The Dayna Pack

After that last pattern test that turned out to involve much more time and work than I'd anticipated, I needed something quick and fun to sew. Last summer I made a hip pouch to carry some supplies along when I go to feed my outside cats. It has turned out to be not quite big enough, so when I saw this Dayna Pack, I was tempted to give it a try. A recent sale convinced me, and I bought the pattern. 

It was indeed quick and fun to sew! I love how it turned out. Here is my Dayna Pack (fanny pack/hip pouch).

The solid fabric is waxed canvas that I had left over from another project. The kitty fabrics for the outside and lining (below) were gifted to me by a friend several years ago.

Both fabrics are out of print, but in case you're interested, I did see some of the newsprint available in some Etsy shops. It's called Kitty Chronicles by Timeless Treasures. I don't know what the cats in trees fabric is - sorry.

Y'know, it's really hard to get a selfie to give you some size reference. My arms aren't long enough! But here's the best I could do.

You may have noticed down in the bottom of the pic that I had an assistant. Actually, I had two of them, and because they are just so darned helpful cute, I'll show you both of them.

I found it kind of funny that when I wrote the post about last year's pouch, I also had a feline assistant. She's their older sister. I guess photography runs in their family. ;-D

Here's one more shot I tried, in front of my dirty living room windows. It may be my favorite. Haha! But it does give a better size reference.

Fanny packs are back 'in', you know. So if you want a fun, easy sewing project, get the pattern from Linds Handmade Designs. They also have some completed Dayna Packs listed (in case you want one but don't sew), plus some other top-quality handmade items. Check 'em out!

New lighting... and some peeking

As some of you know, my sewing room is in the basement. The lighting is not the best, especially for sewing on something dark... especially at night. I wanted to brighten things up a bit, so I considered getting one of those LED strip lighting sets made for sewing machines. (I'd kept trying to win one every time SewCanShe had one in their giveaway, but that never happened. I was delighted, however, when my friend and faithful commenter, Annie Dee, recently DID win one! Yay!) 

I went to Amazon.com to look for a lighting strip, and in doing so, I found one of these which I purchased instead. It's an LED light on a flexible goose neck that has a magnetic base. I love it! I can adjust it to wherever I need it the most (or could even take it to another room for a different project if I wanted to). Very bright and helpful. 

(Side note: Apparently my sewing machine is not magnetic, which totally surprised me, so I had to rig up an alternative way to attach it. It was easy and worked very well, so if anyone wants to know how I did it, tell me in the comments and I'll do a separate post about that.)

A couple of weeks ago I got to thinking about how long my sewing machine light bulb has been in use (years), and I decided I should buy a new one to have on hand. I went back to Amazon (who doesn't shop on Amazon?!) to look for one, and much to my surprise and delight, I found LED sewing machine bulbs! So I bought this one.

It makes a world of difference! Here's a shot of the old incandescent bulb's brightness (or lack thereof)...

... and below is the brightness of the LED bulb.

To compare more easily, here they are side-by-side (LED on the right), with color comparison of a piece of fabric below them.

Quite a difference, eh? I thought some of you that sew might appreciate knowing about the availability of the LED bulbs. Some newer sewing machines come with them, so you'll have to check yours. But if you have an older machine, you might want to invest in one. They cost more, of course, but they should outlive the incandescent bulbs many times over, plus the extra brightness is well worth it!

There are two different kinds of sewing machine bulbs - a screw-in and a push-in, so be sure to check your bulb type before ordering. Mine above is the push-in type. I was also given the tip that you should handle the bulb by the base, especially with the push-in type, because they push in kind of hard, and handling it by the bulb itself might cause it to break.

On another note... a few weeks ago, Jess ordered something fun - a box of leather scraps to use for trim pieces on bags, etc. It was a nice assortment of colors and sizes, and the quality was great. Inspector Josie approved wholeheartedly. Annabelle seemed to appreciate the box more (which, as you can see, was again from Amazon - no, they are not paying me to advertise for them - ha!). You can expect to see leather-trimmed items in future posts.

Just to let you know I've not been sitting idly doing nothing, here's a sneak peek of my latest sewing completion, made from Jess's new Spring Quartet corduroy collection (which unfortunately has been pushed back for a July release instead of March, and the new Holding Pattern barkcloth will be released in March instead) for Cloud9 Fabrics.

I'll be showing you the rest soon. Jess should receive the package today and will be taking more photos for me.

I also have another project over half done, but it's on hold for the moment, pending a new zipper technique I'm waiting to learn about. I can't wait to get it finished, though, because I love it a lot! Hopefully I'll get to show you soon. Meanwhile, my mind is clicking away with all kinds of project ideas......

International Cat Day

Since August 8th is International Cat Day (and since I haven't posted in over a week), I thought I should give you an update on my cats. And please, if you're (at least somewhat) local and see one or more you'd love to adopt, let me know! There's definitely an overpopulation around here this year!

First we have Buttercup, whom I've shown you before. She still manages to be a resident of the garage, although usually just at night. She is very much loved by Courtney, of course.

She's grown up a lot! Here she is, as of this morning.

I showed you a couple of Patches' kittens before, too. There turned out to be four, and here they are with Patches. Such a beautiful variety! They're just a couple weeks younger than Buttercup, so actually bigger than this now, too... but they're pretty shy and hard to get photos of.

This little gal is my favorite, even if she does have a mustache. Heheh.

Below is Peachy, one of Patches' from last year. She's such a lovely kitty. She did, however, manage to get herself stuck in a hole in the silage chopper when she was about full term pregnant, and I had quite a time getting her out! It was a tight fit! She really loves me now, though, since I rescued her. :)

Not much variety in her litter of five. Ha.

Both Peachy's (above) and Kelly's (below) had to be relocated because hay bales got moved away exposing their homes. The moms just moved them farther back into the haystack, although Peachy has since moved hers into the machine shed.

Here's Kelly about to make a new nest after feeding them (above)...

... and here are her three stuffed little babies, in a milk coma.

My biggest surprise was just last week when Autumn brought me her baby! I hadn't even known she was pregnant... she certainly didn't show it! But I guess with just one, it wasn't so hard to keep the secret.

He's just the cutest, sweetest little guy, and he wasn't terribly wild at all. He's very furry!

He's also very photogenic, and I can hardly stop taking pictures of him!

He lived on the deck steps for a day or so, but then mama moved him to the lilac bushes, a much better choice.

So there you have 'some' of the outside cats/kittens. There's also a long-haired kitten about the size of Patches' that appeared out of nowhere and decided to stay. She's a bit camera-shy (and people-shy) as yet, though. Rainbow, Buttercup's mom, has already had a second litter this year. *sigh* I don't know where they are so haven't seen them yet. Knowing her, she'll be dragging them to the garage soon. Aargh. There could also be other litters, too, that I don't know about.

Of course I still have my two goofs in the house. They get pretty bored when I'm at the computer for too long.

So that's the latest cat update. Happy ICD!

I'm sewing again - another "For Women Only" - bra #3. I tweaked the pattern again in several places, so I hope I've got the perfect fit this time. I hope.

Cuteness

I must show you some of what's keeping me occupied around here. I don't want you to think I've fallen off the face of the earth!

This is Buttercup, who has somehow managed to become a resident of the garage. She's an adorable little brat (but looks so innocent, doesn't she?) who keeps managing to get herself stuck up in trees and needing to be rescued - 4 times already! She has a LOUD cry that lets me know. LOL

Next we have Patches and two of this year's litter. She always keeps them hidden until they're about 6 weeks old and too wild to get close to. She has two others for sure, but I thought I'd seen five the first time. I had to be very sneaky to get this photo. But have you ever seen a cuter face?!

This is the face of the other one. Kinda reminds me of Annabelle a little.

I hung around (hidden behind machinery) long enough to catch them napping (while the others remained hidden also).

Then we have this little loner. She's Mia's kid. I'm sure there must've been others at first, but this is the only one left. Her crazy mother keeps hauling her in and out of the old hog barn via the fan hole in the wall. It's gotta be a rough ride up that wall and down the other side! She's such a fat little thing, I'm surprised Mia can still do it!

Just this morning I managed to catch a glimpse (AND get photos) of this little group crossing the yard.

Can you count the chicks? There are 9 of them!

Fortunately, I've only seen one other turkey around the yard in the last few weeks. It's a tom, who is apparently the father of this little flock. I don't appreciate him gobbling outside the bedroom window around 6:00 a.m.! Grrr!

I'll very soon be showing you some cute sewing projects, too. Two are done, and I should be able to get the other one finished up today. At already 90°, it's too hot to be doing anything outside today or for the next few days, so hopefully I can get lots of sewing done. I certainly have a lot of projects on my to-do list! They're mostly pretty quick things. Sometime in the next few weeks will also be a fun pattern test. I'm really looking forward to that one!

It's that time of year again

I realize I haven't updated you on any cats for a long time! It's not that I haven't taken any photos... I have plenty! And I still have plenty of cats. :) In fact, I have even more now, because it's kitten season again. Rainbow and Patches have both had litters, but they both had them in the stack of hay bales. I haven't seen Patches' because I can't get at them, but I know where they are (approximately). Rainbow's were slightly more accessible, but not much. I did manage, however, to climb up for photos one day. I had to just stick the camera in the hole and shoot, hoping I ended up with a decent photo or two. I managed to get these, but I also got my camera, myself, and as you can see, the three kittens covered with loose hay. Ha - it was worth it. ;)

Those were taken on April 11th, at just over two weeks old. They are now three weeks old. Last evening after I'd fed the cats, I stepped out of the garage and saw that Rainbow had brought me a gift... an awfully cute gift!

Sweet of her, wasn't it? I sat with it in the garage for a bit wondering what I should do with it, then decided to put it back out till I could figure something out. Rainbow had been busy while I was pondering... suddenly there were two!

Awwww.....

Then Rainbow disappeared again while these two (and I) waited.

Sure enough, she soon had all three of them in front of the garage.

I knew what she wanted. She'd raised a litter in the garage before, if you recall. I recall deciding never again! They're cute and fun, but oh such trouble when they get a little older. We ended up exporting that litter to a brother-in-law's farm.

It was getting late, so I put the kittens in a box and let them and Rainbow stay in the garage overnight. This morning I moved them to the old hog barn, where Rainbow has also raised a couple of litters. I thought all was well, until this afternoon I heard a tiny kitten cry outside the back garage door this time. I wasn't too surprised to find a fat little orange baby out there. So I grabbed the iPad and waited. I know some of you won't be able to see this little video clip on your tablets or phones, but if you can, look at it on a computer (or check my Instagram gallery). It's worth it!

Soooo... this photo below was my last view awhile ago. There's probably one more by now. The poor little things had quite a ride, as she had to haul them up and out a window! Mama Rainbow looks tuckered out, too.

Now what to do with them???!!!

Update: She did bring the third one, of course, and I moved them to a different location. This time I put them in a shed that used to hold ground hay. It's open, but the inner walls are lined with hay bales with some little hidey holes that I figured would work well for the kittens. Apparently Rainbow didn't agree. When I opened the back garage door this morning (Monday), I was greeted by Rainbow awaiting her breakfast... with her three kids! Aargh. I hauled them back to the same place, and so far they're still there (5:00 p.m.), probably thanks to the fact that it's been raining lightly all day.

Rainbow's such a protective mother! Yesterday I saw her go after a number of the other cats if they got too close. So I guess the hog barn with her older kittens is definitely out of the question. She needs an apartment of her own. Good thing we have a lot of sheds around here... even if she does prefer the garage suite. Ha.

What to do when it's below zero outside

What do YOU like to do when the daytime temp is below zero °F? Here in our house, we sometimes like to just hang out in a spot of sunshine.

More often than that, we take naps in that sunshine.

For those that live outside, naps in the sunshine are a little different.

But sometimes they like to play, too.

Above you can see why cottontail rabbits are so-named. :)

What happened here

We got this on Friday. 

Rainbow wasn't too thrilled about the hard water...

... not to mention the snow.

Most of the snow is still here because it's been so cold, like down to 15° overnight. It's back up to 40° right now, though, so melting's happening. Yay! I'd better get at my window washing. Ugh.