Go!Baby

I have finally jumped on the die cutter wagon. Over christmas I saw a lot of people posting about Accuquilt productshttp://www.accuquilt.com/. Finally I could stand it no longer.

There are four options to choose from. I deliberately chose the smallest. There is a large number of dies for this little beauty, many the basic building blocks of quilting.

At the moment I am seeing half-square triangles (HST) together to form 3" squares. They are for some time in the future. This block is very versatile and there are numerous arrangements.

I have also started piecing Drunkard'sPath. This is another classic. Each unit is a quarter circle pieced into a square. It would be very laborious cutting the individual pieces with templates. The Go!Baby makes short work of it.  As is the case with the HST, this is a block which can be combined in a myriad of ways. Again, I am just going to piece and sew and when I have enough for a projects, be it a cushion, an apron or a whole quilt, I will decide what to do. In the meantime I am enjoying piecing the  Drunkard's Path, but it is a little tricky

I will purchase a bigger cutter some time in the future but this handy little cutter will still get a lot of use

This pic has both of the above blocks in it. Half Triangle Square is 3"

And of course, no sewing post is good without a gratuitous kitty pic. 

This is Willow. He is a Devon Rex boy of about 6 months in this picture

 above. In the image below we can see  a very sleepy Gittan being sniffed over by a curious Willow. Gittan is a 3 yo Devon Rex.  I can't say just how wonderful it is to have cats in our lives again :0)

  

Athyr.

If you look at the picture in the 'About me' section on the right of this blog, you will see Athyr, our chocolate-point Siamese. I say 'our', because although she had to go to a new home when we moved here, she always had a special place in our hearts.

The final, and most important, kindness that you can and must do for a pet is to let them go when the time comes. However hard the parting is. One of the reasons that we chose the new owners for Isis and Athyr was that we just knew we could trust them to do this if the time came.

Sadly, that time came for Athyr just under a week ago. She was not quite 6 years old. My heart is heavy, but I can't thank J & M enough for this last kindness.

Sad cat news

When we re-homed our girls last year we asked their new owners to keep us informed of news both good and bad.

Athyr, the chocolate point, has a very aggressive form of cancer and does not have long left. Although we are both heartbroken by the news we know that her new owner will let her go when the time is right...

ETA: If you look at my profile picture on the left you will see Athyr using her radiator hammock as a kangaroo pouch. Even though we have been missing the cats for a year we are going to miss her even more now.

Cat update

One of the great things about the cats' new home is that their new slaves owners send us pics now and again.

As you can see, the girls are missing us dreadfully.....

2 weeks to go

...and still not organised!

In spare moments (I can tell we aren't working hard enough 'cos we still seem to have some of these) we are doing 'stuff.' So we now have our cable/internet/'phone sorted out - well as far as we can.

Number Guy is having a well-earned rest. Some of his friends are staying over New Year and they have all gone walking. In the pouring rain (he he he). I was knitting, and the results can currently be seen at Twelfthknit but I have the feeling that this will have to stop.

And for no reason at all, here is a pic of Athyr when she was nobbut a kitten.

Heartache

It doesn't matter how much I tell myself that there are far worse things in life than re-homing one's pets to kind loving homes, I am heart-achingly sad. I made the final arrangements yesterday and by this time next week we will be a petless household.

I would never compare 'losing' a pet to that of a relative, yet this is in fact a mini bereavement. While I tell myself that I am completely daft and need to get my priorities sorted out, there is a heaviness in my soul...

On the positive side, we will be signing our rental contract today. We may have another visit to Zürich before the end of the year - if this is the case it will give us a better idea of what to take - if we don't, well, I am sure we will take all the wrong things but as long as I take my knitting all will be well.