Getting Back in Form

When you come back from vacation do you jump back into your regular routine or do you ease back into it gradually?

I am a gradual person myself:

ü        First, I have to get the seven loads of laundry done (we weren’t gone all that long!).

ü        And I have to pet the dog who is ecstatic that her entire dog-pack has returned home (she considers herself a doggie/person). 

ü        While that’s being done,  I have to go through all of the mail and newspapers (yes, I do save the comics pages in order so I don’t lose out on the funny story lines).

ü        And pet the dog a few times and tell her she’s still the best and prettiest dog on the planet.

ü        Then I have to make a grocery list so I can buy healthy foods and repent of my wicked ways when we were on vacation (well, the food was great!).

ü        And, of course, I have to pet the dog some more who is hovering to make sure we don’t sneak out the back door of the bathroom (our bathroom doesn’t have a back door).

And finally, I have to get back up into my sewing room.  I have a few deadlines, so I made this sample block for a block swap at Mailblocks that is due in mid-May – hope to whip those out this week – they’re going to Canada and I like to allow extra time.  This pattern is from the Quilter’s Cache.

If you go to this site often, I would encourage you to support Marcia Hohn with a small donation as I consider this an invaluable source for block designs.  I usually make 12 ½ inch blocks and I almost passed out when I went to square-up this sample block.  It was so small!

Then I remembered that it is designed to be a 10 ½ inch block and it’s just perfect.  Sometimes we just have to be re-trained when we come back from vacation – LOL.  This is one finished layout idea:

And I have this month’s Quilts of Valor group meeting this Friday, so I’m finishing up some more triangles for the pinwheel blocks.

And I checked out this month’s BOM at the Craftsy site.  The featured technique is English paper-piecing hexagons.  Yikes!  Gonna put that on hold until this weekend, but then I’m going to make some cardstock templates and tackle it.  I’m starting with cardstock and not investing in templates ‘cause I don’t know if I’ll keep up with the handwork – not my strong suit.  We’ll see what develops.  Maybe I'll invest in the AccuQuilt Hexagon Template if I like them:

http://www.accuquilt.com/go-hexagon-2-3-5.html

We did have a fantastic time on vacation.  I haven’t been north in the Spring in years and was delighted to see the dogwoods peeking out everywhere and the many flowering fruit trees.  The weather was wonderful – pleasant during the day when we played golf and cool and crisp in the mornings and evenings when we sat on the balconies.  Can’t complain about the weather here at home though – it’s still nice and not overly hot, so there’s no excuse to not start back on that walking plan!  Maybe tomorrow – like I said, I’m a gradual person …

Here’s some vacation shots:

Dogwoods at a Welcome Center

Pink and White Dogwoods

Dogwood Closeup

Beautiful Purple/Blue Blooms - Chaste Tree Maybe?

Don't know what this was!

Fog on the Mountain our last day

Azaleas

Cherry Blossoms

Altogether, I could say a good time was had by all (and I include the dog in that – she does love her dog-sitter).  And as an aside, my husband wants you all to know that he had at least one birdie on all three golf courses … and that’s special!

Halloween Go OK?

So how was your Halloween last night?  I felt sorry for the kids in the northeast US that had to trudge through the snow and ice to get their traditional Treats.  We had a great evening and the night was clear and crisp after the early morning rain.  We had over 100 kids come knocking and some of the cutest little kids' costumes - really clever this year.  This is a shot of the dog next door with his Hot Dog costume.

My poor dog only got a Halloween bandana (well, maybe she was the lucky one)!

So to take my mind off of the leftover candy, I walked up to the drugstore (a mile up there) dragging my bag of library books (at least 20 lbs - ok, maybe it only felt that way) and back to the library (another mile) to exchange the books and then back home (at least 10 miles - oh, just kidding!).  And I found this book to distract me:

I might read, take a nap, and then sew a little today!  There'll be time to garden tomorrow.

Why I've Been Busy

I have had no time to update my blog or quilt since I finished the last baby quilt.  First came the lost dog.

This adorable Husky was wandering loose by a nearby elementary school on a deadend street.  I was afraid he would find his way up to the busy cross-street, so I took him home and got my dog's leash and started walking the nearby neighborhoods.  He had a collar, but no tags.  He was thin but otherwise healthy and well-cared for.  I thought it would be easy to find his owner nearby.  Too late I realized that I should have taken him straight to the vet and had him scanned for a microchip.  By the time I thought of it, the vets were closed and, of course, closed the next day on Sunday.  He was well-trained in the house, but not leash-trained and he was a strong dog!  I can see why they are well suited to pull sleds.  If only I was young enough to rollar-blade he would have been a blast.   Finally on Monday I was able to get him scanned and after a long song and dance (chip registration hadn't been updated), got him back where he belonged.  And that was almost 20 miles away.  Turns out he was just over a year old and still very much a puppy - loved to play, loved rawhide bones, loves stuffed animals and loved to run.  Way too energetic for our household and our 7 yr old furball.  I'm sure glad this story had a happy ending.  I guess the moral is to get those pets microchipped and be sure to update it if the animal changes owners or moves.

The second thing that has kept me from quilting is that while searching for a possible owner or rescue group on-line, I got a rather nasty virus.  Our computer was locked up for most of a day until we could get rid of any trace of it.  What a mess.

I hope to be back on track tomorrow!