spring spring spring!

"Spring is the time of plans and projects." -Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

Hello hello!

As you may have noticed, it's been pretty quiet around here lately.  Two possible explanations would be that I have been traveling the world on a secret mission and had to maintain radio silence, or that I have been trapped in a time-space continuum paradox and had to avoid contaminating the timeline.  However, neither of those explanations is actually the case.  It's just that in the winter, I can't stay awake past about 9:30 at night.  The sun goes down and I can't resist the siren song of my warm, cozy bed.  Now that we're well into spring, though, I have a lot more energy and I'm hoping to get back to posting more regularly.  Really.  I am.  In the meantime, though, I've been posting relatively frequently on Instagram!  I'm JulieRoseSews over there, too.

Here are a few of the pictures I've posted over there lately, to give you an idea of what I've been up to.

One of my favorite thing about spring is seeing all the flowering trees.  My walk to and from the train to work has been beautiful for the past couple of weeks!

I went home to my mom's house for Easter, and the daffodils that my dad planted a few years ago have spread throughout the whole yard.  It was wonderful to see these cheery signs of spring that he planted.


Bucky and Cocoa remain cats of leisure.


I'm still knitting hexipuffs for my busy bee blanket!  I knit this little guy out of Koigu KPPM with thin stripes of Claudia's Handpainted Yarn.  Ridiculously, this is the first striped thing that I've ever knit.


I've also been trying out some art journaling.  This spread was inspired by the lyrics from this song by Of Monsters and Men.  I think everybody feels like that sometimes-- like their internal world is moving at a wildly different speed than the external world.


Another journal page, which is kinda-sorta a self-portrait.


I started on a project I've been wanting to tackle since I moved into my apartment-- sewing new slipcovers for my two living room chairs.  My original plan had been to use the old slipcovers (not pictured) as a pattern, but the more I looked at them, the more I realized that they were probably just sewn as a one-off, with lots of weird little darts and tucks and oddly placed seams to make them fit onto the chairs.  I decided to drape my own muslin pattern instead, and I'm really glad I did.  (Friends who sew:  yes, I totally did fix that bit of sagging and pulling on the back panel.  It lays nice and smoothly now.)  I washed my fabric this afternoon, all 8 1/2 yards of it, and tomorrow I'm going to begin cutting and sewing!  Yay!


Last but not least, Bucky would like you all to know that he works very hard and needs lots of naps.  After all, he and Cocoa helped me drape the new slipcovers.  It's no small task for them to make sure to plop themselves exactly where I am trying to pin or mark at any given time.

I hope you're all doing spectacularly well and enjoying this beautiful spring weather-- finally!  Hooray!

♥

a tale of two kitties

Hi, and happy Saturday!

I mentioned yesterday that Bucky and Cocoa had a little bit of a rough week, and I promised more details-- so here's what happened.

Bucky and Cocoa are best friends.  They snuggle together, they get into mischief together-- they're rarely apart.  Cocoa had a little tummy issue last Sunday, so we took him to an emergency vet clinic because we were worried he would get dehydrated.  (I'll tell you the end of the story right now so you don't have to worry: Cocoa is totally healthy, no problems at all.  Yay!)  Cocoa's physical was fine, but they wanted to keep him overnight to make sure he was hydrated and to run a few more tests.  It was so upsetting to have to leave him at the vet, but since it was for his own health, I did it as calmly as I could.  Which, to be honest, wasn't very calmly.  

Bucky wasn't pleased with the situation either.  Cocoa is like his teddy bear, and he kept turning around trying to get comfortable without his cuddly little pal.  After a little while, I settled an Alf stuffed animal in with him, and he snuggled up with it for the night.

When we went to get Cocoa the next day, we discovered that the tip of his ear had been accidentally cut off, apparently when they were cutting off his temporary paper collar.  Thankfully, we noticed before leaving the vet's office.  And that is all I can say about that, because it's too infuriating to even think about.  Bucky didn't react well to all the vet-smells on Cocoa when he got home.  Bucky hissed and growled whenever Cocoa got near him, and Cocoa couldn't figure out why his buddy suddenly wouldn't have anything to do with him.  I was a nervous wreck-- even though I had read that this is totally normal behavior after one pet has an unfamiliar scent, I was worried that my little guys wouldn't be able to patch things up.  But they did, of course, and now they're back to curling up together on my bed, snoozing, and grooming each other.  Thank goodness.

I hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

♥

snippets♥

Hi there,

I hope you're having a good week and that all of you are safe and sound.

First of all, my heart goes out to everyone involved in this week's events in Boston and in Texas.  

I'm lucky enough not to know first-hand what it feels like to be in either situation, or to have a loved one involved.  I'm sure that even the deepest empathy or the most vivid imaginings fall short of how horrifying the reality is.  I'm simultaneously shocked at how terrible some actions can be and at how selflessly others respond.  Seeing the footage of runners in Boston putting their own lives in danger to try to save others, or continuing to run directly to hospitals to donate blood, is so encouraging.  It pales in comparison the heroic efforts made by so many, but I'm sending out all of the positive, healing energy I can muster up.

With no segue whatsoever (because really, how can one possibly segue from that to anything else?), here's a peek into my life lately.

My mom won a door prize at the opening of the Skirted Fleece Mill!  She won a set of these adorable sheep stitch markers and a beautiful hand-thrown, hand-painted yarn bowl.  Lucky for me, she doesn't knit.  She also won a skein of handspun yarn, which I'll be knitting into a hat for her.  The stitch markers are currently on my very first sweater-- more about that soon!

Here are the two adorable reasons why I never have room to stretch out to sleep.  They take up the entire bottom half of the bed!  But they always look so cozy, I just can't bring myself to move them.    These little guys have had a rough time this week-- more on that soon, too.  They're back to their usual charming selves now, though.

Tulips are blooming in Manhattan!  

It's such an amazing change to see the city go from cold and gray to balmy and green.

I just re-stocked my supply of my favorite tea ever, McNulty's Berry Creme black tea.  It's delicious, and the dried rose petals make it beautiful to look at, too.  

I hope you have a beautiful, peaceful day.

♥

snippets

Hi there and happy Saturday!

Here's a little peek into my life lately.

rusted iron stars and a stained glass window on an old warehouse building

chocolate Easter eggs!  The yellow one had a maple walnut filling, the blue was coconut, and the purple was peanut butter (my favorite!).

Cocoa, unaware that I'm spying on him spying on Bucky from inside his cardboard box fortress.

(About fifteen seconds after this, he noticed the camera and gave it a smack with his paw.  He doesn't put up with the cat-loving paparazzi.)

And then he was all tired out.

Happy Easter tomorrow to those who celebrate it!

♥

kitty-cat meet and greet

Good morning everyone!

So today I thought I'd officially introduce two sweet little creatures whom I love love love.

My kitties, Bucky and Cocoa!

This is Bucky.  He is a big, snuggly, half-Siamese sweetheart who loves to be petted.  His favorite things include...

• playing with yarn, preferably while I'm knitting it
• sitting on newspaper or mail, preferably while my mom is reading it
• tummy rubs
• cuddling up in bed with either me or my mom and affectionately patting our faces
• purring

Some fun facts about Bucky!

• He almost never meows.  
• When he does meow, it's raspy and very quiet
• He's named Bucky because my grandfather thought his little white chin looked like teeth.
• Bucky doesn't like any human foods, except shrimp, which he loves.
• Bucky is enormous.  His head is about the size of a softball and he has the biggest paws I've ever seen.
• I'm pretty sure he secretly writes this blog and this twitter account.

And here's Cocoa!  He is full Siamese, and he's the baby of the kitty-family.  His favorite things are...

• meowing loudly and often
• grooming Bucky
• his catnip scratching thing
• sneaking up on Bucky and play-attacking him
• napping in sunny spots
• taking off at a sprint and running and leaping all over the house for no apparent reason

And some fun facts about Cocoa...

• Cocoa is tiny even though he's fully grown.  His paws are so little and adorable!
• Bucky is his protector.  If it thunders, or there's an unfamiliar person in the house, Cocoa can almost always be found hiding behind Bucky.
• Cocoa also loves shrimp, but he's more adept at picking them up than Bucky is.  I have to put Cocoa's on the other side of the house so that Bucky has time to eat his, or else Cocoa eats both of them.

So now you have a better picture of my kitties! 

Feel free to link to photos of your kitties in the comments-- our cats can be internet-friends.
I hope you had a lovely weekend!

♥