End of Summer, foster kittens, Home repairs!

Hello August! I swear, this month gets warmer each and every year now. But soon, those autumn temperatures will be joining us shortly. The trees foliage has not started yet but the leaves are beginning to fall.
I had some short staying visitors ~ foster kittens! They arrived at my home as orphans and just 5 weeks old. They were sisters and it was unknown what happened to their mother (or any other litter mates). The runt of the two had some special needs that I was informed of. She seemingly was much smaller then her sister and had a underdeveloped jaw. She may have other issues yet unknown, since she was quite small.

the littlest one, named Felicia

her sister, Freida

Needless to say some fosters have more challenges then others. These two were not litter trained at all. Despite my best efforts they returned back to the shelter about 9 days earlier then expected. I tried my best, had two littler boxes, they had their own room - but as a volunteer I could only do so much. Also a concern about Felicia not growing as fast as her sibling was something the shelter wants to address. I volunteer for a no-kill shelter which never turns away special needs or special medical care pets. I can pop in whenever I want to check on their progress!

In the meanwhile, I had been doing small home repairs and redecorating! If you ever have a house you will know how daunting even the smallest of tasks can be. I wanted to re-paint the closet shelving along with re-paint the closet door in our bathroom. My husband kindly stripped the old paint off the door - turns out, it was solid wood. I picked a pale blue shade since the walls are a pale grey colour. I've been posting with updates of my project on my Instagram page for my crafting. It did come out nicely and I'm happy we did this ourselves!

the before and after of the closet shelving

before the finished project

I decided to add something to hang my many hair decorations up on. I decided on cork board and floral pins! It was very affordable and an easy project for any novice to try. This way my barrettes, clips and other hair decorations are easily visible. And the floral pins have a pearl faux end to them, so you can hang elastics easily. It made for a simple way to display things without needing any nails or tape to keep the cork board in place.

square cork board and large floral pins

the finished project

easily find hair items and can move the pins as needed

I hope you have been enjoying the end of summer where you live. We have had some record breaking hot days here and I'm happy they are behind us. It won't be long now and we will all be bundling up in layers and the foliage will be here! Com on autumn, I am looking forward to you arriving!

Natural fabric dye & fostering

Hello and welcome to Summer! The heat is on, the evenings are longer and the days are relaxing. I decided to give something a try which I have never done before, natural fabric dye. The idea behind this is to try alternatives to traditional chemical dyes. You can find many posts online dedicated to this practice with many ways to do it. I tried a method of soaking the fabric in white vinegar for a few hours, rinse, then try to dye it.

boiling blueberries

I would boil some fruit such as blueberries (I also tried spinach for green and turmeric for yellow) and place the cotton whit fabric in the boiling pot for about an hour. 

straining turmeric

I then let the fabric soak in the colored dye water for a few hours, rinse in water and line dry. But how did it go? Well after I gave them a second rinse the color hadn't taken very well. I think in the future I will have to try a different method for this. Because as you can see, after the first rinse and line drying, they color was quite bright.

sadly the spinach for green ended up a pale yellow

But what else is going on in my home? Good thing you asked, because....

foster kitten Sherlock

foster kitten Watson

Meet my foster kittens! About 7 weeks of age about now and starting to explore my home. I named them, if only for a way to address them beyond "kitten 1 & 2" since most shelters tend to re-name kittens when they are ready for adoption. So please meet grey & white Watson and all grey Sherlock. 

Now I've been doing this for over six years now. Shelters of all types often need volunteers with the space and time to open their home to homeless pets. They are not always young, some can be several years old. They could have been feral, from a family that could not care for a litter or a surrender-by-owner situation. And it's not just cats but dogs, rabbits and other animals that need foster care with shelters nationwide. I specialize in socializing cats, correcting behavior (with positive reinforcement, such as take them directly to a scratching post to learn it) and how to live in a household that can be busy, noisy and have other pets. 

our dog Choji relaxing with Watson

So if you ever want to help locally I'd suggest finding a shelter and stopping in. You may be required to take a course (often for free or a small fee), some shelters ask you to supply litter and cat food (others supply it for you) and they may have their own guidelines to follow. I can share pictures but I can not reveal the shelter name or when these two are available as per their guidelines. But if you have the time and space to spare, do consider giving back to your community and volunteering with a shelter!

Cat rescue group, bandannas

The cat group I took a hiatus from in early summer? Well, I've returned! Can't stay away from those homeless kitties for too long. I'm helping with adoption events and some sewing. They have additional sewing & crafty volunteers, so I am not overwhelmed by the requests.

So here are a few photos of them in the stylish bandanna I am making. They are on lingerie elastic, so they are never tight and fit like a collar.

This white kitty is my own cat, Howl. He pretty much models anything I make ~ he loves the attention and not having to get up.

Little sewing purse

Sometimes you don't want a big sewing project. The smaller, easier the better! So I tried my hand at a small project: a little purse with key ring. The pattern was from a zakka sewing book, the one I've been drooling over for like 2 months now. It was actually smaller then I was used to working with so I made mine about 1" larger in overall size.

the finished purse

large enough to hold lip balms & cards

I used a peal metal snap closure on mine since I disliked the full zipper suggested in the book. I also found that trying to sew the bias tape edge by machine didn't.... so smoothly. I ended up sewing that edge on by hand or else the back side wouldn't be stitched on properly. You could use any fabric you want and I decided to mix and match my prints on both sides. 

It's been a fun project for lazy start of summer. Since the hand stitching takes up much time I may reserve these as holiday presents and gifts. Sometimes you make things so nicely you can't bare to sell them!

a bright one being sewn

this might be best for a teenager

I hope to sew some clothing this summer, once I regain my crafting room. Yep, it is still being lived in by the rescue kitty and kittens I am watching.

yep, still have kittens galore!

I give you a post on adorable kittens

I swear Kentucky just hops over springtime. It stays a few weeks, then we just go right into the heat and humidity! Does anyone else live where it feels like that transition between seasons can be short?

Well any who ~ my spare craft room is rather full. Oh yes, fostering cat and kittens is a chore! But really now, it's probably the best chore to ever have *ha!* Everyday the adorable kittens get a little bigger and mom cat is super affectionate.

foster mom cat, Emma

Emma cat, whom I named after blessed patron Emma (of lost families) was taken from a high kill shelter the day she had her litter! And on the way out, she adopted two orange kittens from a cat whom could not be taken. She immediately took to her adopted kittens, now the entire litter is a family. Now for what you really want, 14 day old kitten photos. 

litter has two tabbies, both boys

two orange kittens, both boys

one tortoise color, a girl

one all black with this white spot, a girl

the orange ones get some bottle time

the kitten pile of adorableness!

Emma and litter are staying until the end of June. Kittens are not available for adoption until the are: over 7 weeks in age, over a certain weight, weaned from mom, eating solids. So my craft room is a little noisy with a lot of fur. I finished more necklaces for the local boutique, four of the fifteen have sold! And I have a cute small project in the works from the awesome Love to Sew: Zakka style gifts by Cecilia Hanselmann.