Where do kittens come from? Be warned. This is a technical and scientific answer to that question. First, the mother cats come from Mystic Quilter's blog. The mother, in this instance, is black with purple dots and is on the right hand side of the first photo. The kittens are like the mother except shorter with a tail that matches all the mice running around the sewing room. That is, kittens are a mash-up of cat and mice.

If you dissect a kitten, you find they are made of 1.5 inch and 2.5 inch strips. There are three 1.5 inch squares for the ears and tail tip and one 1.5 by 5.5 rectangle for the tail. The head is a 2.5 by 3.5 inch rectangle while the body is a 2.5 by 5.5 inch rectangle. The background has two 1.5 squares, a 1.5 by 3.5 inch rectangle and a 2.5 by 2.5 inch square.

The kitten ears develop first with 1.5 inch squares placed on either end of the 1.5 by 3.5 inch background rectangle. A diagonal line is sewn as shown above and can be chain-stitched.

The ears are ironed back. This results in ears consisting of  3 layers of fabric. If the ears are sewn on straight, the bottom two layers can be trimmed away 1/4 inch from the seam. If an ear is not straight, only trim away the middle layer leaving the bottom layer as a guide for attaching to the head. Please note, that regardless of whether the ears are straight or not, the kitten (and eventually the cat) will have selective hearing.

The kittens may face right or left. If the head is on the left side, then a 1.5 inch square of the background fabric is sewn onto the upper right hand corner of the body. If the head is on the right side, then sew the background square onto the upper left hand corner of the body. These are attached and ironed like the ears.

At the same time that the ears and body are sewn, the head (2.5X3.5) can be sewn to the background square (2.5X2.5). In addition,  the tip of the tail (1.5 inch square) and the background separator (1.5 inch square) can be sewn together.

At this point, if development is normal, the cat will have developed a direction and consist of 5 sections. In the next stage of development, the ears are attached to the tip of the tail with a background square separating the ears from the tail tip. Keep in mind which way the kitten is facing or it will need corrective surgery later. Furthermore, the head attaches to the body with background pieces on the same side.

Now kitten development is accelerating. First the ears and tail tip attach to the head section and finally the tail is attached on the side.

In the example above, the kittens are born with a tail that is one inch wide (as shown for the kitten on the right). However, the kittens that are bouncing around my sewing room have .75 inch width tails that started as 1.25 inch strips (as shown for the kitten on the left). This means the tip of the tail is a bit puffier than the rest of the tail.

And that explains where kittens come from.

Tommy is thoroughly embarrassed by all this and emphatically asserts that this is NOT where kittens come from.

It's definitely kitten season. They just start showing up regardless of the day of the week or the color of the month. Kittens are definitely not going to follow the rules of a scrappy rainbow challenge.

And here's the whole new litter. Now if only I could find where the mother is hiding...

We're all about Tommy today because he turned 18 years old. This picture shows him as a kitten, back when he planned on being a bat when he grew up. He also used to have a brother who liked to use him as a fur pillow.

 And here's a recent photo of Tommy putting his best front foot forward.

Aren't kittens so cute...before they turn into cranky old cats?

Here's the whole litter of yellow Kaffe kittens. I wonder where the mother is? I hope I can find homes for them before they grow up. Maybe I'll advertise them for adoption over at the Rainbow Scrappy Challenge.

And here's the whole flock of cranes that finally arrived...too late for last Saturday's link up.

I rearranged blocks and am now sewing the ocean waves quilt together. To make sure its authentic, I'm making sure its nice and wavy. This corner is this week's contribution to Vicki W.'s HSTeria quilt along.

 These are the parts up on the design wall. I thought I should post it again to see if I notice anything amiss that I don't notice in person.

If you've heard the phrase "there are many ways to skin a cat" you would understand my horror when I opened up this box of cat skins. Then I remembered that Fabric.com had had a sale on Kaffe Fassett fabrics and I realized these had the potential to become cats, not the other way around.

Meanwhile, Tommy was pretty full of himself after reading an admirer's comment. In appreciation, Tommy would like to share the secret of his longevity: unconditional love.

The kind you get from your fur pillow.

This is Tommy in his younger years. He's going to turn 18 this week and suggested that we participate in Vicki W.'s giveaway to celebrate. Tommy wants to give away a kitten and has already ordered the bubble wrap and extra staples. I suggested that we cushion the kitten in fabric and then forget to include the kitten. I'm thinking of 18 fat quarters, and I took Tommy downstairs so I don't have to hear about what he's thinking. I've added the button for Vicki's giveaway and I'll be linking up with that later this month (June 28).