QuiltinCats: Have You Seen? (Key West, FL)

Monday, November 23, 2015

Have You Seen? (Key West, FL)

I am beginning to think my time management skills flew out an open window while we were driving down the highway. If you happen to see it, please let me know because I have had a hard time recently getting my 'act' together and getting things done. I start out the morning with a plan. Before I know it, evening is here and I'm trying to figure out where the day went. Well, if I ever find those skills lurking around somewhere, I do plan to put them back to work.

In the meantime, I am enjoying our stay on Sigsbee's campground. Check out the site we had for 18 days. Nice, eh? We sat outside every chance we got with our cats. The picnic tables across the road are for the dry campers. For the first week, we had this view and then of course, our view slowly got blocked as more people started to show up and take the dry camping sites. We rotated yesterday back to a second row with a view of the sea between rigs...oh well. It is still one of the best views...ever!

Our son Shaun was visiting at the time. He got to experience our rotation into a dry camping site and then into this nice one. Between moves, we had a great visit with him and spent a lot of time showing him the sites we like to haunt in downtown Key West.

Shaun at the Beginning and End of Mile 0

There were quite a few festivities going on while Shaun was visiting. We watched the parade of "Zombie Bike Ride" on Duval Street one evening.

I read somewhere that they had over 7000 participants riding this year.

Lots of creative imagination went into some of the costumes along with bike decorations.

This is one of my favorites. Yea, I had too many favorites to post them all.

Since I was standing right on the curb with no one near me to obscure my shots, I was attracting just a few of the Zombies. This one got pretty close before he swerved away. It helps to give off that 'air head' look so they won't attack me for what little brains I do have.

We also took Shaun to the Pet Masquerade at the Casa Marina Resort. We were able to mingle around with the owners and their pets before they were called to the stage to stand before the viewing judges.

That was a lot of fun seeing different pets dressed up. They seem to be enjoying all the special attention.

Even this cat seemed to be taking it all in, but she wasn't so sure that she wanted all the attention.

Even the hedgehog had an outfit, but he kept slipping out of it. I'm sure he wore it in time to go on stage.

Our favorite surprise was seeing a sloth up close and in costume. I kept thinking of the movie "The Croods". There was a sloth in it called 'Belt' because he hung around his owner's waist. This one must be 'Sling' because he never moved his arm the whole time, but he sure could twist his head around to watch the people.

Shaun's one request was to tour Ernest Hemingway's house. Of course, he was more interested in seeing the six-toed cats than the house. We did spend a little bit of time wandering around inside the house before heading outside to look for cats.

We were happy to find quite a few kittens and they didn't seem to mind all the visitors following them around. This one is walking through the Cat's Memorial area. A lot of the cats are named after movie stars, writers, and singers. I looked for John Wayne, but I did not see his name. So, either the cat is still alive or no one has thought to name a cat after him yet.

This little guy was having fun with Dan and a stick. He showed us his big paws several times. It is a good thing that I have too many cats now. I would love to have a cat like this one. I just love his or her face! Adorable!

We stopped one day at Kermit's Key Lime Shoppe. We tried several delicious samples of cookies, candies, and gosh, I don't remember now. I was so sugared-out by the end of the day that I am surprised I remembered my own name. But, it was all good.

We settled on a Key Lime Pie on-a-stick. Dan and I picked out the frozen pie slice with a chocolate cover while Shaun had strawberry white chocolate. The shoppe has a nice covered outdoor area with a waterfall and pond filled with big Koi for customers to sit down while eating.

The big guys kept following me back and forth while I tried to take their picture. I'm sure I heard one of them say "come on! feed us!".

On The Cutting Board

I had two large orders come in within a week of each other. Both customers want the orders done in time for Christmas. The first one is for 3 Santa Garlands designed by Nancy Halvorsen. I almost went into a panic. I haven't made this garland before and there was a lot of detail to work on with each one.

Each garland had 6 Santas holding 5 wreaths. I needed to make 18 Santas with 18 separate mustaches and 15 padded wreaths.

Once I got started and saw how well each Santa was starting to form, I started to enjoy the making of each one. I tried to make each Santa a little different. Different trims, beards, and different colored mittens.

The mustaches turned into more of a challenge. I had to sew the mustache completely closed. Slice a hole in one side......without! cutting the other side. Then I had to turn them inside out through the tiny slit. The fabric did not want to cooperate. I would get one side almost inside out and it would flip back! Arrrgh! Well, I managed to finally flip all 18 and you can bet I had a pretty good system down for turning them inside out by the time I was done.