Purrfect Spots

When I was a little girl, I went with my mom to pick up draperies that she had ordered from a lady in our town. The lady had a separate building from her house filled with fabric, sewing machines and all sorts of neat stuff. I wished that someday I would have something like that. I also wished that I would be a "little ole lady who lived by the sea with lots of cats!"

Be careful what you wish for!!!

When we moved to Florida many years ago, the house we bought had a separate building with a two car garage as the previous owner restored old cars. My husband was going to use it as his office and did for awhile until the cats arrived. Mama "Bobbie" brought her 5 kittens and asked for a place to live. You guessed it. The office became theirs. My husband finally gave up and moved his office inside as the kittens kept turning off the FAX machine.

Time marched on and soon the cats got their own room aka Kitty City, screen porch and Kitty Courtyard - but that's another story.

My sister who is an artist needed a studio so we took out the garage doors, painted the inside and it became The C.A.T. House (Creative Arts & Textiles).

It was great for us as we were painting needlepoint canvases at that time and with the concrete floors, it was "purrfect"! But she took another path and I started quilting so it soon became filled with lots of sewing stuff!

This is The C.A.T. House today (22 years later). So take a short walk with me to the door and come on in.

Welcome to my World - this little inflatable globe came from Vacation Bible School at my church. Being in the travel industry for 22 years before changing careers, this is just "purrfect" for The C.A.T. House plus it brings back some good memories.

And essentially that is what The C.A.T. House is filled with - good memories and favorite things!

So let's take a tour. I will warn you, it is not fancy, but it is comfortable and there is almost no place I would rather be.

As you enter the door, looking across the room, you can see my "Rogue's Gallery" otherwise known as my family potraits. Underneath is my ironing board which stays up all the time. Next to it is one of my Bernina sewing machines that I absolutely adore. It is on an old table that I picked up in an antique shop years ago for $15.00. Quite a bargain. I loved the table as it had little marks on it made by the little wheels that seamstresses use for putting darts on patterns. I haven't sewn clothes in so long I don't know if they still make those, do they? But evidently the table was used by someone who sewed, so it was very fitting.

You will also see that I have lots of thread on various thread holders on the wall plus some wall lamps for better light over the ironing board and sewing machine. Yes that is a walrus and a turtle mobile hanging from one lamp and Christmas wreaths on the other. One wreath goes outside during the holidays.

Here is an old entertainment cabinet holding some of my fabric. Can we ever have too much fabric?

Here are some favorite things on top of the shelves. My grandmother's old coffee tin that holds cording and her old cooking kettle that holds buttons, plus a coffee pot and an old cold cream jar. A very appropriate place to put my freezer paper.
And I am sure that you notice the dalmatian dogs all around.

Moving around the room, here are two of my favorite animals. One is a stuffed cat that I made many years ago and the other is a china lamb that I found in an antique shop. They watch me while I work from a counter by the window that looks into the Kitty Courtyard.

Here is the other end of the counter where I keep my quilt books, CD's and tapes for my old Boom Box plus artifacts and souvenirs from travel plus pictures of my husband.
When I listen to music which is not all the time, I listen to Christmas music. I love it - all types. It just makes me happy.

Moving around the room, you can see the Boom Box on top of an old cabinet that my father built. It is filled with ribbons that a shop owner gave me when she closed her shop. I will never run out and if you ever need any, just let me know.

Next is my design wall. It is just the back of an old vinyl table cloth. It is covered with threads, but it still works. This is a hand quilt top that I have just finished to go in my guest room. I love the blues and yellows. All I need are the side borders and the backing and it will be good to go. I am not hand quilting however, not enough time. Will post a picture on a future blog when it is finished.

Right next to the design wall, is a special unit built for storage of all sorts of things. I still have some needlepoint canvases in the middle top bin. You can also see I have lots of bins with fabric - all color coded, but not nice and straight. I had them all organized once, but it didn't last long. My young quilting friend who is like a granddaughter loves going through my fabrics and I would never discourage that as she loves to quilt as well! We do enjoy fabric time!

Next to the wall unit is more storage for paints, fabric, thread, plus bulletin boards with lots of notes and favorite pictures.

Here is my cutting table. I love having the file cabinets underneath for extra storage. The fabrics on the cutting table are all by Island Batik .

I am working on a project for their Summer Country Blog Hop next month. There will be prizes so you won't want to miss that. There are also some fabrics for some quilts that will be introduced at Fall Market in Houston. You will just have to wait to see.

So there you have a tour of The C.A.T. House. Just a few of my favorite things there are:
a needlepoint pillow from my aunt who did beautiful work.

One of my other aunts did beautiful embroidery. She made the most beautiful French knots. Mine never looked that good.

And of course what would I do without my wind chimes hanging from my ceiling fan. I LOVE WIND CHIMES!

So that is the tour of The C.A.T. House, but I have do have place where I sew inside. It is a wonderful little sewing nook in the laundry room plus there is a huge closet to keep more fabric. (And yes all the markings on the wallpaper are impressionistic black, red and gray cats!)
Remember it is "PURRFECT SPOTS".

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have enjoyed your tour.

Please add a comment about your favorite things and don't forget to check the schedule of all the Island Batik Ambassadors Favorite Things here .

This blog hop is presented by the Island Batik Ambassadors and we have had such a good time sharing with you. As I mentioned earlier, we are going to have another Blog Hop in August with all the Island Batik Ambassadors and there are some great giveaways. I will be posting on FB and blogging about it, so keep checking back. We will have a great time at the Island Batik Summer Country Blog Hop Tour. See you then!