On VA-Ca-shun!

A little birdie told me so...

Out-of-office-reply: 

sheepless is currently out of the office. I will return...

So good morning! Yes I am on vacation  f i n a l l y!  I tend to wilt in the heat so my prefernece is to take a bit of time in the spring and fall (and winter) rather than during the dog days of summer.

I don't like to repeatedly post my apologies about not blogging (perhaps because that implies I think that someone out there is actually reading all this hooey). After awhile even apologies can become meaningless in their redundancy. So lets just move along folks!

In terms of my blog I've been spending a good deal of my recent efforts trying to simplify things. I went through a brief period of time when "free blog"  meant starting new blogs. One for photos, one for cycling, one for quilting (which is now more of a craft journey blog) and lastly my general all purpose day to day stuff blog. I also tried to transfer all my old stuff from my typepad blog - which has proved be be daunting. I was a bit anxious about just cutting the cord (pulling the plug?) on that one - as it was my "baby". My very first real blog. But time moves on...

So the first thing I did was clean up my personal space in blog land (no easy task) and I am down to 3 blogs :

• sheepless snaps (set up for photos only)
• sheepless in suburbia - (here)  in which I blog about the day to day minutia that resides in my head
• stitch cat studio - which is my "process blog" for pretty much whatever is my "craft du jour" (more about that later).

I'm currently doing a "room reno" for all my stuff (moving once again from the underbelly of the house (in which I have loads of space - but no natural lighting) to the main floor (a little room with heart and big bright beautiful window). Since I am no longer hauling spinning wheels and looms all over the place I think the little room will actually work this time.

So... Stitch Cat Studio?  What the heck is that? Well that's what you get when you announce you want a cat - and the response is "only by death or divorce"...

The Old Guy apparently is most definitively not a Cat Guy. When I was a kid we had a big old second hand Tom Cat named "Clean Dreams" (presumably christened during a hippie haze induced state by his previous owners). My mother (who was also a self professed non-cat person) went from dismay to devotion in all of about 60 seconds when  "Cleany" turned out to be a prolific mouser and solved a whole host of problems. So having said that - I believe that it isn't so much that one isn't "a cat person" as much as a haven't found the "right cat" person. After all - if I only had a "purse pooch" as my understanding of what a dog is all about  - I would have to say I am not a "doggie person." And I already know that I am. 

Historically I've also been known to be a "birdie person".  My first "pet" (not counting the turtle I begged for when I was 7) was a little turquoise & white budgie named Fannie. She was a lovely bird and she lived with me in "my first real apartment." I was celebrating my independence. It was a "no pets allowed" environment. I guess birds didn't count as a pet. First designated as my "back up pet" until I could get a "real one"- she quickly evolved into my beloved "Fannie Bird." She would start singing "pretty birdie" as soon as my key turned in the lock. I did let her fly around unrestrained. She liked the curtains best. She never made a mess - except once (down the back of a friend's alpaca sweater). We had a very happy relationship and I was heartbroken when she died.  I never had another companion until "the dogs took over came along". 

But back to Stitch Cat Studio. I was looking for a new name for my "process crafty blog" and as I was perusing the blog-o-sphere I realized that lots of studios and offices have cats. Big cats, old cats, little cats, long hairs, short hairs, tabby's you name it. Lounging on quilts, snuggling into balls of yarn - sunning themselves in the glory of your sewing basket. 

Of course they don't show them jumping from bookcase to bookcase like the banshee from meow hell or doing their business in your stash (which I have heard of)... ugh! It was at this point I realized that while yes I do want a cat - perhaps what I really need is a "virtual" cat. And so  Sheepless Quilts was revamped and is now Stitch Cat Studio.

After all it is only fitting - I am sheepless in suburbia because I have no sheep. Therfore I am stitch cat in my studio - because I have no cat!

Moving' on up...

Long time no write! I'm in the throws of moving my studio from the bowels of the basement to the little room with a view.  Life is full of compromises and this  is one of them. Lots of space with artificial light (downstairs) vs tiny space with a nice big window (upstairs).  So after six months in the former I have decided to go with the latter.

PS: hexxie quilt still in process and after receiving my new book "Feathering the Nest with Vintage Inspired Quilts" it's getting much grandeur all the time.