Saturday, June 27, 2009

Nosey Parker enters the building.... and a finished quilt top, too!

Is this the sweetest face or WHAT? Little do you know, though, that behind this cool exterior lies the heart of a lion. Or a small Great White Shark, I can't decide! lol Meet Nosey Parker. Our newest family member, sister to 3 not-very-happy boy cats and 3 very curious and protective dogs. Nosey Parker was abandoned along with 3 other litter mates at the ripe old age of 2 weeks, on the doorstep of the vet's office that we go to. She was nurtured and bottle-fed by all the staff members, they took turns caring for the litter at night and they had adopted out 2 of them before we knew anything about them.
When we first met, Nosey Parker and her sister- also white but with a smudge on her head- were living in a big kennel in the waiting room at the office. I, of course, was immediately smitten but shot down by the man. "We already have 3 dogs and 3 cats, we can't afford any more ani-mules." Huh. (I wanted both of them, kittens are easier if you get them by the two-sies, but Smudge was already spoken for.)
I guess we got rich over the weekend because when he went to the vet to get a test result for one of the dogs and pick up some meds, he found the lone kitty in the kennel and started playing with her. 30 minutes later he called me to ask if I still wanted her. As if he had to ask! Men. *shakes head* According to the ladies in the office, he was totally smitten with her little fierce personality and dogged determination to worm her way into his life. He's acting like he got her for me, but Mr. Softy keeps disappearing and being found in the master bathroom where the kitten is confined until we can trust the other cats to not try to kill her dead.
This kitten is into everything! Hence her name, Nosey Parker. We'll call her Parker for short, or Nosey Posey, but right now she's so into having fun, she pays attention to nothing but playing and investigating.

She has green eyes and hears really well, so that's good. White cats with blue eyes are usually deaf and that wouldn't be good here since she'll be an indoor/outdoor cat like the others- Beeswax, Murphy and Sammie (Sambuca). We have an open door most of the time so all the beasts can come and go into the yard as they need to and since we live in the woods, we don't have to worry about traffic.
It's hard to photograph a moving target! I just love when kittens stand up and balance on their back feet, like little bears. Tickles me to bits.

I finally finished my "lemonade" quilt top, even with the help of a kitten. This is the quilt that started out completely different and morphed into a stacked coin quilt of rainbow colors. I'm really pleased with it so far.

I made lemonade out a lemon, so I decided the backing should be something to remind me of that. This isn't sewn together yet, everytime I go to work on it, I find a cat lying on it. Sheesh. And to think, we just added to the population! Please to note- my stack of coins on the back is a random pattern. I have a hard time doing random, so this was a big feat for me! (Can it be random if I changed it around 25 times to get a layout that I liked? Does that still qualify as "random"? lol)
So bedlam reigns at our house again, the trials of incorporating a new animal into the mix is always a little traumatic but N.P. doesn't seem to take the hissing personally, probably because she isn't really thinking yet, she's too busy playing and being very self-centered. That's a good thing, I like to see a happy kid!

8 comments:

MaryAnn said...

Awww Nosy Parker is so cute. I just can't keep my hands off of little kittens. I'm so glad the last kitty in the litter found such a loving home.
I love your new quilt top. I have finally set up a sewing desk and hope to get inspired soon. It's been so long since I attempted to create anything and I'm at a loss at what to make. I think a quilt is too large a job for me right now....maybe later.

Susan said...

Thanks, MaryAnn! How about a table runner or placemats or something like that? Troll quilts! lol

Why don't you make some of those neck wraps? Want me to send you some of the granules? It doesn't take much to make a few of them, I could send them in an envelope, I'm sure.

Lynz said...

I love Parker. Really. I'm scared to show her to the Chookie-girl, the nagging would be endless! And I *adore* your lemonade quilt. I particularly love the backing - gotta love a sense of humour about these things!!

Susan said...

Join the club, Lynz! We love her, too. I think every little girl should have a kitten, so I'm totally on Chookie-girl's side on this one. :)

I knew YOU'D get the humour in it. You're schmart like that!

Lisa said...

Isn't Nosey the best entertainment? Much better than TV, that's for sure...She's so cute!!!! How can you not love her???

Love the quilt! Kinda glad you didn't go random, think it looks better this way....

Karin said...

Oh, just today I met someone giving away 3 kittens. And I have 3 girls. And they all want a cat. And now this... Nosey is just too cute!!!!

And the quilt -- how fabulous it turned out. So so so nice! And the backing - how perfect! Was it hard to find a lemon print?

P.S. THought of you today (and your squares blowing down the driveway) as I was trying to lay down newspaper over grass, wet it, then cover it with mulch. On a very windy day. What a lesson in patience! : )

Susan said...

Thanks, Lisa! You're right- we haven't watched much TV since we got her, we're too busy trying to keep her alive!

Thank you, Karin! I vote- 2 kittens for the girls, they have to share. 2 kittens are way easier than one and 3 is one too many- one kitten will always be the odd-man out, 2 will reject one, usually. So? Does my vote count? Huh? Huh? What color were they? How old? Adorable?

Lemon fabric- I went to quiltshops.com and did a search for "lemons" and several pages of lemon fabrics popped up. I liked this one best, obviously AND it was on sale for like $5.50 a yard, loved that!

LOL @ the visual of you and the newspapers.... I feel your frustration!

WendyLou said...

Ok, FlossieBlossoms. I've been following you thru the Mod Sampler and Old Red Barn quilt alongs, and I have to say that I think we would be great friends if we lived closer!! If you're ever near Memphis, we should have lunch ;-)

WendyLouP
wprovence *at* yahoo *dot* com