stuff for MosesandZoe.com. Yesterday I put in a Black Cat Pin and a new White Cat Pin to replace the one I sold to Chris. I am also in the process of making another set of pillows. This set is black, white, and red.
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Cats
Posted by Kate on Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Zoe is teaching the new kitty how to virtually hunt leaves.
Labels: Cats
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Ceiling fans are scary.
Posted by Kate on Friday, September 08, 2006Pat arrived back in NC before eleven last night. He left RI at 10:30am. I think he may have time traveled. Obviously he was extremely tired last night and took a shower and went right to bed. He's still sleeping now.
The cats seem to be starting to act like their normal selves again. Unfortunately our sunroom has a ceiling fan. Moses HATES ceiling fans. I think he must have had some trauma with one as a kitten before we got him. He doesn't care whether they are off or on, just their mere existance sends him running.
Both the cats and I are definitely not used to living in a building with so many other people. Its like college all over again. Everytime people walk by our door the cats go running for their cages. I think they assume that everyone walking by is going to come visit us. Our upstairs neighbor seems to turn on the radio at midnight every night. Luckily this is just short-term. I assume I will soon start to block out the noises of our neighbors, just in time for us to buy a house.
Well Pat just woke up, so I gotta go.
Labels: Cats
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The cats are ready.
Posted by Kate on Friday, September 01, 2006
Labels: Cats
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Cat Parenting
Posted by Kate on Wednesday, August 30, 2006Okay, I know a lot of people out there don't understand the cat/owner relationship and will think I am crazy for making parallels to actual real parenthood, but here it goes anyway.
Today I was cleaning our bathroom. I was using bleach so I had the window open and the the door open. The bottle said to spray and let it sit for five minutes. So I sprayed behind the toilet and let it sit while I started washing part of the wall on the other side of our average-sized bathroom. Meanwhile the cats have been good and have been doing their own thing in the kitchen-- till I turn around and see Zoe walk into the bleach and lay down.
I ran over grabbed her by the scruff of the neck, then adjusted her to a grip under my arm and turned on the shower. Zoe, sensing my urgency and panic complete control of the situation, didn't even squirm. I gave her a very thorough washing, at which point there was of course squirming, but with no claws out. At one point she tried to grab ahold of my head and had their been claws out, I would have some pretty interesting scars.
When I had her clean and wrapped in a towel I sat down and took a few breaths. And it made me think back to an incident just a few weeks ago involving Zoe and a needle I left threaded on the table while I went to the bathroom.... Zoe, who about half the time is sweet and cuddly and half the time a defiant teenager, also has her toddler moments. And I have been given a window into how I will react in emergencies when someday I am a real parent. Hopefully by then Zoe will have trained me into a SuperParent who never leaves hazardous things unattended even for a split second.
Labels: Cats
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Cats!
Posted by Patrick on Saturday, July 22, 2006More sewing from Kate:
Group Photo:
Labels: Cats
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Renegades, Kitties, and Life In General
Posted by Kate on Tuesday, June 20, 2006Erin of Indian Spring, just posted about how good websites stick to their point and don't go off on tangents. I have found a way around this by making my subject everything that is going on in our lives. Makes sticking to topic pretty easy.
This past Saturday Pat and I went to the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn. It was everything I hoped it would be. So many cool young people selling cool stuff that they made by hand. Cool pocketbooks, bags, t-shirts, pouches, buttons, jewelry, clothes, notecards, journals, fabric, handspun yarn, and more. One person even had stained glass and fused glass. I had read about it on websites like Sewing Stars and coffee-drinker It was great. I am really glad we went. I spent more money than I wanted to, but I got lots of cool stuff. Here is a picture of it, minus the stuff I got as presents for other people.
In other news... I thought I had posted about Zoe's love of her leash and harness before, but I guess I didn't. Whenever I get out Zoe's harness and leash she gets super excited and starts rubbing her head on it and meowing. This is the only reason I take her outside. If she didn't like it so much I wouldn't bother. I am not crazy (just thought I should throw that in there.) I took Moses out a couple times, but he was too afraid of the outdoors to enjoy it.
I just recently bought both of the cats ID tags, but I didn't get collars because I knew I had at least one at home. I had tried to get Moses to wear a collar when he was a kitten, but he hated it. I sorted out the tangle of leashes, harnesses, and collars while Zoe chirped and rubbed her head against it all. I put a loose adjustable collar over Zoe's head. To my surprise she acted like she didn't even know it was on. I took it off her head, but she kept trying to stick her face back into it. She has been wearing it ever since! I have never had a cat wear a collar before. We are still getting used to it. Its like she just decided to wear pants or something, it doesn't look normal to us yet. But hey don't try to take that collar away from her.
I just read this really interesting article. I am not alone, apparently my generation thinks a lot like I do!
Oh and to be totally random- I saw a hummingbird at Kim's yesterday. I think it was the first time I had ever seen one. Her house is like a bird sanctuary.
Okay, I'm done.
Labels: Cats
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