A break from the recent posts

Lately there have been lots of quilts posted...altho I have more that I need to picture and put here I figured it was time for a "cute break"....so today's posts are all about my other favorite thing...........PUPPIES!!
So hang on to your hats cuz there are a bunch of pictures of pups in this post

kissie kissie

now that's a tongue :)

one of the tubes for a sort of obstacle course for the pups

mama and an opportunist trying to siddle up to the dry bar

another of the playtoys

playing with Izzy

another one of the pipes

just a darn cute picture...but then I am prejudiced :)

caught in action of moving...hard to take pics of moving targets

hum...wonder what she was thinking???

saying Hi to Bailey who was tired and just wanted to rest :)

jungle gym Reese

the water bowl is almost as big as the pup drinking

another cute pic :)

hope you enjoyed the view from my side of the country for a bit

practice makes perfect?

My blogger friend Paulette, was talking about a hint she got to practice machine quilting on paper towel...well I am too stingy to waste a roll of paper towel so I thot of going to the local thrift store and finding placemats...same consistency as a quilt almost and perfect to play with...so when my machine told me that I only had a little bit of thread left in the bobbin, I started playing...man do I suck...but the idea of practice which has not sounded appealing at all before is starting to take shape.
This placemat has lots of practice on it....I didn't care if I was perfect or if I went over what I had already done...just wanted to get a rhythm going...so over and over I played

here is the other side...........one of the nice things I found with this placemat was that there were quilted lines which gave a grid to play with...........ha...my mama didn't raise no fool :)

close up of the hearts I was playing with today

then I needed borders on this...the really cool feather is done by my machine...and the gap is where I needed to bite my nails and fill it in......

here is the second try of putting the machine one together....still a gap but a much smaller gap

altho there are threads everywhere cuz of the way I added the feathers to the program, there was only a little gap which I filled in free hand.......easy peasy...at least on this little gap

not as good on this one where there was a larger area to fill in....and the original machine one was triple stitched so I had to go over the area several times to get the heavier threads........

well...now that my nails are chewed down to the quick I need to trim this quilt and bind it...along with its almost matching one

Completion of the Jelly Roll Race

Finished the quilt in the time frame and thot I would be smart and have them quilted in that time frame also...........not totally so...got all but one done...so came home and finished the last one.....they are awaiting binding that I ordered today from the lady who ran the race :) Shawna from 1 Choice 4 Quilting Blog ran a quick little Jelly Roll race...basically you sewed strips from the Jelly together and together and together....you get the picture.....and then posted them on her flicker account........when I saw the dimensions of her quilt I didn't want one that big but figured it would be great split up into two quilts....well I actually got three out of it...so I changed the rules a bit :)

Ran into a bit of trouble after the first one was quilted...wanted to get the second one done today so in a hurry I marked it...hooped it...sewed it...and then ripped it and resewed it.

This is what happens when you are in a hurry and forget to check and make sure that all fabrics under the hoop is not under the hoop...what is means is ripping...had to rip out the entire first run of the flower .......oh well.........

here are the three for my picture sent in to Shawna

I look at each as a learning experience...still working on this hooping thingy and every time I try something I learn something ;) So tried three different things on these three quilts

bubbles everywhere........except I should have started in the middle instead of the middle end....made me need to redigitize for the end pieces that weren't quite covered in the pattern

number 2...the one I screwed up on...this time I started in the middle and had to restart in the middle when I sewed a corner onto the back and couldn't get my hoop out

you can't see the spiral flowers too easily on this backing but it worked

last and not least is the one I decided to go against the lines and do perpendicular large feathery type quilting.....only 6 hoopings on this one...yippee


here is the back for that one but you can't see the direction I went on the lines of the quilt...oh well...you get the picture

they are all trimmed up and waiting the order of the binding..........made it on the extra percentage off sale so am a happy camper :)

Jelly Roll Race

Hey guys....a new giveaway race is up tomorrow on 1 Choice 4 Quilting...not sure exactly what it is about but it involves a Jelly Roll into a quilt top...always up for a challenge :) So go to 1 Choice 4 Quilting and check out the details ;)
Shawna comes up with the best ideas......hurry on over...it starts tomorrow....get ready, set go!

while I am waiting...

through some fluke, my new baby is visiting the doctors office...has been there for almost 2 weeks now...meanwhile I wait for her to get better and return to her place of honor. maybe the fluke was due to jealousy from my older baby not being used as much.......figure I will never know how 2 pieces of selvage edge got into my machine and caused it major problems..there seems to be no way in.........but somehow????
anyway...that hasn't stopped me from piecing tops...have been doing doubles because I had a request for twins blankets...so right now I have 5 sets waiting to be quilted...
here is one of the girlie ones....there is a match right below her :)

my favorite to date of the ones waiting is the one I just finished tonight....this is from the Schnibbles book....love that there are two sizes of each quilt because I make the little ones and this one was the perfect size....used up some of my fat quarters too...hum...this went together so well....well kinda...my friendly seam ripper came out several times cuz I kept sewing the wrong pieces together :) I didn't lay it out but did it on the fly........needless to say...I like the way it turned out.........and there is enough to do another one ;)

by then hopefully the new baby will be back and ready to finish what I have going......till then will just keep going..have another one started that I am going to use the lil' twister on.......

Belated Mother's day gift

Several years ago my daughters and I went out for lunch for Mother's day......well they actually took me out...or so they said cuz I was the one that ended up paying the bill :) So last Thursday we went on our 3rd annual Mother's day luncheon...and I didn't pay :) My son actually picked up the tab for it.....how is that for special?......
When I got there the girls were already seated and in the booth with them was a stranger :) Actually it was my Mother's day gift........you see several years ago I got a chicken....and since then the yard art has been growing and multiplying in my yard.........I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!
One of my favorite lines from the movie "UP" is...... "squirrel?" I tend to say that whenever anyone is distracted or...well whenever it fits actually....so this year to add to the collection I got a squirrel :) I love the guy who does these..... :) What talent...so without further ado...here is the collection to date
The squirrel...the newest to the collection

a close up...he needs his eyes darkened in cuz they are kinda spooky in person :)

this is the piece that actually started it all...a friend gave this to me for doing something for her...can't remember what but I got this cute butterfly pick

a doggie pick

flowers...that have seen better days

the original chicken that started this craze

a piggy

a rabbit poke

another doggie

a flying pig

this has got to be my funniest pick

a friend bought this over one day :)

not sure what this is but it was cute

doggie pick


another doggie pick

another rooster

and the newest pic...another rooster

so the count is:
chicken/rooster-3
piggies-2
bunny-1
squirrel-1
funny bird-1
doggies-6 (guess they win!)

another giveaway

I am passionate about what I do....and sometimes sharing that passion with others is very good....so I am telling you there is another giveaway..........OK...so by blogging about it I put my name in another drawing and giving myself another chance to WIN!!!!!!!!!!! After all I am a winner! :) At least I like to view myself as a winner even tho I don't get a chance often to win something......
So to up my chances of winning...........Shawna at 1 Choice 4 Quilting is having a spectacular giveaway...not only her but several others have joined with her and are being generous to some lucky winners.....here is the blog address to go and see the lovely things people have donated to this super duper giveaway
Thanks again Shawna for being so generous.

ps...when you order from her look for extra goodies...not only that but the care with which she packages your order makes you feel really special!!!! I *heart* Shawna and 1 Choice 4 Quilting

the day before the end...........

One of the joys of living in the great Northwest is to have days in between the yuck that are absolutely gorgeous..........wanted to enjoy the day so we headed out for the Olympic peninsula and ultimately Hurricane Ridge.........didn't realize how much snow we would encounter but the weather wasn't cold even tho there were huge piles all around us...but wait...I get ahead of myself

walking the dogs after the long ride to the ferry and before the long ride after the ferry

here we are on the ferry waiting for it to get to our final destination

izzy...need I say more?

we temporarily take a break from all the doggie pics to show the beauty of where we ended up

another shot of being on top of Hurricane Ridge


following the leader :)

izzy loved the snow...she kept rolling and digging and running up and down this cliff
here she is at the top of it

here you can see how really high she is

reese contemplating the meaning of this white stuff

both girls paying attention to the one who is holding the camera

the snow-man and dogs

home again home again ziggity zig

reese was wanting this 'fun' ride to be over ;)

so now we are back to the grey skies and the liquid sun...but we had a fun day in the sun so will wait till the next one :)