Huzzah, one of my MIOMIO (Move It On or Move It Out) projects has been moved onward! I almost can’t believe it – especially since I’ve had covid since Christmas. (Don’t look too closely, or you’ll find my feverish mis-stitching!) Please meet my “Just A Cat” tote project, stage one:

I picked up this cross stitch pattern at a guild meet many years back. It was designed by Eva Brent, called “Cat Eye”. She produced patterns before the internet, so I can’t find anything else about her. The soft but flubby fabric was gifted to me by a housemate of mine when I did some archaeology work down at Red River Gorge; it is the same as I used for the Bee + Yoga gift I made for her. I don’t know what it is, but the uneveness didn’t help my love of cross stitch. It does have a very lovely “hand” though, and I enjoy very much the natural look of textiles.

I began it, I believe, in 2019. I was modeling it after my cat Sasha, so using the threads I had available, I matched her eye color. But we all know I don’t enjoy cross stitching, and I wasn’t even trying to be good so it’s a bit sloppy. And then the project eventually languished a bit. Sasha passed away in 2020, and for a long while, I didn’t want to look at it. After some time, I picked it back up, matching the colors around the eye to her near twin Maya (they did share a mother). Again, the frustration of cross stitch won – as well as the frustration of noticing several count errors – and Maya, too, passed away in 2022.

My original idea for my “Sasha Tote” was re-envisioned as my “Maya Tote” but I am sure you can see how demoralizing it was to find myself cat-less without it finished. And now, I can’t possibly make the colors work to match my beastie boys, so I finished the rest following the pattern choices, mostly. It will now be part of my “Just A Cat” bag project wherein I transform this piece into a pocket for a tote bag. That part’s still on the MIOMIO list for the year, but I have all the fabrics and such set aside to get cracking once I address a few other MIOMIOs first. For this, though, I’m happy with the amount of progress for sure!