Update on Ginger Belle's Busy Day

Ginger and I had a fun day of shopping (at Pet Smart), visiting (Charlie and I's office staff), and the vet today. Ginger rode in her collapsible carrier and loved it. She wasn't too fond of one of the clerks at Pet Smart though. She growled and started barking at her when she got loud and came towards us too quickly. I couldn't tell if she was protecting me or feeling threatened herself. As soon as the lady backed away, she stopped. Other people the rest of the day held her and she snuggled up in their arms like they were long lost friends. The vet gave her a clean bill of health in all ways and didn't want to let go of her. When we got home, she took a nap and started playing with all her new toys we got at Pet Smart. I can't quite tell which is her favorite yet, but I think it's a toss up between her blue stuffed dachshund and her ball. She's not crying near as much tonight when I leave her alone in the crate because she has the toys to occupy her attention. Hopefully, that will help when it's time for me to go to bed tonight. I'm hoping I've worn her out enough today that she will sleep soundly all night.

Other firsts today for her was walking on a leash. She follows me very well... but there is one small problem... she wants to walk between my legs rather than to the side of me. I could easily step on her if I didn't hold my arm out straight on a very short leash so she can't quite get between the legs. We did a few training runs in the driveway and up and down the porch tonight. She seems to be learning things very quickly, so that makes me happy of course. I made her a little quilted monogramed coat to wear outside this morning. She loves it as you can tell in this photo.

My New Babies

Hi Everyone! Sorry it's been so long since I last wrote but life has been very busy for me the past few weeks. I've been out of town 3 times, once to visit family, once to attend a quilting retreat in Southern Missouri, and once to pick up my first (of 2) adopted miniature dachshunds. And on top of all of the traveling and the new puppy, I've had a bunch of health issues and undergone a number of tests and doctor appointments.

Here is a photo of my newest baby, Ginger Belle. She is a red and black long hair miniature dachshund with a really loving personality. She loves to sit on my lap while I am at the computer and she watches the screen till she falls asleep.

Her first night here she was very quiet and slept in a cardboard box at the side of my bed. I just put my arm down into the box, she'd lick it a few times, and curl up and go to sleep. But last night wasn't quite so easy. She just wasn't happy until I let her up in bed with me. I finally did because instead of licking my fingers when I dropped my hand over the side of the bed, she decided to make her point stronger, by nipping my fingers, and those baby teeth are sharp. I figured if I wanted to have any fingers left to quilt with, I better cater to her. After a couple of hours I put her in her crate in my sewing room and she FINALLY went to sleep. She then woke up when Charlie got up, so I went and got her and brought her back to bed with me and slept until 7:30. Yesterday I bought some puppy pads and she is using those to potty on so far. The weather has been too wet and cold to take her outside right now. I'm hoping to have some time today or tomorrow to make her a quilted coat to wear when she goes outside. She and I are visiting my office today and the vet for a check up.

When we went to get her, they had another long haired mini dachshund available for a good price so we put $100 down for them to hold her for us too. She is only 4 weeks old right now, so we don't actually get to pick her up until the end of May. Here is her photo.

She is a piebald cream and chocolate long haired little girl and we haven't named her yet. I'm hoping to get Ginger well on her way to being house broken and sleeping through the nights by the time we go get this little jewel.

I will try to get back on here soon and tell you all about the quilting retreat I went to in Conway, Missouri. It was a lot of fun and my two sisters (also quilt lovers) went with me, making it extra special. I got so many projects done and took a class and taught a demo on how to put together my little sewing caddy pins. I also won several nice prizes, a sewing tote bad, 25 quilted blocks ready to make into a pillow, blanket, pot holder, or something else, a landscape quilt book, and a quilt. There was one lady there who just gave away a ton of quilting things that she no longer needed or wanted, so we all really enjoyed that too. The food was absolutely wonderful, and the ladies were all so fun and helpful if you had a question about how to do something. It was one of the most fun things I've ever done before. Next time I write I will show you some of my projects.

Quilting Retreat/Panda Quilt

Well, I actually started the process of packing for the quilting retreat next week. I had to organize my things so my sewing stuff is all together in certain bags and my clothing, bedding, and personal grooming products are all in different bags, because the two things are located in 2 different buildings. I also have to have my name on everything. Needless to say, with packing so many things, it is taking me awhile to get everything labeled too.

Today I counted my kits that I'm taking to work on, and I have 12 ready to start sewing. I'm sure I will not get all of them done, but I assue you I will make a valiant effort. The hardest part is going to be deciding what to do first... such a nice problem to have. Tonight I'm going to work on the blue bird appliqued top and do the sandwiching of layers and get that all pinned together and ready to quilt, so that will be one more.

This little panda quilt is one I did a few years ago for a friend who collected pandas for her hobby. It is all paper pieced and was pretty easy and very cute I think. It was a kit I purchased somewhere (I don't remember where I got it). Enjoy!

Reach for the Stars Quilt

This quilt was my first large paperpieced quilt and I had so much fun working on this with all the jewel tone colors. It was made with the "Star Galaxy" pattern which I found in a quilting magazine in 2003. I'm sure I still have it somewhere, but I don't remember which one it was right now. I finished the quilt in 2004.

Then I added the sashing and small squares of dancing people fabric. To really set it off, I drew 2 of these people shapes out on paper and scanned them into my computer. Then I converted the graphic to a machine embroidery pattern and saved that to my embroidery machine's disk. Then I embroidered them on lightly spotted black squares in different jewel tone colors for the 4 corners of the quilt.

Lastly, I added pink piping around the edge of quilt before binding. Then I machine quilted it on my sewing machine. Even though it was one of the first big quilts I ever made, it is still one of my favorites which I won't give away.

Preparing for Quilt Retreat

Well, the crunch is now on to get ready for my upcoming Kaye Woods Quilting Retreat in Southern Missouri. My two sisters from the St. Louis area are going with me so this should be a lot of fun. They have both been before, but this will be my first time. They've printed out a packing list for me and given me all kinds of directions on how to prepare my sewing projects for the week. This is not a convention with a bunch of classes and vendors. It's a private retreat in a quiet, out of the way location for a Yahoo group that I belong to and we can do all the sewing we want on our own projects. It sounds wonderful to me. So I've been pre-cutting my pieces to several quilts and pinning them together so all I have to do is stitch when I get there. I've got high hopes for finishing several quilt tops there, so be prepared to see some more photos when I return.

One of the quilts I am currently working on is called the Baltimore Bliss and it is a quilt of all applique. I've not done much applique before but I'm really enjoying working on this. Here are pictures of the first 2 blocks that I've completed. The only thing I'm still struggling with is the tiny narrow points. I hope there's someone at the retreat that can show me a better way of doing those. But for now I'm happy with these. I figure by the time I've done 12 different blocks, I should be getting pretty good at applique. It's a block of the month pattern so that will force me to pace myself. I am trying different methods of applique for each block. So far I am liking the English paper piecing method the best. That is the method I used for these two blocks and I like the way these came out. You just basically copy the designs only copy paper, cut them out and then use a small dobb of water soluable glue (stick) to fasten it face down on the back of the desired fabric. Cut around that with a 1/4" seam allowance around edges. Fold over the seam allowance to the back and using a contrasting thread, do a running stitch around the piece to hold the folded over seam allowance snugly against the paper. (Start and end on the right side of the fabric). Starch and steam iron the pieces flat. Then when you are ready to applique that piece, take out the stitches and the paper, and repress the folds and applique it only your background. The is very easy and goes a lot faster than you might think. It also makes a great "carry with you" project or hand project while watching TV.

I'm also going to be doing a short demo on my travel sewing pin (see photo below) at this retreat, so I got all that ready to go tonight. I also put together 40 surprise gifts to give to each attendee. I'm starting to think that my car is really going to be packed with all the stuff I'm planning on taking.