Amanda Valentine

@ayvalentine

Headmistress of the Finishing School for Young Games, freelance fiction and RPG editor, Jinkx's cat-mom, cross stitch fanatic, probably some other stuff (my free cross stitch designs)

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Amanda Valentine@ayvalentine· May 6

I know the vast majority of you aren't at all local to us, but the whole Valentine family is in some way involved in R&G in State College, PA this weekend and next. Mary Rose directs and stars in it, Clark is a Tragedian, Thad and I are helping off stage. www.tempestproductions.org/currentseaso...

Publicity image for the play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead with the title in yellow letters (and Gildenstern typo. Dammit!). Above the title are the feet and legs of two people wearing boots and pants. The wooden floor around their feet is covered with coins. The light comes from behind (the top of the image) and darkens as the perspective moves toward the viewer (the bottom of the image).

Amanda Valentine@ayvalentine· Apr 9

I first added this quote from Twelfth Night at the beginning of the year when I could hardly believe what was happening in Minneapolis. "If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction" People needn't work so hard at keeping it relevant. ko-fi.com/s/ab1ca808e4

Cross stitch pattern that says: "If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbably fiction" Twelfth Night III iv. It has red and blue wavy motifs and two sets of the grinning and frowning drama masks.

Amanda Valentine@ayvalentine· Jul 26

Today I had the incredible opportunity to learn about Ukrainian cross stitch. It’s often highly symbolic and used to decorate practical things. I made this - according to the designer, the red is love and happiness, the black is sadness from missing the homeland, the symbol is the sun.

Amanda Valentine@ayvalentine· Jul 26

I have seen some of the most beautiful rainbows of my entire life since May 2025 here in Central PA. I choose to see them as a symbol of hope and a promise of love from a god I no longer know how to believe in. This is today’s.

A full rainbow stretches across the sky, the clouds darker above it than below it. In the foreground, wheat (probably) shines gold in the sun. Sling the horizon is the green of trees and corn with some farm buildings.

Amanda Valentine@ayvalentine· Jul 20

Sundays are for catnapping, so sayeth Jinkx

Black cat sleeping in a ball on her side, her ear in the bottom right corner of the photo and the rest of her curled around in a circle to the left. She’s sleeping in a corrugated cardboard cube and the sun shines in on her.

Amanda Valentine@ayvalentine· Jun 30

And a whatever-the-heck-this-is cat. But truly, almost never a lap cat. She’s a full contact kitty.

Jinkx the black cat snuggles her face up under my neck while I smile

Amanda Valentine@ayvalentine· Jun 30

Jinkx isn’t a lap cat. She’s a whatever-the-heck-this-is cat. She prefers to, at minimum, require full use of my left arm.

Jinkx the black cat sitting across my arm, her tail curling up near my elbow

Amanda Valentine@ayvalentine· May 17

I’m pretty sure she’s plotting something nefarious

The face and front paw of a black cat lounging on the back of a sofa, eyes partially open

Amanda Valentine@ayvalentine· May 5

You may be able to tell that wearing Jinx out is a big part of my day or else she makes things a bit difficult for us. I feel like @purrinink.bsky.social has met my cat.

Two frame comic from Purr in Ink. The top shows a small black cat with huge eyes and it says "I never bite you". The bottom shows the same cat but the eyes are super huge and fangs are showing and it says "I give you love with my teeth"

Amanda Valentine@ayvalentine· Apr 18

Jinkx has been super cuddly recently. And she’s getting much better about not choosing violence when it’s time to transition! I’m getting better at working one-handed.

Middle aged white woman with glasses and gray hair pulled back supports Jinkx, a black cat who is sprawled across her chest under the woman’s chin.

Amanda Valentine@ayvalentine· Feb 8

When she’s being this snuggly, what’s a heated cat bed to do but sit here quietly holding my cat? Other things can wait.

Jinkx the black cat snuggled on Amanda’s shoulder gazing off to the side

Jinkx the black cat snuggled up asleep on Amanda’s shoulder

Amanda Valentine@ayvalentine· Feb 7

@lolacrow.bsky.social When a friend's cat passed away, I combined a few of your patterns to stitch Aggie sitting at her favorite window while her humans played D&D. I tried to share the photo on Etsy since I bought the patterns there, but gave up. I'm glad I can share it here!

Cross stitch of a large window of two rectangular panes, each split into eight smaller panes. A small calico cat lies on the windowsill in the bottom right corner looking out at the scene beyond. There’s an ocean and a ship with several sails surrounded by the green tentacles of a sea monster. Above that is a stone castle being attacked by a red fire breathing dragon. Small print at the bottom of the piece says “What Aggie saw” with the initials AYV and year 2023.

Amanda Valentine@ayvalentine· Feb 1

This morning in Adventures of a Heated Cat Bed:The Daily Life of Amanda

Jinkx the black cat, lying across the upper chest of her human, gazes into the camera intently.

Jinkx the black cat, lying on her back across the upper chest of her human. Her upside down face is the focus of the photo

Jinkx the black cat, lying across the upper chest of her human, looks up alertly as Amanda has to lean back to accommodate her

Amanda Valentine@ayvalentine· Jan 28

Jess and I called these Unconventionals. They’re versatile and durable.

A mirror selfie, wearing a black t-shirt and a long beaded lanyard with a clear plastic badge holder attached. Photo bomb by Jinkx the black cat in the lower left corner

Mirror selfie, wearing a black t-shirt with a beaded lanyard doubled around my neck with a clear plastic badge holder attached.

A metal lobster claw clasp attached to a medium split ring by a small split ring. The medium split ring is attached to a clear plastic badge holder

The lobster claw/split ring combo from the other photo attached via the lobster claw clasp to a decorative dangle on the beaded lanyard in the mirror selfies

Amanda Valentine@ayvalentine· Jan 25

Twenty eight years married to my best friend. Good lord, we’re old. 💗

Selfie of Clark (grey beard and glasses) with Amanda (grey hair pulled back from her face and glasses) leaning into his shoulder and smiling

Amanda Valentine@ayvalentine· Jan 24

Thank goodness Jinkx is just suffering from relatively run-of-the-mill GI upset. She’s on some anti-nausea stuff and seems to be getting back to her usual self. I love that when she’s nervous, she wants me to hold her over my left shoulder and she just snuggles in like an infant. It’s so sweet!

Side view of Jinkx the black cat in the vet’s office. She’s wearing her blue & white harness and a collar. Her front paws and head rest on her human’s left shoulder. Her human peers over Jinkx who is snuggled in tight.

Amanda Valentine@ayvalentine· Jan 24

Poor Miss Jinkxy isn’t feeling well. She gets to visit the vet tomorrow morning, but this evening I’m glad I hung onto the beds she’s mostly ignored for the past year.

Jinkx the black cat is curled into a round loaf, her gold eyes one of the only discernible features. She’s in a fabric cave bed, lying on a white fleecy cushion. A matching fleece toy dangles from the opening.

Amanda Valentine@ayvalentine· Jan 23

If you see this, post a bunny!! 🐇🩷

Cross stitch of a small brown bunny in a fairly realistic style. The frame is plain black.

Amanda Valentine@ayvalentine· Jan 22

Naptime on a chilly day

Jinkx the black cat lies sound asleep across her human’s chest, her head resting on the shoulder and her front paws curled. Her human peers over her back, a smile showing in their eyes.

Amanda Valentine@ayvalentine· Jan 2

Jinkx is all worn out from chasing and ambushing my grandkitties for the past week and a half. She is NOT a good hostess. Thankfully she’s much more annoying than violent, and the grandkitties are more vocal than violent (they could kick her ass if they chose to), so things never got too awful.

The head and front paws of Jinkx the black cat stretched across her human’s fleece blanketed lap. She’s sound asleep.

Amanda Valentine@ayvalentine· Dec 20

Today in Adventures of a Heated Cat Bed. I think I need to learn how to do more things with one hand.

Jinkx the black cat curled up on her human’s lap, around her human’s hand

Another view of Jinkx the black cat curled more tightly around her human’s wrist. Her right hind leg nearly touches her nose.

Jinkx the black cat curled into an even tighter ball around her human’s wrist. Her nose is tucked under her right front paw, and her right hind paw rests at the top of her head.

Amanda Valentine@ayvalentine· Dec 9

Today in Adventures of a Heated Cat Bed, the Amanda Valentine Story

Jinkx, a black cat, curled up asleep in her human’s torso

Amanda Valentine@ayvalentine· Dec 1

And thus begins the Valentine holiday season. It involves a LOT of Lego building

The instruction booklet for a Lego set of a bookshelf with a ladder, a chair, and a woman with a book. A hand holds the completed minifig and there’s a round container full of loose Lego bricks.

Amanda Valentine@ayvalentine· Nov 30

Caturday snuggles with Jinkx

Jinkx, a black cat, curled up in a ball on her side, nose to tail, asleep on a colorful Penzey’s fleece blanket

Amanda Valentine@ayvalentine· Nov 29

The world according to Jinkx: the queen sits upon her throne (me) and essentially blocks me from view.

Amanda Valentine@ayvalentine· Nov 26

I realize that I rarely sit in my chair the way that is intended, so the definition of “lap” might be a little creative. But that still doesn’t explain why Jinkx insists on perching under my chin most of the time.

Jinkx, a black cat, is lying on her side across the picture, partially blocking the smiling face of her human, aka her heated cat bed

Amanda Valentine@ayvalentine· Nov 25

She probably wouldn’t bite your nose

Cartoon of an adorable black kitten by purr.in.ink that says “Just a little villain, deciding whether to choose violence or make you smile.”

Amanda Valentine@ayvalentine· Nov 25

Scenes from a Heated Cat Bed (aka my lap)

Jinkx, a black cat, gazes straight ahead, her head resting against a hand that scritches her left ear.

Amanda Valentine@ayvalentine· Nov 21

Jinkx is such a love and such a jerk and so smart and too clever and the cutest thing and such a bitch and more personality than I’ve ever met in a single cat.

Jinkx the black cat lying on her side across her human’s lap and gazing up. Toe beans of one paw are on full display

Amanda Valentine@ayvalentine· Nov 21

Just sitting here relaxing with Jinkx. So calm. Not at all annoying.