Today is National Dog Day

A great day to celebrate the dog and to promote dog rescue!

I RESCUED A HUMAN TODAY

Her eyes met mine as she walked down the corridor peering apprehensively into the kennels. I felt her need instantly and knew I had to help her. I wagged my tail, not too exuberantly, so she wouldn't be afraid.

As she stopped at my kennel I blocked her view from a little accident I had in the back of my cage. I didn't want her to know that I hadn't been walked today. Sometimes the shelter keepers get too busy and I didn't want her to think poorly of them.

As she read my kennel card I hoped that she wouldn't feel sad about my past. I only have the future to look forward to and want to make a difference in someone's life.

She got down on her knees and made little kissy sounds at me. I shoved my shoulder and side of my head up against the bars to comfort her. Gentle fingertips caressed my neck; she was desperate for companionship.

A tear fell down her cheek and I raised my paw to assure her that all would be well. Soon my kennel door opened and her smile was so bright that I instantly jumped into her arms. I would promise to keep her safe. I would promise to always be by her side. I would promise to do everything I could to see that radiant smile and sparkle in her eyes. I was so fortunate that she came down my corridor. So many more are out there who haven't walked the corridors. So many more to be saved. At least I could save one.

I RESCUED A HUMAN TODAY​

And this is my rescued Australian Shepherd Mix:

What a sweetheart!

Places I’d Like to Visit

I read in a book recently about an event that is held annually on Martha’s Vineyard.  It is called the “Grand Illumination” and I looked it up and apparently just missed it (like I could really go this year, but a girl can dream ...!).  It was held this past week on August 15^th.  All of the gingerbread cottages around the Martha’s Vineyard Campgrounds and Tabernacle in Oak Bluffs take part in the event.

The cottages are adorable and a sight themselves, but when they are all strung with oriental lanterns and lit in unison at dusk, they are truly a sight to behold.  What a great family outing this would be.

 

The event begins with a concert and community sing prior to the Illumination, a tradition that has been upheld since 1869.  I’ve heard that the cottages have been handed down from generation to generation and if, heaven forbid, one of the cottages should come up for sale it is immediately snapped up just through word of mouth.  Apparently, the lanterns stay with the cottage!

Wouldn’t it be cool to make a house-themed quilt using the Grand Illumination as your inspiration?  Just think of all the great embellishments …

Here’s one block pattern for a cottage (with tutorial) from Nanette Merrill at Freda’s Hive:

http://fredashive.blogspot.com/2008/09/cottage-tutorial.html

And here is a more typical house pattern (easy peasey) from Janet Wickell at About.Com:

http://quilting.about.com/od/blockofthemonth/ss/house_quilt.htm

Just had to add this to my long list of quilts to make!

What's in the Works

Nothing earth-shattering - I have been working on bindings … lots and lots of bindings:

Remember that I was shocked that I had 8 tops stacking up waiting to be quilted?  Well, I’ve whittled that stack down to only 2 still needing to be quilted.

the finished stack is growing - 5 down, 3 to go

And this one is quilted and only needs to be bound.

I’ve had to start and stop since we’ve been having electrical storms in the area.  The clouds looked beautiful in the sunset, but parts of our area have been pounded with rain.

Today alone, we had 2.96 inches.  Can’t say that’s not a good thing, but I hate unplugging my sewing machine when I’m on a roll!

Speaking of rolls … did I tell you that I picked up a wonderful Jelly Roll with the last of my birthday gift cards?

Just look at these great colors!  I have a pattern in mind – watch this spot for an update sometime soon …

I Must Be Crazy ...

Yes, I must be crazy.  It is 95^◦ in FL this time of year (with a heat index of 102^◦) and I went out and played golf again today.  I was doing great on the front nine and fell apart on the back nine.  It wasn’t my fault … no, really!  I was totally demoralized when a big black crow stole my favorite Kashi crackers right out of my cart.  I was going to bite into their crunchy goodness right after that hole …

They were unopened and I even had them hidden under a golf towel, but the little bugger found them and flew off with them.  Bummer.  At least this Roseate Spoonbill didn’t laugh at me – my husband certainly did.  This Spoonbill might be young since its head is still very white.  It was the only one on the course and they usually hang out in groups.

 

Then on another hole I hit a very excellent shot off the tee and another very excellent shot that was going right for the flag – wait – wait for it – until it hit the edge of the concrete cart path and bounced like a rock back at me, hit the top of the golf cart by my side and landed 50 yards behind where I started.  Again, my very supportive DH nearly laughed himself sick.  These Coots were hiding their heads in shame for me … or were they laughing, too?!

Now you tell me how any of that could possibly be my fault?!!  I think I’m going to go take a nap …

But first, I’ll have to show you my finished Quilts of Valor Mystery Quilt top - this is #24 from Persimmon Quilts:

It is HUGE (72 x 72).  I’m used to making 40 x 60 child-sized quilts and this was a monster to work with.  But I think it turned out really well.  Another member of my QOV group was making the same Mystery quilt and I hope she brings it to our meeting tomorrow – I’ll be sure to snap a picture!

Quilting Progress and a Book

I had finally shamed myself into getting the pile of tops onto the quilt frame … and I have made great progress.  These are the three tops that are fully quilted, including their borders – now they just await bindings:

 And this is the back of the fourth one that has been quilted on the frame, but needs quilting in the borders (I do that on my tabletop machine).

I stopped for awhile because I want to mull over whether to change thread color.  Because the top fabrics have a lot of black in them, I quilted the center squares with black thread and it looks just fine.  But the top and bottom borders are rainbow stripes with no black and I don’t know how black thread would look on that … I’m thinking about what to do!

I did get some exercise walking up to the library even though the sky looked threatening.  The osprey sitting in the lower-left on this tree branch had sense enough to stop flying, but I went anyway.  I made it there and back before the downpour, thank you very much!

So, I’ve been reading a book called “The Age of Homespun” that has some interesting stories (although it is quite tedious reading – sort of like a college textbook!).

One thing I learned was that the history of textiles was often able to be followed using wills and probate records that included inventories of the deceased’s possessions.  In some of those documents, e.g., letters, inventories and probate documents, quilted petticoats were called simply “quilts”.  Wouldn’t that be confusing if you were looking for a bedcover?!  These quilted petticoats usually had some kind of simple crosshatching over most of the surface with more decorative designs on the borders.  One woman even quilted a full-masted ship in sail along with mermaids on hers!  This is one example from the Old Sturbridge Museum’s collections:

Tomorrow’s tasks include finishing a few more quilts, maybe get to those bindings and get those bug jar appliqués in the mail.  Just more fun ….

Battle of the Beetles

Well, that title should really read “battling the beetles”.  I have a live-and-let-live policy with bugs … I live in my house and they live outside.  End of story (for the bugs, that is).

That policy was violated yesterday when my DH discovered that his box of dried mashed potato flakes in the pantry had beetles.  Because he has been on a diet restricting potassium for awhile, that box hadn’t been touched in close to 4 months.  I guess that was plenty long enough for the critters to come out from somewhere and multiply.

Cleaning/emptying Pantry in Process

What IS all of this stuff?!  It expired WHEN?!!

Needless to say, we scoured the pantry, threw away lots of old stuff and examined and/or repackaged anything not in a can or tin.  I must admit, the pantry hasn’t looked this good since we moved in 10 years ago, but what a job!

Fortunately, the discovery was made after I had finished off a few things in the sewing room:

I called it Purple Posies

This top was made from some Ohio Star blocks I had made up a few months ago.  I had meant to put them on point, but I didn’t have enough fabric and I wanted this to come totally from my stash, so hence, another rectangle quilt from me.

And this is the border finished on the little cars quilt from my previous post:

The binding will be the dark blue

And this is the start of my swap project with The Scratching Post:

This swap is called “Collections” and the jars can hold anything that can be collected (e.g., bugs, fish, fruit, vegetables, school supplies, nuts and bolts, sewing supplies, … you name it).  Mine are butterflies, fish, turtles, etc. – the novelties were all from my stash again.  Each set has three different size/shapes of jars and three different fabrics.  They need their jar tops yet, but that was when I got interrupted for the Great Beetle Chase.

I knew I was behind on quilting tops, but I found out I now have 8 tops stacked up (I thought I had 3 or 4), so this is the week to get those done and in a box and out of here!

Little Basket 'O Tops is full

Sounds like one of those Best Laid Plans again ….

Beating the Heat

While I have been avoiding exercising outside in our horrific heat and humidity, I have been sewing.  Here is a little top that I have been working up with the world’s easiest quilt block, called the Snowball (ok – it also just sounded refreshing!):

It is sewn together now and I should be done adding the blue borders on it later today.

And I should warn you NOT, I repeat, NOT to browse food blogs while avoiding the heat.  One of my charity group’s members had this very excellent Raspberry Almond Coffee Cake featured:

And since she credited The Noble Pig blog for the recipe, I had to take a look over there and found this also very excellent Panzella (Bread Salad) recipe for fresh vegetables: 

Thank You! to The Noble Pig in Oregon

Do you get the idea that I’m either very hungry or easily suggestable?

Maybe both?

We’re actually having homemade pizza tonight, but I’m marking these two recipes, for sure!

Mystery Solved

Before I show the Quilts of Valor Mystery Quilt all laid out, I want to remind everyone that there’s still time to celebrate National Hot Dog Month.  The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council has estimated that over seven billion hot dogs and sausages will be eaten this summer alone.  This poor misunderstood food remains a great favorite and one of the best comfort and picnic foods around!  Its name is thought to have come from a sports cartoonist, Tad Dorgan, at the Polo Grounds in NY.  The vendors there had begun selling hot dachshund sausage rolls in buns and he didn’t know how to spell it so he simply called them “hot dogs”!

Be sure to dress your dog and not

the bun – mustard is the all around favorite,

but children go for ketchup the most.

As for me, I’ll be hitting the lettuce heavily this month instead.  Apparently, I have been over-indulging and I missed National lettuce month last May, so now I must repent of my wicked ways.  If you’d like to check out some of the Food Channel's salad offerings, see this link:

http://www.foodchannel.com/articles/article/its-national-salad-month-lettuce-celebrate/

We've had several days of respite from the rains, so I was able to walk up to the drugstore and the library and get some much needed exercise.

And now to finally get to my main subject:

I was able to finish the last few blocks of my Persimmon Quilt's QOV mystery quilt and this thing is HUGE!  I didn’t have room to lay it all out with the borders.  I’ll be sewing rows together this weekend and have a finished top soon.

Dog Days of Summer

That grand harbinger of wisdom, the Farmer’s Almanac, talks about the Dog Days of summer – that is the period between July 3^rd and Aug 11^th.  In olden times, it was thought that the position of Sirius (the Dog Star) conspired with the Sun (in the same part of the sky) to make the days hotter and those hot days caused dogs to go mad, hence the Dog Days of Summer!

Some people (uh, ... dogs) know how to keep cool

Well, must of the USA is sweltering under unusually hot and dry conditions and many are driven to the brink about now.  We in Florida have had only our usual summer heat (in the 90s), but in my area we’re not in a drought.  In fact, one of my neighbors is planning to build another Ark - LOL.  We’ve had some especially wet weather for the last week.  And if you want to bring up old sayings again, it’s been anything from a “gully washer” to a “frog strangler” during some of these storms.  Today, the rain started at 5 am and has continued most of the day (pretty much the same as yesterday).  We’re soggy.

So in between thunderstorms (when I unplug the sewing machine to protect it from lightning), I have been working on my QOV Mystery Quilt.  The last clue came out last Sat and I’m working up the last of the stars:

Sure surprised me to see this develop!

And I polished off my fall colored swap blocks and got them in the mail for their Aug 1 due date:

each set has one 12 inch block, two 6's
and four 3 inchers - there are 7 sets in the mail now

And I’ve started a pinwheel and rail fence child-size quilt (I just have to flit from project to project!).  No photo yet – maybe this weekend.

Happy Friday the 13th!

No, I don’t think that Friday the 13^th is particularly unlucky – but just in case, I picked up a half-pint of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream at the grocery this morning to ward off evil – the French Vanilla ought to do it!

We did our best to work off the ice cream in advance yesterday when we played golf at a little executive course nearby.

I had received some new woods for my birthday and wanted to make sure my 5-wood was working properly (the 3 and 7 were doing fine).  And it was - except maybe for this shot:

Thank you, Caddy!

There were lots of little beggars on the golf course:

By the side of the cart!

Muscovy ducks everywhere

And since it’s been raining every afternoon (our usual late afternoon pattern), I helped them with a handout now and then from my granola bar (I’ll bet the golf course hates that!).

I’ve been trying to finish up some swap blocks and making pretty good progress:

Block called "Fair and Square"

Block called "Cathy's Campfire"

Tomorrow, we’ll be getting the last clue for the Quilts of Valor Mystery Quilt (#24), so that’s the plan for this weekend.  I found out that another member of my QOV group is doing this same mystery, so it’ll be fun to compare our results and fabric choices next month.

Gators on the Move

Here in central coastal Florida, it is that time of year when the local alligators warm up and begin moving between ponds, rivers and lakes looking for the best food and maybe the best mate.  They have been so visible this year that it even made the local newspaper (must have been a really slow news day!).

Tampa Tribune

Here are two pics of my close neighbors.  The one up on the bank of the pond in front of our house is between 4-5 feet long and fortunately is still skittish about people.  Our pond has lots of fish, including tasty Bass, but if no one feeds him and he doesn’t find a mate, he will go away (no – I don’t know if it’s really a “he”…).

The other pic is actually of a really little guy – he’s only about 18 inches long and pretty skinny.  This pond is outside of our development, but connects via a concrete culvert and he travels.  Sometimes you see him and sometimes you don’t.

Really just a little guy

Personally, I have a live-and-let-live policy.  I don’t go near them (my photos were taken with a zoom lens) and they don’t come near me.  Works out well for everybody.

I have been working on two Quilts of Valor, but I wanted to take a break today to make up a child’s quilt for the Sunshine Quilt Guild to be donated to Wrap-a-Smile.  I had a small piece of this cute froggie fabric left:

So I made up this simple top with 4-patches.  I really like the result and it was quick and easy.  Made me smile!