QOV Scrappy Trip Around the World

It started on New Year's weekend.  A few people on Instagram decided to sew a scrappy trip around the world using the tutorial from Quiltville.com.  It spread like wildfire along the IG community and became a hashtag monster of its own, #scrappytripalong. Many drank the kool-aid, so to speak, including me. I made two tops total!   The truly scrappy one is waiting to be quilted but here's a sneak peak.

The second one was made for a donation to Quilts of Valor.  These came together pretty quick and I love how you can get different top looks out of the quilt.  Just check out the Flickr page set up to show all the photos (that's how many popped in to join this unofficial sew along).

So, I created strip sets, sewed them together per the tutorial and then finally ended up with a block. Then I had two blocks, three, and four.

 The quilt was starting to grow.

I'm excited, I'll be attending a local sew-in for QOV this upcoming weekend and I'll be able to hand in my quilt then but before I was to do that, I needed to take photos for you. The thing is, I had a dog interfere. He wanted to model, I think. He was actually posing so, I figured I'd let him have his day and publish his handsome mug.  I hope you enjoy.

And now some quilt details!

Cheers!
Beck

Pets on Quilts!

Some of you may have noticed on my sidebar an advertisement for the Pets on Quilts event.  This event started in August and ends on the 9th. If you click on the sidebar, you will see the initial post full of information. From there, click to the blog's home page to be brought to the most recent screen full of sponsor links and participant links. This is akin to the Blogger's Quilt Festival with voting after the links close to basically, "best in show" of the few categories.

I decided to link up this year and participate because when I make a quilt, it's an ever-loving challenge to try to keep the dogs from getting on it one way or another and I thought it'd be fun to show some of the pics I end up with.

They really, really, try to get onto the fabric when I lay out block placements (I really need a design wall)

but if I finish a quilt and lay it down for a photo, all heck breaks loose!  It's a cartoon-ish mad dash to take a photo, keep an eye on all three dogs and prohibit them, usually with a repeated mantra of "don't you dare, eah, no, stay, no, off, GET OUT."

Yep, I end up blowing a gasket to which they act all wounded and mope to the door and I feel bad.

They just love my quilts. They like other blankets but my quilts, wow, it's nutty and oddly complimentary.  I relent and let them lay on the ones for home or my family who has dogs

but they are so bummed when I don't let them get near other quilts, like charity quilts.  They are even bummed when they see me lay out a sheet over the floor for block placement or something. They just seem to know it's not for them.

A couple quilts have been relegated the dog beds on a frequent basis. For example, this one.

This next one was intended to be mine but Hubs gifted it to some good friends.  Needless to say, the dogs and I were unhappy. They really worked hard to each get a part to lay on and then studiously ignore mama.

At the end of the day, I decided if I can't beat em, to join them (this is my submission photo for the voting contest). I just needed to make them sit still long enough to get a good dog photo.  Except...

I'm not much of a photographer.  I hope you've enjoyed my puppies and swing over to Lily Pad Quilting for other great pics of pets on quilts!

Cheers!
Beck

Sasha's having a second surgery

Remember her?

and these posts? 
Sasha
She's Doing Fine

Well, she blew her other knee and while she hadn't fully torn it before and would limp a little then be fine, she came to the point where she was hobbling on three legs. We weren't going to have surgery done on the second leg, I mean, this is a few thousand bucks and frankly, while I was willing to do it, I steeled myself that she just wouldn't have the life her heart wanted (running free in the woods, hunting) because of it. However, we could not ignore that even as a house dog, her quality of life was now being affected.  She had a hard time with getting around. It would not be fair to address this.

We are putting a basement finish in our new home on hold and using our savings for surgery on her other hind leg.  It's a Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy.

I'd be appreciative if you would say a couple prayers for her today for her surgery to go well and maybe for me,  for me to relax (and you could tell me to switch to decaf tea instead of coffee, too). I seem to be more anxious about this one than the last. Less upset she has to go through it because I know how happy she'll be once she's fully healed but more anxious, for sure beacuse I know better what she has to go through.

Anyway, I'd appreciate any good thoughts. I do love Baby Girl. I've told her, she couldn't have found any other family who would have been suckered in by her love so much as to pay for 2 surgeries such as this. She certainly was a smart girl in sucking up to us.  Actually, now that I think about it, it hasn't been me she's sucked up to over the last couple of months or played up her limpness with, it's been the hubs. She's  acted tough for me and pathetic for him so he'd carry her down the stairs, etc.  She played him just right to get this second surgery... lol. :)

Have a good day... Beck

A hubs brag

First, you all convinced me. I'll keep plugging through on the random pieced top and will have photos for you by the end of today or early tomorrow to show how it turned out. 

Now, onto the real business.  At the bottom of this post are photos of the hubs with his two latest freezer additions. Please don't look or read further if that bothers you or reading about hunting bothers you. It's not gory but it could upset any of you who really just aren't fans.

The brag. Each year the hubs gets together with a group of friends and hunts Elk on Elk Mountain in WY. He got his doe elk yesterday.  The hunt details (feel free to share with your interested hubbies):

There's not much cover. The elk have the eyesight of turkeys and the nose of a deer. They can pick you out on the mountain over a mile away and it's hard to sneak up on big herds. A lot of eyes at different angles and elevations.  (Herds can be up to 800 large.) Often, when a hunter sees the herd on one side of the mountain he has to go up and over the other side to get to them without them breaking away. Not hubs, he worked up the same side willing himself to take three steps, stop and rest, take three steps, rest. 

The snow was up to his hips.  He started at 6500 ft elevation, and shot up the mountain, on a moving doe at aroudn 7900ft.  He hiked about a mile over ridges and down through valleys of deep snow to find a shooting lane within range. He took a 355 yd shot uphill with a 20mph wind differential and brought her right down.

His friend (and thankfully 4 of the 6 got their elk yesterday) equated elk hunting to pro football and deer hunting to pee wee football. The 6 guys were only able to drag 2 elk down the mountain yesterday. Will drag the other 2 down today then help the last 2 guys find and hunt their elk tomorrow until they get theirs.  The hubs said I should come experience it next year. Then said it really tests your man-hood.   It was easy for me to reply that since I'm not a man, there's no need to test it, I've already failed.  :)

All in all, a successful week for the hubs and he's bringing home the meat! Before he got to WY, he stopped at a friend's in NE and got us a pheasant. I've never had pheasant so this will be a nice new flavor to try. Way to go, my man.  I knew I married a provider, one way or the other! Now, when you are done, you can get warm by going south and getting some wild boar for our freezer. Pork, it's what I want for dinner. (A man's work is never done and a woman is never satisfied. lol)

  

Time for some GIRL POWER!

Sometimes my favorite poem pops into my head when I or a friend of mine needs a little incentive to stay strong, stay the course,  or keep the faith.  Other times, it’s just comical.

This is the poem:

The Female of the Species

WHEN the Himalayan peasant meets the he-bear in his pride,
He shouts to scare the monster, who will often turn aside.
But the she-bear thus accosted rends the peasant tooth and nail.
For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

When Nag the basking cobra hears the careless foot of man,
He will sometimes wriggle sideways and avoid it if he can.
But his mate makes no such motion where she camps beside the trail.
For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

When the early Jesuit fathers preached to Hurons and Choctaws,
They prayed to be delivered from the vengeance of the squaws.
'Twas the women, not the warriors, turned those stark enthusiasts pale.
For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

Man's timid heart is bursting with the things he must not say,
For the Woman that God gave him isn't his to give away;
But when hunter meets with husbands, each confirms the other's tale—
The female of the species is more deadly than the male.

Man, a bear in most relations—worm and savage otherwise,—
Man propounds negotiations, Man accepts the compromise.
Very rarely will he squarely push the logic of a fact
To its ultimate conclusion in unmitigated act.

Fear, or foolishness, impels him, ere he lay the wicked low,
To concede some form of trial even to his fiercest foe.
Mirth obscene diverts his anger—Doubt and Pity oft perplex
Him in dealing with an issue—to the scandal of The Sex!

But the Woman that God gave him, every fibre of her frame
Proves her launched for one sole issue, armed and engined for the same;
And to serve that single issue, lest the generations fail,
The female of the species must be deadlier than the male.

She who faces Death by torture for each life beneath her breast
May not deal in doubt or pity—must not swerve for fact or jest.
These be purely male diversions—not in these her honour dwells—
She the Other Law we live by, is that Law and nothing else.

She can bring no more to living than the powers that make her great
As the Mother of the Infant and the Mistress of the Mate.
And when Babe and Man are lacking and she strides unclaimed to claim
Her right as femme (and baron), her equipment is the same.

She is wedded to convictions—in default of grosser ties;
Her contentions are her children, Heaven help him who denies!—
He will meet no suave discussion, but the instant, white-hot, wild,
Wakened female of the species warring as for spouse and child.

Unprovoked and awful charges—even so the she-bear fights,
Speech that drips, corrodes, and poisons—even so the cobra bites,
Scientific vivisection of one nerve till it is raw
And the victim writhes in anguish—like the Jesuit with the squaw!

So it comes that Man, the coward, when he gathers to confer
With his fellow-braves in council, dare not leave a place for her
Where, at war with Life and Conscience, he uplifts his erring hands
To some God of Abstract Justice—which no woman understands.

And Man knows it! Knows, moreover, that the Woman that God gave him
Must command but may not govern—shall enthral but not enslave him.
And She knows, because She warns him, and Her instincts never fail,
That the Female of Her Species is more deadly than the Male.

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

Now tell me, who is the deadlier of the species here? My brother or me? Frankly, my brother thinks I could be mean enough to come out ahead… lol

 

(Still haven't gotten that fall turkey, though!)
 
Cheers!
Beck

She's doing fine

and so is mom.

This is Friday when we brought her home. The "why am I in my crate" pathetic look.  She pretty much stayed there all yesterday and Friday.  Dr. said we didn't have to restrict her to the crate but only 1 level of the floor. We, however, know her too well. She's too excitable so while she'll be out of the crate 50% of the time today, she'll only be in 2 rooms, the living room and kitchen. 

Short leash walks for the next 2 months for potty breaks.  This is her today getting loving from dad. Her incision is healing slowly but it definately looks better and seepage is almost stopped.

Two Silver linings:
1) We wanted to start keeping our dogs off the couches.  Perfect reason to start right now and keep the kids at it with her injury. (Doesn't mean our other dogs understand but so sad, too bad. LOL)
2) She will have a better quality of life in a while, with little pain in the future.

Thank you all for your well wishes. I'm sorry I didn't reply to your individual emails, it was easier with the attention to her and home to give this one update.

Cheers! Beck

ps- for those that told me it's okay to cry... it's okay for you, not me. I hate it. Even as a kid.  I know it's acceptable and allowed I just hate it so no weakness for me! "I am strong, like bull."  LOL (What movie is that line from, movie buffs?)

Favorite Things Friday (early)

Hi all.  Here's the thing. Tonight is about comfort food for me.  It could be called a Slack Tea Thursday (made famous by Mrs. Pyjamas) since it's Thursday but I think it's better posted as a Favorite Things Friday given this story will seep into tomorrow.

So what am I talking about?  I decided that Weight Watchers be damned today, I'm allowing myself some comfort eating to calm my nerves. Lunch was McDonald's cheeseburger and small fries and a small berry smoothie.  Dinner (don't laugh or get grossed out) a peanut butter and american cheese sandwich with 2 Pumpkin Spice Ales.  There's my Slack Tea Thursday.

Now, for the why.  My favorite thing Friday.

These 3. An 8 year old cocker spaniel, a 2.6 year old male vizsla (off to hunt training right now) and a 2.5 month old vizsla lab mix (recovering from surgery right now).

Ms. Surgery, Sasha, is the subject of these posts and a couple others here and there but basically. She's my baby girl. I've said it before and I'll probably say it for the rest of my life, a dog is a dog is always how I viewed things. I never understood some of those special owner/dog relationships but this girl came along and I now understand.

She's got personality like no one's business.

I read her and she me like no other dog I've ever had before.  She's too smart for her own good and too stubborn for probably anyone who loved her less to live with.  Did you know, I became interested in hunting and the addition of the vizsla to our family because of that is a direct result of her?  She needed a job and I thought it might be a nice way to go out with my husband when he hunted if I was training and "handling" the dog.  I figured, while I had no great interest, it would be nice to share in something my husband loved doing.

Lo and behold, I've got a bit if interest and maybe a tiny bit if the hunting fever.  My baby girl definately has the outdoor fever. She wants to be in the field and run. The problem is, she can't do it regularly. She's been having recurring leg issues. We thought she might need a full hip replacement but 3 consults later and 2 confirmations we learned she needed what's called a Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy (TPLO). In short, she had a partial ligament tear in one of her rear right knees.   She's a tough girl and is handling this better than mama, I think.

Today, however, she knew something was up. (I told you she was smart.) We went to the third Dr. she growled, was tense and stressed, only trusting me to not steer her wrong.  For the first time in all her appointments, etc. she had to be slightly sedated for the exam to take place. She was too tense for a good read. Then she needed more x-Rays.  So she was removed to be sedated. She came back and they gave the exam. Then, in her drugged state, had to be carried back to be x-Rayed and then back to go over the results with Mom. Mom authorized the surgery right then and she had it this afternoon.

However, even though Mom had a brave face, calm demeanor and even allowed herself to focus on everything except her baby girl's prognosis and next steps, baby girl picked up on that deep down hidden thread of nerves.  Poor girl was reading me and all I could do was take a few deep breaths, tell her she was a good girl and walk away from the pathetically sad, drug induced eyes as she was getting ready to be stuck again for blood work.

Tonight, I'm without her and I miss her. God help me... I'm not a crier. I hate crying.  However, I want to cry over this. I know she will be okay but that doesn't change that Momma feels she needs her baby girl back home. So I get comfort food and instead of Baby Girl having a beer, I'm having two! (-It's sarcasm, people, she's just licking the empty bottle! hehe)

So that's why Slack Tea Thursday and Favorite Friday seeped into each other this week. I'll post how she's doing post-operatively this weekend, I'm sure, but all I really know is a minimum of 8 weeks restriction for the girl who loves to run. At least knowing it's good for her in the long run will keep me true to her recovery requirements! Here's to seeing her do this again in 3 months.

Have a good one, y'all! Check out everyone else's favorites with the link at the top right of my blog.

Beck

Tiny bit of quilting news, vacation photos, and an admonishment

First, the admonishment.  Only 1 of you was brave enough to try that burger recipe. That I know of, at least.

Shame! I made it so easy! Make the burger, hand to someone else to cook... tsk, tsk.  (-wink-)

(Edited to add... the above "admonishment" was meant to be very tongue-in-cheek and playful, much like most of what I say on this blog. -grin-)
For the one that tried it, glad the burger rocked and exploded (be sure to seal the meat next time around the filling) but sorry you killed the green stuff. The next meal might work a little easier.

My tiny bit of quilting news, I couldn't go all summer without sewing. Before I left for vacation, I bought fabric and cut it up while on vacation. I will be hand sewing this summer. If I'm lucky, I can complete it before summer is done and only worry about quilting it after that. I'll be posting tom. or Thurs. regarding how this is going. If anyone is brave enough to go along, it's only squares.

Finally, the vacation photos. Not all are here but you can see why I spent 1 day wondering what all my blog friends were doing, 5 not giving a crap and then returned home to try and hold onto the relaxed feeling by doing as little as possible. 

First, step-son graduated highschool. Congratulations, Sean!!

View from the lake to the cabin and from cabin to the lake.

Kids, hubs and dog enjoying the lake!

My large-mouth bass (at least that's what the hubs says it is.)  This is beginner's luck, friends. I was one of two of us that caught a fish all week.

The lake the morning I caught the bass.

Cheers! Beck