Sexy squash and scones #2

I planted 3 types of squash this year in my tiny garden...  butternut, spaghetti, and buttercup...  buttercup is my absolute favorite (far right). But while I was puttering along with my life there was an orgy of cross pollinating going on.  I ended up with a LOT of squash but very few are true to type...

There is a wide variety of shapes, colors, and textures... so every squash I cut into is an adventure.  Luckily we love all squash... even if it's "spaghetnut" or butterghetti"

We also had our 1st frost and dozens of the late apples fell to the ground.  I know of at least 3 that Morris brought into the house today and ate...stem, core, seeds, and all.  This evening I found 3 more that he also brought in today and hid... there may be more.  Luckily the chickens love them and the deer keep the area under the three trees tidy indeed.  And speaking of chickens I'm now suspecting our chickens may be roosters in drag. ...still no eggs.  I really expected eggs late September and now we are well into October.





This second batch of scones is fresh apple cinnamon (with applesauce in them from above apples)  They too are delicious and I did repeat grating the frozen butter and chilling the dough.  They rapidly disappeared and tomorrow will be chocolate/orange scones.

And of course Morris guarded them while they were cooling on the rack....

I did burn a batch of sour cream rolls the other day and luckily passed through the kitchen today when the scones were in the oven and noticed the timer had expired and caught them before they burned.  Unless I am actually next to the stove I never hear the timer go off... I depended on Molly for that as she always came to find me (even if I was in the barn) to get me to the oven.  She could actually sensed when it was going to go off about 20 seconds before it did.

Unfortunately Molly has left us.  I knew it was time when the timer went off and she couldn't pull herself up to fetch me. It was several weeks ago and it is still hard to talk about her.  Any time we sneezed or coughed she would charge through the house to check on us.  She always slept right in front of the bedroom door at night and also when I was sick, injured, or having a bad day with my eye injections.  Even though not trained as a service dog, she was a fierce protector by nature. She was a rescue dog and we were her fourth home and we loved her to the very end.

Morris misses her terribly as we all do...

Molly and the oven thing!

Our poor Molly has a hard life.... It is her sole responsibility to protect our home from any disaster resulting from oven neglect.  She immediately panics when she hears the "ding" when the temperature  is set and begins to spin and bark when I open the door and put a pan in the oven. 

She then lays close by and can hear the timer start the final second countdown.  When it actually goes off she gets hysterical, running and barking, fetching me from wherever I happen to be and will not stop until a pan is out of oven, the temp is off and the door is shut...  And to her credit there have been occasions when I did not hear the timer and our dinner would have burned it she had not fetched me.

There has also been many times when something has been done early and I've taken it from the oven and neglected to shut the timer off... When the timer does go off she goes through the whole running, barking scenario and she will persist until I physically go to the kitchen and "pretend" to take something from the oven and shut the stove off.  Then she can relax.

   Molly is a rescue dog and had been returned 2 times before we took her so we knew she has "issues".... among which are that she panics if she has to walk on a hard surface,  when anyone speaks too loudly, a car or plane passes, the phone rings, etc. etc. etc.  If one of us coughs or sneezes she come running in a panic and we have to assure her that "I'm okay!" We have had her six years and this is her forever home but  I often wonder what happened to her before we got her.

She is always on full alert and has 3 beds and they all have to be protected on three sides and where she can dash out to prevent a disaster... one is in my bedroom corner between the wall and the bed and another is the living room between the couch and the wall and third is in my workroom corner where she vigilantly protects me from her post in the corner. If I pull one of her beds out to vacuum she immediately pulls it back into the corner.  She is much loved here though - issues and all..

The bluebirds have landed and the popcorn ritual...

All the bluebirds are stitched on the anniversary quilt. Once I finish the foliage I can start on the embellishment in earnest.  I have a large collection of my most special treasures saved for this piece.

I have the dubious talent of turning a simple project into something complex and time consuming.  I had planned for just two birds and now I have 8. Now I want the foliage by the birds similar to  the foliage in the focal point which will mean about 400 French knots.

But for a couple days it is going to get a good stretch and rest on this foam thing I found in the barn..

It is something left from days we had a booth and it folds.. It opens quite large which is great as this piece is too large for my bulletin boards.  Sorry about the lighting.

Our dogs love popcorn and my husband has preparing it down to a fine art and he shares with the dogs.  They eagerly watch while he is popping it and the minute he sets 2 paper towels on the floor, they position themselves and wait... They each get a few kernels in turn until it is all gone.  They wait patiently for their turn and stayed glued to their spot...

Look...A BOOK!!!!!! and it truly is......

Here it is .... my official 2012 Crazy Quilt Journal about my dog Morris.... Except for a bead or a charm here and there it is done and I am so pleased with it... I wish I could show it in person to each and every one of you...

Except for one tiny thing I wouldn't make any changes on future books....  Remember when I said the cover needed to be larger and I would remember next time..... WELL it only needs to be larger on THREE sides... a pretty critical point but I managed to recover...

It lays nice and flat like I wanted it to. And I had this lovely little rainbow leash to use as a bookmark....

Here is how it looks standing on end... 16 CQJP blocks in all and a year of work.

and finally all the pages open fully and flat..  In the next post I will show  assembling of the pages, sewing to the binding and attaching the covers.

Freda wrote that it would be wonderful for someone in the family to inherit some day....NO WAY!  I'm taking it with me when I go...  I want to be buried in my red shoes with my chatelaine, Gingher scissors, Fritz's ashes and my tambourine...and now my Morris book...

Here are all the pages except the pocket page....

Well one more Morris and eye surgery update

At one point I decided that I wouldn't have a page for Morris's obsession with my bra....rather quirky on his part.   but Susan Elliott thought it should be a must... I do have room because I was leaving a blank page for  "coming adventures" and I am rethinking this option. Then I could do the pages attached to a spine  rather than eyelets and laced together.

Whenever Morris can snag my bra from the bed or the laundry basket, he whisks it away to snuggle with... If I can't find my bra, the first place I look is in his bed where he usually hides it...

The surgery went well yesterday.. They put  an implant under the eyeball to keep it from sinking any further into the sinus cavity...  I still see double with that eye but that may or may not improve over the next 6 months...   Same scenario for the nerve damage to face...

My advice to everyone is to not try to fly through the air as it doesn't end well... AND if you have propelled yourself through the air, DO NOT hit anything immovable face first.

CQJP blocks are finished...

All my CQJP  blocks are finished... well except for the pocket page... I  have 14 pages.  I will use the month of December to assemble the book.. It was really a fun project but I definitely got tired of black and white.

This will be one of the last pages in the book.. I used my new ribbon book to learn how to do the little prairie points.

Under the lift-up tab..... Morris likes hugs...

My favorite page... Morris in the skunk trap...

And the back cover.  Both dogs watching the wild turkeys at the feeder. If there is a deer or rabbit in the garden the dogs want to rush out and chase it....but not the turkeys..
I took all the pages along to Olympia for Thanksgiving and my 5 year-old granddaughter loved  every page... It was a delight to watch her explore each page...

In a self-destruct mode last week I caused myself serious injury and will go into the hospital Friday morning for eye surgery...  Morris will be called on duty as my caring nurse..AGAIN!!!!!

4 blocks, 1 bag and a sore foot!

In preparation of our road trip over Thanksgiving I'll have all the last 4 four blocks ready for the final fancy stitching..  There'll be plenty of time to stitch in the car and in the hotel...  Lately I have been dreaming of various ways to assemble the book . decisions!!

On this "Morris and Me" page I made tiny prairie points with some 3/8" plaid ribbon to frame the picture... I thought a pattern would emerge from the plaid... it didn't... But I know how to do it now but 3/4" ribbon or larger would work much better..

The image on the back cover (upper left)  is quite large so there's very little left to do on it...I scored when I found that giant yellow button in my stash.. It will have a special center.

 The skunk trap page is ready for fancy seams.  I'm trying to stick to black and white on that page with the exception of the rainbow.

The block bottom forefront is the "pocket" page in progress.  There will be a narrative for each page on a laminated card  and they will be in this pocket page.  I have an image ready to put on it... I'm also starting another fancy ribbon trim from my ribbon book.  There are so many interesting ways to fold ribbon... I want to try them all.  Now that the end is in sight I want to be done, done, done....

This pile of stuff is going to be a tote for my display blocks which I now carry around in a very large beach bag which is about as ugly as you can possibly imagine.... but...the perfect size.. So since I will be toting the blocks out and about more when the classes start (yes, classes are going to start in January...more later)  I would be embarrassed by the beach bag for my beautiful blocks.

This will be just fancied up tapestry because I need it quick...  I can do the hand work while I am soaking my foot.  About 3 weeks ago I dropped a frozen leg of lamb on my foot... big bruise on foot and a black toenail but now the toe has developed an infection and I'm supposed to be soaking it... as good an excuse for extra stitching as I can think of.

Progress on Morris and the Skunk Trap -CQJP

I did the skunks off block and then appliqued them on...stuffing them a bit for a 3D effect (stumpwork).  Obviously Morris in the trap is a re-enactment. I do have a picture of him actually in the trap but the light was poor and I knew it would never transfer well... All I have left on this block is the seam work... Don't miss the key in the skunk's paw...

Several years ago in one of my less lucid moments (and there were many) I made a slipcover for my ratty old desk chair.  I used a white bedspread.  It was absolutely gorgeous at the beginning but easily became soiled with use and every time I washed, it became grungier and grungier... So a new slipcover is on my winter list..  I brought these two pieces of tapestry in from the barn and have taken turns with them draped on the chair to decide which I will use... The one on the right won...

I need a new slipcover on my work stool also so the other piece can work there. Both are good-sized pieces from the thrift store.

Morris and the long runner...finished

As I mentioned when I started this block, one of Morris's favorite pastimes is to pull the 8' long kitchen runner into the living room...  Since Molly is terrified of walking on linoleum, having the runner removed takes away her lifeline to the door, water and the kitchen in general..  Moving this runner requires enormous effort and leaves Morris totally exhausted.  Besides the runner being heavy, he has to drag it the length of the kitchen, around a corner and through a door.

And what is under the peek-a-boo tab which says "Would I do that?"  Not only does Morris look guilty, he looks like he loves doing it...

 Remember those articles that say "101 things to do with vinegar"?  I feel like "101 things to do with black, white and jewel tones"?  I am definitely tired of this project and eager to go on to something else...

My helper and I finished the section of snow fencing where we get the worst drifts.  I ran out of the black snow fence and could only get orange to finish it.. Looks like we are decorating for Halloween... I should stick some pumpkins on the posts..

 You can see my neighbor plowing that day and every time he passed we were in a cloud of topsoil... All the way to the arrow  is our drive ...1/2 mile.... It is so delightfully quiet and peaceful at my house....except for an occasional plane (or neighbor plowing)  there is nary a sound....  I love it.

Hope you pop over to Block Talk and see Hideko's gorgeous block...

Something for my dotage!!!

The Morris blocks are perfect to carry around because they don't soil easily and they're relatively simple in design... BUT I'm always asked if they're going to be a quilt and when I say they're going to be a fabric book people just don't grasp the concept...  And if they do, they assume it's for a grandchild and then they are perplexed when I say it's for me to take when I go to a nursing home...  I lose them altogether at that point or they think I intend to read it to nursing home patients.  So I have a little card now  ...  and the text reads... 

"Without a doubt I’m approaching my dotage... the dreary decline to decrepitude and dementia.   I might even be deposited in a desolate domicile where I'll sit depressed and drool...

But if that’s my future, thankfully I shall have my book of Morris full of happy thoughts and memories.  And if I can't read it, someone can read it to me....".

On Dec. 23 last year I signed up for the QCJP and posted a tentative plan and at that time I thought I would attach the pages back to back in an accordion fold with a pocket in each for a narrative... Now that the end is in sight I'm thinking I will attach them with a spine and have one pocket on the last page for all the narratives.

At that time I immediately could think of enough themes for a dozen blocks and several left over...  Now that I'm down to the last 3 blocks I had to choose between six fun themes  left...  So I thought maybe I would carry over into next year with 3 more pages...  But right now I'm in no round robins, winter is coming, and there was no law which said I had to only do one block a month..  So for the next three months I'm doing two blocks a month so I can use them all AND finish at the end of the year.. One page I especially didn't want to leave out was "Morris and the Skunk Trap"  Then I can begin the new year getting back on track with my suffrage quilt.

Morris has a comfort zone...

Morris definitely has his comfort zone clearly defined and it must include pillows... He will spend a great deal of time arranging and rearranging the couch pillows to his satisfaction...

But sometimes a guy just has to make do...

Report on Morris and my head!

I've neglected to update on Morris's progress.. He has developed into a happy, loving, delightful, responsible (fairly) companion... We have the house breaking behind us and also the chewing on things...

well there's the occasional chewing relapse..

And it goes without saying that any toy that squeaks must have the squeaker disemboweled and then there's the rule that any time food is given on a paper plate, said paper plate must be destroyed...

The other day I was taking pictures at the table and looked up at the same moment Morris chewed the cap off a large container of gold glitter. It doesn't show that well in the photo but there's a large trail of glitter from the top of the photo to the bottom.. Molly is watching Morris sneak off to hide under the rocker (lower right). He swore he was innocent but the glitter on his nose and whiskers gave him away...

All last month he chased the butterflies in the vetch and never caught a one. Now the grasshoppers have emerged and he wildly chases them about....again in vain.. But he did find one thing more his speed... a small woolly caterpillar....and he promptly ate it...We start the next level of dog training classes next week...

My headaches continue to improve and the vision problems abated and I stitched today...the first time since the accident... But the broken ribs are still painful and getting comfortable enough to sleep well is impossible...but it too shall pass....

Morris and my Bra!

It's a sorry state when your dog spends more time with your bra than you do... I do admit that I hate wearing one and seldom do. So it was often hanging on the closet knob or on the bed post and it has become a favorite of Morris. Whenever he can snag it he dashes off to some corner and cuddles with it... It's a sport bra and very soft. Then if I need to appear in public I have to go searching for my one and only bra..

I have a lot of "M" adjectives I use for Morris...like marvelous and magnificent. But modest isn't one of them. His preferred sleeping position is on his back. I think he is dreaming of some perky poodle coming along and sniffing his "parts." In reality though he will settle for a tummy rub while he is sleeping.... If you come along and rub his tummy while he's sleeping he makes all these lovely moaning sounds and almost purrs..... This coming Friday is his appointment for the "Big Snip". Then only perky poodles in his dreams.........

Progress on Margreet's Owl

I've completed the face with the long and short satin stitch using only one strand of cotton thread.. I love the barn owl's little heart-shaped face and serious expression. Since I am doing this motif on muslin and the edges will have to be turned under, I used alcohol inks to color the owl and and edges.


Now I will begin the body and am thinking I will use 2 threads, contrasting colors.. .with a satin stitch.



I did something similar when I did all the bunnies for Lisa except in that case I didn't do a satin stitch...I did parallel stem stitching along my directional guidelines.. I liked the texture when using two different colors of thread together.

I couldn't resist this shot this morning... They were waiting so patiently for DH to finish his yogurt just in case there may be a treat at the end for them..

Big week for Morris

Getting a picture of Morris isn't easy... When I approach with a camera he immediately rushes up to put his nose on the lens...I wanted a profile so I tried to catch him unaware... well almost!!!

This has been an eventful week... Morris graduated from Puppy Kindergarten and was the star of the class. Our next class level starts in Sept... And then one day this week he fell in the pond and was a total mess ....he won't go near it now.

At least once or twice a year we get a visit from skunks trying to dig under our house... We get a Dept. of Wildlife live-animal trap and bait it with sardines... Every dog we've had has succumbed to temptation ONCE!

Today it was Morris.... but since he was trapped he decided he might as well eat the sardines....and followed that by eating the paper bowl..