Thursday Thirteen

How long does it take to make a Gizzy Quilt?

Bil asked how long it takes for Mom to make one Gizzy quilt from start to finish, assuming she had designed it first, had the blocks cut and the binding made. Even though that's not how Mom makes the quilts, she decided to time herself. I thought we should do a TT about it.

(click the pictures to biggify)

1. Start Time. Mom first pins the pieces together.
2. Now they are sewn, she has to press them.
3. After pressing, she has to lay them out like the design, so she can pin the pieces together to make rows.

4. Here the pieces are pinned together into rows. Now they must be sewn.
5. The rows are sewn together, now the threads must be trimmed, the pins removed and the rows pressed. Then 2 rows are pinned together for sewing.
6. The two big blocks are sewn together to make the finished quilt top.
7. Here, the top is finished, and Mom takes a photo for her records. She photographs every single quilt she makes.

8. Now the quilt sandwich is assembled, pin-basted and the excess backing is trimmed away. The quilt is machine quilted.
9. Here the quilt has been quilted, and the excess filling and backing are trimmed away.
10. Mom has attached the binding to the quilt, and joined the binding so you can't tell where it starts and where it ends. Next step is to pin the binding to the front, mitering the corners.
11. Here the binding is being sewn to the front of the quilt.
12. After the binding is sewn, the pins are removed and the threads are cut. Mom shakes out the quilt to remove excess threads, cat hair, and lets me give it the final QA check.
13. The quilt is complete. Mom photographs it and sends the picture to the cat who ordered it.And even though I don't need to tell time, you can figure out how long it takes to make a Gizzy Quilt.

By the way, today, Gizzy Quilts are flying to Montana, Washington, South Carolina and Arkansas. Two more quilts, including this pink one, are riding down to Mass with Brown.

Jasmine's Confessions

Hi all, Jasmine here. I'm not going to let the little pest run the whole show. It's my turn for some Kitty Confessions.

1. I am not mean. I am just shy and a little bit timid.

2. I don't like loud noises or loud beans.

3. I don't like having my space invaded by any animal or bean.

4. I will fight to protect what is mine. Don't tell me you'd do any differently.

5. I love battling and tossing the so-called "fake mice" around the house.

6. I catch the crickets that try to come into the house in autumn.

7. I make sure I'm the cat that sleeps at the foot of Mom's bed.

8. When it's hot out, my favorite spot is underneath the bottom shelf in Mom's closet.

9. I drink milk from Mom's cereal or glass every morning.

10. When I want attention, I know how to get it.

11. I have a sense of humor. Mom caught me pouncing on Gizzy once.

12. If needed, I can rear up on my hind legs and fight. I used to knock Gizzy over every single time.

13. I'm a cancer survivor.

14. I'd be fine with the little pest if she just left me alone. I don't play with Mom, what makes the pest think I am interested in playing with her?

15. I miss Gizzy.

Kitty Confessions

My sweetie, Monty Q, tagged me for the Confessions meme.

As you can see, I have a very nice set of sharp claws that have not been trimmed since I got my ladygardenectomy in January. Since I don't let Mom hold me, I'm pretty sure I'll be able to keep them. I have used my claws in places where Mom says I shouldn't.

1. I confess to using my claws to climb up the curtains in the picture box room.

2. I confess to using my claws to scratch the back of Mom's nice wing chair that she says she spent "boo-coo bucks" on getting re-up-holstered. She's talking nonsense. There's no holster or gun around here.

3. I confess to using my claws to rip some sheets on Mom's bed. Her favorite e-gypsy cotton ones.

4. I confess to using my claws in my fights with Jasmine. I got her on the nose. What else am I supposed to do? She chases me and is really mean.

5. Speaking of Jasmine, sometimes I eat her food. So what? She's fat and can afford to lose a little weight.

6. Sometimes when I eat I find it necessary to scoop some of my crunchies out of the bowl onto the counter. Mom says I leave it messy. I don't know what her problem is with that.

7. Like my pal Monty Q, I also stare at my Mom and meow really loud. I am asking for so many things, but all she does is pet me.

8. I miss Gizzy.

Jasmine's Favorite Things Meme

Jasmine here. I've been tagged for the Favorites Meme, but since the little twit sucks up most of the computer time around here, I just found out. So here are my answers to my favorite things.

Time of Day: When Mom gets back from Day Hunting and sits at the computer to read the blogs. I sit on the desk and lean against her and rest my head on her hand. She pets me with the other hand. It is our very special time as little miss you-know-who knows better than to try to jump on the desk too.

Day of the Week: Any day above ground is a good day.

Season of the Year: Autumn, because the air has a great smell to it, a nice crisp feel, and that's when the crickets try to get into the house. I eat them.

Holiday: Labor Day. Mom usually takes a week off then to watch the US Open Tennis. The little sticky people in the neighborhood are back in school, so it's quiet.

Beaches: Too many people, too much noise.

Flower: They're all good. The Lillies of the Valley outside smell nice right now.

Talk Show: They're all talk, and I can live without all of them.

Movie: Mostly Martha. It's German, and it's about a chef and her niece. And another chef.

Soaps: I am perfectly capable of keeping myself scrupulously clean. I don't need soap.

Beverage: Milk. I drink from Mom's glass every morning.

Fruit: Eh... I can do without it.

Snack: Any kind, any variety. Rustle the bag and I'm there.

Food: yes, Yes, YES! Beef, Chicken, Tuna, Fish, Pork, Lamb, Shrimp...

Restaurant: Why would I need a restaurant when the best cook already lives here?

It isn't listed here, but my ABSOLUTE Favorite thing would be for the little pest who lives here with me would go live somewhere else. I'm pretty sure Monty Q would like it if she went to live with him.

I think all the cats in the blogosphere have already been tagged, but if you haven't played yet, I tag you.

Firecracker Firecraker BANG! BANG!

I do NOT like firecrackers. The not-so-little sticky people next door were lighting firecrackers last night. I was in the window hammock looking outside, listening to the nighttime sounds and smelling the nighttime smells. Mom was sewing. It was really nice and peaceful.

Suddenly a series of pops, bangs, and very loud explosions interrupted the quiet. I was so surprised and frightened that I jumped out of the cat hammock and ran away to find a safe place to hide.

The safest place I could think of was under Mom's bed. And it would have been a good spot, had not Jasmine been under there, also hiding from the firecrackers. She hissed at me, at I let her, because I was more scared of the firecrackers than I was of her.

She didn't like that much and tried to attack me. I moved away from her, and scooted between the two big boxes Mom has under the bed. Neither Jasmine nor the firecrackers could get me there.

I hate firecrackers.

I can live without lawnmowers too, come to think of it. And leaf blowers.

A True Cat Loving Bean

This is Maddie's quilt. Maddie lives in Washington state.

This is Maddie sleeping on her Gizzy quilt. But when she isn't sleeping on the quilt, where else does Maddie like to sleep?

Why, on her bean dad's beautiful laptop, of course. It's a good warm place to sleep. But I know that Mom is always picking cat hair out of the keyboard of her laptop, and neither Jasmine nor I sleep on it. You can imagine how much fur gets in the keyboard of Maddie's laptop.

Of course, Maddie's bean dad could simply shoo Maddie away from the laptop, but he is a very nice bean dad, and he loves Maddie a lot, and he doesn't want to shoo Maddie away, but he doesn't want all her fur in his laptop keyboard.

So what does he do?

He asks Mom to make a cute little laptop quilt, just the size as the laptop. In purple, since purple is Maddie's special favorite color.

And what does Mom do?

She makes it. Here it is, all 10-1/2" x 16-1/4" of it.

And here is the back.

There is something I can't work out. Which of these beans is weirder? Maddie's Dad for wanting a tiny quilt for his laptop; or Mom, for making it? Or your bean, because Mom says if you want one, email me at darlingmillie AT gmail DOT com.

Once again, I am so glad I am a cat.

(Once this tiny quilt flies all the way across the United States of Americat, and we get a picture of Maddie on her laptop quilt on her dad's laptop, we will post it. I can't wait.)


Update, 3:15 PM --
Mom just made a laptop quilt for her own laptop. It isn't as big as Maddie's because Mom has a tiny little laptop, so the quilt is 9" x 12-3/4". Mom says laptop quilts -- unless they are a lot bigger than Maddie's will cost about $12 plus shipping to any cat or bean who wants one.

(You can click the pictures to biggify.)

Formerly Feral Friday

When Mom gets home after her day hunting, I make sure she gives me scritches. I jump on the counter, or the table or anyplace high up, look right at her an MEOW to get her attention. I want my scritches on the back of my head, on my cheeks and a bit under my chin.

I love scritches. I purr like crazy when she does it. I know I said once that I would NEVER let her pet me. (See here!)

I changed my mind.

So what.

Thursday Thirteen

13 Facts about the Gizzy Quilts


Yeah, yeah, I know, you're all quilted out. But Mom still has a few more to go and she's got quilts on the brain. Here are 13 things we bet you didn't know about the kitty quilts

1. When Mom first asked if anybody wanted a quilt, she hoped she'd get orders for 10.

2. We have shipped as many Gizzy Quilts as there are Heinz varieties. We're not done yet.

3. Gizzy Quilts are International: the US leads the way, then New Zealand, then Great Britain, and then Germany.

4. The Gizzy Quilts can be found in 23 states

5. There are more Gizzy Quilts in California than in any other state. Second is Florida

6. Washington and Wisconsin tie for third place

7. There are quilts in: IL, SC, TX, MA, PA, WY, AR, CT, HI, IN, LA, MD, MO, MT, NH, NJ, TN,UT, VA.

8. Most Orders were for single quilts. But there were 6 orders for 2; and multiple orders for 3, 4 and 5 quilts each.

9. Blue Quilts were the most popular by almost 2 to 1.


10. Purple was the second most popular color.

11. In third place, a 4-way tie for: Rainbow, Green, Yellow/Green, and Black/White.

12. Put together, all the Gizzy Quilts Mom made equal 5 bean "Queen Size" quilts. (made in just over 3 months, which is pretty amazing.)

13. The Christmas Quilts will be for sale in the fall, in a Limited Edition. Stay tuned.

Flying Quilt Wednesday

Gizzy quilts are flying all over the country as you read this, and several have landed at their new homes already. You have to check them out at the Bizzy for Gizzy Quilts blog. There are several very happy cats, which pleases me to no end, seeing as how Mom and I really work hard to make sure each cat gets a quilt that's perfect for them.

Since I have been so bad at keeping secrets lately, Mom won't tell me who this lovely green quilt is for.

I can tell you two things.

Thing One: Mom has made over 50 quilts.

Thing Two: The person that orders the 100th quilt will get it for free.

Thing Three: There will be Christymas quilts...

(HA! HA! HA! Mom, I let the cat out of the bag, now I don't have to keep that secret any more. Ha ha ha! Oh, I feel so much better.)



Monty Q! Get out of the icebox for heaven's sake! If you keep doing that I'm going to have to rent an oxygen tank to drag around at the party on Sunday!

Favorites

It's the meme....

Time of day: Mid-afternoon

Day of the Week: Sunday

Season of the year: Summer

Holiday: Christmas

Beaches: Hampton, even though I've never been there.

Song: (I don't care but Mom says the duet between the Countess and Susanna in Act 3 of The Marriage of Figaro where they pass the letter back and forth is a big one. It's the song the "two Italian ladies" sing in The Shawshank Redemption.)

Flower: Stargazer Lily

Talk Show: (what's a talk show?)

Movie: Pride and Prejudice (I'm with Mom on this one)

Soaps: (nope, Mom doesn't do these either)

Beverage: Milk

Fruit: (I don't do fruit)

Snack: Beef Temptations (duh!)

Food: BEEF! BEEF! BEEF!

Restaurant: Here. Mom's a great cook

Oh heavens, now I gotta tag cats, and Mom and I have been so busy in the sewing room we didn't have a chance to see who got tagged and who didn't so we're gonna tag:

1. Monty Q
2. Poppy Q
3. Lilly Lu
4. Mr Zenith
5. Yao-lin


There's a happy cat over at Bizzy for Gizzy Quilts. You should check it out. Over the next few days he might get some company!

Monochromatic Monday

This is me on the quilt on Mom's bed. It is made entirely from fabrics with black backgrounds. Do you think she likes black? Actually she likes Black-&-White more than she likes just black (gee, there's a big surprise!)

This is me on a Black and White quilt with Green. It is going to a very special, handsome Southern gentlecat. I had to do the final QA check. It passed.

As you are reading this, there are a dozen flying quilts on their way to cats all over the country. Mom is psyched. I'm excited because -finally- she'll be making one for me.

The Feline Sextet and the Jellicle Cats tagged Jasmine and me, but that's gonna have to wait until tomorrow's blog.

Sunday Q.A.

Here is Jasmine doing a QA (Quality Assurance) check on this purple and blue Gizzy quilt. It's going out to a Meezer Cat soon. Jasmine approved.

I checked out this yellow and green number. Aren't the colors light and happy? Very spring-y. This one passed too.

This PINKPINKPINK one is for a special cat who loves PINKPINKPINK. Yesterday Fat Eric thought the quilt Mom designed for me had a lot of PINK in it. I wanted to show him this one which has a lot more PINK than mine does.

And Cats of the Blogosphere, I will give you three guesses as to which cat is getting this PINKPINKPINK quilt. And the first two don't count! It's not Daisy, and it's not Skeezix!

Mine!

Lookit! Mom did it! She made me my very own Gizzy Quilt! Isn't it beautiful? It is Pink, my favorite color, and it has some pretty flowers, and it has some nice happy yellows and greens. It will be SO pretty with my Tuxie Black and White furs. I am -so- excited.

(Click the picture to biggify. )

P.S. This is my 350th post!

Sew Sew Saturday

Mom says she can see the light at the end of the Gizzy Quilt Tunnel. (I think she's been working too hard. There is no tunnel around here anywhere.)

Four more boxes of kitty quilts flew out of here yesterday on their way to Catifornia, Washingcat, Utahcat and Idahocat. She is hoping to finish another 8 Gizzy Quilts this weekend.

OH OH! Lookit this... what's up (down) with this? This is the machine Mom uses to make the Gizzy quilts. How is she gonna finish...

"It's OK, Millie, the sewing machine just needs to be cleaned and oiled."

Phew! THAT was close! Anyway, next week quilts will be flying to Catifornia, Alabacat, Tennecatsee and Illinoisycat. Another two will be riding down to Masscat with Brown. The quilts are Orange, Yellow, Green, Teal, Blue, Purple, Pink and Black & White. Sounds like a Rainbow to me.

I -still- don't have one. Mom put together some pieces with all colors and black and white. Here it is. I don't quite know how I feel about it. I'm thinking I should hold out for something special. I mean, I like the black and white, and I like the colors, but I'm just not feeling the love.

Here's one with black and white and lots of Red. It's better, but it's not calling out my name, either.Here's a black one with Pink and Limey Green and Aqua Blue. I do like Pink, but this one just doesn't do it for me.

Well, I'd rather get a quilt that is PERFECT for me, so I guess I'll keep waiting.

Full Monty (Q) Friday

When I saw Monty Q lying like this on the floor:
I thought of dear Gizzy, who used to do the very same thing.

Turns out Marie lies like this too. Skittles suggested that we should call the pose the MontyQ.

Next, when the cat in question lies on his back, showing, well, everything, like this:
it should be called the Full Monty. Here's a picture of Donny doing the Full Monty:
Yesterday MontyQ demonstrated the Full Monty himself. You can go look for yourself.

So whaddya think, cats of the blogosphere? Have we got a New Standard Cat Term?

Thursday Thirteen

Mom said I couldn't show my tummy any more this week. She said poor Monty Q should be allowed to come out of the icebox. She said I had to give him a break. She said I had to be nice. (I thought I was being nice.) She said I was being a terrible flirt.

So Okay. Monty Q, come out of the icebox, I promise I'll be more ladylike.

Even though Mom said I couldn't show MY tummy, she didn't say I couldn't show pictures of OTHER tummies. So I dug through Mom's photo archives and found these pictures of Gizzy and Jasmine taken over the years. And, well, there's one tummy that might drive some mom beans into the icebox.

1. Gizzy - lookit that floofy belly. He was kinda porky here.
2. Gizzy again, sleeping in the sun.
3. Gizzy demanding attention on Mom's sewing table.
4. Jasmine doing some fun gyrations on Mom's chair.
5. Gizzy stretched out over a pillow. What a funny guy!
6. Gizzy snoozing in the sun next to the open window in the summer.
7. Gizzy hanging out with Mom on the sewing table again. Lookit all that flab!
8. Jasmine here laying on some fabric.
9. Gizzy in the cat hammock last summer before I moved in.
10. Gizzy interrupting a Chess game.
11. Jasmine after her surgery in the summer of 2003
12. Gizzy liked to sleep on Mom's ironing board.
13. This is Mr Karate taken just the other day. No flab here.


I'll be more ladylike tomorrow.