new cat behavior

If you "like" me on Facebook you may have seen the post I did saying I was contacted by a company asking if I wanted to do a giveaway.  The company was Shabby Apple and I am beyond excited about having the opportunity to offer this giveaway!



Shabby Apple is known for their women's dresses that are both beautiful and wearable, like these...

I love all their vintage inspired dresses as well as their fresh, modern looks.  

Shabby Apple also has women's skirts,


jewelry and accessories,



little girls' dresses,


as well as maternity dresses, swimwear, fitness wear, aprons, even arts and crafts!  You should go browse around their site and check out all the wonderful pretties available!


Now, I have a chance to offer one of you, my fabulous readers, this beautiful dress --

Spanish Steps Dress

The only catch is this is only open to U.S. residents and there are no exchanges.  Comments will be open now through Friday night at 10 pm PST.  Winner will be chosen and announced over the weekend. 

But wait, there's more!

By using coupon code catonalimb10off from now through November 11, you can get 10% off your purchase!  Sweet!

When I said I would post the winners on Monday I should have remembered what day that was going to be! So I apologize for making promises I couldn't keep since my family and I were busy with the festivities of the day (i.e. free pancake breakfast, parade, street festival, extended afternoon naps, dinner out and fireworks... from afar because the main venue decided to NOT have fireworks on the 4th but had them the two previous nights... HELLO!?! Duh. I was ticked. Not to mention that it made my 5 year-old burst into real anguished crying when I read the big lit-up sign that said "No fireworks tonight" as we drove by. So we had to drive to a different location which was already saturated with people since everyone from the main venue had to come over to the secondary venue to see anything at all -- on the actual Day of Independence!!)

Okay. Enough ranting. Now for the winners!


The winners of the pattern giveaway are as follows:

Group #1 -- Children's Size

Group #2 -- Women's Larger Size

Group #3 -- Women's Smaller Size


And the winner of the vinyl giveaway is:





Ladies, please e-mail me your addresses at catonalimb (at) gmail (dot) com and I will get those prizes sent out to you ASAP!

I'll be posting Out on a Limb Tuesday next. 

Wow!  I was so excited when I recently made it to 200 followers.  I'm touched that so many of you would choose to join me on my creative journey!  It makes it a lot more fun when I'm not the only one that benefits from or enjoys the projects I do.  Of course I would still do them if I didn't have a blog or didn't have anyone commenting, but I love being part of this wonderful, expansive blogging community.

To celebrate I am giving away over $100 worth of adhesive vinyl sheets!  (The kind you can use with a Silhouette, Cricket or other cutting machine -- it's actually the same brand/grade as the Cricket vinyl).  There are 20 sheets in 14 different colors including metallic gold and chalkboard.  Each measures 12" x 36".

Okay, so it's not officially a cool "giveaway" since it's just my stash I'm passing on to others, but a few of you expressed interest in the patterns, so I'll need to draw names for them in order to be fair.

I divided up the patterns into three groups.  It was a little difficult because there is overlap of sizes in many of the styles. 

Group #1 -- 12 Infant/Toddler patterns
Most patterns have some designs for both boys and girls. Sizes range from Newborn to 18 months on most.


Group #2 -- 16 Larger size women's patterns
Sizes range from 12 to XL.  (see size chart below)


Group #3 --  24 Smaller size women's patterns
Sizes range from XS to 14.  (see size chart below)


I've included the size chart to help you know which size you are.  Please read:  Unfortunately the sizing system for apparel in stores is completely messed up.  The sizes are not consistent between designers, and sometimes even with the same designer.  And they are NOT the same as the sewing pattern sizes.  There are even problems with the size chart they list on their patterns.  The "ease" [extra space to make sure you can move in the clothes] they add to their clothing patterns is far more than necessary, making the clothes too big and baggy, even when something is supposed to be fitted.  I've discovered I needed to find the size with my measurements, then go down one size (sometimes even two sizes, like from 14 to 12 or 14 to 10) and cut out that size instead of the one that matches my measurements.   So that should help you know which size you really are -- no matter what the pattern company says! ha ha [FYI, this is true for Simplicity, Butterick and McCalls.  I'm not sure about any other brands]


To enter:  Simply leave a comment with which group you would like.  You can leave a separate comment if you would like to enter for more than one group of patterns.  I'll leave the comments open until Friday at 8 pm PST and will announce the winners on Monday. 

*Be sure to come back tomorrow when I'll post a giveaway to celebrate 200 followers!  Yay!  (Retail value is more than $100)*

I've been trying to clean up my stash and get rid of things I'm not going to be using in the near future.  I'm going to get rid of most of my sewing patterns and was wondering if any of you, my fabulous readers, would be interested in a giveaway for them?  

I have 53 of them (40 are women's clothing patterns ranging in size from 6 to 16, with 13 boys and girls infant-18 months patterns) and they're the Butterick, McCalls, Simplicity brands found in most major retailers.  They're all new and uncut (ha ha, I guess that's a testament to how often I get around to doing the projects I plan!) and mostly new styles.  Some are a little older but classic styles.

So, let me know if you would be interested in that, or maybe if you're the only one who responds that wants them I'll just send them to you!

I just added a new way to enter my 100+ Followers giveaway -- like me on Facebook! Just go over to the link on the sidebar and click "like"  Okay, the "Like Box" isn't working for some reason... you can click here to visit my Facebook page and click "like" there.  (Then be sure to go to the giveaway post and leave a comment telling me that you did it.)

Plus, there are now more items to choose from if you win the giveaway!

I've added new fabrics to my Textiles, Naturally! shop... (I've added more than what is pictured here)

Wool Suiting

100% Silk Dupioni

Home Decor Fabric

and new jewelry and hair accessories in my Cat on a Limb Accessoriz shop... (I've added more than what is pictured here)





Go ahead and take a look around then come back and enter the giveaway if you haven't already!  (You have until Thursday night)

First you get the big news.

We're moving!  Soon.  I get to move back home to the San Francisco Bay Area in California!  I am so excited (and a little stressed) mostly because it will bring us back close to family (both of our mothers, my dad, brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, aunts and uncles).  Family makes all the difference when raising small children!  Plus I get to be back in the state I love and which I will forever call my home.  I am a California girl through and through!

We will be moving on March 23rd.  Yes, 9 days from now.  Yikes!  And to make matters even more complicated, we will not be able to finalize jobs and living arrangements until after we get out there.  So, most of my sewing/crafting supplies (along with most of our other belongings) will probably be in storage for a while.  What will I do??  [But I will be doing the toddler shrug tutorial before we move]

So, before everything gets packed away into storage for who knows how long, I will be doing a giveaway in honor of bypassing 100 followers.  I am so excited and honored that so many wonderfully creative people have chosen to follow my blog (and not to mention the subscribers in readers as well!).  I want to say "thank you" and so I'm offering a giveaway for a...

Okay, so I'm posting the winner on Tuesday, not Monday... sorry about that!
REVISED POST----


Since it was my first giveaway I decided to let my kids get in on the fun and pick the winner by hand.  I wrote a number 1-57 (for each comment) on a piece of paper and put them into a box.  


I put the lid on and the kids and I shook it up really well.  I opened it, held it up high so my son couldn't see in and let him pick a piece of paper.  


And the winner is... 

NOT the winner -- sorry...

I was in the process of writing the post, posting the pictures, etc, about the winner, but then I noticed the person whose comment was #39 (it's not the same now that I deleted duplicate comments) had posted twice about tweeting the giveaway.  So, I had to go through and eliminate duplicate comments and try again... this time with a boring nifty online random generator.

So the new winner is...


Congratulations!  I'll be e-mailing you the details. 

Thank you to everyone who participated.  Hopefully it won't be too long before I'll have another giveaway opportunity!

I'm so excited to offer my very first giveaway!

If you've been making the rounds on the blogs any time recently I'm sure you've heard of CSNstores.com.  You know how other websites have different sections for departments?  Well, CSN has so much to offer they have created a different website for every department!  (That's more than 200 websites, by the way)  They sell nearly everything from tv stands, couches, tables, chairs, bookcases, bed frames, dressers, etc, etc (on the furniture end) to home decor of all kinds, cookware, housewares, tools and home improvement supplies, outdoor furniture and decor, baby gear, pet supplies, shoes, fitness equipment, office and school furniture and supplies. 

They are letting me offer a $25 gift certificate which can be used at any of their websites!  It does not include shipping, but many things have free shipping anyway (some larger items even have free inside delivery -- now how cool is that?).  Open to residents of the US and Canada.