Good Saturday to everfurry buddy!  We hope that you have all had a good week and are ready to enjoy your weekend.

We want to congratulate Big King Pipster and His Queen for a most successful Bucket Tour and we will admit we are glad they are home again.  The Cheeseburger King and his beloved Nurse had lots of fun all over the USA.  We didn't invite him to Minnesota because we know he doesn't like snow and cold, but now I bet he wouldn't have missed it.  So Congrats you two on a great trip.

 Speaking of snow and cold, it is going sub-zero again and we had four inches of new snow on Friday.. More on the way today!  We aren't going to complain about it though, as long as our shovels work we can keep busy with it.  Stella is having trouble finding good spots to "go" in the backyard, it being too deep for her but she will just have to soldier on.  Spring I am sure will get here easily by mid-May!

I have been sewing, not  the quilt blocks I intended but a little gift for my son's office.  This is a Minnesota Star and if you will look closely you will see the center star consists of dollar signs and watches, so it is named "Time is Money" , an old saying but appropriate to a business office.  Here is the closeup:

I think you can click on these to see them up even closer.  I planned to put a brown binding with pine cones, but now I think it needs something brighter, maybe to pick up that gold.  I will experiment with this a little.  If anyone has any ideas for it, I will always listen!


Did you happen to read the Letter to my Cat article written on the Candidae blog?  Seems there has been a book of Letters to My Dog which has been very successful and now they are going to do one for cats.  I thought a long time about any cat I or my family ever had that I would write a love letter to and finally came up with one.  A grey Tomcat that my Dad called the Long Grey Line (after a movie about West Point!).  I was about 14 or 15 and I would pick this long skinny cat up and put him around my neck and wear him like a scarf almost!  In the summer my mother would put a big bouquet of Pink and white Peonies in a vase that sat on top of a book case.  The cat would climb up there, get behind the vase, stick his head through the flowers and check out everyone in the livingroom.  It was a funny surprise to walk into the room, look up and see these beautiful pink and white flowers with a big grey face in the middle.  I could write a love letter to almost every dog I have ever had or been around, but somehow the cats just lead their own lives.

Here is  a little funny to end this with.  Can't you just imagine the ad taker asking the person to describe the pony???

 I may get going on my quilt blocks soon, even show you the lost and found fabric I love so much.  But it seems like I am someone who just goes where my thoughts lead me. 

Cheers and hugs all around, and have a happy weekend.

Jo, Stella and Zkhat

Spring Things!

Here we are, everybuddy!  Wishing you a very nice weekend. 

You know in a few weeks we will be having a holiday much of which revolves around the Easter Bunny and other candies.  If you have any chocolate bunny eaters in your family, please urge them to take care while enjoying their bunnies.

I am most sorry to have to tell you, I do not have any of the things I promised last week.  This has been a wicked week weather-wise, and much time has been spent chopping away at  ice, moving snow around, dealing with water dripping from the ceiling due to ice dams.  Totally not fun and very tiresome. As the weather warms its going to be better but until then, we just have to be a little vigilant.  No sewing or knitting done this week.  We will try for a

extra edition though, hopefully next week.

Hoping for your understanding and good wishes , we are offering you ours,

Jo, Stella and Zkhat

(the bunny picture is from the Wonderful World of Bizarro at http://bizarrocomics.com/)

Saturday Morning!

This post is part of a campaign sponsored by the dog training collar store.

Good morning, Everybuddy.  This is our new Saturday Morning blog and we are looking forward to a once-a-week blog.  We still read yours every day.

On Friday, we took a hike to our library and got a special knitting book for me with a super baby cap in it, for those of you who are knitters, this is a cap that Stephanie Pearl McFee, (The Knitting Harlot) has made and says its the very best for babies.  Since our friends are having one in six weeks or so, we want to knit a little for the little gent.
Stella and I had the first nice walk too. Nice sunshine! The streets were pretty clear and not too much ice around, still lots of snow though on the sidewalks.  Stella was very  happy to find lots of GRASS sticking up on the boulevards and she had a good time poking around in it.  This is where I get straight As on being a Dog Mom, I just let her take her time, sniffing and scratching away at it.
    I am starting a new quilt, I had the pattern in my mind I wanted to use, some new fabrics along with old ones.  THEN I was looking at fabrics stored  in my Upper Room when I found one that changed everything, it was everything I love in a fabric, wonderful color, movement, and it changed everything.  It will be the perfect center  in a Log Cabin and I am very excited to start it.  This 'perfect' fabric is one that I don't even remember buying, and I think about where I might have bought it, and am eager to send a piece to Mary, my best pal who is a head and shoulders better than me, quilter.  She will laugh and love it too.  I will have a block or two to show you next Saturday, will that bring you back?  I will look forward to seeing you and will try to get some new pictures.

All the best to you for a great weekend and good new week!

Jo, Stella and Zkhat


Saturday Blogging

Hi Everybuddy!

You know we have been highly erratic at regular blogging, and we just want to set up a new schedule for our blog, Only One Day a Week and that will be Saturday!  You can depend on that.  We will all take turns and hopefully find some fun things to talk about.
Here are my two most favorite pics of Stella and Zkhat. 

Sweet Stella with a big smile on her face.  I wonder what she knows!

Here is Zkhat playing Slinky on the stairs.  When she f irst came here that was a regular thing to do, she would start up at the top and just sort of roll down to the bottom.  No crashing, just a nice roll.  She doesn't do it anymore that I know about.  Maybe she thinks she too old and dignified for such foolishness.  Or maybe she does it at night when Stella is in her bed and we won't be around to laugh at her.  That sounds like a cat, doesn't  it?

Our backyard is still deep, deep with snow and Stella has a hard time getting around.  Next week we are getting temps in the 30s which will mean some thawing and we can get out and clean things up a bit.  I hope its a slow melt though so its easy on the roof!

Me, I have a new quilt design plan and am looking forward to starting it.  With all the quilts I have made (more wall hangings) almost all of them have been for somebody else.  I love Civil War reproductions or wannabes, and thats what it will be made from.  Then, I have a ton of scraps too and I want to make a String Quilt.  If you like to make scrap quilts, look for this book and see what you like.                                       

So we will all be keeping busy and will try to think of something a LOT more interesting to you for next Saturday.

Cheers and hugs,

Jo, Stella and the ever charming Zkhat

Winter Wonder why we stay Land!

Stella here:

You know me, I love snow, I love to stick my snooter in it and smell whats there.  I love eating fresh snow!  I love walking around my little yard and making myself a nice path in it!

But this time, its too much, its scary, and I hate this big snow we got.  We got up this morning, and couldn't get either front or back door open except with a shovel and an ice breaker!  When we finally got the back door partly open, I could just barely squeeze myself out.  The steps to the porch were gone, they were not there!!! 

My Mom got out.  She started shoveling the porch, tossing it off into the yard.  I tried to find the steps, couldn't, so I just jumped off the porch.  The snow came up over my back!  I tried to get through the drifts, but it was hard.  Then try to find a pee spot!  Impossible!  But I did what I could and made my way back to the safety of the porch, with difficulty.  

Mom, I said, we gotta get out of here!  I don't even want to look at it!

I am six years old and have never seen a snow storm like this was.  I hope I never do again.

My Mom got the door open and most of the snow cleared off the porch, but we are supposed to get more tonight she said.  Oh, noes, I say!  She said don't worry, tomorrow I will find the steps. and in the meantime, come in and I will fix us breakfast. 

Mom had a hard time opening the front storm door and the snow was just as deep there, except our beloved plow guy cleared the drive way.  Hooray say I!

So once again we are open, front and back.  We can go some places.

Our friend Remington said in his comment to us:  Isn't the Snow Awesome?  Rem, I think both me and my Mom could think of six better words than that for what is here. but if your snow is awesome, we are glad!

We hope all the rest of you folks are just fine, and escaped much of the snow.  We know the east coasters did not, and lots of us Upper Midwesters didn't either.  But we made it so far!

Cheers and hugs,

Stella, Jo, and Zkhat

Semi- Wordless Wednesday!

Stella on the Porch snow.

Mom, open this door and let me in right away or you will be sorry!
And I mean it too.

Cuddly Killer Kitty?

Zkhat reporting:



The New York Times ran a story today on Kitty Killers.  You can find it  at
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/30/science/that-cuddly-kitty-of-yours-is-a-killer.html?src=me&ref=general&_r=0   1,691 people wrote in about this story!  I couldn't read all that!

The gist of it is that these free roaming cats are wreaking havoc in a widespread way.  The Nature Communications journal tells us that
free-ranging domestic cats kill up to 3.7 Billion birds and as many as 20.7 Billion mammals annually.

Now I am an indoor cat, my first family de-clawed me so I have little defense in my life, and also my Mom says we are on a busy street so she can't turn me loose, so I get zero worth of those dead birdies or bunnies.  Thats the way my Mom likes it.  I don't know how I would like catching those birds, because I never have done it.  My first family kept me in also.  I watch birds and squirrels out the window and while it looks like it would be fun to chase a bird, they also have sharp little beaks where I think they could hurt a cat (your eye?), so while I have no choice in the matter, I just stay in.

But I wonder what the rest of you cats and your pawrents think about this big number?  Are some of you cats allowed to go outdoors and chase after critters?  Will your pawrents start keeping you indoors now?  I hope you don't mind me asking these questions, I am  just a curious cat.  Yes , I know that old saying about what curiousity did to the cat. (killed it!)  Stella says  if I don't chew on wires, I will be OK forever!  She thinks she is SOOO smart!

I hope you all write and answer me, including Library Cat Tober!

Purrrrs and headbutts,

Ziva Zophia Torti (aka Zkhat)