A new adventure: pattern cutting!

It's September: the first month in over a year that my husband and I have not been thinking about weddings...Or making things for weddings. I mean, what to do with all that newly freed-up time....?

Maybe I could attempt to actually BAKE something..? I mean, it would be nice to have a freshly made cake as a treat after work..

No, probably not a good idea since my last attempt at muffins saw them threatening  (and then succeeding) in overrunning the oven, thanks to an over-abundance of baking powder. Plus I have absolutely zero patience in the kitchen (obviously all the patience I could have spared has been directed at my sewing machine and two crazy cats...)

So rather than subject the world to an army of rampaging proto-muffins, I've taken the plunge and signed up for a course in pattern cutting at the Mary Ward Centre in London. It's the first proper term-length course I have taken since leaving uni six years ago - and the very first with any kind of practical, creative assessment! I'm nervous and excited at the same time, which in my book can only be a good thing.

And look - my supplies have arrived!

Cats and craft

I'm sure this scenario is familiar to most crafty cat owners. 

The postman has been and that long-anticipated ream of fabric has finally arrived. You have pressed it,  laid it out on the floor or on your sewing table. You have carefully cut out each pattern piece and pinned them to your fabric,  painstakingly matching up the fabric pattern as you go...

... and your cat who has (up until now) turned his nose up at you all day, decides there is no place in the world he would rather be than spread across your "best laid plans", interrupting his rest every so often to attack your scissors as you attempt to cut a particularly tricky corner or to skirmish after what could only be an imaginary mouse beneath that nice, rustly piece of pattern paper! 

My husband and I live with two cats: Mini Kittie aka Shatner aka Tyrannocat and Timmy aka Fat Tim akaTimmy the Nightmare Creature aka Craft Cat. 

Timmy likes nothing better than to thwart my crafting plans...

 Mini Kittie, on the other hand, is far above that kind of thing!

I should really ban him from my sewing room but he seems to love hanging around me as I work so much that I just don't have the heart to do it!

I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot more of him. Do any of you have pets that love to "help" you with your craft?