Kittens and things

I've decided to start sewing a kitten. I've made cats before, but never a kitten and I found this really nice piece of silver gray fur I didn't know I still had. He's coming out alright so far, but i'm worried about his legs.Also, I wasn't sure how big to make him, so I didn't trace out the body like I usually do. He's actually very close to being done; I just need to make his head, the bottums of his paws then stuff him and close him up. I almost feel like a doctor giving stiches. He's going to be a little gray and white kitten and I'm hoping to give him blue eyes, but I don't have blue right now so I may not be able to.My room predictibly looks like a snow storm hit because the white fur has such a thick pile.
The head and paws have to be myleast favorite parts to work on, but, but you can't have a stuffed animal with out a head. the paws them selves aren't what is bad exactly. When I first make an animal, I trace a side profile of the body; no head, no tail. It's When I cut out the fabric, I make it double so that the animal will b three dimentional. Then I cut out four more legs, two hind, two fore, and sew them to the insides of the legs already attached to the body. That way the animal will have four legs.When you finish sewing up the legs there's a hole at the end like a sleave. This is where making the paws really gets started and shaping plays a vig part in how they will look afterward.
The head is a bit trickier to explain, mostly because what I usually do is cut out random shapes and fit them together. You never really know what you'll get with this kind of method, but that's half the fun.
Be back later to report my progress on the kitten. And maybe a picture?

Just a Bit of Something

I had a bit of luck yesterday. I went in to work and no one was there. They may have come in later and I feel a bit bad, but I don't have a key as yet and so I had the day off. I'll probably do some work tomorrow just in case.Today has been a very slow lazy day, but not one i enjoyed much. It's a good day to get lost in my writing, but I'll probably get lost in a book instead. Ah well, I've one more book to read before i must either get another or wait for the others to expire. Happily i may be going out with some friends, so i can stop scorching holes in my bed with my computer. :) ... Poor Scott.
Happy week end, or should I say red week end

Promise Her Anything ...

I am now convinced that no one knows what they're doing. That's why no one can tell me and want me to make it up. Every time I mention something I find interesting I've found on one of the websites I'm all day, they say, "maybe we can do something with that." I had the assistant director suggest we travel to KY when i said that the American printing House for the Blind had a museum there. All I could tell you about this job for the moment is that I'm raising public awareness.
I'm thinking I should break out the furs soon; actually I've got too very nice furs sitting across the room from me right now. One is a project I need to finish for a friend--though I may have to start over again. somethings sort of got misplaced during all the moving and packing. the other is for someone else who asked for a pug. I've made a pug before, but if she wants it actual size, I'll need to look up the right measurements. I don't suppose anyone has a pug they'd be willing to let me hold for awhile? :} It should keep my mind on other things.

Excitement To Come

Not much when on today at work. I'm still researching and gathering information, although I'm supposed to figure out what for. I feel like i am stalling until I can figure that out, but I'm not sure how long I can do this for with out a somewhat clear direction. I wish I were as smart as people keep thinking I am.
Yesterday a friend of mine brought her puppies in just as i was leaving. I love animals.The doberman was teething though and tried to eat me. She didn't bite very hard; it didn't feel like an I want to hurt you bite. The yorky was much calmer, but i think she's older. Well, hopefully I can figure out what i'm doing soon, and I sincerely hope we get real summer soon.

The Steady Decline of Common Sense

I once remarked to a professor of mine that common sense was clearly not something required of undergrads. Her reply was that common sense is not common. Sadly this seems to be true. Has it come so far thatcommon sense is becoming a rare thing? I realize it cant be taken for granted that all peoples possess common sense, but enough people that it's still common. However all one need do is check out some of the lables on cleaning supplies or other potentually toxic substances. Of course companies are required to place warnings on their products, but with all the "advances" of humanity I almost feel they shouldn't be needed. Take drain cleaner for example. it's pretty powerful stuff and not something you'd want to be playing around with. It also comes with a warning not to drink contents. Now if you're going to try to drink drain cleaner, chances are that you probably shouldn't be handling it in the first place. and anyone with uncommon sense should know enough to keep it away from children and pets. Same thing goes for washers and dryers. Of course A person may not be able to hide such a large machine from a child, but if children young enough not to know better are in the house, they should be watched. I think that is one of my biggest problems. not so much that people themselves don't have the uncommon sense to follow the instructions, but they don't have the uncommon sense to keep the stuff away from their children who wouldn't know any better.
This post was inspired by the website for the American Counsel of the Blind who so helpfully noted that Braille paper is used by the blind and visually impaired. I supposed in all fairness this shouldn't be considered uncommon sense since not everyone could know what Braille even is. However in light of the fact that school children are now learning about Braille it seems somewhat silly that that fact needed to be clarified. So here's to uncommon sense, may it one day find its place among the common again.

Something I find Fascinating

I don't remember when I actually first learned about them, but guide dogs for the blind have always interested me. Recently I found myself on one of the guide dog school's websites reading up on those wonderful animals. I know that labs, goldens and shepherds can all be guide dogs, but I recently heard that some places train boxers. Now isn't that interesting. Also, a friend of mine who's raised guide dog pups before said she once had a husky.I honestly thought huskies were sled dogs. I had a husky once and she was the last thing I would have picked to guide the blind.She was a good dog and very friendly, but some combination of hyper and an inate desire to pull sleds--even human ones--would have made me nervous about it. Of course, this may just have been my dog. A speaker at a convention I once attended said something about huskies that I very much agree with. huskies ... are psycho. It's true, they really are, but in the most loveable way.
I've also heard of pigs and horses of all things being guide animals. horses are supposed to live longer and pigs are supposed to be pretty smart. I really haven't spent enough time with pigs to gage their intelligence and I feel like horses would have to be trained specially not to shy from traffic, but hey if they work, they work. I have never met a guide horse or pig, but I've met several dogs and they're very good. Once when i was leaving the hospital after surgery a big lab golden mix tried to jump into my wheelchair with me. I don't think they're supposed to do that, but i think his harness was off so he was not in working mode. I think he was trying to comfort me and was just a friendly dog in general. I didn't mind at all.
One other kind of service animal I'm particularly interested in is a seizure dog. I've never met one my self, but I watched a program on them once and fell in love. I truly think my dog--this would be my cocker--should have been a seizure dog. I find the way they're able to be so intuned with their humans so as to detect signs of a seizure is the neatest thing. Dogs who are trained to use the phone in case their human is in trouble are pretty awesome too. it's truly amazing how much humans have been able to work with animals to serve different kinds of useful purposes.

Freezing in June?

Monday I wore shorts to work because it was supposed to be 73 DeGrees. I think it must have been 1:00 before it even got to 70. I thought at first that I was just cold because I was sick, but it's still cold and I'm not the only one feeling it.I'm told it's legally allowed for people to turn the heat off on June first, and that usually isn't a problem. Today, it was 54 degrees up here. I really don't know how I've managed to live here all my life. Usually I get blamed for the weather report as a kind of joke. It always seems that when we have sudden or unexpected snow, it happens just after i've written a story about snow or winter.So maybe this time I should write about summer and heat because we need some. Haha, I don't really think I have any sort of power over weather, but it surely couldn't hurt to remind myself how summer feels.