My two favourite Dad’s celebrated breakfast in bed this morning. Don got his McDonald’s Big Breakfast and Wally got his beloved Timmie bits.
All 3 dogs very generously offered to help their Dad eat his big breakfast.
First FAL finish of Quarter #2
I’m half way through the second quarter finish-a-long and I’ve finally finished my first project. It is a triple irish chain that I made for my friend Sue in Ontario. She is a long time friend who follows my blog and makes such nice comments about my quilting and my four legged kids. To see more pictures and read about the making of this quilt, click here.
Filed under FAL, Finish-A-Long, Quilting
Happy Birthday Old Fart
Today we are celebrating Don’s birthday by going for a quick dinner at the Keg. We went to Hardware Grill last Friday for the official celebration so today is just icing on the ‘cake’. He won’t let me publish his age but who’s counting anyway.
Filed under Two legged family
EPF 10K
We just finished the Edmonton Police Foundation 10k race. Last year we walked the half marathon so this year we decided to run the shorter distance. Neither of us had trained for it but we did ok. The old guy managed to get 3rd place in his age category…not bad!
Filed under Races
2013 FAL – 2nd Quarter
It is time to pick the unfinished quilts (UFOs) that I am going to commit to completing in the second quarter of this year’s quilt finish-a-long (FAL). I have 4 projects. I am going to focus on free motion quilting (FMQ) and finish a bunch of tops that have been lying around because I didn’t have any experience/confidence. I still don’t have a whole lot of experience but I am ready to challenge myself.
#1 – Kimono: I made this wall hanging 2-3 years ago and it has been hanging in my closet since then. It needs to be basted, quilted and bound.
#2 – Dragon Fly: Here is another wall hanging. It has some quilting but it needs to be finished. I also want to give it a scalloped border (I’ve never tried a fancy border) and bind it.
#3 – Sue’s Summer Breeze: This is a triple Irish chain quilt that I am making for my friend Sue. I can’t show you a picture of it because she follows my blog and I don’t want her to see it before it is finished.
#4 Once again I am going to try and finish my Blue Hydrangea quilt that I had planned to finish in the 1st quarter. I have to remove the grid stitching in the 16 flower blocks and then replace them with some free motion quilting that I hope will do a better job of showcasing the floral prints. I am still waiting for the custom ordered silk thread to arrive so that I can start the FMQ.
Filed under FAL, Finish-A-Long
My favourite Birthday Boy
Today we are celebrating 12 wonderful years with our handsome Golden Boy Wally. Our tradition has been to give him one timbit (his favourite treat) for every year. As he started approaching double digits we cut it back to half timbits because we were concerned about feeding him so many rich treats. If we are lucky enough to celebrate 13 birthdays next year, I think he will get the full meal deal…..not halfsies. I set my camera on auto and tried to capture him snarfing each one.
I am drooling in anticipation
One down…11 to go
Ten
Nine
Seven
Six…half way through
Five
Four
Three
Two
One to go
Did I miss any crumbs?
Tango offering to help
Filed under Wally
1st Quarter FAL Wrap-up
I am very proud of myself. I finished 3 of the 4 projects that I had picked to finish in the first quarter of the 2013 quilt finish-a-long. I wasn’t able to redo the free motion quilting on Blue Hydrangea because the 100wt silk thread I ordered hasn’t arrived yet. I did manage to finish hand sewing on the binding and I picked out the stitching that the long arm quilter did on the blocks so that it will be ready for my attempt at FMQ when the thread arrives.
Filed under Block of the Month, FAL, Finish-A-Long
FAL Finish – Blue Odyssey
Last but not least I finished this monster. It is huge. I started it in January 2012 and worked on it on and off throughout the year. It took the FAL to get me to finish the FMQ and to hand sew on the binding. Click here to see more pictures and read about the quilt construction.
Filed under FAL, Finish-A-Long
FAL Finish – Flannel Baby/Twin Quilt
Here is my finished flannel baby/twin quilt. It had been sitting around for a few months waiting for the binding to be hand sewn (my least favourite job). Click here to read more about this quilt and see more pictures.
Filed under FAL, Finish-A-Long
FAL Finish – 2011 BOM
2011 BOM
I am so happy to finally finish this quilt from the 2011 Block-of-the-Month program at QuiltEssential Co. The 12 blocks sat around for months while I tried to get the motivation to assemble them into a quilt top. Although I did enjoy the BOM experience, I really wasn’t thrilled with the end result….too traditional for my tastes. Thanks to this FAL and my commitment to get it done in time for the annual quilt show….it is finished. The really amazing news is that it won 2nd place in the show. I was totally shocked. Click here to read more about this quilt.
Filed under Block of the Month, FAL, Finish-A-Long
Easter Celebrations Doggy Style
This morning we gave the ‘kids’ each a prime rib bone to enjoy on Easter Sunday…..better than chocolate eggs any day!!!
Charity Quilt
Although I enjoyed participating in the Block of the Month programs in 2011 and 2012, I found the finished blocks too traditional and uninspiring. The more time I spend on Pinterest the more I realize that I am drawn to modern quilts. I love all the colours, the large neutral backgrounds and the freedom you have to create something different. I stumbled upon the Modern Quilt Guild movement and discovered that we had one in Edmonton. I went to a meeting in December and was hooked.
The husband of one of the Guild members travels regularly to Africa and got involved with a Orphanage in Ghana. Our Guild decided to make quilts for the children so that they would have something to call their own. I bought a brightly coloured jelly roll made up of polka-dot prints. I thought they would be perfect for a child and could be used for either a boy or a girl. I made these 30 blocks for the project. They will be combined with blocks made by other guild members and we will produce as many quilts as we can.
Filed under Charity Quilt
Handsome Boy
I subscribe to a blog about Golden Retrievers called The Daily Golden. The owner of the blog asked people to submit pictures of their goldens to use in future blog posts. Today she used a picture of my handsome boy in an article about the relationship between early spay/neutering and cancer. Wally will be 12 years old in a few weeks and he is still in intact. We are blessed to have a very healthy, active (fingers and toes crossed that he will stay this way) “senior” dog that doesn’t act his age. He can still do a half marathon with me and he is very disappointed if I go for a run or walk and don’t take him with me. Here is a link to the post with Wally’s picture.
2013 FAL – 1st Quarter
It is time to pick the unfinished quilts (UFOs) that I am going to commit to completing in the first quarter of this year’s quilt finish-a-long (FAL). This is my first FAL so I want to pick UFOs that have been hanging around for a while and that I am sure, ok pretty sure, that I will actually be able to complete as promised.
My first choice is the 2011 Block of the Month (BOM) with Quilt Essential. I managed to get all my blocks done in 2011 and I even started working on assembling the quilt top in early 2012 but I never finished it. This Sunday is the annual BOM quilt show and we are supposed to have our 2011 quilts done and hanging in the show. I’m pretty close. I just have to finish sewing on the binding and cut off all the threads.
You can see why it takes so long to hand sew on the binding…..my little, furry quilt helper loves to take a nap in the middle of my project. I don’t have the heart to disturb the princess so that I can move on to a new section.
My second choice is my Blue Hydrangea quilt. This is the first quilt top I ever made. It hung around my sewing room for a year before I found a long armer to quilt it for me. Unfortunately he forgot to use the beautiful wool batting that I provided (he used a plain cotton blend) and he didn’t quilt the individual flower blocks they way we had discussed. It hung around for another year waiting for me to put the binding on. I procrastinated because I wanted to use a striped fabric on the bias but I had never made biased binding before. I’ve almost got all the binding on now but I still want to pick out all the stitching on the floral blocks and replace it with some free motion quilting that will show off the blocks. I’m a newbie free motion quilter (FMQ) so hopefully I don’t wreck the quilt.
My final FAL for this quarter will be my Blue Odyssey quilt. I saw a beautiful wall hanging in an old edition of Quilt Mania. I decided to try and duplicate the design and change it from a small wall quilt into a king size quilt. I went a little overboard buying fabric. When all is said and done I bet I will get at least one and quite likely 2 quilts out of the leftover fabric. I need to finish the FMQ and then put the binding on….my least favourite part of making a quilt.
Update: 2013JAN13
I’m feeling ambitious today so I am going to add one more project to the FAL. It is a fleece baby/twin quilt. Once again it is one of my many UFO’s waiting for the binding to be hand sewn on to the back of the quilt. I had an emergency appendectomy a few days ago so I am not able to sit at my machine and sew/quilt for a couple of weeks. I have no excuse not to stretch out in the lazyboy and do the hand sewing.
Filed under Block of the Month, FAL, Finish-A-Long, Quilting, Tilly
Bed hogs
Even with a king size bed there is no room for the two-legged members of the family when all 3 dogs decide they want to cuddle in our bed. Seriously we do manage to fit all 5 of us in bed.
Healthy start to 2013
Once again this year we spent New Year’s morning with at least a thousand other crazy people doing the annual Brita 5K Resolution Run. Last year it was in the minus 20 degree range but today it was sunny and 0. I over dressed so I had to start stripping off layers at the 2K mark. Unfortunately we didn’t win any of the draw prizes but we had a good pancake and sausage breaky.
An end to UFO quilts
Like most quilters I have tons of quilts that I have started but never finished (UFO). I either get excited about a new project and start it before I’ve finished the current one…..or I get sick of looking at the current project and need a break….who really knows why we do it….but I’ve got lots of UFOs. I’ve joined the 2013 Finish-A-Long (FAL) to help me tackle my growing mound of outstanding quilts. Basically, participants identify and photograph UFOs that you want to finish in the upcoming FAL quarter. The goal is the get each of those projects done and out of your sewing room. They have to be projects that you have already started not something new. You have to prepare your list of UFOs, blog about it and at the end of the quarter you will post links to your completed projects. I am hoping that this will be the boot-in-the-fanny that I need to get some of these projects off my to-do list. Here is a link to the 2013 FAL if you are interested.
Now I just need to identify the list for the first quarter. The 2011 Block-of-the-Month (BOM) quilt that I started almost 2 years ago will be at the top of my first list. The annual BOM quilt show is on January 14th so I really need to get my butt in gear to meet that deadline too.
Filed under Block of the Month, Finish-A-Long, Quilting
Birthday Girl
Our little girl is 3 today. I love having a small dog that I can pick up and smooch and Tilly is the perfect girl for the job. She is a real love muffin and she will spend hours in my lap snuggling and flirting. Thanks Chris for breeding such a wonderful Cavie!! I highly recommend the breed.
Filed under Tilly
Door step surprise
We found this surprise sitting on our front door step. We don’t know who left it there. As you can see by the pictures, Wally liked it more than Tango did. Those of you that know my boy will know exactly what he did with his new friend.
Filed under Tango, Two legged family, Wally
Why I love Goldens
I stumbled across this article written by a dog walker in Ontario. She describes what she has come to know as the Golden personality. Reading it almost brought tears to my eyes. It is a perfect description of my golden boy Wally. I’ve said it many times before…..if he were human he would be my soul mate. My boy will be 12 years old in April and the thought of him going to puppy heaven any time soon is more than I can bare to think about. On a happier note……if you are a Golden lover or just a dog lover…..I think you will enjoy this article “Golden Retrievers and their DNA”.
I came across this link on a wonderful blog dedicated to Golden Retrievers called The Daily Golden.
Filed under Wally
My Boy
Yesterday was my birthday and I always get a card from my ‘kids’. This year’s card was extra special. Not only did it have a picture of a beautiful Golden Retriever on the front but it was hand delivered, actually mouth delivered, by an even more beautiful Golden Retriever…..my boy!!!!
Filed under Two legged family, Wally
Chopper Girl
This past weekend Team Tango participated in a multi-agency mock search in the Slave Lake area. The training scenario was a plane crash in the remote wilderness with 15 passengers and crew that needed to be located and rescued. The search included 4 helicopters, 2 fixed wing aircraft, 3 boats, approximately 30 quads and 110 personnel. They utilized an actual 1975DEC29 plane crash site which added to the realism of the search. The disaster scenario tested the readiness of many agencies including Slave Lake Regional Fire Services, RCMP, Environmental and Sustainable Resource Development (Fish and Wildlife, Lands and Forest), Slave Lake Regional SAR, Edmonton Regional SAR, local aviation companies and of course the Canadian Search Dog Association.
Team Tango was deployed to two search areas and travelled by quad into the crash site. They also did a person search demonstration for the Slave Lake Regional Fire Chief. The big thrill of the day for Don was getting to ride in a helicopter with Tango. I think Tango was more fascinated with the flashing lights and reflections inside the helicopter than she was with the actual flight. Our girl is a little OCD when it comes to watching and chasing reflections. Here is a video and some pictures from the mock search:
Filed under SAR, SAR Dog, Search and Rescue, Tango, Training, Volunteering
M*A*R*A*T*H*O*N
We did it. We completed the Canadian Derby Edmonton Marathon today. I can’t believe I actually did it. As we got closer and closer to today it became clear that it was going to be one tough race. Early in the week the forecast temperature was for the mid 20’s. Warm…considering that we aren’t scheduled to finish until 1:30pm. As of this morning the forecast was updated to a high of 31 degrees celcius…EGAD! That is crazy talk. We didn’t train for these temperatures and my body doesn’t like heat. We finished the first half in record time. I beat my previous half marathon time by 30 seconds. Our second half was a little slower but considering the temps, I am thrilled. Don won 1st place in his age category and I won first place in mine. I guess it pays to get old…..not many old folks like us compete in marathons so we win by default 😉
Filed under Races
Grandma’s Visitors
Sean and his family are in Edmonton to visit Dad and Grandma. You can see the joy on her face as she spends time with her Grandson. We are off to spend the day at the Waterpark and tomorrow it is off to Jasper to show the kids the ‘real’ mountains.
Filed under Two legged family
31km on Canada Day
Happy Canada Day!! We decided to celebrate our country’s birthday today by going for a 31KM walk…not really…..it just happened to coincide with our training calendar. I can’t believe that I actually speed walked for 31kms and lived to blog about it. This is the longest distance I have ever tackled and I’m now thinking that maybe, just maybe, I might actually be able to complete the Derby Marathon in August.
We left the house at 6am and it was a comfortable 14 degrees celcius with a light breeze. By the 20KM mark it was cold, windy and pouring rain. We actually completed the last 11kms that way hence the lovely photograph. We had to strip out of our soaking wet clothes at the front door. Don headed for a long, hot shower and I jumped into the hot tub to try and warm up. We are both suffering from numerous, giant blisters but darn it…….”I feel good“
Filed under Training, Two legged family
Wildroses Women’s Half Marathon
This morning I completed my 3rd half marathon. It was a women’s only race so it was the first race that I have done without Don by my side and none of my walking buddies signed up so I was flying solo. I started out walking with a really nice lady that used to run marathons but a knee injury had forced her to turn to walking shorter races. She was great company but her pace was a full minute faster than mine. I kept up with her for 4km but I had to say goodbye and slow down to a more comfortable pace for me. I finished the race in 3:01:58 which is my best time but the real shocker was that I finished 5th overall and 2nd in my age group so I got a medal. Yipppeeee for me. Of course there were only 25-30 walkers so when you put it in perspective I was just lucky.
Filed under Races, Two legged family
Wolf to Woof
Last night we attended the opening night of the Wolf to Woof exhibit at the Royal Alberta Museum. It was exciting to see Tango’s picture hanging in the museum. There was a wonderful formal presentation and we got to hear the stories behind all the winning pictures. There were 30 winners chosen to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Friends of the Royal Alberta Museum Society (FRAMS), 10 in each of the following 3 categories: Best Buddy, Hall of Shame and Hall of Fame. Tango was a winner in the Hall of Fame category. We were presented with a beautiful framed copy of her picture and bio. When the exhibit ends this fall, we will also get the framed picture that was hanging in the gallery all summer.
I highly recommend checking out the exhibit. It was well done and very informative for people of all ages who are interested in dogs.
Filed under Tango, Volunteering
My little furry helper….NOT!!
It is a wonder that I get anything done with Tilly hanging around. She always has to be in the middle of everything just in case I need her help. Sometimes she is so darn cute that I work around her rather that disturb her. Here are a few pictures of her helping me quilt and assisting me with my laptop.
How can I sew with her cute face in front of the needle
Taking a nap on top of my fabric
Peeking over the monitor of my laptop to see if she an help me spellcheck
Filed under Tilly
Bold Baby Quilt
I just finished this crib size quilt. I made it for someone who is expecting a little girl in early June.
To read about it and see more pictures click here.
Filed under Quilting
Life In The Dog House 