And Then There Were Two....

Loyal readers will recall my posts about Zola, my wonderful orange cat who I lost to heart disease at the beginning of this year, and Empire, the cheerful black and brown tabby we adopted to fill the hole in our home (and hearts).

Then, in the summer, we learned that the adoption of Crispin, Empire's brother, had come unstuck and that Crispin needed a new home.  Would we take him?   When we learned that he had gone into rut (because his prior adopter never got him neutered) and was fighting intestinal parasites, we couldn't say no.  Especially when he was so nice to us despite his health problems. 

It wasn't easy at first, and he still has some issues, but Crispin is slowly coming to believe that we love him and that our home is now his forever home.  And, to the surprise of everyone but my husband, the boys apparently recognize each other as brothers.  Or, at least they have never been hostile to each other and now spend a lot of time playing together and hanging out together.  So it makes sense for me to show the two of them together.  

In the kitchen photograph, Crispin is the one on the floor.   In the other, he's the one facing the camera.  As always, click on the picture for a larger more detailed image.  I have taken better photographs of these two, but I couldn't resist the symbolism (bookends!) of the doorway shot.

A New Prince

Empire awake.  

Empire, at rest on a sofa at the rescue place.

Meet Empire!  (He's named after the apple variety, not the governmental entity, because his mother's name is Apple; his siblings also have apple variety names.)  We are bringing him to live with us on Friday--the pictures with this post were taken by the woman who runs Fosterlings, the cat rescue operation that has made it possible for him to survive and begin to thrive, and for us to adopt him.   

Empire (or "Empy" for short) is only a bit over 4 months old  He's younger than the other cats I have adopted, but he has a combination of playfulness and an odd maturity for his age that is appealing to me.  He is also willing to be petted, and tolerates being picked up.  Like Zola, he is part Maine Coon, as the pictures demonstrate (the large, tuft-filled ears, the larger-than-average paws). Clicking on the photo should get you a much larger, detailed version of the same photo.

EDIT:  (2/15/2021)  I learned when I got his file after the adoption papers had been signed that Empy was born 9/20/2020 (like Sugar, he was born in a rescue facility to a mother who had been rescued).  That means he'll be exactly 5 months old this Saturday.  Unlike Sugar, the woman who placed him with us knows who his father is.  He is a large Maine Coon she describes as "25 pounds of solid muscle."  

2ND EDIT:  (2/19/2021) After checking his records, I can confirm that Empire will be 5 months old exactly tomorrow, February 20, 2021; he was born on September 20, 2020.

3RD EDIT: (3/10/2021)  I misread the form containing Empy's birthdate: It's actually September 16, 2020.  Close enough, though, to confirm that he'll be 6 months old next week!

A Sad Farewell

Long time readers will recall my (few) posts about Sugar, my first cat.   Today, Zola, Sugar's successor, died at the age of almost 9 years, of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.  My first post about him after we adopted him can be found here.  I'm not feeling like talking more about his passing just now.  If you wish, you can find more about that at my Instagram account, here. 

Zola, at about 5 years old.

Secrets of the Historical Costumers Revealed!

via GIPHY

Here is the perfect costuming post for a day like today (note today's date). 

Most costumers have cats, and blog about them. But this isn't just a costumer's cat, it's a costuming cat! Or at least a sewing cat. (She's so intense! I want to pet her gently and say, "It's okay! Take your time. It will come out all right!") 

This GIF is even historical, in a sense, because the cat is clearly not using an electric sewing machine; so her project must have been done no later than the early 20th century. Though how she is cranking the machine is beyond me. Cats can't work foot pedals, and she's got both front paws on the fabric!  (Maybe it is an electric machine, designed to look as though it has a wheel operated by a pedal. Or maybe the hand crank or pedal is located below the working surface and is being operated by a person who can't be seen in the animation.) 

Many thanks to P. Jennifer Christie, who spotted this GIF and posted it on Facebook, where I saw it. Happy April Fool's Day!

A New Companion

Here you can see his eyes!

Since I broke my own rule to introduce all of my readers to Sugar, my former feline companion who passed on about six weeks ago, I feel that I should show you her successor:  Gorgonzola!  (Zola for short.)

Zola, at about 5 years, on a summer afternoon

Like Sugar, Gorgonzola came to us ready-named.  We adopted him from a local rescue mission.  He is approximately 2 years old--close to the age that Sugar was when we adopted her. Like Sugar, Zola is dignified, friendly to people, and not much of a jumper.  I have some better photographs of him, but those don't show his face very well, and thus don't give as good an impression of his character.  I picked him because he purred, non-stop, the very first time I met him, and petted him.  (He didn't purr for Eric, my husband, though he was just as friendly to him otherwise.)  What better indication could I require that this cat wanted to be with me?

Since we brought him home, he has decided that he likes Eric too, and has purred at both of us, in between bouts of wandering around, exploring his new home.

Awake, but distracted by the camera flash.

Here are the obligatory photographs of my new cat companion, before I return you to our regularly scheduled costuming issues. (Excuse the lack of vacuuming!)

EDIT:  (2/4/2018)  I was so wrong about Zola not being a jumper; he can move to the top of the 6 1/2 foot bookcase with ease from the dining room windowsill. But now, at age 5 or thereabouts, he doesn't feel obliged to do that often.  He does greet us daily with purring, prefers to hang out with one or both of us, and carries himself with a high, curved, proud tail like the well-loved cat he now understands he is.   I've attached a more recent photograph of him also.  

Farewell To A Costumer's Companion

Since starting this blog, I have been fanatical about restricting its content to costume-related subjects--even though I'm the only person (so far) who writes for this blog.

Tonight, I will make an exception.

Tonight, for the first time in 20 years, I am a costumer without a cat.  My beloved cat, Sugar, was so ill from kidney failure that we had to have her put to sleep forever this afternoon.   If you want to know more about Sugar, feel free to check out my posts about her here and here and my husband's posts here and here. Here, I will only add one of the best photographs of her I have; it was taken by a friend of mine several years ago.

Sugar in 2012; already elderly but still enjoying life.

 

EDIT:  (4/26/2014)  Thank you to everyone who has responded to this post, for your kind words and thoughts.  I'm putting this here because for some reason Blogger is eating my comments on my own blog again.  :-(

And yes, Esther, Sugar was indeed amazing for her love of and rapport with us humans.

Fitted Wrap-Around Apron Dress--An Update

Sugar, my cat, on top of a costume project

Remember my plan to make a fitted, wrap-around apron dress with a flared skirt to demonstrate that such a dress need not be a pieced tube like the Hedeby dress?

A few days ago, I picked this project back up and resumed the first task necessary to complete the dress, namely, hemming the open edges. Now that I'm nearly done with that, I'm ripping fabric in preparation for sewing straps, which I will pin in place to find the best locations. After that, I will sew in the skirt gores, hem the bottom, and maybe put some trim on the section of the wrap that will be the top layer between the brooches when the dress is wrapped on me, and it will be done!

You may be wondering why I jumped to working on the straps instead of finishing hemming the sides. The answer is that, before I went to rip the straps, I foolishly laid the folded dress-in-progress down on my futon--and my cat is now sound asleep on top of it. (The blue part is the apron dress-in-progress; the pink part is just one of my bathrobes.) Meet Sugar, my fabric tester and confidante. Yes, I'm another one of those costumers with a feline assistant. :-)

Anyway, it looks like I'm not going to get much farther than the straps tonight, which may be just as well since I'm still recovering from a bad cold. Hopefully, I'll be able to do more sewing, and more blogging, this weekend.

EDIT: You can click the picture to get a larger version. Part of her belly was recently shaved and the fur is just growing back in--Sugar is an elderly (but spry!) cat and recently had an ultrasound done to check the progress of a large benign cyst on her liver. (Prognosis: little growth in cyst, unlikely to cause problems).