Puppy Fetching

No, not new puppies. Certain people may want to breathe easier now. One is enough.

The dog who lives here, Darby, is a very smart dog, and I just don't have time to explore all that she is capable of. One thing she has learned is to clean up the yard when she comes inside. Every time she goes out, she has a toy (puppy) in her mouth, so by the end of the day she has 5 or 6 scattered over the yard.


It's become a game to us, and she is totally enthusiatic about it - at first. After bringing in about 3, she starts looking inside as if to say, "I BROUGHT you a puppy."


This is how it starts. She runs up initially with one puppy in her mouth, usually her favorite sheep.

I take it and then say, "Go get puppy."

Here comes another sheep.

And then a pig.

One one more, some kind of rodent-looking thing. The enthusiasm is fading.

.
It's funny how even though there may be a good many toys outside, I can always count on her having the 2 sheep and the pig.

I'm working on her handing them to me now instead of dropping them at my feet.

Mike sent me an article the other day about a dog who has thousands of words in her vocabulary. I wish I had time to work with Darby. She knows some things like "out" and "eat" and, of course "no".

When I ask where the kitty is, she'll run all over the yard looking for one of our cats. She has enough Border Collie in her genes to have tried to herd the 2 cats, but they put a stop to that from the start - with claws. Now when they try to snuggle up to her or wash her face, she keeps her eyes averted. Never trust a cat.

Elise's quilt is growing slowly. I'm happy with how fast it goes together. I do an assembly line thing with it and can turn out 4 or 5 pairs in a morning. Just finding those free mornings is the problem.

I'm having to work on my tendency to want to "match" or use a neutral with every dark. Elise wants it more scrappy, so I'm going to have to put some combinations together that go against that tendency.

I was going to take step-by-step pictures of the construction of the set of 2 blocks, and thought my Ott light would be a good light for it. Wrong. It looks like they were taken at the bottom of an aquarium.

Anyway.

It starts with two 5-1/2 by 20 strips.

These are cut into 2 wide and 4 narrow strips.

And sewn togther with opposite colors.

And pressed with seams going the opposite way on each one.

Then these 2 sets are cut into 6 more pieces.

And arranged into Block A and Block B.

Easy as it can be.


If the pressing is done right, it will lay flat and pay off later when they're all joined together. I need all the help I can get.

I still have some tweaking to do - maybe or maybe not. One corner doesn't quite meet, but as long as the blocks measure 6-1/2" x 6-1/2", we're not worried if every corner matches. Maybe when I enter one in a quilt show one day. Yeah, right.

This is a better idea of those blues in the sunlight.

It's a beautiful day today, and I'm going to try to get outside a little bit and enjoy the sunshine.

Maybe not as much as Stella though.

Withdrawal pangs

Or is it pains?

I've been in a lovely pink and green fog for a couple of months now working on Isley's quilt, and it is totally finished now. Ready to go to Washington. I think Washington is ready for Isley too, at least 2 people I know are.



I guessed that the embroidered squares wouldn't handle washing as well as the other parts because they're not actually quilted down. The wrinkles will iron out, but who irons a quilt? So it will have to be wrinkled. These pictures are awful - all pale and anemic-looking. I'll do some more later.



The back is just the way it's supposed to be, bright and wild.



All in all, a really fun quilt to do. It'll be hard to give it up. Maybe I can visit it this summer.

To help my pain, I started in earnest on Elise's quilt. I'll do Emily's at the same time, but I have to keep my mind on this one until I get those measurements straight in my mind....3-1/2 x 5-1/2, 5-1/2 x 2. 83 pairs of Block A and Block B and 19 single Block A's.

Here's a pair sewed together. They're easy to do, but I'm a little haphazard with my 1/4" seams sometimes. Once they're trimmed, these will be fine. I think.

These are a few pairs I just cut and laid out. Good thing they're not sewed together since I see a couple of mistakes.

It was a good day to sew - a perfectly cold and gray day. We had to drive to Prattville this morning, and that wind was not fun. Winter is not fun to me.

While we were in the doctor's office, a couple came in that I didn't look at very closely, middle-aged with a little girl. On the way home, Mama said, "That woman sitting across from us was on TV last night, yelling about the schools." I guess I miss a lot by not watching the evening news. She misses very little, from the doctor's hair and wardrobe to her opinion on Alabama politics, SEC football, whether "Days of our Life" is going off the air, and how much she hates cold weather. We do agree on that. I won't give my opinion on having to wait 2 hours to see the doctor when we had an appointment. This is just a pain management doctor - not an ER doctor with emergencies - with 6 or 8 people sitting in his waiting room in pain with overdue appointments. But no opinions. He does help her.

Home Stretch

I took my final stitch on this little quilt just now. The binding went on really well, and I'm pleased with it.

BUT

I decided the embroidery squares need a little something to hold them down since they didn't get involved in the quilting of the rest of it. So I'm going to make a running stitch around every design to kind of tack it down - not all the way through but through the batting. That will be kind of fun.

I'm sure everyone was worried about that. So relax now.

It should be ready to mail to Issaquah by the end of the week.

I have 2 more quilts lined up to take its place, but I sure will miss the colors and the little critters.

Rain on the Roof

Lots of it.

Wind too.

But we like it.

It's snowing in Littlefield. Maybe I'll have a picture of it tomorrow.

What's Behind Door #1

In my kitchen, that is.

The sellers of this house were very proud of the spice rack they had built on the side of a cabinet and behind a door. I have to admit it was a great idea. Unfortunately, I had just dumped anything small on it and really had no idea what was there.

Last week I put it on my organizing list but that's as far as it went until yesterday when I had the step-stool out for another reason and decided to go for it.

I didn't throw out half as much as I anticipated, but I did find out exactly what I had. I found new homes for some things and brought other things in.

Since I (sort of) alphabetized the spices, I can have a general idea of where they are and not end up with 3 bottles of cinnamon candies. I went to 3 stores looking for them this Christmas to use in cornflake wreaths, not realizing I already had 2 bottles. Naturally, I ended up not making them, so now I have all 3.

These pictures all seem blurry, but I don't have time to take more.

Hmmm. I see raspberry hot chocolate mix. That sounds good for a rainy day.

That's about all I have to show for my week except for an excellent pork tenderloin that I just took out of the oven. No picture. It tastes better than it looks.

And another row of the quilt sewed down. Enough pictures of the quilt until it's finished.

And having a daughter get another year old. Emily had a birthday yesterday. They keep adding those years and making me feel old.

Rainy Day Sewing

What could be better?

Maybe a nice cup of Rain Forest Nut and a purring cat along with the rain. I can't think of many things I'd rather be doing this morning.


With the pictures I took this morning, I may have made a very good argument about getting a new sewing machine.

I love my machine (Viking-Husqvarna Freesia). It's getting old but still sews very nicely. I'm familiar with its quirks and limitations, and it knows mine. I've learned to recognize the sound it makes when the bobbin is almost out, and I love that you don't have to unthread the needle to fill a new bobbin. I'm sure all the newer machines are like this now though. I really, really do want a needle threader though of my next one.

My biggest problem is space, and it's probably not just the machine, although the nice newer machines have large surfaces just for quilting and a bigger space between the needle and the other part. See below. I'm sewing in the dining room now because the sunroom is a little chilly, and it looks messy all the time. But anyway...

When I last mentioned THE quilt, I was a little too optimistic about being almost through. I conveniently forgot about all those little 1/2 inch bindings that had to be top-stiched - 6 of them across the length of the quilt.

If I thought it was hard to top-stich these little panels -

I had just forgotten what manipulations are necessary to feed a whole quilt through the little opening in the machine.

The first row is easy because there is nothing on the right, but as you work down the quilt, all that bulk has to be rolled up to the right. And you still have to guide that foot with both hands.


In this picture, I'm holding the balance of the quilt under my chin so I can have both hand free for feeding it through.

It did make for some interesting contortions and trial-and-error moves.

Maddie has been with me all the way in making this quilt. She likes the bright colors and the sound the machine makes.

She helps with the straightening.

And sometimes she even checks on the tension for me.

So - I did finish all the pink bindings. It sure has grown into a big little quilt.

This closeup shows just how hard it is to keep a straight line along the edge. But I'm happy with it so far.

Now the green side has to be folded, pressed, and stitched down - by hand!

Easy but time-consuming. I have a little of that this morning - time, that is - and a good excuse for another cup of coffee. Vacuuming the floors is not half as much fun, and rain doesn't come often enough to waste it.

The next pictures WILL have the binding on.

A Little Progress

After reading back over today's post, I wonder if it's just better not to write anything for days and days or to go on and on about my messy kitchen cabinets. Or the weather. Or sewing.

At least, people who come to see if I'm still alive can be satisfied. (I promise to answer emails soon.)

I didn't set any records for cleaning and straightening today, but when I had some extra time, I sewed - and sewed.

This is where the little quilt is now. Two more rows to join together. It's stressful zig-zagging the rows together and making sure the vertical bars line up. Then you have to turn it over and zig-zag again. I found my shoulders all knotted up a few times.


Tomorrow will be binding day hopefully. The stripe is the fabric I chose to go all the way around the edges. I love putting on bindings. Oh, and I guess I need to make a label too.
My only job on my quest to organize my kitchen was a row of cabinets and drawers - underneath those perfectly straight and clean drawers from yesterday.

So I did this drawer.

Not much to do here - just make new stacks.


I love the deep drawers next to the stove in this house. I have one for pots and pans too and straightened that one too, but I didn't put a picture here because I didn't want anyone to laugh at them.

This is one bottom cabinet that I've never really visited much. One side has baking things - maybe that's why . And pitchers, it seems. I threw away some things from here. Why would I have yeast? I won't mention the expiration date on that.

So it's all ready and waiting in case I get the urge to bake a cake - or something.

AND the biggie.

This neat spice/everything else rack is behind a door in the kitchen, and when I moved in, I just put anything on here that would fit. I think it's time to clean and sort. I'm kind of afraid to look at expiration dates because I may not have anything left when it's over with. If it smells good, I'm keeping it.

We'll see.

And finally --- my buy of the week/month/year (since that's all I've bought except groceries):

Lovely.

I had a fairly new mixer with a cute little stand that stored the beaters, but I kind of killed it before Christmas making cookies. There's that baking again. I kept forgetting to buy another one, but when I was in Wal-Mart the other day I remembered to look for one.

I found 2 portable mixers. One was a Black and Decker one for $19.88 and then there was this humble little thing for - not $8.88 - or even 5.88 - but $2.77! What's Wal-Mart's Blue Light Special? Rollbacks, maybe? If it works at all, it will be fine for that price. Who cares if I burn up the motor in this one?

I also found this in Wal-Mart, but I didn't stand in line for a picture. An hour before it was supposed to be on display, there were at least 100 people waiting for a picture.

Kind of blurred, but that's as close as I could get.

Gaby and Dina, you should ask Mike what this is!