Julius

Julius tumor grew very fast during the last weeks and yesterday it started to bleed. And because of the growth he couldn't use his right hind-leg properly, as if it was painful when he moved it. So we gave him a lot of cuddles, catmilk and other treats and brought him to the vet's this morning. Now he is burried in the backgarden on one of his favorite spots between the plants. We will miss him very much, but this was the last loving thing we could do for him.

Fairy Garden again

There is still a lot of stitching left to be done as you can see. I'd like to finish the top part, which is most plants and the doilies in the left corner. But the scrolls in the centre stitch up very easy for a change. And when the big plant and the doilies and dragonflies on the right side are stitched I've done another major part of this design. Perhaps I could do a bit of every part.....

A picture of the blue plants around the scrolls in the centre.

Unfortunately the growth on Julius side is back and growing fast. Because he doesn't like it when it is touched I've started to give him a pain reliever every morning. There is nothing else we can do after several surgeries. Nothing but keeping him comfortable and love and cuddle him as much as we can.

Casper is doing well and much more active after we increased the amount of insulin again. He probably will need a higher quantity, because he still drinks more then he should do. Within two weeks he'll have another bloodtest.

It looks like poor Cleo is neglected, but she gets her daily portion of quality time with DD because she prefers to lay om DD's bed or desk within reach area.

Thank you for visiting and for your lovely comments on the dragonflies and other posts.

My Garden #1

Instead of stitching the Frosty Knotgarden I got sidetracked by Lynette Anderson's 'My Garden' BOM. This is the first of nine blocks. There are already eight of them waiting to be stitched in a box, but for some reason I have been neglecting them for a long time. I am using the recommended Moda 'Evening Mist' fabrics.

Yesterday evening DD fell asleep on the couch, so I covered her with a quilt. Very soon Cleo and Julius shared this comfortable place to take a nap too.

LHN ornaments series 2010

This cute snowman is the last LHN ornament of the 2010 series I had to finish.
And here is a picture of the whole series of last years ornaments.

I hope you are wearing sun-glasses, because the result of the free mini mystery Bobbin did add to last autumn's series of mini mysteries, is rather purple! This is only the top ; it still has to be turned into a cuddly pillow.

Thank you very much for all the support for Julius! The vet was very content when he removed the stitches on Friday. And we did talk a lot with the outcome we don't have to decide anything untill Julius has a small growth back again. Depending on the speed it will return and Julius' condition at that time we still can decide what we'll do then. So we all hope it will stay away for a long time!

In my last post I did write about my plans to use the Thimbleberries fabrics leftovers again to make the Bunny Hill free BOM quilt 'Henrietta Wiskers'. But I have changed my mind completely when I found a huge pile of stash of this quilt.

Block one is almost finished. I will make a new post later today when it is completed.

Once more two ornaments

The flashlight didn't work, so the photo is a bit dark. I still have to finish the last ornament of this series, but couldn't resist to subscribe to the new series. You can see a picture of the first ornament of the 2011 series here.

Another new project I am going to start is the Henrietta Wiskers free 2011 BOM from Bunny Hill Designs. Henrietta is a very cute squirrel! I have been digging in my stash already and thought it would be a challenge to use leftovers of the Thimbleberries fabrics again. I probably still have enough of them left, even after having used quite a pile of them for the Snowbound quilt, and found this collection of required beige fabrics in a box. And otherwise I will have a very good reason to go shopping for some new fabrics ;o))

The lab report of Julius' growth said that the edges still had malignant cells in the muscle side: the tumor hasn't been totally removed last week as we did hope. It is a very nasty and fast growing type of cancer. Now we have to decide if we'll try once more to remove everything, which means another major surgery next week to cut out as much of the muscle tissue as possible, with a very uncertain outcome. The thing could already have been spread all over too. Or do nothing and love Julius as long as possible, living a happy life without any pain and suffering. A very hard decision!

Snowbound top

Finished!!! The whole top of the Snowbound quilt is completed on the last day of the year. DD did some counting last week: there are 1237 squares of 4 cm each in this quilt, all Thimbleberries fabrics leftovers.
Cleo thought the pile of fabrics would be a comfortable place for a nap.

Julius is doing well. This morning he was waiting for me in the kitchen and asked for tinned catfood. He walks around in the house like a puppet-on-a-string because of the suit he has to wear and because of the stitches in his skin. He looks very funny and Casper seem to think he is a kind of alien and is scared of him. This mostly is the other way round, so I do hope Julius will notice the change and enjoy. Thanks again for all the well wishes and the pats and ear rubs. He loved it and sends you his most friendly purrs!

Happy New Year

Update Julius

Thank you for all your lovely comments and well wishes, also on behalf of Julius.
I did take him home yesterday and he is recovering slowly. Yesterday evening he felt sick, but he did drink a lot of water when he was at home again, too much I assume. He started to feel better when he got rid of it again.
This morning he was very alert and he also did want to eat some small portions of fluid high-energy recovery catfood. He is talking to me again and going to his favorite places to sleep. He does sleep most of the time, but that is normal behavior for an old cat, especially after surgery.
Recovery will take some more time, I presume. But with cats you never know.

I have finished the borders of the Snowbound quilt by now and will start sewing them on the centre part after a cup of tea. I do hope to finish the quilt top tomorrow and will post a picture then.

Julius

I had to bring Julius to the vet's again this morning for another surgery; poor cat. The growth on his side did come back and because it is still small (the size of a little green pea) and only in the skin (the vet thinks it is) it should be removed as quick as possible. The lab wasn't sure about the edges of the piece of Julius that has been removed in the former surgery, so there was a possibility of relapse. Blood analyses have proved there were no disseminations to the liver, therefore it is worth while to give Julius another chance. Surgery always is a certain risk, especially for an old cat with a hart problem, but I do hope he comes through again. They'll give a ring when the surgery is done, later this morning. I can take him home by five o'clock.

Another LHN ornament finished: 'Under the Tree'. Still three ornaments left to complete the series.

And I have joined the squares of three borders of the Snowbound quilt to long rows already. Now I am going to make the last border while I am waining for the phone call of the vet.

***

The vet has phoned: Julius came through the surgery without any problems and is sleeping on a warm blanket in a recovery cage. The growth was only in his skin and could be removed quite easily. He'll be home again tonight!

Summer Knotgarden

Last week I stitched three of the petals of part #2. But when part#3 was released I couldn't resist starting with one of the sides of this part. I still have to add some beads on top of the blue flower petals. The picture is upside down, because this way it was more easy to stitch this part in the frame.

Julius is doing very well. The sutures have been removed on Wednesday and because of that I could take of his red suit. But he started to pull at the crust on the scar, so he had to wear the suit again. Now he has made holes in it and got stuck with one of his canines in a thread this morning, so I took of the suit again. I do hope he doesn't damage the scar this time, otherwise he'll have to wear a collar for the next days when he is left allone.
The growth was malignant and the report of the lab says it looks like it just has been removed completely. So we have to hope for the best.

Snowbound

I joined the ten snowman blocks with the scrappy blocks together. Still two snowmen to go and three scrappy blocks. And a scrappy border in which I am going to continue the light colours of the snowman blocks. I am thinking about adding three rows of scrappy squares around the whole centre part.

Julius has been to the vet's this afternoon to have the bandage removed. The vet is very content; the wound is dry and clean and Julius is doing very well. He even has gained some weight! On Wednesday the stitches will be removed and the lab results will be there as well.

Thank you for all the good wishes for a quick recovery.

Snowbound block #10

Thank you for all the lovely comments on my last post. And also thanks to all the visitors who have decided to follow my blog. Today I noticed there are 73 followers now! Thank you very much for your interest in my stitching and other topics.

I have finished block #10 of the Bunny Hills Snowbound quilt. The snowlady is still missing a heart or something else on her necklace, but in my stash I couldn'd find something that would fit. So she'll have to wait a little while. I decided to make two of the scrappy blocks and complete another row before the next block will be published.

Julius is doing very well considering the circumstances. His major problem is the lovely suit he is wearing: he thinks he can't bend his legs when he walks! He looks like some kind of mechanical toy when he moves around in the house.

172 eyelets

And I start to like them!
Part 4 of Chatelaine's Frosty Knotgarden Mandala is finished. Part 5 will be released on next Monday.

Julius has had his surgery this morning and is recovering in a bench at the vet's at the moment. I am going to fetch him later this afternoon. The bloodtest showed he has an inflamation again somewhere in his body, but like this spring the vet can't find anything that could cause it. He phoned to consider if he should remove the growth today or sometime later and first cure the inflamation. There would be no extra risk to do both things at the same time, so the growth is removed with a little bit of muscle tissue and is sent to the lab. Julius got a shot of antibiotics and will have pills for some time. The prognises is he will fully recover within a couple of weeks. The only uncertain fact is the growth, which could be malignant. Right now I am very relieved!!

CaHRH block 6

Another block of Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow is finished. I am not very content with the coverage of the dark blue sky, but decided it will have to stay as it is. And I have already started stitching block 3, the one with the big fruitbowl on it.

The post brought me the new chart of the BBD Anniversaries of the Heart series with some more wonderful threads and fabric. The threads on the right are meant to stitch #7 and the ones on the left are to be used for the bonus chart. I did fall a little behind with this series; still have to stitch #4, #5 and #6. And because my long summervacation has finished my stitchingtime is reduced considerably.

DD got a new seat in her room. This is appreciated very much by Cleo and Julius! Therefore the towels are placed on it for protection when DD is not at home. These silly cats can't share a seat, so they found a comic solution.

CaHRH block 2

This block should be finished in July if I want to keep up with the SAL. And I still have seven days left to stitch the August block too. I'd better start a 24/7 stitching marathon tonight! Or stay relaxed, take my time and just enjoy the stitching. I'll go for the second option!

On Monday I got my first part of the My Garden BOM by Lynette Anderson. I am looking forward to the fabric shopping with Anne Marieke we planned on Thursday.

Yesterday I took Julius to the vets again, because the lump is growing and I'd like to be sure it hasn't changed into a malicious lump. The vet tried to take a biopsy out of it for five times with different sized needles, but couldn't get anything usefull. Poor cat!! At last she decided we'd better leave it untill it has the size of a golfball. If it is malicious she would have got some tissue more easily, she said, so it probably still is some kind of fat lump. The only way to know this for sure is surgery, but she doesn't like to do surgery on a 16 year old cat (with a heart murmur) if there isn't an obvious reason. She thought he is a healthy thin cat. Julius was VERY relieved, just as I am!

Tail Feathers block 9

All nine blocks of the centre part are finished by now. I only have to sew the last three blocks to a row and sew this row to the other part of the top. Those six blocks are already joined together . I will try to finish this part tonight. Spread out on the ground it looks great!

For the cat lovers: a picture of a very thirsty Julius.