All the blocks are done – they still need squared and ironed, but they are done. I even made two extra blocks and hope to make a couple of throw pillows to match.
I am sending the quilt out to a quilter, so I need to get it to her as soon as possible… I may also have her sew on the binding for me too. I also need to figure out how to label the back.
What do you think?
. I really honestly love them. HONEST!Today we learned some very important lessons:
(1)find a way to secure front door from dog releasing toddlers - it turns out that they let my half blind, two legged dog out while I was busy in the backyard talking to an AC repair guy. The poor thing wandered into marshland adjacent to our home, one surrounded by thick 7ft tall reeds, has deep water in the middle and lots of snakes and thorns. I drove around the neighborhood trying to find her, I kept hearing her braying, but couldn't figure out where it was coming from.
(2)the fire department are heroes - I called the local fire station directly and begged them to please come out and help me. I told them I was desperate, that she was sick and needed help getting out and was drowning - but I just couldn't get to her through all the reeds, thorns and water. I told them if they didn't come right then, they would be coming out shortly to save a family from the marshland because I was about to drive my car into it to try to get to her.
(3)i am able to keep calm in a crisis - I could hear my poor pup floundering in the water, she was panicking, and braying for help. I couldn't get to her at all. I stayed calm and tried my best to keep my voice level and even so I didn't scare my kids or the dog too badly.
(4)whenever a fire truck shows up the entire neighborhood comes out! Seriously, they didn't come out when they heard me hollering for Joulie to come out, to keep her head above water, to just keep going because I wasn't ready to lose her and that I was doing everything I could to get to her.
(5) fire fighters really like cake and showing kids the Engines. after we got Joulie all cleaned up, warmed up from being in the cold marsh waters for over 2 hours, and settled back into her nest - I went and got a cake and had our Thanks written on it and I drew puppy prints on it with decorating gel. It's not a job requirement to go get dogs for people, but they did it and were so kind about it. They saw the kids waiting for me in the car while I was saying my “Thank You’s” and had me bring them out and they were given an awesome tour of the engines and the fire house. Nice guys. 
Joulie is fine in the end, just really tired. the kids now understand the gravity of what happened and that Joules could have died out there. I know they were just letting her out to go potty, so I can't scold too much - but they've been really quiet all night and both were sure to kiss their puppy goodnight.
Lessons learned, all's well in the end.
This little stinker woke up one day and said she wanted to use the potty all the time and write letters.
(Don’t worry, I’m not spoiling anything, this card was for Pa-Pa.)
I am so so so happy about the potty training bit – she’s still working on night time control, but during the day is AWESOME! And her going so much and yelling “I GOTTA GO POTTY!” whenever/wherever we are is encouraging the SpacePirate to want to go.
Oh a funny story I forgot to share: We recently went out to dinner at place that is in a converted warehouse. While there she said she had to go potty, so we ran and did our thing. Coming out, she was so proud of herself that as she approached our table, she yelled “GUUUUUUYS! I WENT PEE-PEE IN THE POTTY!” Of course, as soon as she yelled “GUUUUUUUYS!” the entire place went dead silent, except for my daughters deafening announcement. She was walking out ahead of me, and I about fell over trying to catch her as that “GUUUUUYS!” was coming out, knowing what was coming next. The entire place burst out in laughter, claps and cheers (thank goodness for others who “know” what it’s all about). I was bright red, but I cheered for her too and then laughed until I cried.
This picture has nothing to do with the above, I just thought it was really funny. The things that entertain these little buggers never ceases to amaze me!
I was cleaning up the miniSD that goes in my phone and thought I’d share some of the random crap I take pictures of…
A little man who fell asleep playing instead of napping.
I took a picture of myself on my Valentines Scavenger Hunt
The inside of the Baha’i Temple, where my scavenger hunt led me.
Joulie’s back injury. See that huge opaque white area on the right? And the curving of the spine in the bottom XRay? yeah, it’s bad.
My kids are in there somewhere. I bought a plant at Costco. Kids pretended they were monkeys in the jungle the whole ride home.
This is what I find when I come back from going to the bathroom.
Chi-Town!
SpacePirate likes piggy-tails. I love putting them in for him. Daddy? Not so much!
Hard to read in this shot – but the sign reads “In Order to be Environmentally Friendly, Barnes&Noble is Now Providing Hand Dryers Instead of Paper Towels.” Um. Okay.
I guess a PROFESSIONAL sign maker would have caught that error. A sign in SixFlags Great America.
I’ve always wondered how Wookiehide boots would look. Now I know. Now I am afraid. I took this last week in Wal-Mart. I think I should submit it to People of WalMart, don’t you? Honestly, the green and red hair tops off this “outfit” nicely, doesn’t it?
I watched the ‘Hawks win the Stanley Cup while doing this:
The strips are now all cut into blocks, and piecing those blocks will start very soon. 
I don’t know if I should say “consciousness” as I feel only semi-conscious because I have only had half a cup of coffee today. Oh well. Basically, my goal here is to just write whatever I am thinking at just this instant, with little to no editing. I don’t know why I decided to do this, but I felt like I needed to. Right now I am so busy and have so many things floating in my head that I fell like I am a TV on “perma-flip,” jumping from one channel to the next in millisecond increments.
My dog, Joulie, the inspiration behind my logo and blog name is not doing well at all. She is weak, blind on one side, and stiff. All this started with a scratched eye during the icy winter. Her hair is falling out, and she only weighs about 10 lbs or so. She keeps walking into things, and only walks where she can run her body along a wall. She damaged a disk in her back as some point during her eye recovery and that swollen disk pinched off a nerve in her back at some point. She paces all day, rarely laying down for long. She keeps going up the stairs and then hurtles herself down the stairs ending with a heartsickening thud at the bottom. I try to keep a babygate at the bottom of the stairs so she can’t get up, but the Chaos Twins see a gate and must destroy it. I don’t know what to do. Last time I had her at the vet they wanted to do CAT scans and MRIs on her – and when I asked what that would find, the doctor responded with “where we need to do surgery.” I really don’t want to put her through a surgery that may or may not make her better. She had a very hard time recovering from what should have been a simple spay, resulting in permanent metal ties in her gut. I’m not ready to lose her.
I’ve got 3 jobs going right now with deadlines – and I am glad to have them. Any little bit counts, as it feels like my wallet has turned into a sieve. The big expenses just keep coming and I want it to stop. The latest hole in my sieve is needing a new lawnmower. I haven’t been able to mow my own lawn for weeks now, and my nice neighbor has been kind enough to help out, but I can’t keep that up. The mower was running rough, and my sweet Xiris tried his best to fix it this weekend, doing what he really dislikes and that is play with engines. He’d rather use hammers and power tools. He’s not one of those guys that likes to tinker with cars or equipment. When I had my old Karmann Ghia, he’d tink with it along side me, but I think that was because he was worried I was going to hurt myself or blow something up. I think he was never gladder than when I sold that little red pile of metal. So, I am on the hunt for a new mower for cheap, or for a used one that works. I don’t care, but I have decided that I want a pushbutton start one. I hate pulling that stupid cord to try and get the things started. Does such a thing exist? I should probably pick what I want when it comes to mowers because I am the one who mows… hmm, wonder if they make pink ones?
This weekend my husband obliged another one of my weird “LETS DO THIS NOW” obsessions. He traipsed around in open fields with me and helped me pick up big rocks and put them into my garden. We wandered around the unsold homesites in our neighborhood – I was careful to make sure that we were only on the unsold sites. I was just helping the construction guys, right? The rocks look great mixed in with my fluffy perennials, and is just the touch it needed for now. And it was free. If I had paid a landscaper to do that for me it would have been a fortune.
The wedding quilt is in progress, and is coming along nicely. I’ll have an update on that this week (probably tomorrow). There is more to update too – but for now I have to go round up the Chaos Twins and get them into the car and headed out to a StoryTime. Oh – a quick LittleMiss update: SHE IS POTTY TRAINED! Seriously, we haven’t had any accidents in weeks – and only needs a PullUp for sleeping at night. It’s great! I am so freaking over the moon about it!
Busy day today: Story time, wind lots of yarn, work on quilt, lots of phone calls (vets, kid docs, furniture repair guys), things to mail, contracts to return, laundry, cleaning, and I should probably work my own shower in there somewhere!
The beginnings of a quilt I need to work up pretty quickly. Our dearest friend is getting married this August – and we couldn’t think of anything that two grown people need when bringing two established homes together- so I decided to do a quilt. The couple are young Germans, lawyers, modern, and pretty earthy – so I wanted something that fit those lines. I love the lines of the quilt from the Moda Bake Shop – but the colors were not “them”. So I went with a Bali Pop
in the “Berry Bliss
” colorway, and a nice creamy color called “Milk” from the Whimsy line. 
and the 2 1/2” strip cutter
to get 3 yards of strips cut in about 20 minutes with little waste and straight on the grain! It was fun, too!
Recently, I was asked to use my “Mad Crochet Skillz” to edit and test a pattern for Spud & Chloë’s Fall 2010 line – and my finished little puppy mitts were used as the official pattern photo! Remember THIS POST about some super yummy yarn? This is what it was all for.
Excuse me while I celebrate for a second: squuuuueeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!
Just look at these things! They are so silly, cute and fun – and in Spud & Chloë yarn? WOW! Just wow! The colors of this line of yarn are beyond amazing and so much fun!
The pattern is really easy to follow, and the mitts come in two different sizes (baby/toddler and bigger kiddo). Each one took me about an hour and half to make up and then another 1/2 hour or so to put together. They were great fun and I will definitely be making a ton more of these! And: SCRAPS of yarn are enough here – I think you can 4 or 5 pairs out of one hank of yarn (at LEAST) for the main body pieces.
Look for the pattern after TNNA, and I am sure that the Spud & Chloë site will link up to where the pattern is available. I am so happy that I get to spill these beans! I’m not so good at keeping secrets, and this has been a hard one, for sure!
