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Heidi’s dress fitting and blueberry muffins

At first glance, it may appear from this photo that my kitty assistant from my last post has been magically transformed into a doll, but this is not the case. He would never fit in that dress.

This is Heidi, the tabby cat. She is Max and my first collaborative original folk art cat doll. I did the final fitting on her dress today. If you look closely, you will see the pins holding it together here. I sewed all the finishing details by hand. It’s a real challenge sewing little things on a machine. Now I have to get our Siamese’s sweater and skirt set assembled. It’s going to be fun photographing them together.


I also made my blueberry muffins that I had planned to make along with the last batch of muffins I made. These are from the same book, Deborah Madison‘s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. They are made from the Basic Buttermilk Muffins recipe. I added a cup of thawed blueberries and a teaspoon of orange zest. These are so good! I ate too many.

I had them with the orange I used for the orange zest for breakfast. Really good.

And thanks, Eric, for sharing an inspiring site…it’s our cosmos, with a new view of our universe every day. Check out Eric and Melissa’s music too. They’re putting together an LP of their own original songs. Pretty exciting. It’s great to see other people pursuing their dreams too 🙂

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And whiskers on kittens

I’d like to thank Lisa Cole again, for giving me this “Kreativ Blogger” award. She is a very sweet lady and her artwork is magical. Be sure to go have a look. I am supposed to name seven things I love and nominate seven other people. I was curious about where this award started, and although I didn’t find out, I did find out that there have been a few variations on the “things that you love” theme. I found people listing things for which they are grateful, things that make them happy, and values they support and don’t support. I guess people have been “kreativ” with their lists too 🙂

I’d also like to thank my kitty assistant, because where would I be without him? It’s purely an illusion that I come up with all of these ideas myself. As you can see from his expression, he is the go-to guy for ideas. I’m pretty sure he knows what all those buttons do on that sewing machine too. He just lets me try to figure it out on my own so I’ll learn.

We had a beautiful snowy day today. The first and only real snow we have had this winter, here in the heart of North Carolina. I stomped around in the snow, then watched the inauguration, then stomped around in the snow some more. It was a good day.

Okay, so I am supposed to make lists here…I’m still thinking…Hm…I suppose I can’t steal Lisa’s list of things she loves, but I almost could, or would, because I’d have very similar answers. So, I will have to be more random. Let’s see.

1) I love today. I am grateful for today, and today made me happy too. A new president. A new, clean, white, cold blanket over everything. A little flock of juncos hopping around eating cracked corn out my back door. The ducks safely floating on the pond. My family safe and sound. Everything was fine today. I aspire to love every day, and find something to be grateful for in every day.

2) I love myself. No, goodness knows, not in some egomaniacal way. But in a quiet, I’m-worth-taking-care-of-myself way. I’m happy with who I am, and I’m grateful for the things I can do. I’m happy and grateful to be alive and well.

3) I love that when I don’t feel so happy, I have people who love me and listen to me and support me. I love that when I feel sad, even my kitties know enough about me to come see if I’m okay. I’m grateful to be loved.

4) I love that we have what we need. Plenty of food to eat, a home, central heat when we are cold, air conditioning when we are hot. I don’t take these things for granted, and I am grateful for them.

5) I love beautiful and colorful things, gardens full of flowers, quilts made up of a little bit of everything, things arranged by color…bolts of fabric, skeins of yarn, boxes of paint. It doesn’t matter so much what it is, as long as it’s visually stimulating and varied. That excites me and makes me happy.

6) I love the natural world, with all the amazing and varied living things that inhabit it.

7) I love fantasy, imagining what might exist that we cannot, or have not yet seen.

Now I have to nominate people…so I nominate you! If you are reading this, I invite you to tell your story in whatever way you want, through your own blog, a hand-written journal, a poem, a painting, a song. Share it with the world, a confidante, or just keep it for yourself. Reflect on what you love, what makes you happy, and what you are grateful for and express that somewhere. You can even leave a comment here, telling me something you love, something that makes you happy, or something that you are grateful for. I’d enjoy checking out some great artists or writers or any creative people you think I might like too.

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Banana oat muffins and sundry

Just a quick note for those of you waiting to see our new dolls finished…They are still in progress and I will be sure to post a note here and on our Ruffing’s blog when we’ve got them finished and photographed. I was under the weather for a couple of weeks, and I’ve been in slo-mo. They’ll be posted in our doll gallery too. Just so you know you haven’t missed them.

I decided today was going to be muffin day. I’ve been saying I’m going to make muffins while watching my ingredients expire. I was going to go all out and make two kinds today, but I just made these Banana Oat Muffins from Deborah Madison‘s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. I didn’t do her muffin recipe justice last time. So, this time, mid-recipe, when I saw my ingredients were, once again, over-the-hill, I just drove to the store and bought new ones. I found some King Arthur Unbleached White Whole Wheat Flour, which I’d never tried before, and used that. It seemed to give them a lighter taste and a finer texture than when I tried them with regular whole wheat flour. The recipe recommended whole wheat pastry flour, which I haven’t seen. I also used less nutmeg and added a little cinnamon, but only because I don’t go for nutmeg in a big way.

They came out nicely, not so sweet, more like a muffin to have with eggs, or another breakfast food. I keep feeling that there isn’t any reason I’m not making more home-cooked foods, except that I’ve gotten lazy about it. And muffins are easy!

I’ve been trying to add more vegetables to my diet too, and trying to have a mixed plate of vegetables for lunch each day. A friend sent me an interesting video from Mark Bittman on what’s wrong with what we eat. It’s about twenty minutes, but I felt it was worth watching. He talks about how we need to eat less meat, more plants, less fast food, and more home cooking, not only for the sake of our own personal health, but for the sake of our environment. He makes a case for becoming at least a partial vegetarian, but he keeps his focus more on our health and our world, for anyone worried about being upset by watching a video on that subject. Anyway, I’m trying to do better in those areas.

And thanks, Lisa, for giving me the the “Kreativ Blogger” award! Thanks just as much for saying I am an “awesomely fabulous person” You know I like that just as much 😉 Now I need to think of seven things I love and seven artists to pass the award along to. I’ll have to give this some thought…

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Passings

When I got up this morning, I was saddened to hear of the passing of Andrew Wyeth. My mom read a quote to me from an article about his life, and it was spooky because his was one of the portraits I’d been looking at just last Sunday, when I felt like the paintings were communicating with me:

But his granddaughter, Victoria Wyeth, told The Associated Press in 2008 that he no longer gave interviews. “He says, ‘Vic, everything I have to say is on the walls,'” she said.

We went to look again at his paintings at the NC Museum of Art today, partly because I had the thought that they might be requested some day soon for a retrospective, and partly, to pay our respects. I know we both admired him, not just for his great talent and skill, but for his independence from the trends within the art world. He really did his own thing, which, I think, is one of the biggest and best things anyone can strive for.

This morning also, a Christmas card marked “return to sender” was in with our mail. I had meant to call our friend Dottie to wish her a happy birthday on December 21st, but had a sad and worried feeling about it. I knew she hadn’t been well, but I now know that she was no longer with us at that time. She was a truly good and honest person. I liked her and trusted her completely, from the first time I talked to her. I never had one doubt about her. I often dreamed of walking to her house to visit her, only to wake up to realize I lived many hours away. I’m sorry I didn’t get back to NY to see her again, but she will remain, for me, a barometer by which I measure the goodness and the honesty in other people.