Almost No Sewing

I/we were on the road a lot last week.  I spent a lot of Monday with the dishwasher repair men (no it is not working) and Tuesday was away looking for matching vinyl to repair the new furniture (see Sherlock’s story below).  I can’t seem to remember what all kept me from the studio Wed – Fri except that I have spent a great deal of time at the sink.  I had forgotten how much I don’t like washing dishes and have completely forgotten the “dish washing rules” my mother pounded into my head.  Saturday DH and I went looking for a footstool that would allow our doxies to get up and down from the couch without taking that great giant leap (bad for doxie backs).  We spent all day and decided on this one: 
DH found it but we thought it was a little expensive until we trekked through many other stores and saw lots of stools and all for more money.  So, back to Hobby Lobby and home she came.  Doesn’t se fit in with our eclectic quilts motif?





Sunday afternoon I finally got into the studio and started on this, my last BOM for the year.  It is from Denise who seems to have high expectations for us. 










This is the layout for this block.  Please note that it takes 6 sheets of paper.  That’s because it is an 18” block!  Not only that but she expects us to make two of them by March 15th.  The making is not the hard part, it is the drawing, choosing all those different fabrics, and figuring out the best background fabric for the whole quilt.  Of course I could have done some of that before she released Block(s) 1 on Saturday but I didn’t.





So this is how far I got.  Doesn’t look like much, does it?  Well, it isn’t but mostly that is because I didn’t read the directions and only drew and cut fusible for one of the two blocks.  So today I get to do it all over again.  The good part is that I made a mistake and didn’t realize that one of the hats is reversed so when I do the second set of hats I can do two reversed ones and all will be right.  Then it is on to the fabric hunt.






While we were in Pensacola we did our usual stop at the book store where they had 2014 calendars for $3.  We found this one that was perfect for Sherlock.  He has eaten into clothes, both old and new, two quilts and a throw, and the new furniture that we had not had for even 24 hours.  He now is not left out with the other dogs when we go away, even to the studio, but must be crated.  I have never crated a dog but this has become a necessity.  And it is hard for us because he is a very loving dog.






However, he does not really like being left in the cage and has been able to push the door open to escape.  So DH put a cement block against the door and look what happened.  We now have Sherlock/Rudolph the Red Nosed Doxie.  Needless to say we will be putting something with a smoother surface against the door next time. 





It appears that our winter weather has finally returned to normal and we may even be seeing the beginnings of spring.  This is our front yard with leafless trees and the sun just beginning to make it’s way in.  This week I need to cut back the gardenia bush that was hit hard by the ice but I think is still living.  This will be the second time Winter has tried to kill that bush but it will live to bloom another day.

We have family in NH and MD that are still getting snow but everywhere else things appear to be improving.  I hope that winter is beginning to break where you are living and that you have a great week.  Gari