Lilac Selkirk Rex

Lilac Selkirk Rex of Piddlewhiskers & Snugglesworth

While searching for the time to launch our cattery website for Piddlewhiskers & Snugglesworth, here is an updated pic of this sweet little female Selkirk Rex lilac.  We're assuming she is a female, that is.  And we are also assuming she is a lilac, for she has the soft wispy color more like her father who is a lilac British Shorthair.  Her new family can give her her real official registered name, and for now I am informally calling her Lilly Piddlewhiskers.  Her registration name will begin with Piddlewhiskers.  She is beginning to open her eyes (12/22/2010).  She is the curious one, who approaches everything to investigate, on wobbly legs.  Well, it is more like she raises up and falls forward or rolls to the side.  I think she will be walking soon.  Her nose is dark purple but her paw pads are bright pink.  If she were a brit, that would meet the lilac color category at TICA (The International Cat Association, Inc.).  She is officially a Selkirk Rex, or will be when the litter is registered.   She has her daddy's smile.  And she has thick long, long whiskers like her father, too.  Maybe her name should start with an M because she has an M on her forehead.  She carries for dilute, smoke, red, black and white, agouti.  Her ancestors are Brit and Selkirk, Persian and Exotic... and of course a famous ole black and white curly barn cat named Oskar No-Face Kowalski.

The Consolation Prize - Potato Quilt

The Potato Quilt

Just when I think my creative energy is exhausted, out of nowhere comes some silly inspiration.  I had one last Grandchild quilt to make.  The 4 granddaughters and one grandson of Bertie Carter, during her lifetime always spent Christmas Eve at her house and this is their first year that she will have been gone at Christmas.  So, I set about making 5 quilts (one for each) with no plan for which grandchild would get which quilt.  Katy, my daughter came up with a plan:  We'll play board games and the winner will get to choose a quilt, then the second winner, etc.  What is the incentive to go beyond the usual deference to each other, in politeness?  The Potato Quilt!  Who would want the last remaining reference to grandmother to be in the form of a quilt that has potatoes on it?  Maybe someone.... or then again, maybe it will be the last place consolation prize... or the quilt of any child who fails to attend.  Who would say we have not kept our sense of humor?

Tibbits Blue TieDye Quilt

Here's a joyous riot of colors in this quilt made for my husband's father and step-mother.  It features a lot of  fabrics from Keepin U N Stitches at Jay, Oklahoma and the centerpiece is one of my hand-dyed Kona panels.  I machine-stitched the strip pieces and applied custom machine quilting, including a few mysterious words in the stitching.... such as the fact that it was quilted on Solstice 2010.  If you are in this geographical area, rent the longarm machine at the quilt and fabric shop above, for about $10 an hour to do your very own machine quilting--- you can buy back and bat there, and run your backing seam.  Then Keepin U N Stitches will provide you with thread from their choice or you can bring your own tread and bobbins if you have something particularly unusual in mind. 

Dye Crystals

Navy Dye Crystals

I left some navy dye in a cup for several days, and it decided to grow crystals, right up the side of the plastic cup and out at the top.  Doesn't it look like cedar branches?  One of many mysteries of the dye studio.  Crystals are formed as the chemicals align at a molecular level.  If you make a pot of dye and it doesn't arrange its own molecules into crystals, chances are that you have either kept it too long or don't have the right chemistry going on.

The Good Mother

Lyriccurls Gracie Piddlewhiskers, Selkirk Rex

Gracie's litter of 3 chubby baby kittens were born in December, and she seemed surprised when she had them, but has taken to motherhood with amazing skill.  This pic is rare because it shows her curly whiskers.  That's how you know a Selkirk curly at birth-- and one of her 3 babies does have the characteristic curly little whiskers.  Two, we think, will be "straights" or darling fuzzy kinky pet kittens but just not so curly that they'll be suitable for carrying on the Selkirk qualities.

Buttercream curly female.  Buttercream isn't an official breed quality, but it best describes the colors of this sweet pudgy lil female, and she has the curls.   She is Gracie's special one, and almost intuitively Gracie holds her close under the paw.  I think they say that Tomcats sometimes try to seperate away the kittens that they think are not their own.  The time will come that we will have to part with these darlings, but for now we're delighting in having a kitten family.  She is going to have Gracie's prominent cheeks and pointed chin.



Announcing Selkirk Rex Kittens

On December 7th, 3 new kittens were born in our family.  The mom is Lyriccurls Gracie Piddlewhiskers, a registered Selkirk Rex.  The father is Route 66 King Arthur of Piddlewhiskers & Snugglesworth.  The first was the blue cream ticked or spotted  agouti.  See how the one on your right has a bicycle handlebar light mustache?  It is probably a girl.  Next was a cute little curly cream, which looks like Gracie's sister Daphne.  The youngest was this little dark smoke, shown on the left.  Before this one was one stillborn with long smoke blue straight fur.

I'm writing this on Day 3.  Each kitten is developing a unique personality, or perhaps already has a unique personna that we're beginning to notice.  The cream-colored kitten  is Momma's Favorite.  Gracie holds her between her arms when sleeping, gently, warmly and protectively.  The spotty blue cream one has a big wide head like Arthur, and will carry more of the cobby type of a British Shorthair.  This is a characteristic that breeders are encouraged to develop by mating Selkirks with Brits.  And the sweet little smoky dark one is the most easly satisfied.  At the moment it is having a bodacious milkfest, having awakend from a nap underneath the creamy kitten. 

They seem to be interested in seeing the world but just can't quite open their eyes.  The first day, their little ears were pinned down and now those cute ears are 'flowering'  but still look like the ears of an American Curl.

Gracie is a Selkirk Rex, registered with CFA.  Her heritage traces back to Oscar No-Face Kowalski, the first generation from the first curly cat:  Miss DePesto.  Gracie's sire is Merlin (Kurlipurrz Merlin), a Blue Silver Tabby Longhair.  He was named #1 in the TICA Southwest Region as a kitten.  Gracie's mother is Kurlipurrz Josie Blue Belle.

Arthur is a Lilac British Shorthair and is registered with TICA.  Piddlewhiskers & Snugglesworth, our Cattery is also registered with TICA.  TICA stands for The International Cat Association.  Arthur's sire is Alcmena Smokey, and you can see his picture.   Arthur's mother is Anahata Evelin (known as Misty to her family) and her baby pics are here.  You can see her pedigree, too.

These kittens will be for sale. Their gender has not yet been determined. The cream curly kitten will probably be $1,200, including breeding rights. The "lilac" blue cream will be about $800, including breeding rights if curly, or $250 if straight. The sweet darling little smoke will be a precious pet, neutered, about $250.  It is customary to reserve a particular kitten before it reaches 12 weeks of age and can go to its new home.  We want to make sure that our kittens will have good homes, because they are our family members. 

Cherokee Syllabary Quilt, Quilted in Cherokee Syllabary

I may have posted this quilt before it was quilted.  What's unique?  The color hand-dyed panels contain Cherokee syllables made with batik wax or some discharge process.  But totally unique is that I've done what I believe to be the first modern-time machine quilting using sometimes Cherokee Syllables in the background, written in thread.  Have you ever seen anything like that?   It is for sale at my Etsy shop.