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Driving Snuggle Buddies
Filed under BlogPaws, Tilly, Wally, Wordless Wednesday
She’s Pulling
Today Spirit and I attended a pulling seminar. Berners were bred to pull milk carts so I thought it would be fun to try doing something that she would enjoy. It proved to be a bit of a challenge to start with. Spirit has been trained to walk beside me on a loose leash so I had a hard time getting her to go out in front of me and put some tension on the leash. The teacher said that dogs with good obedience always have more of a challenge with pulling sports. I did get her to drag a few old bike tires and at the end we did a little work with me on a scooter. If there was a dog in front of us she would pull a little. Hopefully I can get her to reliably pull in harness without losing her loose leash walk in a collar. Fingers crossed!!!!
Filed under Blogpaws Wordless Wednesday, Drafting, Pulling
Snow….No Thanks
Sunday morning we woke up to a winter wonderland. October 9th is way to early for snow and winter to start…and not great for Thanksgiving. We were supposed to do a 20km workout in preparation for our upcoming half marathon. After looking at all the snow, we decided to opt for a 10, leave our 20km for today and use it to work off some of the turkey and stuffing we snarfed last night.
Filed under Training
Another Scent Trial
We just finished our third and final Sporting Detection trial of the year. It was hosted by Nosey Pawtners in Springbrook Alberta. The results were almost an exact repeat of our advanced trial in August. Spirit got another perfect score in Containers, but we only got a second place finish this time because another dog also had a perfect score but finished faster than we did.
Then came the Interior search. Once again we failed to qualify because of handler error. Spirit found the hide but I could not tell exactly where it was. The judge picked up on my hesitation and asked me to point it out and I was off by a few inches. Darn it!!! I should have called Spirit off the hide, circled back around and got her to indicate again. I may have lost points for calling her off the hide but we would not have been disqualified. Another great learning experience.
The final search was an Exterior instead of a Vehicle, which I think is much harder because there are literally hundreds of places for a hide in an exterior area. We got a near perfect score of 59/60 and got third place.
Even though we only qualified in two of the three components, Spirit’s scores were so high that we placed 4th overall. This trial was a little different. Instead of awarding ribbons for 1st – 3rd in each component, they chose to give out certificates and dogs toys. Ribbons were award for only the overall winners. So we ended up with two certificates, one ribbon and 3 toys. I would have preferred the ribbons but I think my girl likes the toys better. So proud of Spirit especially since it has only been a few weeks since her emergency surgery to remove a blockage in her intestine. A very big thank you to Judge Doug Teeft.
Filed under Blogpaws Wordless Wednesday, Nosework, Scent Detection, SDDA, Sporting Detection
Berner Party
Today we had the pleasure of attending the first annual Bernese Mountain Dog party hosted by Coreen and Steve Johnson of Tailspin. They invited all of the families who had dogs from their breedings. There was a bevy of Berners in attendance. We managed to get a picture with 14 of them.
There was only one dog there from Spirit’s litter, her sister Asha.
This is Mom Sophie and her two daughters.
We also had the pleasure of meeting Tailspin’s newest litter. They are called the Olympic litter because they were born during the Olympics. Each puppy’s registered name will be Olympic themed. They will be six weeks old on Monday.
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Filed under Blogpaws Wordless Wednesday, Playing
BQF Entry #2
I am entering my Quilts of Valour quilt into the Original Design category of the 2016 Bloggers Quilt Festival hosted by Amy Ellis at Amy’s Creative Side. I designed it using half square triangles.
Click here to learn more about the making of this quilt.
Filed under Quilts of Valour
Bloggers Quilt Festival 2016
I have decided to enter my Leftovers VI quilt into the Modern Quilt category for the 2016 Bloggers Quilt Festival hosted by Amy Ellis of Amy’s Creative Side. This was the final quilt (so far) so far in my Leftovers series that I started to use up the leftover fabric from my Blue Odyssey quilt. To read more about the making of Leftovers VI click here.
Filed under Bloggers Quilt Festival
Sniffin’ Along
On Saturday Spirit and I participated in an SDDA (Sporting Detection Dogs Association) Advance Trial in Red Deer hosted by The Little Nose that Knows. Two days before the trial Spirit surprised us by going into heat. I contacted the trial co-ordinator and she said we could still compete if Spirit wore a diaper and that we would have to go last. We’ve never trained with her in heat or with a diaper. I decided that we would still go to the trial for the experience…….just treat it like a training session with no expectations.
While we were waiting for our turn to start, I walked Spirit around so that she would get used to wearing her search vest and diaper. Before I could stop her, she squatted and took a pee. Great now not only was she wearing a diaper but it was sagging and heavy with pee. We didn’t have time to change so we had to go ahead and do our first two searches that way.
Our first search was containers. At the advanced level there are two finds and one distractor with dog food in it. Spirit is not what you would call a high energy or speedy dog. She slowly but methodically makes her way through the search checking each container. I could tell when she hit the distractor because she was very interested in the delicious smells wafting out of the container. I was very relieved when she moved on without alerting on it. We finished our search in 1 minute and 8 seconds (3 minute time limit).
We immediately went on to the interior search…generally the hardest component because you are inside, there is not much air movement and there are literally hundred of places where the hide can be. I could tell that she had located the scent cone of one of the hides under a table but she was having trouble finding the source. I should have asked the Judge if I could move some of the chairs out of the way to give her more room to maneuver but I didn’t. Classic handler error. She gave her alert and the Judge asked me to identify where the source was. I knew it was under the table but I could not tell him exactly where so I took a best guess and pointed to where I thought it was but I was a few inches off. Too bad…game over no hope of an advanced title today.
We had to wait another hour before we did our final search….an exterior. She located the scent cone quite quickly but it was so windy she had trouble finding the source. She went back and forth in the same area several times but then all of sudden she went straight to the hide and gave a beautiful indication. It took her 1 minute and 49 seconds (5 minute time limit).
Considering the circumstances we did great and I am so proud of Spirit. The NQ for the interior was my fault and a good lesson was learned. At the award ceremony I was just standing at the back enjoying everyone’s accomplishments when I was shocked to find out that we got a perfect score on the container search and came away with a first place ribbon.
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Filed under Nosework, Scent Detection, SDDA
20 Months Old
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July 26, 2016 · 12:47
Family Moment
I love it when we can start our mornings out on the deck enjoying our morning coffee/tea together.
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Filed under BlogPaws, Spirit, Tilly, Two legged family, Wally, Wordless Wednesday
We are Grandparents!!!
We are so thrilled to announce the arrival of our first grand child. We travelled to their home town on July 5th, two days before the official due date. Unfortunately the baby decided that it didn’t want to make an appearance on the scheduled date. As each day went by we got more and more nervous that it wouldn’t be born before our scheduled departure date of July 15th. I guess the baby decided that it was worth meeting us after all. Cameron James was born at 4:45am on Thursday, July 14th. He was 7lbs 12 ounces and 20.5 inches long. Mom, Dad and Cameron are all doing well and adjusting to life as a family.
Here is a picture of Cameron before they even weighed/measured him.
And of course proud Grandma and Grandpa with Cameron:
36 hours old after his first home bath.
And a few pictures of the nursery with the quilt, pillow, window treatment and crib skirt that I made.
Filed under Baby Quilt, Quilting, Two legged family
Two Sided Window Treatment FAL#4
I apologize for the rash of recent posts. I couldn’t publish my finishes as they were completed because I wanted them to be a surprise for Erin and Paul. Unfortunately I have to have them all public before the July 7th close of the 2nd quarter of the 2016 finish-a-long. My final finish of the 2nd quarter (here is a link to my original list ) is a v-shaped window treatment for the nursery. I love how it turned out. It helps to tie everything together. One side has prairie points like the pillow and it incorporates all the colours from the quilt, bedskirt and pillow. The other side is a more simple verticle green aqua and white stripe.
Linking to:
Design Wall Monday @Patchwork Times
Linky Tuesday @Freemotion by the River
Fabric Tuesday @Quilt Story
WIP Wednesday @The Needle and Thread Network
Lets Bee Social @Sew Fresh Quilts
Needle and Thread Thursday @My Quilt Infatuation
Finish it Up Friday @Crazy Mom Quilts
TGIFF @A Quarter Inch from the Edge
Can I Get A Whoop Whoop @Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Whomp There it is @A Quilted Passion
Show Off Saturday @Sew Can She
Filed under FAL, Finish-A-Long, Quilting
Two Sided Baby Quilt FAL#3
I have my third finish of the 2nd quarter (here is a link to my original list ). It’s a quilt for our first grandchild. I was having trouble trying to decide on a design for the quilt so I decided to go with my two favourites and make it a two sided quilt. Are you noticing a theme here. All of the items that I made for our grand baby are two sided. I wanted to give the parents as many options as possible for their nursery. I was asked to make everything gender neutral using any combination of green aqua, navy, yellow and grey.
I saw this quilt idea on Pinterest and thought it would be perfect for a baby quilt. Neither too masculine or feminine. I changed the design a little bit. Instead of each row alternating the twist I made them all start and twist in unison. I like it better this way….softer and less distracting. I made 104 of these little blocks and then trimmed them all. Despite hating all the time it takes to trim the blocks, I do get some satisfaction from looking at the big pile of perfectly sized blocks and the colourful pile of cuttings.
I placed all the blocks on my design wall to help me decide what order to place the colours.
Then came the second quilt top for the back. I made 108 half square triangles using numerous prints and solids in each colour group. Once again I used my trusty design wall to lay out the HSTs and came up with this design. I then added white strips to make the top 5″ bigger on all four sides so I could mount it on my longarm.
I wasn’t able to do any intricate free motion quilting because it would look good on the one side but the design would not match up with the quilt layout on the other side. I went with an all over design called Arrowhead.
I used two layers of batting, Hobbes 80/20 and a high loft polyester. It really gives some life to the free motion quilting.
I really wanted to put a label on the quilt for our grand baby. Unfortunately, because it was two sided, there was nowhere to put it where it wouldn’t stand out and take away from the quilt. I found this great post online where a quilter showed how she stitched words into her bindings to replace the traditional label. It was perfect. I used off white thread so that it would just disappear into the binding but you could still find it if you were looking for it. It says “Made with love 2016 Grandma Debbie”
Linking up to:
Design Wall Monday @Patchwork Times
Linky Tuesday @Freemotion by the River
Fabric Tuesday @Quilt Story
WIP Wednesday @The Needle and Thread Network
Lets Bee Social @Sew Fresh Quilts
Needle and Thread Thursday @My Quilt Infatuation
Finish it Up Friday @Crazy Mom Quilts
TGIFF @A Quarter Inch from the Edge
Can I Get A Whoop Whoop @Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Whomp There it is @A Quilted Passion
Show Off Saturday @Sew Can She
Filed under Baby Quilt, FAL, Finish-A-Long, FMQ, Quilting
Two Sided Pillow FAL #2
I have my second finish of the 2nd quarter (here is a link to my original list ). It is a 20 x 20 pillow I made for our grand baby’s nursery. They didn’t want to know the sex of the baby so they went with a gender neutral colour scheme of green aqua walls with accents in navy, yellow and grey. The first side of the pillow has an appliquéd dolphin on it. Erin loves dolphins.
The other side has a cute appliquéd giraffe and bird. I also added some prairie points to give it more interest.
Linking up to:
Design Wall Monday @Patchwork Times
Linky Tuesday @Freemotion by the River
Fabric Tuesday @Quilt Story
WIP Wednesday @The Needle and Thread Network
Lets Bee Social @Sew Fresh Quilts
Needle and Thread Thursday @My Quilt Infatuation
Finish it Up Friday @Crazy Mom Quilts
TGIFF @A Quarter Inch from the Edge
Can I Get A Whoop Whoop @Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Whomp There it is @A Quilted Passion
Show Off Saturday @Sew Can She
Filed under FAL, Finish-A-Long, Pillow
Two Sided Crib Skirt FAL#1
This is my first finish for the 2nd quarter (here is a link to my original list ). Erin knew that I was going to make a quilt for the crib so she asked me if I would also make a co-ordinating adjustable bed skirt. I had no idea that crib skirts were adjustable let alone how to make one. After much online research I figured out that there are a couple of ways to do it depending on how the base of the crib is made. In our case there is grid work so the best option is to have ties on each skirt piece so that the skirt can be raised as the crib is lowered.
The first side is this lovely navy blue fabric with a small white print alternating with white. I think it could easily be masculine or feminine.
The other side is a solid green aqua (the nursery wall colour) with a small white print.
Filed under Baby Quilt, FAL, Finish-A-Long
Foam Fest Mudder
“Before” clean but wet
“After”…not so clean
Today I was able to cross another item off my bucket list. We ran our first mudder in Red Deer this morning. It was a lot of fun and I would definitely do another one. It was a cool rainy day which helped to make the mud even thicker and more slippery. I didn’t lose a shoe and I came out injury free….now that’s a good day! We had mud and grit in cracks and crevices that we never knew we had. It was great to get home and have a long hot shower.
Filed under Races, Uncategorized
Proud Grandma
On Sunday I attended the graduation of one of Wally’s children. I have a very special spot in my heart for Garnet. Of the 51 puppies that Wally’s sired, he is the only one that really looks like his Dad. He spent the first few years of his working life as a guide dog for a wonderful gentleman. Sadly he passed away suddenly and Garnet was returned to the school. They decided that he was too young to retire so they retrained him and placed him with a psychologist to act as a therapy dog for her clients. Garnet is 7 years old now and watching him and his mannerisms….OMG he is definitely his Daddy’s boy. He has the same loving and gentle personality. Here is a picture of the whole graduating class. Garnet’s beautiful deep golden colour makes him stand out in the group….”one of these is not like the others”.
When they arrived, Garnet’s nose went up and he started air scenting and wagging his tail wildly. He knew we were there and he was excited.
I was able to get up close and snuggle with my beautiful grand-puppy. Isn’t he just beautiful.
A blast from the past…..in 2010 we had this photo taken (courtesy of Laughing Dog) of Wally and Garnet just before Garnet went into final training to be a guide dog.
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Filed under BlogPaws, Wally, Wordless Wednesday
Mornings with Spirit
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Her first Title SD-S, SP
Spirit and I competed in our first sanctioned SDDA trial on Saturday, April 23rd in Morinville, Alberta. I am thrilled to announce that we qualified in all three components: container, interior and exterior/vehicle (3 purple ribbons). Spirit now has her Sporting Detection – Started title: “SD – S “. Because we qualified in all 3 components on the same day, we also earned a special designation making her title “SD – S, SP” (large purple/black ribbon). And if that wasn’t enough, we placed 3rd in the interior search which is the hardest of the three (large white and black ribbon). Thank you to SDDA Judge Paul Dyer. I am so proud of my girl. I think she was also the youngest dog at the trial.
Thanks to photographer Bev Holoboff for donating her time to take pictures of the teams at work.
Container Search
A special thank you to Ryan-Ann of Doglogix Scent Detection for hosting an amazing trial and being a talented scent detection instructor. Team Spirit’s success is because of you.
After a long, cold and windy day at the trial we came home and relaxed together in the La-Z-Boy. Spirit loves to use me as her personal pillow. Note Tilly’s disgusted look.
Filed under Blogpaws Wordless Wednesday, Nosework, Scent Detection, SDDA
Another DOT
On February 24th (the night before Spirit’s shoulder surgery) she participated in her Sporting Detection Dogs Association (SDDA) advanced Designated Odor Test (DOT) for pine. Even though she was sore she still worked very hard and passed. We just got our ribbon and certificate so we thought an official portrait was in order. Look how nicely the fur is growing back on her shoulder and leg. With these two DOT tests under her belt, Spirit is now able to participate in sanctioned SDDA started and advanced trials.
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Filed under Blogpaws Wordless Wednesday, Nosework, Scent Detection, SDDA
FAL Quarter 2 Wish List
It’s time to list all the items that I plan to finish in the next 3 months. This is an easy one. We are going to be grandparents in a few months so this quarter is dedicated to baby stuff. We don’t know the sex of the baby and they want a gender neutral nursery. We’ve been given this colour swatch…..green aqua.
The nursery will be painted this colour, the furniture will be all white and they want navy, grey and yellow accents.
I am making a crib quilt, and adjustable crib skirt, a pillow and a surprise. I can’t share any pictures of the fabric I have chosen because I want it to be a surprise….hopefully a good one.
Filed under Baby Quilt, FAL, Finish-A-Long, Quilting
Birthday Boy is 15
To say we are blessed to have our beautiful Golden Boy at the ripe old age of 15 is an understatement. Not only is he still with us but the quality of his life is really good. He is my “heart” dog. I love all of my fur kids but he and I have this very special bond that I just can’t put into words. I can’t imagine life without him….
Wally’s favourite treat are Timbits. Traditionally he gets one for each year. Once he got into double digits I started cutting them in half. Today I cut two ends off of each one and left the slice in the centre for the other dogs. It didn’t take him long to polish off 15 ends.
Ready and waiting
Patience
Here we go….
Going…..
Going….
Gone!!!
Nothin’ left but a pile of drool
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Filed under BlogPaws, Foster Puppies, Wally, Wordless Wednesday
Quilts of Valour Donation FAL #2
Back in the fall of 2014 I was very lucky and won a fat quarter bundle from Sew Sister’s Blogathon Canada. It was Northcott’s Stonehenge OH CANADA line. Last year I made this quilt and donated it to Quilts of Valour Canada.
I used the leftover fabric to make another quilt to donate in 2016. This also gives me my second FAL finish for the first quarter (here is a link to my original FAL post)
I used a poppy motif in the centre of the squares and in the border. I also did quite a bit of ruler work in the light border and between the squares. The front is so busy that it is hard to see the quilting. I like the design that it makes on the back.
I altered my label to add the Quilts of Valour logo.
Linking up to:
Design Wall Monday @Patchwork Times
Linky Tuesday @Freemotion by the River
WIP Wednesday @The Needle and Thread Network
Let’s Bee Social @Sew Fresh Quilts
Needle and Thread Thursday @My Quilt Infatuation
Whomp There it Is @A Quilted Passion
Finish It Up Friday @Crazy Mom Quilts
Free motion Mavericks @Lizzy Lenard Vintage Sewing
TGIFF @Celtic Thistle Stitches
Can I Get A Whoop Whoop @Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Show Off Saturday @Sew Can She
Filed under Charity Quilt, FAL, Finish-A-Long, FMQ, Quilting, Quilts of Valour, Scrap Quilt
Leftovers VI and FAL Finish #1
Since today is National Quilting Day I thought I would celebrate my first finish for this years finish-a-long (see my first quarter FAL wish list here). I actually finished all the free motion quilting in December but it took me a while to finally finish hand sewing on the binding. I can’t believe that I have made 6 different quilts from leftover fabric from a quilt I made when I first started quilting. Hopefully I’ve gotten a lot better at estimating fabric requirements since then. I had a lot of fun with the free motion quilting on this one.
To see more pictures and read about the making of this quilt click here. Linking up to:
Design Wall Monday @Patch Work Times
Fabric Tuesday @Quilt Story
Linky Tuesday @Freemotion By The River
WIP Wednesday @The Needle and Thread Network
Let’s Bee Social @Sew Fresh Quilts
Needle and Thread Thursday @My Quilt Infatuation
Whomp There It is @A Quilted Passion
Finish It Up Friday @Crazy Mom Quilts
TGIFF @Anja Quilts
Can I Get a Whoop Whoop @Confessions of a Fabricaholic
Free motion Mavericks @Lizzie Lenard Vintage Sewing
Show Off Saturday @Sew Can She
Filed under FAL, Finish-A-Long, FMQ, Quilting
Meet Ava
This morning I received these wonderful pictures of the lovely Ava Nicole with her quilt. What a cutie pie! She is almost 6 weeks old now. We live very far away from our family so it is so nice to be able to see pictures of her, especially with her quilt. Hopefully we will be able to meet her in person some time soon.
Filed under Baby Quilt, Quilting
Ava’s Quilt
We are having a bit of a baby explosion in our extended family. On February 9th we welcomed Ava Nicole. I thought they were due in March so I had some time to spare. I was so sure that they were having a boy that I had started on a masculine quilt. When we got the call that Ava Nicole was born, I had to switch to baby girl mode. I just love this fabric from Bonnie and Camille called “Vintage Modern” and thought it was perfect. I’ve never played with a drunkards path block so that was my inspiration.
I had some fun free motion quilting it to enhance the shapes.
Linking up to:
Design Wall Monday @Patchwork Times
Fabric Tuesday @Quilt Story
Linky Tuesday @Freemotion by the River
WIP Wednesday @The Needle and Thread Network
Needle and Thread Thursday @My Quilt Infatuation
Let’s Bee Social @Sew Fresh Quilts
WHOOMP There it is @A Quilted Passion
TGIFF @A Quarter Inch from the Edge
Finish It Up Friday @Crazy Mom Quilts
Can I Get a Whoop Whoop @Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Free motion Mavericks @Lizzie Lenard Vintage Sewing
Show Off Saturday @Sew Can She
Filed under Baby Quilt, FMQ, Quilting
Big Boo Boo
Our big girl had shoulder surgery last week. The first night she just whimpered and moaned and I felt so helpless. It has been 6 days since her surgery and she is progressing well. It is becoming a full time job just trying to keep her quiet and still. She is ready to explode with pent up energy and frustration. One more week and then we can allow her to go for longer walks and gradually move up to a little bit of freedom and running around.
Linking up to Wordless Wednesday at Blogpaws
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Filed under Uncategorized
WIP
I’ve got all 12 blocks completed from QuiltEssentialCo’s 2015 BOM program. They just made their selection of coordinating fabrics available, so yesterday I went and got my yardage to complete my quilt. I’ve come up with an on-point design that should finish at about 102″ x 102″.
I’m still chugging along with the 365 Block Challenge. Life got in the way and I got behind by almost two weeks. I’ve spent the last 3 days working hard to catch up. Here are my week 9 blocks which includes the big 18″ centre medallian block. By the end of the month we should be able to start assembling the centre section of the quilt.
Linking up to:
Design Wall Monday @Patchwork Times
Fabric Tuesday @Quilt Story
Linky Tuesday @Freemotion by the River
WIP Wednesday @The Needle and Thread Network
Filed under 365 Challenge, Block of the Month, BOM, Quilting
Hypothermic Half Marathon
This morning the skinny guy and I completed our 4th (me) and 2nd (Don) Hypothermic Half Marathon. This is the first year that the race hasn’t lived up to it’s name. It was a balmy zero at race start and 4 degrees celsius and sunny when we finished. I forgot my ice cleats at home so I struggled a bit with traction but otherwise it was great. It is hard to believe that the weather is this mild and beautiful for Edmonton in February.
Filed under Races, Uncategorized
365 Challenge Weeks 1 to 6
Today is the end of week six of the 365 Challenge. I can’t believe that I have managed to keep up-to-date with my blocks. Here are my first 42 blocks. They are all 3-1/2 inches square so there are some very tiny HSTs in these blocks.
Linking up to:
Design Wall Monday @Patchwork Times
Monday Making @Love Laugh Quilt
Fabric Tuesday@Quilt Story
WIP Wednesday @The Needle and Thread Network
Filed under 365 Challenge
Life In The Dog House 
