Memories

One of my Flicker friends lost her 10 yr old Dobie one day in June. After an afternoon of play, she just lay down and took her last breath being held by someone who loved her dearly. She was completely devastated, Lucy's death hit her hard and her 6 year old male, Silas who was lost without her too.

It took me a bit to finally decide what I wanted to do in memory of Lucy. After collecting pictures, the week before Labor Day I printed out a bunch that I thought went together to make ready to quilt.


I worked over Labor day weekend on cutting down to size, and putting the black borders on all the pictures. I had the puppies and paw print in my stash. so what I bought to go with this was the bright pink, Lucy's favorite color and the fuzzy backing. I decided I didn't want it to be really heavy with batting and all the stitching.

Once I finish a quilt I have to make a label. I don't consider my quilts done until until the label is complete. I usually labor over this for days to make it just right. This one took me all Saturday. Leaving it alone for a while then coming back to work more. I thought there was something missing so Ben read it and helped fix a couple of the last lines. I thought it turned out just perfect. Off to the left is what it actually looked like but below is what it say. I was pretty proud of how it turned out so I thought I'd include the real thing.

Memories of Lucy
June 11, 2000 – July 5, 2010

When you brought her home she was just a wee thing
With floppy black ears that flew like wings.
She romped and she rolled, making best friends from the start
She found a small spot way deep in your heart.
You might think it a handicap running on three
But not this ol’ girl, she would dance with glee.
They would whine and bark, making plenty of noise
She would tease poor Silas by taking his toys.
Just like her siblings, she had a poor heart
She was taken too soon, not yet ready to part.
She lives on in our hearts at ease
With oh so many lasting memories.
We’ll miss Sweet Beans and her love of all pink
You’ll see her again before you can blink.

Made with love by Shannon Coutant
Eugene, Oregon
September 2010

I sent it out Tuesday and it arrived today. I kept checking to see if it arrived and then it drove me crazy until I say her comments. I even sent Silas a little stuffed bunny, he loves his animals. She put a picture up of him opening his package and then of one with him holding his new toy in his mouth. the look on his face was great. It was funny because she thanked me for the gift but couldn't do much more..

I did forget to put my flicker name so she wasn't really sure who had given it to her, so after I left that info she left another message. she said she had tears after reading the card, and then after reading the label she lost it. I figured I'd done my job well if it made her speechless.

I took it into work to show it off and I guess the real shocker to everyone was, I've never met this person or her dogs. Sometimes you just have to go a little further to make someone happy and this was one of those times.

Now I have a new project...my sister sent me 30 cross stitch blocks.. that's another entry...

I finally finished the Barn Yard friends a few weeks ago. I had finished the center but decided I needed to get the garage done so spent the summer doing exactly that. I think I started working on it just after my birthday putting the extra borders, then sandwiched it together. the machine quilting I did over a weekend because it was brighter than at night.

I have several other tops to finish now too. It was nice to get back to quilting. I was coming up to my quilt room after dinner, sitting down on the loveseat and falling asleep before the show I was watching was half over. Was really making me a little ticked at myself. I really felt good when this one was done. Oh, I should have takend a picture of the back too. It's a dark green with chicken wire and little fat white & black chickens that have spots. maybe later. Just excited it was finally done.

My birthday weekend

My birthday started on Friday afternoon. While I was covering the phones for lunch the FedEx guy showed up with a flower box. While I was signing he made comment about someone receiving flower. I just said "cool". he read the box and it was to me.. said it was my birthday Monday. He wished me happy birthday as he was leaving. Turned out to be a dozen red roses. She said I wouldn't tell her what I wanted for my birthday so she decided to send me flowers. Very pretty.

Saturday was just a normal morning, running errands then home to rest. I had taken Monday off for my birthday so I wasn't in any rush to do the laundry. We decided to go to Outback Steakhouse for dinner. We were getting ready to go when the mailman showed up at the door..of course Tootsie went nuts as usual. Turns out I got a package, card & letter from one friend in Ohio and another card and letter from my other friend in Washington. Couldn't wait so opened the package. It was the framed cross-stitched picture above. She does beautiful work. I had to save the letters for after dinner.

At dinner I had a 9oz sirloin steak with a baked potato. I also had a Wallaby Darned. It's a frosty combination of peaches, champagne, Boomerang® Vodka and DeKuyper® Peachtree™ Schnapps. Sort of a frozen Icee. If you're feeling really in the mood you can get one Downunder. It's got a shot of Schnapps on top....but not tonight. We also have cheese fries that are super. We always have a great time when we go out so it was a good night.

Sunday wasn't bad either. Ben, Cassie & Ethan went to a movie and left me home with the girls. I did laundry and had a nice quiet afternoon.

Now Monday we had talked about going to the beach for the day but then Sunday night I thought Ben should take Ethan golfing. School will be starting in a couple weeks and I thought they should do something special.. Well morning came around and it was on the cool side and thought the beach might be close to the same. We check and it was suppose to be around 61 and a little cloudy.. so the beach it was.

So Monday morning I got up, took a shower and started getting stuff together. When we take the girls to the beach we take a large Igloo cooler, and towels to clean the sand off, plus water for us....we took a few snacks to for us and the girls. We got shoes for the sand and away we went.

it's only an hour drive to Florence but we drive about 35 more minutes north to a beach with easy access. Because it was Monday Ben stopped at a quilt shop I like and I was able to roam around for about 30 min. I was in just after the new owners took over last summer and I had already liked the new layout. this year they had changed the doors for better access, put new windows in the front to give more light and sort of put in a loft area for a classroom. I just couldn't believe the difference in the atmosphere. they did a super job. What's nice is that he's a quilter too and has even designed a couple patterns. I bought his pattern he was working on when I was in last..beautiful...plus a few fat quarters.

When Ben was at the coast for a run earlier in the year he found a street that led right to the beach, which would be better than some of the parks along the way. Unlike California, Oregon has a ton of beaches that you can use during the day, some might cost a couple bucks but you still can get down to the beach and have a good time. Well this new place was great. We were ale to pull right up to the top and park. The beach access was an easy walk down and for the hour we were there the was only two other people. You can go to my Flicker link and check out the pictures from our day. http://www.flickr.com/photos/23113511@N07/ There are also a couple videos too.

We were only there for about an hour but it was long enough to give the girls a good run, Ethan time to play in the sand. I don't think it got up to the 65 they predicted but with the little breeze it was just an all around nice day. We decided to drive up to Newport and head back through Corvallis to home. It seemed sort of silly to backtrack if we didn't have to, besides they were working on the road and there would have been a short delay. Besides that we could go to Mo's for clam chowder... a great place to go. Well that was a bust because there was no place to park close with the girls and they had a waiting line outside.

We ended up going to the candy shop for fresh salt water taffy and karmel Corn for me.. a weakness of mine. Then it was to Article Circle for lunch and the drive home. After we got home and got everything put away Ben brought up 3 packages and a couple cards from him and Ethan. They gave me DVDs for John Wayne's Chisum, season 4 of Bones (one of my favorite shows) and season 1 of Warehouse 13, another favorite. I watch a lot of movies while I sew so this was good stuff.

gotta tell you about the card Ben gave me...not the normal traditional Husband to Wife B-day card. the front is two ladies chatting over lunch. One says "where's the pool part at?", the other says "don't end a sentence with a preposition.".. open the card and she says "Where's the pool party at, bitch?" Like I said not the normal card.... loved it though.

I guess that's about it for now. Oh, I did buy myself a gift. I really love Tom Selleck and his latest Jesse Stone movie came out so I bought it. There isn't a lot on TV to watch these days so I watch a lot of old series' and movies....our collection is rather extensive... Whenever I retire I'll have more than enough entertainment to get by with... and I don't mind watching them over again....usually some space in between.

Until later.

Garage finally done.

I've spend the last couple months on the weekends working in the garage. When we moved into the new house the end of Sept 2007 we basically set the house up and the rest sat in the garage. a lot of it was what had been in storage from years ago. I went through a lot but not all and of course didn't want to get rid of everything. This time I went through all the boxes and got rid of so much...8 boxes of books, mine and kids, games, cloths and just stuff. Asked my Cassandra if she wanted any of the old stuff and she said no so out it went. We piled it all up in the driveway with some old wood that burned really bad.and the guys from work came and picked it up and took it to the dump. they did take the kids books and games to one of our programs for the kids. As you can see the pile was pretty big.

My husband and son finished putting the table away I'd been using, used the blower and blew out the dust, cobwebs and dog hair. They put out the rug, vaccumed it and brought up the treadmill. Now it looks like a regular garage.

We've never used the garage for the cars but now we can put the Honda in during the winter if we want. I can use the treadmill and not bother anyone. It was down in Ethan's room and usually had cloths hanging on it. All I need now is a fan for the summer and a small heater for the winter.

I'll have to take a picture it finished.. just can't beliveve it's done.. Now I even have room to put my cutting table so I can pin my quilts together. If I have to leave it overnight, it won't be in anyones way. Just turn the music on and pin away. since I have the larger area now, I've thought about having Ben get a big piece of plywood to lay on top when I have a queen or king to pin. I wouldn't have to move it as much as I do now.

Now that the garage is all done, I won't feel guilty if I'm on the computer or sewing.

My spring yard

Well, I bought flowers for my front yard and on Mother's Day the guys got them planted. There are two light and two dark pink carnations, plus to white flowers. Only a couple of the hydrangeas

came back.

These are in front of Ethan's windows. They are suppose to grow to about 4 foot tall. They are a light lavender. I'm really looking forward to seeing them bloom more.

Here's my pole Hydrangea. We had to move it from a nicer spot but it seems to have come back nicely. I'm hoping it will flower again this year. they are sort of a small white cluster.

I just wanted a little color in front of the house. I thought about getting a few pansy plants but they all thought this was enough. I think it was because they didn't want to do any more planting.

Ruler organizer almost finished.

Well, the front is finished at last. Now I have to find a backing..think I have one with coffee cups that I might use. Not sure why but the colors remind me of coffee.

The only part I'm not crazy about is the top pocket. All the pockets are made of 5 inch squares with a tuck at the bottom center. They all seem okay but the top one is so floppy. I think if I put the large rulers in the pocket they will just fall forward so I think I need to make the tucks a little longer. It might make the pockets stand up a little better.

This was a pretty quick project, now to finish it up. So the next couple weeks will be getting the ufo's ready to quilt.

finally a picture

Well, I finally laid out the pockets and took a picture. Now I have to sew a strip to the bottom and top of a couple then stitch them all together. Funny thing is I don't remember if there is batting as a liner.

I'm sort of excited to get it finished. I've wanted to make something for my rulers for a long time and just never found the right pattern. this one just seemed right. The pockets seem a little big but once it's all done and hanging on the wall it will hang right.

more pictures when all done.