Spot's New Collar and Third Cross Stitch

Little Spot

Is not so little anymore.  In fact he grew to big for his collar.   I kept finding his grey break away collar around the house and when I went to put it back on him I realized it was a bit tight on his neck, so he was rubbing against thing's to get it off.  (Of course we only use break away collars on our cat's for safety.)  All our cat's are strictly indoor only, but Spot is the only one of the four to show any curiosity about the outside world.   He has gone out the door a few times and of course we always bring him back immediately, but I still feel he must wear a collar in case he escapes.  

15 years ago our now 16 year old cat Baby opened a screen in our Brooklyn basement apartment and was missing a week.  We papered Bay Ridge in fliers and miraculously found her but the experience has made me a maniac about preventing cat escapes.  (Interestingly it has also made Baby terrified of the outside world and she never even goes near the door.)   I never open windows, even with screen's, and I'm very careful about the door.  If a delivery person is coming the cat's get locked in a room.   I'm constantly checking on the cats, particularly, Spot, to make sure they are inside.  So the second I realized Spot's collar wasn't working I knew he needed another one.

Luckily I found a cute larger collar in the adorable etsy shop Furocious Kitty  and bonus!  It's a Star Trek collar, Spot is named after Commander Data's cat on Star Trek The Next Generation:

so this collar is perfect.   Spot and I both love this collar.  He has been wearing it three week's and hasn't tried to get it off yet.  

I love how the retro Star Trek fabric look's against his white fur and the live long and prosper tag is too cute.

I really recommend Furocious Kitty if you are in the market for a cat collar.  They have ton's of collar's with adorable charms in lot's of different themes Holidays, animals, food, etc.  I can already see myself purchasing some Holiday collars.  It's also nice that the shop caters exclusively to cats.  I think that's partly why the collar fits so well.   The collars are very reasonably prices, between $10 and $12, Spot's collar was $10 and the seller was very nice about answering my questions.  

In other news I finished my third geeky cross stitch.  This one is Fry and Leela from Futurama and I'm really happy with how it came out.   

I'm working on Twin Peak's themed cross stitch next.  

Spot's Star Trek Cross Stitch

From what I've seen on the web most vintage ladies, and even dog moms, are incredibly crafty.  Not me, I've failed at knitting and crocheting and can't even sew on a button, but I think I've finally found the craft for me.  Something so simple and basic that a six year can do it well, which means I can do it ok:

Cross stitch.

  I decided to give it a try whenI saw that there where lots of geeky sci-fi and fantasy patterns available on Etsy.  I started with a really simple Star Trek The Next Generation inspired pattern from the etsy shop  Quote Stitching.    This pattern was perfect because it referenced my beloved Spot, who I named after the cat belonging to the Android Science Officer Data on Star Trek The Next Generation.

In one of my favorite Data/Spot moments Data explains to one of his friend that Spot is a feline and not a canine and thus does not respond to verbal commands.  

(This might not be true of all felines, but it seems to be true of mine.)

It took me about 2 days of stitching in the evenings while watching TV to finish my project and I'm pleased with my results.

I bought the threads and supplies at  Everything Cross Stitch which I found very reasonably priced with a huge selection and cheap shipping.

I tried to take Spot's picture next to the finished cross stitch but you know he doesn't respond to verbal commands.  So here is a picture of him playing on his cat tree instead.

I'm really happy to have found a craft simple enough for me to do while I watch TV.  I've started my next one, A Super Natural inspired pattern.

Happy Birthday Baby

This little lady is Sweet 16!

Ernie

Yesterday we had a very worrying event with Ernie our 13 year old tripod kitty.  He is very shy so is rarely on the blog.  Yesterday he was fine when I came home but 10 minutes later he begin wailing, went stiff, and then limp.  I thought he was  having a seizure so we rushed to the vet.   He has always had a heart murmur but now the vet hears an arythmia too.  He got xrays that where clear and blood work and today he gets an ultrasound of his heart.  The vet suspects cardiomyopathy.   Ernie really doesn't like handling or people, including me and my husband, so he is not happy.   I am very greatful that he has recovered for now and hopefully it was just a seizure.

Back to School Cinema Spotlight-William Castle's 13 Frightened Girls

About two years ago I discovered he ouevre of shock director William Castle:

 I have no idea what took me so long because Castle's films are right up my alley, I wasn't even all the way through one film before I decided that Castle was, in my opinion at least, the greatest director who ever lived.  

 Castle's stock in trade was low budge kitschy horror with a hefty dose of humor.   He was a master showman and each of his films had a clever gimmick to hook audiences: ghost viewing glasses, dangling glowing skeletons, cardboard axes, the list goes on.

 13 Frightened Girls 

 is actually not the typical Castle film in that is not a horror comedy, but a spy spoof about the teenage daughters of diplomats.  For the films gimmick Castle pretended to recruit the prettiest girls from 13 countries to play the leads. 

 (As usual Castle stretched the truth, the 13 girls in the film were not all from the represented countries and he forgot to count because there are 15 girls in all.)

 The girl's all attend Miss Pittford's Academy 

and have charming blue early 60s jumper uniforms with cute hats and a P aplique on the collar.

I was drooling  over the uniforms, but they are just the tip of the style iceberg in this film.  As the girls get caught up in the "candy web"  

Castle's term for their teeny-bopper spying tactics that are lead by the American diplomat's daughter, Candy Hull, they sport some of the cutest early 60s outfits and hair styles I've ever seen (I particularly love Candy's hair bows.)

 The interiors in the film are also mid century perfection:

And as a bonus there is an adorable white kitten , the inspiration for Candy's code name, who reminded me of my own sweet Spot.

 

 13 Frightened Girls is an absolutely charming film for any fan of mid century cinema and can be rented from Netflix or purchased on Amazon as part of the William Castle 5 movie pack for the bargain price of $8.99, which is how I viewed it.

Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair

Today marks the 47th anniversary of Woodstock:

Despite a brief flirtation with grungy hippie style when I was in high school and college in the 90s, I've never been much for hippie fashions (I prefer the more polished looks of the early 60s), but since childhood I have had a great fondness for one hippie accessory, the flower crown:

Now to be fair, the flower crown made its appearance long before the 1960s.  There are plenty of images of gorgeous Edwardian ladies in flower crowns

and 1920s flappers sported them too:

  

But the look achieved its full glory in the late '60s, and floral band headgear will forever be associated with the optimistic hippies.

And it is a beautiful look, one that takes a little big of courage to wear, but once you take the plunge you'll see its fun and fabulous.  I now feel a bit naked with out a flower or a hat on my head.  

In honor of the 47th anniversary of 3 Days of Peace, Love, and Music here is my take on the flower child look.

 The dress is from Bernie Dexter.      It's the Paris Dress in My Deer print and I got it through the face book group: The Bernie Dexter Collective.  This is a group of Bernie fanatics like myself, many of whom re-sell dresses they have tired of or which didn't fit properly, so I managed to get this dress for a great price.  

Sometimes a comapnies designs just suit you, and that is how I feel about Bernie Dexter, she clearly shares my love of novelty prints and all of her dresses seem to fit me well.  I'm quite short, five feet, and they are never too long on me.  I wear a large in Bernie and so far I've tried the Kelly, Paris and Veronique style dresses and all have fit me well.  

This dress is in the Paris cut, and initially I was a little nervous that I would find the spaghetti straps and neckline too revealing, but I really like it.  It's cut high enough that it doesn't show underarm chub and it stays up well.  It reminds me of some of the spaghetti strap styles Marilyn wore.

I like the back too, low but not shockingly so.

This outfit makes me feel  a bit child like, like a fairy princess, in the best way possible.  No doubt it is the flower crown which I got about two years ago from Chatter Blossom and which is a copy of the 1920s crown worn by Louise Brooks.  I couldn't find any woodland animals to commune with so I settled for Fry and Spot.

Peace!


Outfit Details:

My Deer Dress-Bernie Dexter (I got mine for a very discounted price from the facebook group, Bernie Dexter collective)
Vintage Flower Crown-Chatter Blossom
Bakelite-Thrifed
1960s Novelty Purse-
1940s Style Canvas Sandals-Remix Vintage Shoes

Happy Gotcha Day Spot!

Last year on father's day we got a little surprise.

My husband, the world's best cat and dog father, found a little white kitten up a tree in our yard.  After a few days walking around the neighborhood knocking on doors and calling the local shelters and vets offices with no results we decided to keep him.   

Thus Spot, named after Lt. Comander Data's cat on Star Trek the next generation, became our 4th cat.   (It's good he was named after Data's spot and not the spots on his head because those faded to white over time.)

Of course all our pets are equally special but I think Spot has the best "gotcha" story, after all he found us!   I'm so glad he did because Spot is a wonderful cat.  He's very comfortable hanging out with our dogs, as the video below demonstrates:

and he even gets on OK with our older, crankier cats, Baby, Scooter and Ernie who are 15, 14, and 12.  They all spend alot of time on the dining room table, which is not a table for eating on but rather an area where we keep cat toys and food and water so the felines have a dog free space.  

Scooter isn't in this picture so here he is below:

  (To be entirely truthful there are occasional cat spats but then that has always been the case)

We celebrated Spot's one year anniversary with us with a tuna fish cake:

Spot had a typical finicky feline reaction to the cake, he could have cared less!  Despite the fact that in the past he has seemed to like Tuna.  Luckily his older brother Scooter seemed to like it.

For his gift Spot got a Catit wellness grooming center, we have a lot of catit toys and I really like them, 

I think his favorite part was the box it came in:

  Ernie however seems to love the grooming center:

At least Spot enjoyed his other toy, his catnip Little Red Riding Hood 

Happy Gotcha day Spot!