Scout at 7 months old

It's Scout first autumn and she seems to be enjoying the cooler temperatures!

We have had to place stones around the garden to inhibit digging.  Now that it's cooler, we are no longer using her pool and placed it over one her favorite digging areas.

She's decided she likes it.

Her favorite activity is sitting in the pool and expecting us to throw the ball to her.  At times, she actually cries to go outside and play this game.

Yesterday we visited our friends Lu and Mike and their two dogs Rascal (brown) and Harlow (blonde).  Scout has been afraid of big dogs and was a bit apprehensive at first.  Lu totally understands dogs and made sure her visit was smooth and gradual (first just in the yard with us, then one dog, finally the second).  

After 30 minutes, Scout had become very comfortable, if not the smallest member of the pack.  She liked to follow the big dogs

 Especially Rascal (below):

 We visited for 2 1/2 hours. 

When we got home, Scout passed out and slept hard for a few hours.

We can't wait to visit them again!

Hope you are having a wonderful October!

I like Thursdays: Septemeber 28, 2017

It's apple season!

What is your favorite type of apple?  My husband and I like Honeycrisp apples but this week we tried a new variety: Envy!  It was very good too!  We are expecting a good season of apples because we had so much rain this past summer.

I like pansies!  

We are expecting cooler temps to come in today.  In a weird turn of events, September was actually warmer than August.  I was not usually enthused about the arrival of autumn but after temps in the 90s, I'm looking forward to some cooler weather. 

I like old photographs!

I've actually been collecting paper ephemera for decades.  I like antique sewing magazines, victorian trade cards, and old photographs.  I think this school photo is endearing because of the little girls displaying their dolls.  Isn't is sweet?

That's all for this week.  Have a great day!

Fall

It's fall.

Yesterday poor Scout got stung in the butte by a bee.  The yellow jackets are wretched right now and will attack anything just because they are miserable.  My grandmother used to beg all her grandkids to "never get married between August and October" because of bee behaviour this time of year.   I always think of her gardening wisdom this time of year.

On Thursday, I had lunch with some friends; a few of them are nurses.  Do you remember when I took a fall on Labor Day?  Scout took me for a drag the first time we walked after her leg healed.  Anyway, my friends didn't like the looks of my arm and insisted I see a doctor.  And then...they started texting and emailing me to remind that I do need to get the arm checked.

So I went to an express care facility yesterday and it turns out I actually broke my arm (nearly three weeks ago).  That would be okay but it has to be seen by an orthopedic on Tuesday.  Apparently the set of the bone is not proper.  I'm not sure what is in store for me so I am letting you know now in case I get off the blog for a while after Tuesday.

I'm in no pain, just minor discomfort from time to time.  One of the funniest things about this whole situation is that when my neighbor told her 17 year old daughter about the situation, Katie said:  "that Michele-- she is a savage!" This comment made my husband and I laugh like crazy 😊

So now, everything is up in the air:  Scout's spaying, my husband's work and hunting, and I may have to rearrange my lecture schedule for the next few weeks.  I'll know more Tuesday.

So what am I doing?  Well cleaning up the sewing room and getting things together so that if I have to have my arm in a cast (I declined the cast at the express place), I'll be able to work with one arm.

I'm not good at keeping still.  Fortunately the problem is my left arm so I'll be able to write.  I have two programs to work on and will be handwriting them and some other business stuff if I have to be in a cast.  I have ephemera to organize and books to read and we'll see how it goes.

I hope you are having a better beginning to this season!  Take care of yourself and have a great weekend!

I Like Thursday, September 21, 2017

Shana Tova! 

It's Rosh Hashanan and I wish a Happy and Sweet New Year to all my Jewish friends!

This week I am just getting things together before Scout gets spayed next week. There is a lot of debate as to when to spay a dog at this point.  My vet said that the pros and cons are about even for doing it now (when she is 6 months old) or waiting until after she has a heat or two.  The turning point for me was finding out that my neighbor's rat terrier is a stud dog and I don't want rat terrier/poodle puppies!

Speaking of Scout, she is doing very well and is a very cute puppy.  She has a variety of nicknames throughout our neighborhood and literally grazes through the streets as we take our constitutionals.  It seems like everyone wants to give her a treat or a biscuit and they have transferred their affection of Seamus to her--even if she does still jump a bit.  

As I have mentioned before, she is a blue standard and is now beginning to really gray.  I like her coloring and now giggle when I look at her face.  She is greying towards the top of her ears and it reminds me of Jameson from Spiderman comic books (I'm a mom of a comic book collector).

I also like her new collar which has her name and my phone number embroidered on it:

I like pruning my garden.

It's therapeutic and the pay off is that I often get a rebloom of flowers.

 That the hostas will rebloom surprised me this year:

 Rudbeckia with caryopteris behind it:

 Canterbury bells:

 Fever few and caryopteris:

I posted this late and apologize!

I hope you have a great weekend!

End of September Sewathon

I finished this skateboard top this morning.  

It will be a donation quilt for Camp Erin.

Now it's back to business as usual.  My husband returns home from Peru this weekend, lecture season begins next week, and I have to start thinking about Scout's spaying on September 27.

I'm glad I had the past 13 days as a sewathon while the hubs been away.  I finished 6 tops, three of which were all scraps.  The skateboard quilt and the Origin tops were UFOs.  I had an entirely different pattern for Origin but I couldn't find the pattern and couldn't even remember my original concept.  Doing a square in a square is totally simple but at least it is a top.

I'd love to tell you that after all this sewing, I see a substantial difference in my stash but alas, it looks the same.  I will however do more of the square scrap quilts.  They are easy to do, and I have many bins of scraps to use up yet.

It's time to head to my machine quilter now so I have quilts I can bind while Scout is recovering.  This weekend I will be packing up quilts for the lecture next week and cooking up some meals for my husband.  

Have a wonderful day!

I like Thursdays, September 14, 2017

It's "I Like Thursdays!"  Be sure to visit our hostess with the most-ess, LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color, to read more positive posts!

What do I like this week?

I like that all my friends and family came through Hurricane Harvey and Irma safely.  Thank you God and continued prayers for all those impacted by this terrible weather.

I like the relationships I've developed through the internet!  This week a big shout out to Jocelyn at Canadian Needle Nana!  Welcome back and so glad to see you back online!  I love Jocelyn's likes each week and her projects that she so graciously shares with us.

I like the tutorials at the Missouri Star Company.  This week I'm working on their skateboard quilt pattern which will be a donation quilt.

It's mum season!  Love the flowers, love the scent!

My husband is away and while he is, I had breakfast for dinner last night.  It's not the kind of dinner he would like and that made it a bit more fun 😄

Because my husband is away, I've been getting a LOT of sewing done.  I'm set up in the dining room because Scout isn't allowed on the steps yet.  This week I finished these two tops:

 

Well that's it for me this week.  

Wishing you a day of kindness and blessings!

Peace and Remembrance

Another weekend of prayers.

And may I add praying for the folks in the Caribbean, Georgia, the Carolinas, and all else who are in dangers way.  

I like Thursday, September 7, 2017

I like that the SUN is shining today!

And so does Scout!  

We've had rain for quite a few days and are relieved to have some sunshine today.

What do I like this week?  I like that I can sew while it is raining.  I have a lot of scraps and thought I would use some of them up for donation quilts.  Yesterday I finished this one:

Scout poses on my quilts just like Seamus used to.  She is too adorable for words!  She is healing well and gets her last therapy appointment this week.

Now I'm working on this one.  I tend to cut scraps into charms or jelly roll sizes so piecing these have been really easy.  

I like things to be organized.

I like collections but I think they should displayed (or why keep them?) and put together in a place, here is one example of my display case with my bisque dolls:

I picked up this piece recently and am in love with the shape.

Plus the inside has drawers!  I'll probably use this for storage in my sewing room:

My favorite recent find is this spool shelf which I hope to hang in the cornerr above my desk:

I won't be gardening until the soil dries out and to be honest, I took a fall this week and am too sore to be digging around.  So I'll continue to sew.  

Prayers this week for those in Florida, the Caribbean, and those recovering in Texas.  

Be sure to check out other "I like" participants at LeeAnna's blog here.

Have a wonderful day!