Rosanne's Quilt

Hoped to have this one complete by Mother's Day, because my sister is the Mother of all Mothers.  Or now, the Grandmother of all Grandmothers.  She got the nurturing gene that I missed out on, and I envy her relationship with her grandchildren, but recognize that I'm Just Not That Kind of Grandma!

This may not be the prettiest quilt I've ever assembled, but I'm confident that it will carry a lot of memories for her, since it's composed exclusively from the scraps of the clothing she made for her kids in the 70's.  It was a great opportunity to fire up the Millie and try out some untested feather techniques (which will require significantly more practice), some border quilting, lots of swirly and viney stuff and - in particular - her name and the names of her grand babies, some now in their twenties!  This quilt is, after all, about the fabrics and the quilting is secondary.

I'll add some stitches to Amy Mitten  yet this evening.  Tomorrow I'm off to Judy Hasheider's Tall Grass Quilters meeting with friend Kathie, followed by (not sure about this...) some Woolie Folk Art stitchery.

Here's today's production:

 
Truly, whatever struck my fancy as I was just free handing this one.  Binding yet to come.  I think something in red.  Or maybe blue.

Done Quilting!

A Belated Happy Easter! and We've Been Busy!!!

It's been some time since we hosted a family get-together.  Typically, we celebrate Thanksgiving at our house,  but we've taken a pass the last couple years, with daughter Kim gracious enough to step in last year.  She has sometimes hosted the Easter Holiday, but it seemed appropriate that we step up this spring.  It was the excuse we needed to thoroughly clean the house and rearrange some furniture - a chore we save for special occasions, since neither of us commit much time to upkeep. So, we HAVE  been busy!  I'll spare you the housekeeping drudgery. I did bake some crescents and small sandwich buns on Saturday, along with the small loaves of banana bread that my grandson, Cal, is so fond of.  Wish I had taken the photo bagless, but here they are:

As fate would have it, Easter Sunday was so spectacular that few spent any time in the house.  Fortunately, our older daughter, Carly, has not yet collected her outdoor furniture, so most of the family were content to bask in our first 80 degree day this year, even if the ambience leaves something to be desired.

Mom & Dad.  Mom isn't comfortable until it's 80˚.

Grandson Jeremy in his RED SHOES, obsessed with his phone.

Carly's Carrot Cake was the centerpiece.  And we managed to wrangle a couple of delectable leftover slices   (already devoured!)

 There was the inevitable egg hunt.  The bigger kids did a lot of griping when we turned the little ones loose first...

Yes, this is a GIANT walnut bowl, snagged at the  Goodwill for $10. Nearly 4 dozen eggs!

Josiah and Lydia, on the hunt, with their own art decorating their collection sacks.

...and this is what I found on the hunt! (We don't "believe in" gardening,
so it's a real treat to find something colorful in the yard!)

We've hauled all of the detritus of our "normal lives" back into place, and have pretty much settled down.  All's well except for poor Ryder, who took up lame after a run at the Bong State Park last month, and finally was finally diagnosed with a broken toe yesterday.  He'll be a tough one to keep quiet for the next six weeks, but for now, he's comfortable watching "Monster House" on Netflix.

Notice the taped-up splint on his left leg. "Keep him quiet and dry for the next six weeks." Right.

Though there hasn't been much time for stitching, I have made small progress on Amy Mitten's Tour Van Holland over the past several days.

...and all that's left of the Easter Celebration is a vase full of the leftover flowers that didn't adorn Carly's cake, and two much-diminished baskets of Easter Candy.  And of course, a great pile of ham.

Bella's Been Bred!

The long-awaited event occurred today somewhere around 1PM at Veterinary Village in Lomira, assisted by Dr. Marty Greer, the woman who literally wrote the book, Canine Reproduction and Neonatology.  A long-ish ride to get the deed done.

Our breeding program over the last 30 years has been limited to acquiring a pup [somewhat] on a schedule to continue competing in field trials, my husband's passion.  We've always kept an eye toward improving our breed, and we've successfully bred some strong competitors.

Bella has a fine pedigree and we added her to our household from a breeder in the Carolinas about six years ago. Her first breeding to our Rowdy dog resulted in a couple of pretty spectacular pups, winning and placing in futurity competitions at a regional level. My husband Sam is on the left, with Ryder (Samhill's One Wild Ride) and daughter Kim on the right with Rylie (KJ's All Riled Up).  

Here are a couple more photos of the wins last season, including the Dual Dog presentation at the Brittany Central Futurity:

Unfortunately our old guy passed away last fall, eliminating the possibility of a repeat breeding.

So... through Sam's field trial connections, we went searching for a Bella-worthy candidate to sire her next (and most likely her last) litter.  Who better than  FC/AFC Rimarda's Trademark?  I've joked about breeding Bella to a dog that's been dead for thirty years, but I'm obviously at least a decade off the mark on that.  Both Trademark and his owners, Jim and Janet Chase, are deceased, but thanks to inheritors Ed and Donna Janulis, our Bella was deemed "Trademark-worthy" and were able to acquire some of the good stuff.  That good stuff was part of original breeding program.  Our dog Jack was Trademark's grandson, our Rowdy his great-great grandson, and our Ryder his great-great-grandson.  Here's his cover photo and his Hall of Fame portrait:

Bella's next litter is expected on June 17th.  And by the way... she finished her field championship just a day before she went into heat. Here's her glam shot - on top of our dining room table, since it was too windy outside to get a decent photo.  Pretty girl.

Rosanne's Quilt, etc.

My sister gave me a stationary box full of remnants from clothing she had constructed for her kids when they were wee ones (now in their forties).  The box full of seventies poly-cotton fabrics has been marinating in my hall closet for (how long?) maybe twenty years or so - since I started quilting, and she quit.  There were several hand-pieced 6" four-patches and three 12" Ohio Stars, as well as assorted flotsam.

I'm hoping she appreciates the sentiment, as I've spent some time completing a few additional blocks which she had already cut from templates; and assembling the scraps with those she contributed.  My quick solution was to cut random strips from the red, white and blue fabrics in the box, and strip the whole thing together, making a large (60 x 80) "cuddle quilt" that she can share with her two youngest grand babies.

It's not my finest achievement, but here it rests, awaiting a finish on the Millie...

I finished oiling my kitchen cabinets this afternoon, ran some errands, and shared dinner at Kim's this evening - a weekly event.  Chicken Marsala with roasted red and sweet potatoes, accompanied by a fabulous green salad.  I treasure this weekly opportunity to spend some time with both daughters, grand babies, friend Rachel and Ed and Betty (my daughter's in-laws). It's always good company and raucous chatter.

Finished the evening, as usual, with progress on stitchery. I'm about 2/3 finished with the third alphabet in Amy Mitten's Tour Van Holland, completing both  the eyelet stitching and the satin stitch embellishments through the letter "L".

Sam's waiting for me to wake him up and move him from the chair to bed.  Tomorrow's a big day. Bella is heading to the veterinary clinic in Lomira to be bred to the dead dog.  More about this adventure, and about our fine Brittanys tomorrow.

On the first month anniversary of the first day of retirement...

Posting after midnight, but yesterday WAS the first month anniversary of the first day of my retirement, and THIS is a [somewhat loose] commitment to make a daily post to document what often seems like very little progress, despite a busy day.

Not a lot of crafty progress yesterday, but a full day nevertheless.  Breakfast with my younger daughter, and a visit with my Edward Jones advisor to begin the process of moving my retirement funds from my former employer's 401K.

In between errands, I began the BIG project of refreshing my natural hickory cabinets with a coat of mineral oil.  It's been 9 or 10 years since our remodel, and the cabinetry was begining to look a bit thirsty.

Before & After

..

I've decided that my arms and shoulders are not “up to” more than four hours of a hand-rubbed finish at a time.  Hope to finish the rest before the Easter gathering on Sunday.        

A bit of progress on Amy Mitten's Tour Van Holland this evening - the eyelet stitches for the letters H, I, K and part of L in the third alphabet:

Just a couple of rows on my spring-y socks, knitted from my own hand-painted sock blank, while waiting for my appointment this afternoon:

  

Lastly,  24 hours in the making, a couple of loaves of "fermented" sourdough bread.  Can't wait to dig in and see if these have a bit more acetic flavor than the first loaves I tried a couple of weeks ago.

A belated posting, as well as a completed Scarlet Letter sampler - Hannah Brassington 1779.

Well, then.  It's been some time since my first and only post.  I see that it was in response to a prompt from friend Kathie to begin a journey with Nicola during her Scarlet Letter Year.

It took some time, after this enthusiastic beginning, to complete my first reproduction sampler, but I did  finish and frame it last year, and have started and finished (and NOT finished) oh-so-many stitcheries along the way.

I recently retired from my realjob, and considered how I might track progress on my diversified projects.  This seemed a logical venue, a ready-made format for journaling my progress.

It seems enough this evening to have formatted this long-neglected blog, so I'll postpone further musings and offer up a rather poor photo of that [finally, finally] completed repro sampler from the Scarlet Letter,  Hannah Brassington 1779.