The Countdown Continues...

First, go here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o38BoSvnRVI

I'll wait. I promise.

Go, you will love it! Patti sent it to me today and I've watched it three times. It's short, so scoot! Go watch!

...

...

...

See what I mean? There are more, I presume from as Gin and her master progressed through the competition, but I will have to watch them another day. Tonight... I am Le Tired. But was that not cute?

(Tuffboy and Tuffgirl were overheard critiquing Gin's moves.... they were duly impressed and possibly cooking up a few ideas of their own!)

But in quilty news..... The goal appears closer!!

Tomorrow, the gold sashing and the borders. Not to mention, three hunks of plain material that must be stitched together to make the backing.

I think I just might make it!

*crosses her fingers!*

:)

All Saturday Sampler, All The Time!

It's gotta be in the Fed Ex box and headed for my long-arm quilter, Cotie, by Wednesday....

This weekend, I finished up the rest of my blocks. I made four that were not in the original plan for the Saturday Sampler... to replace the medallion in the center. I thought Janet's was gorgeous with the medallion,
















but I just wanted to have sixteen different blocks... I have had a blast learning how to use the Marty Michell templates. Sew much fun!

Here's one which was called "Greek Cross"... laid out to try to figure out how to put it together... These extra blocks did not have assembly instructions!












And all put together... I kinda like that one!












And here's one that I think was called Lancelot....You will note I have it pretty much all laid out properly....












Oopsie! ...Somehow it did not get sewn together quite so properly.












In fact, not one of those stupid red/gold squares was pointed in the right direction. This resulted in some creative cursing, and also the sound of frogs in the sewing room. (rippit, rippit, rip it out!)












The easy way out was to leave two in backwards, and put the other two in backwards also....resulting in a perfectly acceptable block. At least that's what Karen said. Perfectly acceptable. And did I mention the Fed Ex truck, next Wednesday?!

Moving on...

I had one other unfortunate moment when I had chain pieced about 4,592 triangles together across their hypotenuses.












(Oh my goodness, my math teacher was right! I actually DID use my Mad Math Skillz as an adult. I remembered that the long side of the triangle was the hypotenuse!)

Ahem. Too bad that I should have sewn them together across the short side of the triangles.












I decided to forego ripping out 4,592 hypotenuses.












(hey, I wonder if I can compost 4,592 100% cotton hypotenuses?)

I recut the blasted triangles!

Here's one called Bear Claw....












And here's the last block we got from this year's Saturday Sampler program, last Saturday. I loved this one! It was intriguing and just plain fun!












After I got the blocks done, it was time to tackle the green inner sashes and triangle corners.... Candi from Leah's was able to provide me with the necessary information for the size of those green sashes .... so I did not have to guess.

I owe her....BIG TIME!!

I cut, and I cut and I cut....












And this is ALL I had left when I had enough of them cut. As in, I couldn't have come up with one more, if my life had depended on it. Whew!

Next the little triangles for each corner were to be cut. The instructions mentioned some sort of fancy ruler for triangles which would make triangle that were the perfect size. I glanced up at my wall, because I knew I had a triangle ruler up there that I had bought YEARS ago (in Texas, I think), and I wondered if by chance I could figure out the size and use it as a guide...
















Well, I'll be hornswaggled... It was a Marty Michell ruler and the exact size I needed was clearly marked on it.

The sun shined on me, the birds sang, the choirs joined in.... It was one of those "I don't believe it" moments.... That ruler has hung there ever since I bought it, back in the day, swearing "this will come in handy one day, I'm sure!"












So my triangles got cut, and here's the first of the 16 completely finished big blocks.












Fifteen to go, and sashing.....and a border. "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can!"

:)

More puppy porn...

For brief, shining moments today, the five-second rule was replaced by the 15 minute rule, if you were so inclined, because I did my floors...So well and so thoroughly that had I dropped my spaghetti squash and marinara sauce during that 15 minutes, I'd have given consideration to just hunkering down and eating from the floor. But then I opened the door and let the dogs back in.

It was great while it lasted! Clean, fresh smell, no crunching underfoot while I walked.... no doghair swirling around my ankles.... :)

Poor Sadie got bitten by something yesterday.... we have no idea what. She turned around to look at me in the backyard, with such a sad face. I thought, "awww, she's looking older, no more puppy....." But then I noticed the fullness to her snout, and she came over to me and I thought, "no, something is wrong!"

(ignore the wood chips on the rug....Tuffboy got Tuff with an old Halloween decoration he stole from my office....I haven't vacuumed it up yet!)

(Poor baby!)
I realized her entire face was swollen, but it was more swollen on her left.....and as I checked her over, she would not let me touch her face, but I found a huge welt on her left hip.... See it, in the picture below?

We may never know what it was. She kept that sad face most of the day yesterday!

But today, she's her fine sleek self with no swelling at all. The welt on her hip is almost gone. I may still talk to the vet about what the dosage of Benadryl would be for her, in case she ever has that happen again, and has any breathing issues. Scary!

And for puppy porn of a more lighthearted sort... here are Tuffboy and Tuffgirl, curled up to sleep.

Normally, Tuffboy is quite the gentleman. However, I did hear him gasp in protest last night and mutter something about Tuffgirl Kimi "packing it on".

I don't think Kimi was very appreciative of his remarks, since the last time she was in the vet's office, she heard the word "diet" mentioned in the same sentence with her name. Seems she was a mere 8 ounces away from her top weight for her breed.....

Tuffboy hastened to tell her she was beautiful and his favorite, and he would always love her, and, and.... for Pete's sake, could she please move so he could catch his breath?

I guess they worked it out, because a few moments later, snoring commenced, in stereo!

Got a couple of blocks done for the S.Sampler quilt...

Five left to go...the last block we received last Saturday, and the four extra for the center.

And then, I just realized, I will need to figure out how to finish it...

There is apparently a greenish border and then background material, around each block, before the sashing.....
















Eeek!

:) Have a quilty weekend!

More Cody Pix

I just knew I had more! Finally remembered to get them off the laptop and over to my regular computer.

The church my folks are attending right now has a really sweet minister who offered to let me use his internet signal whenever I needed to send/receive work.... So this time, my Cody branch office was not the KMart parking lot; it was the church parking lot or Fellowship Hall! Pastor's generosity saved me some internet charges! Here's Pastor and his oldest son, cutting up the son's first elk, in the Fellowship Hall kitchen, with lots of tables, good lighting, etc.































This didn't seem in the least bit out of the ordinary to me, in Cody....but I bet it would raise a few eyebrows back here in Orange County! They will enjoy that elk all winter. They had cut up several roasts, and ground up elk burgers... and I think they mentioned making sausage. Local meat, grown in truly free range style.... on a natural diet of grasses, no chemicals, antibiotics or preservatives.... Yum! The vegetarian side of my brain hesitates, but the meat-eating side of my brain is drooling!

On the way home from town one night, we spotted mule deer close enough to catch on camera... Look at these cuties!












(click on pic to embiggen! All those dots are eyes!)

And here's Mom feeding another couple of cuties!












Back at the house, in the sunroom, Dad keeps an eye on the 23 deer who regularly visit the back pasture.































You can see the quilt top I was making on the floor. The wooden structure Dad is kneeling beside is a carpeted lookout platform he built for Julie and Jinx.... They climb up and look for deer, horses, bunnies.... anything that moves! Well, when they are not basking in the sunlight, snoring....

Strangely, he hasn't seen as many deer since I left. (I don't think he's found the sign I painted and stuck up on the roof "Bambi, go home, deer season has started!")

Here's Mom dishing up Five Star delicious and healthy dinners! Thank you, Mom! Lost another two pounds while I visited - Yay!
















Dad whipped out several knitted caps while I was there....
















And here, we're tackling a most unfortunate knotty problem...












Mom was house/dog sitting for a friend, and I got to meet the Big Black Labs. Sweet dogs! Sweet B I G Dogs!
























Here's a picture of the local quilt shop.... I was so overwhelmed when I got inside I completely forgot to take any pictures.












Fabric fumes, you know. Makes it hard to think.

Meanwhile, the quilt....it was growing!












We had great weather the whole time I was there.... Beautiful views of snow capped mountains...












And a bit of a gentle breeze..... by Cody standards, anyway!!












Yep, 31 mph wind and a high of 47 degrees.... it felt Way Colder than 47!!

And presenting.... the local barn kitties!!
















Here, Dad risks life and limb, to climb up the bales of hay and feed the cats in their private dining room.
















I want you to know....my sister gets it honest. This apparently is a patented family method of helping someone accomplish a chore at a great height...
















See? Here she and her hubby are employing a similar technique for housepainting to the one Dad and Mom were using for kitty feeding!

But back to the kitties...












Here Dad dishes up the gourmet dinner. And they are very appreciative!













But even More Appreciative of the nice belly scratching session after they ate!
















And the quilt top....it is done!
















I've already started an envelope to save for my next trip! Good night all! :)