Life In The Dog House

February 24, 2018 · 10:58

2015 BOM

2015BOMFront

This quilt took a long time to finish. The 12 multi-coloured blocks were made as part of QuiltEssential Co’s 2015 block of the month program. This colour way was called ‘Bridges of Madison County”.

2015BOMs

I knew how I was going to design the quilt top long before the 12 blocks were even finished. My inspiration for the quilting came from some of the designs in the 12 blocks. I wish I had kept track of how long it took me to do the longarm work because it was substantial. I am really happy with the finished product.

Close up of the centre medallion and some of the long arm work:

2015BOMMedallion

2015BOM2 2015BOM1 2015BOM3

I like using pieced backings on my quilts. I think it makes for a more attractive back that gives you the option to flip it over so you have two quilts in one.

2015BOMBack 2015BOM4 2015BOM5

Birthday Boy

Brodie1Yr-2 We are celebrating Brodie’s 1st birthday today. What a joy he has brought to our lives. He is everything that I wanted in a Golden and so much more!

This is what he looked like a year ago

Short video of Brodie trying to play with his birthday present but his sister Spirit has other ideas.

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Tagged as Brodie, Coppermoon Golden Retrievers, Golden Retriever

February 15, 2018 · 18:07

Pet Therapy: Before and After

Before

This afternoon Tilly and I did a Pet Therapy session with the City of Edmonton 311 operators. She was her normal friendly, cheerful self and I think everyone enjoyed loving her up. I don’t know what it is about Therapy work but she is always exhausted after. She was a sleep before the car exited the parkade and she snored the whole way home.

After

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Tagged as Can, Pet Therapy, PeTS, Therapy Dog, Tilly, Volunteering

February 5, 2018 · 18:48

My Golden Hero

Last week we took Wally to the Vet because he was vomiting and had bloody diarrhea. He has a sensitive digestive system and he gets these tummy troubles every year or so. We were not panicked but at his advanced age (16 year and 10 months) we wanted to get things settled and resolved quickly. As we were waiting for our appointment we were shocked to see that one of his testicles had ballooned in size. It was not like that the previous day. It was 11.5 inches around and the size of a softball. We went from being mildly concern about diarrhea to being panicked about an extremely fast growing tumour.

At his age surgery is extremely risky but leaving the tumour posed its own risks. We made the very tough decision to go ahead with surgery. I’ve been stressing and having nightmares for the last few days but for some unknown reason I felt strangely at peace when I dropped him off this morning. I got a phone call two hours later and he was alive and well. The Vet said that he gave them a bit of a scare when they tried to insert the tube down his throat and encountered an obstruction. They found a dangling tumour (he’s sure it is benign) that they had to remove before they could start the planned procedure. They kept him all day so that they could keep him on IV fluids to flush the anesthesia drugs out of his system as quickly as possible. They sent me this picture to show me how well he was doing all snuggled up in warm blankets.

He is home with us now and we feel so blessed.

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Tagged as Golden Retriever, Wally

January 19, 2018 · 20:32

Snuggle Bunnies

BedBuddies

This is a typical morning in our house…although usually Tilly is also snuggling somewhere in the mix. I have over 150 lbs. of hairy children draped across my body. Good thing they are comfortable…..who cares if I am.

Big Decisions

Well I’ve managed to complete several blocks and some of the sashing pieces. I’ve been experimenting with different layouts to try and decide how I want to finish my On Ringo Lake quilt.

Here is my on-point layout as it was designed by the author Bonnie K. Hunter:

ORLLayoutBK

Here are the same blocks with them arranged in rows and columns rather than on-point:

ORLLayoutBK2

Here are some of my own ideas that I have been playing with. I doubled up the sashing to create a secondary design and added blue blocks (on-point and standard layouts). If I pick this design I am going to add a variety of different blue blocks to keep with the scrappy look.

ORLLayout2

ORLLayout1

And these two use a four patch instead of the solid squares:

ORLLayout3 ORLLayout4

I can’t decide which one I like best. Any and all opinions welcome.

Linking up to the Mystery Monday linkup at Quiltsville’s Quips and Snips

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Tagged as mystery quilt, onringolakequilt, Quilting, Quiltsville

January 1, 2018 · 18:33

Mystery Quilt WIP

This has been a crazy week. Thank goodness it was a holiday week so I had lots of free time. I have cut over 3000 pieces of fabric and assembled hundreds of blocks but I’m still way behind.

ORLCutting

I finished all the nine patches for part one:

ORLPart1

Part 4 finished:

ORLPart4

Part 6 added a triangle to all the pieces completed in part 4:

ORLPart6Start

So I’ve completed parts 1, 4 and 6 and I’ve got the pieces of fabric cut for parts 2, 3 and 5. I thought I was doing really well until Bonnie released parts 7, 8 and 9 in the last 3 days instead of the normal one part a week. We now know what the finished quilt will look like. I really like it and it is motivating me to keep going. It is never too late to join us. Remember to download all the instructions before they are removed from Bonnie’s website. #quiltville #quiltvillemystery #onringolakequilt

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Tagged as mystery quilt, onringolakequilt, Quiltville, quiltvillemystery