In Memorium

We are dark for a while in honor of Dad's mom passing away. We are fine, family coming in, and it will be a great celebration of her life.

Eileen Smith Kruse

2/24/24 - 8/28/12

Thankful Thursday - Catification Step 1

Mom was really impressed by the catification lounge sponsored by Modern Cat and Jackson Galaxy at BlogPaws. She has been watching Parker trying to figure out how to get on top of the armoire and has decided there is value in catifying the house. We have a great bamboo tree so she is trying to incorporate free standing structures for us. ["This Old House" is not good for supporting Maine Coon strong wall structures.] Here are the results from Step I. Notice how Parker is UP and away from me? I thank Modern Cat and Cat Daddy for all the peace they have inspired!

 Cat Tree is set up for leaping to new heights

 Parker surveys his kingdom

Parker gives his seal of approval - his paws are crossed.

Thankful Thursday - Amy's Quilt Won!

Normally I would NEVER double post, but a REALLY GREAT thing happened today!!!! KruseKats won the Best Cat-themed quilt in the Lilypad Quilting Pets on Quilt!!!!!! I had to share with everyone.

This is what Padsworth, the blog ambassador, had to say:

"For the Cat on Quilt or Cat-themed quilt, it's the amazing KruseKats, whose fan club propelled them to victory! Take a victory lap around the milk bowl, KruseKats! Everone loved the tail, er tale of how the quilt was made!"


We win a gift certificate from Cotton Patch Quilt Shop, and that will be given to Irene, our machine quilter.   THANKS A MILLION AND HEAD BONKS ALL AROUND AND SMOOCHIES, TOO!

I am adding this to cokie's bloghop since he was instrumental in the entry!

Thankful for Pet Gates Thursday

Dad lets big dogs come to our house and stay. I mean big as an elephant dog that chases and snarfs me! Mom makes Dad create a Safe Room for me. They have a gate with a cat door. I feel perfectly safe behind it. I can breathe and sleep and eat... It was Mom's idea. She's a great Mom who understands cats.

This is a picture of our gate with impostors posing.

Thanks Mom!
Love Maggie and Parker

this is a blog hop sponsored by our good friend CokietheCat. Please join in the fun!

Wordless Wednesday - Innocence

Is it possible that Mr. Parker can look innocent? What big paws he has!

Time to Vote for Pets on Quilts Show!

Our quilt is in 2 categories, so please vote for us as illustrated below.
EQ quilts - #99
Cats on Quilts - #99

Here is the voting link - just leave a comment at the end of the blog post.

this is our EQ (Electric Quilt) entry:







And these qualify as our cats on quilts entries:

Thanks for voting! Go @AmysQuiltArmy!!!!!

Thanksful Thursday - Foods We Love

Every now and then Mom lets us have a few food treats. Now, she says they are not normal cat foods, but since we love them, she see no problem.

The sound of this jar is unusual, so Parker comes running. It is pimento stuffed olives. He prefers the pimentos rather than olives. I don't get it, but whatever turns his crank.

The other sound we come running for is can opener. Parks can be sound asleep upstairs, and he still hears it! Our favorite human food treat is canned mushrooms. We have a thieving war with each other. Normally I prefer to savor my mushrooms, but Parker has been known to try to steal it out of my mouth.

My canned food fave is black beans. Parker doesn't like them so much, he prefers baked beans. In fact he steals them out of the casserole if Mom doesn't watch him.

Parker is also terribly fond of Mom's gluten free pasta. He have never tasted regular pasta so we have nothing to compare it against. He steals the pasta from the colander!

So, we are thankful we have a nice mom who cooks these things. Do any of you pets eat different things?

don't forget this is a blog hop sponsred by my dear friend Cokiethecat!. Please check them all!

2012 Pets on Parade Quilt Show

For you guys who are new to my blog, this is @MaggieTKat speaking. I am an opinionated blue tortie Maine coon cat. I was very excited when my good friends @CokietheCat and @CathyKeisha sent me the link for the online quilt show sponsored by Lily Pad quilting. As you guys know all of us Kruses love to quilt, so Cokie and CK knew this was something we would enjoy.

Earlier this year one of our good twitter buddies, @Seabasscat, lost his home due to fire. He was very fortunate that his human @BoSoxAmy was home and was able to get him and @DottieGP out, but they lost all other possessions in the fire. Quilters come to the aid of friends, and the Kruses are no different. I knew all of our Twitter friends would want to help, and the offers came pouring in!

#AmysQuiltArmy became an Twitter based international project. Mom designed a queen bed sized signature block quilt on EQ. The log fence blocks were sewn by friends in Toronto, Canada, and Seguin, Texas. The blocks were sent to Arizona and London, England for distribution to about 120 addresses for signatures. Internationally the blocks went to Scotland, New Zealand, Australia, Germany, Canada, and the Netherlands. Mainland United States was well represented. The blocks were then sent to the Kruses for assembly. We received about 92% back, which is an amazing feat and a tribute to the love in our community.

There were many cat helpers along the way. We have @AnnieSparkles the black and white beauty in Toronto and @NutmegTorbie, the exceedingly sweet and gorgeous youngster in Texas snoopervising cutting blocks. @LeoPussMan informed us that the blocks had been mailed!

There was a lot of @ParkerSKat help at our house. (I should mention that Parker is my 2.5 year old Maine coon cat brother, weighing in about 21 pounds. He is a trial.) My homey @CathyKeisha put some of her fur on the blocks. Parks sniffed and sniffed. When Mom tried to take it away, his big old paw came out and put a stop to that notion. I don't know what to think about that other than roll my eyes and think, "Boys. Sheesh." Here is our blog about progress.

Mom started laying out the blocks and tried to keep us out of the room, but she gave up. She knew Parker just HAD to have his say on how things were arranged. I on the other hand, observed the blocks. Well, maybe I wasn't THAT innocent.

Lovely heart felt emotions, hand and machine embroidered blocks, drawings, ands even a paw print from @DashKitten in New Zealand! The quilt blocks were just filled with love for @Seabasscat and his family.

As Mom sewed the quilt together, we heard some bad news; @Seabasscat's health was failing and he soon would be OTRB. So each stitch Mom made added more love and healing to the family. Parker added his own twist to the project. He holds down the quilt so it doesn't go anywhere. "Boys. Sheesh."

Dad loves to sew and quilt. He makes dynamite backings, so this one was just as wonderful. The label included all the Twitter names of #AmysQuiltArmy along with all other documentation a quilt should have.

One of our friends volunteered do machine quilting for free. As I said, quilters help folks in need. Thanks to Irene from Balwin, Missouri! The quilt is about 3/4 machine quilted. so I couldn't ask Irene to take it off the machine for a picture, Sorry.

I hope you have enjoyed this tail, er tale, of our international Twitter community joining together to to make a special quilt for a wonderful family. And, here is the finished quilt top!

Thanks,

Maggie

Don't forget this is a Quilt hop; here is the link. Make sure you visit every blog because pets and quilts are our favorite things!

Thankful for Knitting

Parker and I love yarn. It isn't the ball of yarn loose on the floor that fascinates us, it is the garment. Oh, I can feel my paws making biscuit in that cushy colorful stuff even as I write. She chases us out of her basket every time she spies us. Mom! You put it there so we could enjoy it, right?

I can kind of see her point since Parker has the huge lion paws. Mom is good because she keeps his claws trimmed so he doesn't hurt me. I might be a big girl at 13 pounds, but his 21 pounds tops me anyday!

Mom made a huge mohair wrap and Buster claimed it as his own. None of us have had the heart to lay on it even though he's been gone about a year. Mohair rocks my world, so I might be tempted soon...

Mom is a slow knitter because she does a lot of stuff, but mainly playing on the computer. Certainly isn't brushing my silky coat everyday for hours! She's doing pretty good on this project, another wrap/stole. It is in sock yarn in a drop stitch pattern, and is knitted long ways.

All her yarn is in 2 hampers. One has a top, the other is open. I haven't quite figured out how to lay in the open one. It tips over easily.

yes, we love Mom's yarn. It is a great substitute when she's not quilting. We give lots of advice, and fur! MOL

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