Your Opinion is Appreciated...

So here's my quandry.

You see people selling quilt patterns that are nothing much more than a bunch of squares or triangles, or circles even. You see it all the time. And it can be a really cute quilt! So my question is; if I can look at that pattern and figure out how it's done, am I morally bound to still purchase the pattern?

I'm all for supporting people's efforts, and actually just this last week bought two very cute patterns. But some of these people act like they invented the square! You did not invent the square, lady! It was here way before you, and will be here long after you're gone.

But the quandry remains.

At what point am I ethically obligated to purchase the pattern? Or acknowledge the original? What if I wanted to sell it? What if I wanted to make MY version of a simple patchwork pattern?

Where is the line?

So anywhoo.

Quandry.

I got stuff in the mail!

I love getting stuff in the mail. Just love it.

So I bought this quilt kit for a braid quilt, made with Sultry fabric from Basic Grey. See? I could have figured it out. It's not complex. But I bought the kit.

(Ok, mostly for the fabric, and it was half off, but still)

And I was almost out of my most favoritest, go-to fabric from Kaffe Fasset, so imagine how thrilled I was to find it half off? (It's gone now, sorry!)

And again in a different colorway. In case you don't need the clashy brightness.

It's prettier than my picture is showing. Very soft.

And a quick update on the Princess, she's getting around SO MUCH BETTER than a week ago! Up and down stairs, up on the couch by herself, although you can the wheels turning as she works it out in her head. But she gets up there! She's such a trooper. Such a good dog. My sweet lil' baby.

So let me know what you think.

Until then, I'll be in the sewing cave.

Inventing a shape.

PS. What do you think of the background? My friend is highly POLKA DOT resistant, and there are just sooooo many POLKA DOTS out in the world! This is actually a fabric that I actually have. Actually.

PPS. I LOVE POLKA DOTS!!

PPPS. Nothing. I just wanted to use PPPS.

Hidden Blessings

Isn't life funny?

I had a half day off last Friday. I had plans to lock myself away in my sewing cave and not come out.

Right up until the point that my beautiful Princess Baby Dog was hit by a car.

She's ok, at least she will be eventually. Let me assure you of that before we go any further.

She's bruised and sore, but nothing's broken or ruptured.

Not even her spirit.

I'll spare you the details of the trip to the vet. The worry, the tension, the crying.

She was such a good dog. The best. She just looked in my eyes the whole time we were there. We just stared at each other as I murmured reassurances to her that everything would be ok.

And it was.

The hard part has been leaving her alone since she's come home. You can tell she's in pain. She's slow to get up, slow to lie down. Sweet Baboo has built ramps for her so she can get out to do her bizness with dignity. What a man. I know there are people who believe that their dog is just a sort of outdoor decoration. Tie her to a tree and throw some food at her occasionally. My heart is overflowed with gratitude that my Sweet Baboo isn't one of them. Right now I'm typing this standing up, balancing the keyboard on the back of a chair because she's lying in my way and I don't have the heart to move her. I just want to pick her up and squeeze her. Rub her all over. Hug her and not let go.

That's the hard part.

We went from gazing lovingly into each other's eyes to not being able to snuggle like usual.

My poor sweet baby.

She's such a trooper.

I'm sure this blog will be littered with lessons learned from Miss Pep in her hour of tribulation from now on. But my leg is cramping up from the strange position I'm in, so let me just share what I did while she was sleeping through her narcotics.

I couldn't leave her alone, so I did some hand work.

I have these hexagons.

There are tons of websites dedicated to people who are addicted to hexagons.

I don't think I'll be joining them any time soon.

For one thing, I've had these hexagons for years. YEARS! And this is as far as I've ever gotten.

First, my schwanky carrying case...

Oh yeah, you're impressed now, aren't you?

I'm guessing that I meant for it to be all batiks.

So I don't know what that polka dot is doing there. (and for my polka dot resistant friend: I'm sorry. I tried to crop it out.)

Now I'm wondering if I should put them all butted up against each other, or have a spacer of black in between each "flower".

This is the template I'm using. Or rather, set of templates. They're really easy. If you're interested in starting a hexagon project to last the rest of your life, I highly recommend them.

It goes a little sumpin like this.

If you're into that sort of thing.

Maybe now that Princess Petunia is starting to get around better, I can someday get back to the sewing cave for some real work.

No rush, Pup.

No rush.

You take all the time in the world.

The Most Beautiful Girl in the World

Something happened today that made me realize that it's been a while since we've seen Da Pup.

The Princess.

Miss Fluffy Butt.

So I grabbed my camera and tried for a photo shoot.

Oh dear.

She is a lot of things. She is beautiful, and sweet, and loving. She is funny, and brave, and fearless. 

The things she is NOT, is cooperative, and maybe photogenic.

She's a black dog! It's very hard to get a good picture of her!

And it doesn't help that she has to investigate anything I might have in my hands.

 That's why most of the pictures I have of her are when she's sleeping.

Or at the vet.

 Look at that smile! 

She's a happy girl.

 We got her when she was 9 months old. She was hyperactive and had some serious issues. She was a biter! If you got anywhere near her food, she'd bite you. 

If you made a move that could be interpreted as going for her food, she'd bite you.

If you gave her a sideways glance while in the same room as her food, oh yes, she'd bite you. 

We had some significant injuries in our early years. People told us she would never change, and that we should get rid of her. 

Perhaps permanently. And they would give us a "look".

But I was in love.

This was my first dog! I had signed on for the long haul.

We worked with her every day. I researched everything I could find about rehabilitating dogs with food issues. I would sit on the kitchen floor with her bowl in my lap and hand feed her pieces of food. We started making her sit and wait before we'd put her bowl down. Once she started letting us near her, I would add pieces of chicken or beef into her bowl, to let her see that it wasn't always a bad thing to have people near her bowl. Then we graduated to picking up her bowl, and adding yummy things. 

Today, nine years later, I scooped up her food and took it to her bowl. She spun around in excitement, (a self taught trick that I encourage: "SPIN!") and then sat down patiently as I poured the (vegetarian) food 

into her bowl. We made eye contact.

She waited. 

And waited.

I went back and put the scoop back in the bag. Poured myself a beverage. 

Came back, to find her still sitting, patiently waiting.

"GO AHEAD!"

And she tucked in.

I scratched her back, petted her head. 

She didn't even twitch.

Good dog.

New Lovers...

Did you have a good weekend?

I had a good weekend.

At least, it started out good. 

I figured I would make the back for the Terry Pratchett quilt. Has to be done, right? 

Has to be easier than the front, right? 

Oh. My. Lord.

I laid out fabrics. I cut and sewed. Then I ripped, because I had sewn the wrong sides together. 

No problem. 

Sewed again.

AND RIPPED AGAIN!!! 

I swear, that quilt and I were NOT in sync. 

After a while, when I found myself swearing uncontrollably, I finally went to the adjoining room to watch TV. But I could feel him staring at me. Feel his accusing glare as he lay across the bed. I gave him sideways glances, trying to not make eye contact. Trying to play it cool. But he just laid there, in his passive aggressive way, mocking me with his 3/4 finished back. 

But it was not to be. 

I finally folded him up and put him away. 

We're having a trial separation. 

So I thought I'd take advantage of this time to see other people. 

I chopped up my Oh Cherry Oh! fabrics 

Aren't those the cutest?

Ignore the loose threads.

Like a fresh breath of spring. Or summer. Whichever. 

Like a 40's housewife putting on her apron.

I had thought to applique some cherries in the white square, but now I'm not sure. It might look kind of busy. 

I'm sure Terry's back and I will make up soon. He's got to get to the longarm quilter. The Hawaiian quilt will be headed that way tomorrow.

I just have to be in the right frame of mind. 

When I first started quilting, I read a lot about the traditions and superstitions. One of them, I think a Hawaiian tradition, said that you should never work on a quilt angry or upset, because you would transfer those feelings to the quilt.

I don't want him to be angry. 

I'll buy him some nice new threads and maybe get some flowers. Put on some happy music. 

I hope he'll take me back.

What time is it??

Where has the time gone? 

It gets away from you so fast, doesn't it? Sometimes the only way I know I'm falling behind is by looking at the trees or flowers. They don't seem to get caught up in their schedules. They don't care how many plans they have, how many parties they are invited to, or how many projects are on the back burner. They just grow. They grow with you or without you. They grow whether you're watching or not. They just do it. So since I don't have any pictures of new projects to show you, I thought I'd share some pictures of my friend's garden. Not MY garden, oh no. You don't want to see MY garden. Trust me. 

But THIS garden, now THIS garden is something to behold. It is quite simply: Beautiful.

This is the front yard.

Really! It is! Isn't that amazing? 

Let's go into the back, shall we? 

I love this. The trailing silvery leaves embracing the Buddha.

And a little whimsy.

These guys are easily five feet tall.

The Koi pond. 

Of course there's a Koi pond! 

Didn't you expect a Koi pond?

I just thought this was gorgeous.

And while I was driving the other day, I looked down to see this.

I should play the lottery! 

Hope you enjoyed the tour!

Imagine yourself there.

Peace.