The Ginger Boys and a Silver Tabby

 

Pets on Quilts 2016 - it's here!

 

Over at  Lily Pad Quilting , …( hop there to find all the latest news and views for this show)  the fifth annual Pets on Quilts Show 2016 is under way. It was created by QuiltShopGal. There are several categories, and I have entered the one for Cats on Quilts.

As long as I can remember, there has always been a cat or two or more in my life. It began with Tuppence, a black and white  kitten,  when I was ONE..Then Fluff, a retired pedigree Persian, when I was in my  teens, and many more from then to now.

Felicity is the matriarch of our home, a silver tabby, now aged almost 18. She is asleep on her own knitted rug.

Then  in 2002, along came  Finn, a small ginger boy, who was so loved by our Japanese host daughter Mayumi.

Tom arrived, quietly, at night, to have a secret feed, and gradually came to stay for a night or two, then off again on his travels. He loved to lie somewhere high, and survey everything that was going on.This Mariner’s Compass wasn’t finished, but he liked to stretch out on it regardless. Here he is,May, 2009.

Not long after I took this next  photo, he left, early one morning, in April 2011,  and we didn’t see him again.

Last year, on Mother’s Day, 2015,  a tiny “Meow” at the back door .Outside the door was this ginger scrap, we think about 5 weeks old.  We called him Boris, which means “Warrior” in Slavic language. He was a lot of work in those first few months, a surrogate mother, or father, or both,  not  what I had thought was in my job description!!!,   He was  wonderful company for Hugh  who was waiting  for spinal surgery. He would be let out  of his overnight  LARGE  sleeping wooden box, early each morning,  and lie by Hugh,  or play on the purple fleece rug.

He found fun everywhere.We had always wondered where his Mum or Dad would be, then one day he met Max. Are you my Dad?

The other ginger in our family is Max , the darling of my heart.A stray, a big beautiful, maybe part Norwegian Forest boy, who began his nightly visits at 10.30 p.m., a quick dash in for a feed then off just as fast. Gradually over almost 3 years,  I can now  give him a brush when he feeds, hold his paw as he sleeps, and comb out the knots in his magnificent coat. Here is the first photo of him as he walked off down the track to the stream, in  January 2014.

Boris and Max in 2016.

The photo for my entry in the Pets on Quilts Show 2016 is one of Finn, on his own knitted small woollen quilt, on another hand knitted leaf pattern full size bed quilt.Jeanette, a  very dear friend, has her hand on Finn, company together.

Yes, this photo is also at the beginning of my post today. Both Jeanette and Finn have left this world, and we remember them with so much love, and wonderful memories.

My Mum-in-law Muriel had severe arthritis in both her hands, from many years ago, and her doctor had suggested to keep them supple she knitted. Well, everyone in the family, extended family, had a knitted bedspread, and then another. When she and my Father-in-law came to live with us, she continued to knit. But then she decided that each of our 5 cats needed their own. This was Finn’s.

Quotation of the day, an Indian Proverb

“A cat is a lion in a jungle of very small bushes”

Greetings from Jean.