Dog Tired

Skip sometimes laid down in the "frog" position. He is chewing a bone here. Kipper never does. My DD2 has a Schnauzer and he does it all the time. Do poodles do this? Do labs? Do only male dogs do it?
Just wondering. Kipper saw the camera and had to get up and come to get his pic taken. Skip went home yesterday. He took home two bones -one for the yard (a real bone with lots of good smell left) and one for inside (one that has been worked on until it is clean and won't stain or give the carpet it's smell). Doesn't everyone take home something from their vacation? Today is hot and Kipper is quite happy to just rest up inside the house today.

I've had major intestinal upset since last Friday night. Might be type of flu but I think it is food poisoning. I have a very sensitive GI system. I was only taking half my arthritis dose and this is not from it. Of course, I haven't taken any meds since getting sick. Well, any meds other than tons of stomach stuff. I have a good supply on hand and managed to keep ice chips down so didn't dehydrate. I'm now up to a little white rice, pretzels and saltines. Lots of sleep and listening to music but I did get the binding made and machine sewed on the quilt.

No progress on anything. Daily goal is to take a shower and read a few blogs. Well, I got the shower done and we'll see about the blogs. :)

Tatting

Last week I went to the cemetery where my father's mother and grandparents are buried. I hadn't been there in about 15 years. Shame on me. It was a very small cemetery surrounded by fields and woods. I was sure I could find the graves. You could look at every one of them in the cemetery in twenty minutes. Oh what the years have done to even this very rural place. The road is still gravel. The cemetery is still without a sign saying it's name, but it has expanded and had lots of graves added to the old part. I didn't remember the stone designs accurately and couldn't find them. I would have given up, but my friend Shirley, who went with me, said no way. We called and went to the township office to look at the plait map. The had put the names on computer but couldn't find my family. My great-grandparents were buried in 1906 and 1933 but my grandmother was buried in 1979. They could find none of them but I knew they were there. Finally she looked through all the "W" names and found a last name with the great-grandparents first names. She showed me the original hand written book from which the names were taken and it seemed very wrong too. When I finally found the grave markers, the name was correct. The only record the township had was of who bought the original plots. When that name had been put in incorrectly, it was hopeless. Funny system. Oh, well, I got it corrected. And I discovered that in 1906 four grave sites had been purchased. One was still empty. I asked how I could claim it. I'm an only child, as was my father, so there could be no conflict as to inheritance of it. So I came home to find death certificates and obituaries to send to the township clerk. They also wanted as much family history as I could provide. I spent a couple hours at my local senior center using their computer program. I found my great-great- grandparents on the 1860 census. They were born in 1801 and 1822 and were living in the area in 1860 with their five children. I want to go spend some more time on that computer to see what else I might find. Maybe next week. I have dragged out the boxes of family information and treasures. I definitely come from a line of pack rats. I've tackled the job of trying to put it all into some kind of family book several times, but I am determine to finish it this time. I kept thinking I would gather more information first. Now I'm just going to organize what I have into a loose leaf notebook that can be updated later. Today I started sorting things into individual files. My mother's is large and will probably be the last one I do. I found some cards she made using her tatting skills. I hope you can enlarge the pic so you can see it. I never learned how to tat. Do any of you know how?

Bits and Pieces

I don't know why but my computer has sent the picture gremlins on their way and I can now post them from both Picasa and the blog.

Here's a pic showing the back of my quilt. It was a piece I had in my stash and worked well to not show the quilting. That's the camera cord, whoops. Thanks to everyone who has been so supportive about my space quilt. Oh, it has an official name - What's In a Name? I am thinking of typing a bit about each of the names I choose and getting it copied onto cloth and sewing it to the back of my quilt. I couldn't find anything in my stash to use for binding so must be off to the LQS today. Yesterday I hand delivered the paper work for entering my quilt into the show. Today was the final date. The first week in September is my next deadline - to physically submit the quilt. The show begins Sept. 13th.

Kipper and Skipper are doing well. Yes, Skipper definitely has some problems understanding which dog I'm talking to. Kipper has established the rules for Skip who, being a young dog, accepts them very well. Rule 1 is don't come near my food bowl when it has food. I established an area for Skip's bowl and he stays there fine. He uses slow manners when eating so it takes him longer than Kipper who woofs his down. But Kipper never goes to Skips bowl while he is still eating. Both dogs use Kipper's water bowl and share bones - first one to start chewing it has it until he walks away. Skipper found Kipper's toy basket and soon dumped it out and has the toys all over. Kipper seldom plays with them any more but just to be sure Skip has two of them tucked under him when napping. Rule #2 was that Skip can't get on Kipper's couch. Skip soon found the couch on the porch and uses it. Rule #3 is not to get on Mom's bed which Kipper does. Skip brought his own bed and Kipper never gets on it. Rule#4 Kipper goes through the door first both when going outside and coming in. It was really interesting to watch Kipper teach Skip his rules and how Skip said okay. Skip has also taught me some of his rules like sitting before he goes outdoors. He doesn't have a fenced in yard so I'm sure he is waiting for a leash. The other day, I watched them when they went outside. They both chose the same bush and each was on one side with opposite legs lifted while they looked back at the house. It has been raining and raining here. Why couldn't it do it a month ago to help the crops? No, it has to wait until I have two dogs to wash mud off their feet. Better than last year when I had my sons three dogs for a month, anyway. Both dogs really have fun running and wresting in the yard. Skip is a very nice dog and we are happy to have him visit.

Last week I went to a circus. It was a very small one that the Lions Club brought in. This was the first year for it. They put up a "big top" in the park in town. I really enjoyed it. Not the big Ringing Brothers, three ring big deal but an up close and personal one ring. They had animal acts, including dogs and elephants, and juggling and tumbling acts. The same people often came back and did another type act. The high acts had wires attached to the people, especially to the children. It was just a lot of fun. Reminded me of my small town childhood summer days. The prices were were reasonable with $10 for adults and $2 for a snow cone. The tent was full of kids and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I didn't go but some people came in the morning and watched the elephants set the tent up. There were also elephant rides for the kids. Of course, the elephants did an act. They looked very well cared for and content. I think animals like having jobs. My friend is having major health problems and she went with me. For a couple hours it got her mind on happy things. We went out to dinner afterwards. It was a good day.

Hope you are having a good day!

Bits and Pieces

Today I'm taking a deep breath and ...

Thanks to everyone who has been so encouraging about my space quilt. Oh, it has an official name What's In A Name? I am thinking of typing a bit about each of the names I choose and getting it copied onto cloth and sew it to the back of my quilt.

Quilting Done

Very poor pics. Sorry. All the stars I quilted do not show up due to the variegated thread. I ran close, too close for comfort, with having enough thread for the word part of the quilt so I used a light gray on the blue border and it worked fine. The utility quilting caused more puffiness than line quilting. Actually I liked it but I ironed it with lots of steam to flatten it out some. Hoping it will hang better that way. It is ready for binding now. Still not sure of name for it. I'd sure like to finish it today so must be off. Hope I have some blue I can use for binding.

Kipper's Got a Visitor

Kipper is hosting my niece's dog for the next 10 days. He is an 18 month-old Labradoodle named Skipper. He currently has a summer haircut. Without it he has pretty curly fur. He is a very nice, gentle dog. They sure had a good wrestle and rump in the yard and are both worn out now. Both dogs are very near the same height and weight and Kipper, who is 9 years old, keeps up just fine. It is fun to watch them wag tails. Skipper has his flag waving high and Kipper's is swinging low.

Look Look

I went through it all again using the blog to post a pic and it worked. Now to try to figure out how to post more than one. I had to click on the box above to get the second pic. Wonder why I couldn't do two at once. Oh, well, I'm really glad to get pics via any method. I've been working a lot on quilting using these stars. It is sort of a cross between tieing (or is it tying) and quilting. Sure hope I have enough thread. More soon.

Not Yet

Thanks for the help but... I tried it and got an error message so must track it down. :( Stay tuned.

No Pics

For some unknown reason Picasa will not let me post pics. Grrr. I abandoned it a couple days ago thinking it would work itself out. But no change today. What should I do? It goes through all the steps but there are no pics here. Please Help!

I have my space quilt sandwiched via spray glue and thread basting. I used a cotton batting only because I have a big roll of it on hand. It also is good to cling to the top and backing. I am hand quilting it and so wanted to show you what I'm doing. I'm quilting with #8 variegated blue thread. I'm making small stars (and X with one of two extra lines across) about every 2 inches all over the background. They are a quarter to 3/4 of an inch in size. With all the seams in this quilt it is hard to pull the thread but I really like the results. I have two spools (are they called that?) of the DMC but figured I'd need more. So off the JoAnn's I went only to discover they didn't have it. Oh, I so miss my Hancock store. The quilt store doesn't carry it any of it. Now I'm hoping I'll have enough. I started using color 93 witch has a lot of light blue. When I couldn't buy more I started also using color 121 which has more darker blue. I have been working on my quilt an hour at least twice a day and think I have about half of it done. I'm using a thimble, which I always do, on my third finger and bandaid on my index finger. This hot weather is not nice to be doing hand quilting. Holding it and the bright light I must have over my shoulder produces more heat. I'm in my underwear only, have a large glass of ice water beside me, the ceiling fan running and an ice bag under my bare feet. Hey, whatever works. No pics of this. Your imagination is enough. "LOL" Oh, I sure hope I can post pictures soon.

I also need ideas for a name for this quilt. The challenge is called 50 Years in Space. I want something more original for the name of my quilt. I've been calling it my space quilt but I want something more specific. All ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Oh Happy Day

I can't believe it is really here - the pkg from Finn. I was hoping for a bit of vintage fabric and look what she gave me! Many pieces and a mini quilt made by Sylvia herself. I thought the quilt was my PIF gift but she says no, this is her blog anniversary gift. I'm still confused about why the person having the anniversary is giving gifts rather than receiving them, but hey, it has made my day and many more to come. Finn has said that we are free to pass along her gifts. NO way. NO time. Don't even think of it.

I sure let my child come out in anticipation of this gift from Finn. She said we could send in our name as many times as we wanted for the drawing. I emailed most every day for the (what was it?) two weeks. I couldn't imagine that everyone wasn't doing the same thing. I have always been very nostalgic for old things and I consider Finn my dear friend. So, the big day came and my name was one of those drawn. I thought Finn would just pop a piece of fabric in each person's envelop and be off to the post office. How silly of me. Of course she thought and thought about each of us and produced a very personal gift for each of us.

After the drawing, I became a real pest, thinking my pkg had been mailed and worried that it was lost. Even when it was mailed, it took forever to get here via first class. How come Finn's storms and hot weather come to me in one day and her pkg took a week? Probably stopped in Minneapolis, Chicago and Detroit. Probably would have been faster via California. Oh, me. The child in me sure had fun anticipating this gift and a big thanks and hugs to Finn and Sylvia!

I Been Caught

Thanks to everyone for your complimentary comments on my space quilt. It really was a lot of fun to make and I appreciate everyone's encouragement along the way. I'm thinking it is going to be a challenge to quilt, so keep your fingers crossed for a complete quilt.

Okay, Tonya you caught me. In most places where I inserted a word later, I just partly opened the seams between two of the letters above it and then made the background long enough to inserted between the seams. I sewed the top first. Then trimmed that seam and ironed it down. Then I resewed the seams I took partly out. But... as you figured out, the seams in Endeavour didn't work. So I folded and pressed the sides of Tiros. Then I laid the Tiros piece over Endeavour and sewed the top. Then I appliqued the sides down by hand. I worked carefully and it went down fine. Finally I trimmed out the fabric behind the Tiros insert. Notice I sure didn't take any pics of the back of this work. I also appliqued the dates on. I had thought they were going in the border but they didn't belong there. I also had the top row on the bottom for a long while. Lots of fun playing. Hope this makes sense. I also couched Sojourner twice - once with pink and then gray. It still looks too light in the pic but is okay to the eye. My DDL came while I was making the words and said how much nicer it looked in person than in the pics.

Ta Da

Pictures don't show it at it's best, but here it is! It was really hard to square and I had to clear out my ironing board and sewing machine to put it on the floor to do this. I added a red stopper and the star fabric border. The red is some trim I bought back when Hancock went out of business. It is now 72" x 65". The border is the color of the bottom section in the last pic. Eventually, I'll get a good pic. Did you notice a new word? I added another - Vanguard. It is the second artificial satellite successfully placed in orbit by the U.S. (1958). It was the first solar powered satellite and is still orbiting Earth. That makes it the oldest artificial object in space. Yes, I have found the information about the words very interesting. I found making the letters easy and much faster when I started making two letters at a time, instead of sewing off to a scrap and then sewing more on one letter. The first time doing "S" and "R" required some thinking, but I can turn them out easy now. The best part was how creative they let me be. Truly playing. It takes a lot of background fabric and there is some waste. Also a lot of thread, at least it seemed like it. Since I used different letter fabrics, it only took a little of each. Now it needs ironed up good with lots of sizing and then to the sandwich process, which I'm not looking forward to. I have no idea what to do about the quilting.