This is my oldest daughter's (A) cat, Apollo. He is about 7 years old now. If you look at his eyes you can tell that he is blind in his right eye. He injured it several years ago.
I parked, got out and took him back home. He stayed a few days and then went back to the old house again! We talked to everyone in the neighborhood about him and discovered there were a few older ladies who were feeding him. No one could catch him and take him home with them. We kept bring him back to our new home and he kept going back to the old one! Daughter A came home for Christmas 2006 and she kept going back to the old house and finally we found Apollo and she brought him home. Well, he stayed as long as she was there and then a few days after she went back to college he left again! We figured he wasn't going to make it this time and we just decided to let him alone. We still kept riding by the old house sometimes but never saw him. Someone new bought the house and moved into it. Then when daughter A came home for Christmas of 2007 she and daughter T were driving through the old neighborhood to go to a friends house and saw Apollo. It was dark out and they couldn't get him to come to them. The next day they went back and daughter A got him to come to her and brought him home. He looked pretty rough. He had been living outside for a year now! He was really nervous but after a while he was ok. You could tell he was really happy to see daughter A! She stayed home from school for the whole winter break this time, which was 6 weeks. We were so worried that Apollo would leave again after she left, but he didn't! He has been here ever since. I guess he finally realized this was home! Or maybe he feels he is too old to walk all the way across town again! You can tell he has a harder time jumping then he did. I also think that he was looking for daughter A every time he went back to the old house. Maybe with new people living there he realized we would not be back and with daughter A here for so long over Christmas he realized this is where she lives. Whatever the reason we are just so glad that he is here to stay! He is the most loving cat we have. He loves to lay beside you and be scratched and petted. You can see daughter A in the above picture loving him right after she brought him back home at Christmas! Like I said, this cat definitely used his NINE LIVES!!!!
Now she is moving to Minnesota. I am happy for her. She reconnected with her childhood sweetheart, her very first boyfriend! And they got married in March. She waited until her daughter got out of school this week to move to Minnesota. She left this morning. My daughter and I went over to tell them goodbye yesterday after I got off work. It took a lot for me not to break down and cry. When I got home I cried.
I know that we will still talk on the phone all the time, but it is so upsetting knowing she is not just down the road. Since we met we have always lived very close to each other. To begin with she lived directly across from me in an apartment complex. When she moved into a house I rented the house across the street! Then she bought a house and I moved into one I inherited from my mother. Even then we lived less than a mile apart. I only want the best for her, but I sure am gonna miss her!
She is getting older and so she just lays around all day. See how fat she is! She used to run around outside all the time and so stayed slim. Now when you see her outside she is usually laying on the porch or in the sun!
Close up of one of the index cards. My daughter told me I was too organized! I told her I had to be! The other day I was looking for a piece of fabric to line a crocheted bag I made for my cousin. She is crazy about Elvis and I knew I had some leftover Elvis fabric from a quilt I had made my daughter. But of course I could not find it. This was before I did my organization. So I went to Wal-Mart and bought more Elvis fabric! Of course I found what I already had as I was organizing! Now to just keep it organized. It's easy pulling fabric out of the totes, but sometimes it doesn't get put back so easily!
I also got this wonderful glove there. I only paid fifty cents for it. You can't really tell from the picture, but it is of a sheer black organza. They thought I was crazy to just buy one glove. But I have seen some really neat needle work collages done with old gloves. My daughter put it on yesterday and just loved it! She said I should have gotten both gloves. But one of them had something all over the top of it.
This is the name layed out. The name will be IVEY. I will post more photos as I progress on it. I should have already finished it, but I seem to want to spend more time reading peoples blogs or reading my Karen Kingsbury book then I do crocheting!
This is a little Japanese bag that I made. I have made several of these to sell and find they are the perfect size to put my crochet thread in so it is easy to carry with me wherever I go. I always take my handwork with me because I cannot stand to be sitting somewhere waiting on something and not have something there to do with my hands. You know, like the doctors office or waiting for kids at school and such.
This one is my brother, Freddy, when he was a little boy. He is two years older than me and as you can probably tell he loves Alabama football! I sent it to him and it is now on his bulletin board in his office at the restaurant he owns.
This one is of my brother, George and his dog. I have always thought this was the cutest picture and so had to do an ATC using it. George died when he was only 13 years old way back in 1967. I was very young and so do not remember a lot about him. But we do have our pictures to remind us.
This is my beautiful mama when she was in high school. I just love the way this turned out and only wish I had been making these before she died. I know she would have loved this! Sadly she died almost three years ago of cancer. This is my all time favorite ATC!
This is a Bible that I received from my aunt and uncle way back in 1973. I used it so much that the cover just wore away. It has a zipper around three sides to open and close it. I designed this cover for it. There is jewelry on it from my childhood and beads from two old necklaces that my father gave me when I was very young. The long gold chain on the right side is the Ten Commandments that I received when I was about 5 years old in my Sunday School Class. The little beads that have the name Dumas on them were part of my baby bracelet that they put on my wrist in the hospital when I was born. The cross stitched piece that says Life is fragile Handle with Prayer is a kit I received from my brother many years ago and did. This Bible and cover are very special to me as they hold a lifetime of memories.
When I was going through my mama's things after she died I found this Valentine I had embroidered for her. It was so long ago that I cannot even remember doing it! It really means a lot that she kept it all these years. My mama and I always had a very close bond. I was the youngest of 4 children and the only girl. I did not marry till I was 26 years old and stayed home and took care of my mama till then. I still took care of her even after I married. I really miss her a lot.
I made the this bonnet and the booties that follow for a lady at my church who just gave birth to a little baby girl. I found the pattern on the Internet and thought they were so cute!
They were a lot of fun to make. They worked up really quickly. This is a side view of the bonnet.
This is a back view of the bonnet.
And these are the booties. I can't wait to see them on that sweet baby!
Close up of our house.
Close up of pine trees.
Close up of store that was 5 miles down the road that we went to.
Close up of wisteria bush. I love wisteria bushes. They smell great!
I decided that my first post to this blog should be a wall hanging that I designed and made to represent a very special memory of my childhood. I hand appliqued, hand embroidered, and hand quilted this wall hanging.
Close up of my cousin, me, and my brother, Keith.
