Five minute block…4 days later

I finished a table runner today!!! Yeah for the first finish of MAY !!
I started this on April 29th; a 5 minute block pattern by Suzanne McNeill.  (http://blog.suzannemcneill.com/2012/05/16/5-minute-blocks.aspx)  ….so after 3 solid days of sewing at my quilt bees “sit & sew”; and an afternoon dedicated at home, I have taken my 5 minute block and  made it into the table runner you see below!

Note: this table runner is finished with Susies Magic Binding — (That is the little piped edge next to the binding that makes it so special)   Tutorial link: http://www.52quilts.com/2012/05/tuesday-tutorial-susies-magic-binding.html

If the fabric looks familiar, that is because it is made with “left over fabric” from my Happy Birthday / Celebrate Bunting —  posted about here: https://stitchinggrandma.wordpress.com/2014/04/24/celebrate-happ…unting-wrap-up/

 

Our Quilt Bee sit & sew was awesome. We were each given an 8 foot table to work on, there were irons available and lots of mentoring. The church where we were located provided a big lunch everyday, so we were well cared for.  We did a bit of show and tell every day, and there were some tutorials.  The table runner was an option, and I thought I had the perfect fabric to use.  (Yes, dear daughter, the table runner will be mailed with the bunting, but not until after I show it off at the Quilt Guild meeting on Monday).  (I demo’d the binding that is on this table runner!)

I got one UFO layered up and pin basted, so I will be working on it’s quilting. I took 4 UFO’s with me, and spent so much time on this table runner, that I never got to them.  The UFO’s are a result of 2 classes I took in 2012 & 2013. In those classes we started a new project every week, and I never got back to the project from the previous week. The thing that was holding me back was uncertainty.  I wasn’t sure what I would do with a small quilt (36 x 36 ).  I have come to the conclusion in the last 14 months that small is ok.  I am thinking wall hangings!  I love the fabric of EACH of them so much, I can’t bear to part with any of them.

While at our sit and sew,  I took possesion of 2 of our Senior Quilts for church from a Bee member who donated her long-arm quilting skills.  Next up is to create some binding for those quilts, as they are due to be presented to the graduates in 3 weeks.

Life is busy; lots of sewing going on! Don’t mind the dust bunnies…the cats are shedding and so is the dog.  Time to fix dinner….happy stitching!

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Sad day for the doggies in our family

My oldest grand-puppy, Layla; age 6 had a heart attack or stroke during the night and died immediately.  She was a beautiful, fun loving border collie; full of energy, and always ready to herd you about.  My heart breaks for my daughter and her husband, as they have to contend with the details today.   She was an energetic, loving dog, always ready to have you throw a ball or frisbee, across the yard or in the pool.

I know her buddy Rudder, an English Lab, will miss her~!~

Is it really Spring ??

Gerber Daisy

The sunshine is abundant this morning!  It is also finally above 40 degrees.  SPRING may finally be here.  Last night we had another freeze warning, and people all over the area were covering their outside plants or bringing them back into the house. Hoping for mid 50’s today.  My hubby gave me some new lilac’s to plant in the yard for my birthday and I am hoping it warms up enough to get out in the yard and do that today. Yesterday, on Easter, a dear friend gave me a Dinner Plate Dahlia to plant along with a beautiful orange Gerber daisy.  Our ‘last frost’ date is May 15th according to the Farmers Almanac, so I think the Gerber daisy will have to stay in the house for a bit.

Seems one of my cats has tasted a leaf of the Gerber daisy during the night, and I need to find a place to “keep it in the light” but out of the reach of said cat.  Maybe on top of the microwave…near a window….out of their usual prowling space.

Do you have cats that like to prowl during the night into places that you never seem to find them during the day?  I have these mysterious happenings during the night…pencils removed and relocated to under the kitchen table; paw prints on the stove, and such.  When they were kittens we used to put them to “bed” in the laundry room, and close them in for the night.  They were really climbers as “toddlers”. We have a shelf in the dining room that my husband keeps his “collectibles” on, and I have found them climbing up the wicker legs of the shelf. When one of his items crashed to the floor, we wrapped the wicker legs with foil to inhibit the climbers.  I decided they need a climbing shelf of their own and bought one of those things from the pet store and parked it in the laundry room.  definitely they needed a better place than my chair legs to do their scratching, and this had rope wrapped posts to do the same.  (Until about 2 years ago we were PET FREE…..when we got adopted by a stray momma cat with 2 kittens….and then a 12-year-old Rottweiler in the final years of her life).

One of our cats (Momma Cat) was not a good fit “in the house” as she was just too wild.  We have given her a nice home, a heated cat igloo house, outside, and has now become the nicest, lovely cat ever. You walk out the door and the old girl runs to greet you and waits for you to stop and pet her.  She used to be such a scared cat!  And because we feed her outside, and she doesn’t eat all her food in one sitting, there is often food left in her bowl, and another stray has ventured into the yard and eats the leftovers.  I chase him away, and he returns to clean Momma Cat’s bowl. I swear I am not befriending another cat!  The first 3 cost me a fortune in vet bills to get them spayed, nutered, shots etc.  So, how do you prevent the new stray from hanging around for a free meal?  I have decided I am not up for chasing or trapping this one or the vet bills involved with keeping it, shots, nutering etc.  It could be someones pet I suppose.  So, for now, I will ignore it, chase it out of the yard, etc.  I keep thinking do I put out less food for Momma Cat, so she is hungrier at feeding time or more food since she is subject to sharing?

Well, time to go play in the sewing room this morning!  Bunting beckons me~!~  Then I will be sorting through old costume jewelry for “decorations” for “crowns” for a 4-year-old birthday party!

I’ve got a couple of “FOR ME” projects in mind once the birthday party goodies are sorted out.  I just downloaded a pattern for a bag: http://www.popularpatchwork.com/news/article/sweet-sixteen/5448/   (Bag is called sweet 16) – It uses 32 charm squares (5×5).  Already I am thinking how to add some interfacing in the handle and between the layers, knowing it might be way too soft.  And I think it needs a little quilting too.  🙂   I think that is on my list of things to make soon….thinking it would go together easily in an afternoon.  (Or like my friend Judy  of her 1 day project that took 5 days….it may take me a week to do it.  )

Hoping the afternoon warms up enough to plant.  If not today, then tomorrow afternoon, when it is supposed to hit 70 degrees!  !   My garden needs the winter leaves cleared out, our daffodils are finished and the tulips managed to bloom in spite of all the leaves at their feet.  Oh, and my Sedum still has flower heads that I need to remove from last fall. (  I save them once they dried out to use in the model rail road “tree making”.  The fella’s at the model railroad club use a lot of plant materials on the train displays in interesting ways.)

Time to get busy and go play in the sewing room!! Hope your Easter was a beautiful celebration of the blessing that we have in Jesus Christ and his plan of salvation for all who follow Him.

Clean baby

Cleo has been with us for 3 weeks today.  She is a 10 year old Rottweiller.   She seems to be settling into our household quite nicely.  We finally got her to the vet this past Wednesday, a huge operation getting her in and out of the SUV….with her old bad hips.  She has gotten the first round of shots and nail clipping done by the vet.  We went on the search for glucosamine products, paid way too much at the local pet store, and managed to order online via Amazon a 4 month supply for 1/3 the local price. Because we live on the edge of the woods, ticks are a big concern.  We learned that there is a shot the dogs can get to prevent LYME disease. It is accompanied by the usual flea & tick topical medications.  Thinking that anything you do to prevent a problem is the way to go.

On Thursday, the mobile groomer came with her camper / dog grooming vehicle.  Cleo had a 2 hour spa treatment, and came out smelling like a brand new baby! (She felt wirey before, now she feels like silk!)  The scarf is courtesy of the groomer!  What a difference a bath makes in the life of a dog.  For one thing, it makes the whole house smell a little better, and no more black smudges on my fingers (and rugs) from her dirty old coat. She seemed like she enjoyed the process, and I know I will have to be a regular customer of the Park & Bark grommer!

She is even making friends with the cats!  (At least the kittens….not so much for mamma cat!).  I find the kittens nosing around her kennel, and watching her eat and drink.  Cleo would like them to come and say hello, but when she talks, the kittens run. That ‘hello accompanied by a big RUFFFFF’ is a bit much for the ‘fraidy cats!.  Certainly is entertaining!  Chewing is a past time for most dogs, and thankfully she is not in a destruction mode.  Cleo has managed a wooden clothes pin and a couple of the squeeky toys that belong to the cats.  Those doggie tennis balls…what a joke….last about 1/2 an hour.  I found some at the local drugstore, wrapped in twisted cording, and they are still going strong 3 weeks later.  (Paid 80 cents each!!)

So, that is our life, pet free zone until 8 months ago…now with a family of 3 cats and a rottweiller…..somebody knows what a sucker I am for animals……keeps me entertained!

Cleo –

Meet our new OLD dog Cleo. We adopted this 10 year old orphan today. Cleo’s human mom was my husband’s ex-wife. She passed away in February, and nobody wanted an old dog. The family was able to find a home for the other rotweiller, a young 2 year old male, but poor Cleo, with old hips was not wanted. Well; I knew we would have to take her home when she started lovin’ on me. She ignored all the rest of the family, and came up to me, leaned in for ear scratching, then belly rubs and totally melted my old heart. My husband loves rotties, and was shocked when I said I would take her home. Do me a favor and pray our 3 cats won’t hate me forever……..