Cake, Cats & Softies

Mid week already. Having a public holiday on the Monday certainly shortens the week for me, although at times it is hard for me to tell what day it is. The Bloke works a 4 day on 4 day off roster so he doesn't have the traditional weekends off. 
The picture above shows one of the many rainbow cupcakes one of my girls made on the weekend for a party she was attending. These little colourful gems were very delicious. Shame we only got to eat a few of them, but better for my health that I didn't. I love those deep colours, just so pretty.


Now for something completely different let me introduce you to the our latest visitor to our home. He arrived about a month or so ago after following one of my daughters' cat home one day. He was shy and hesitant at first but gradually became bold enough to walk into our bedroom, via the open screen door on our verandah. I was surprised to see him at first and was amused when he seemed to take it for granted that he was allowed to come in any time he felt like it. If the door is shut he meows until he is let in. Now someone obviously owns this cat as he has a collar and a disc with a mobile number on it, but as he leaves us and returns home each day I don't see the point in calling the number. I'm enjoying the affection he gives us, especially the toe rubbing, I love that. I call him sparecat. He is not a stray he is owned but he visits us so hence the name.

Sparecat

Close-up of Sparecat

Of late I have had a penchant for making softies. As in those fabric squishy toys. I have had some felt stored away for just this reason and with the huge upsurge of softies making in the craft community I thought I would give it a go. Then my second eldest DD bought me this great little book- Simple Softies: For the whole family, and within a day I was creating. My first pick was a Kitty Sampler (of course I made it in my own style) softie, which appeared to be the easiest one to make. And guess what? It was. All the patterns in this book can be made by children as they are all hand sewn. If you want to do craft with your kids then this book is a sure thing.

And as I create my project an unplanned process takes place. My intended design takes on a whole new look. Instead of the Kitty sampler I ended up with a little pig. This was mainly due to me being not too good (read hopeless) with the hand embroidery art. So in a twist I decided on using buttons for the eyes and upon searching for suitable little eyes glanced upon the snout shaped button fit for a little pig. He is very cute. Of course this now renders him unsuitable for small people so I will just keep him for my personal collection of oddities; of which I have many.

The last picture shows all of the softies I have made this year-a real basket case I think. There is the elephant, 3 owls, and little red pig. I have an order for a dinosaur too, so once I am organised will give it a go. Well I hope you enjoy my show and tell.

I will stop right here as it is nearly dinner time and I need to pack my stuff away for the evening.
I hope everyone is well and doing something that makes them happy.

Take care,