Gus is Home again

This surgery was really minor compared to the others so he's home and looks like he's feeling really happy.   He's been running around and playing.  He's actually sleeping now. 

Abby's excited too.  She hasn't wanted to leave him alone.  Gus nearly went poo on her becasue he'd move away from her so he could go and she'd just follow along trying to sniff him.  After his third attempt to get away, I had to go over and hold her away from him so he could do his business without "help".   Sometimes I wonder where their brains are.  More specifically where Abby's is.

Also we discovered today that we came home from the regular vet after his stay after surgery two with a little bonus medicine.  Marika/Feline does not equal Augustus/Canine.  We didn't even check for his name.  Just read the instructions and followed blindly along.  Luckily this is so little antibiotic that its no big deal.  Imagine if it had been meant for a much larger dog then Gus though?  Yeah.  Not pleased at all.  (Not sure if I'm not pleased with me or I'm not pleased with them.  Probably both.)

Another surgery for Gus

Gus found his way back to the doctor this morning for a little small surgery to fix the prolapsed urethra.  He's doing well, but has to stay the night.  I sorta feel bad for Chris that he's always the one that has to drop Gus off for these things and I'm always the one that goes and rescues Gus at the end of the day.  Hopefully Gus isn't getting the wrong impression about Chris always leaving him behind.

Sock Frustration

Behold two socks in progress.  At this point I have knit the exact same number of stitches on each sock.  They are the same number of stitches around and the same number of rows in the leg and gusset, plus the same number of stitches in the heel.  Notice a difference though?

The sock on the left is the 3rd Dog sock in Smooshy Raining Cats and Dogs.  I'm loving the pattern, but its taken me two weeks to knit this sock.  Why?  Well I'm hating the yarn.  For some reason this skein of smooshy seems to be thick and thin.  Its driving me nuts.  I actually had to take out a section of the yarn because I thought it was WAY to thin for a heel flap.  If you compare it to the sock on the right you can see that its knitting at a smaller row gauge too.  The two legs are EXACTLY the same number of stitches.  Why is this one so much shorter?  It has to be the yarn.  I expect these sorts of things from Noro, not from Dream in Color.  Its frustrating me because I really love the colors and specifically this pattern in these colors. You can't tell in the picture because of the light but this yarn is Penny colored.  I love that especially since its called raining cats and dogs.  So its just making me sad when I work with it that I have to fight with it so much and take out sections and URGHHH....

The sock on the right is just a plain sock in All Spun Up Superwash Wool Nylon Sock Yarn in what I am calling pile of fallen leaves.  This yarn has an unfair advantage so I'm knitting it more.  In a day I managed to knit as much on this sock as I did in two weeks for the 3rd dog sock.  Pretty big difference there.  Apparently I love scratchy feeling woolly yarn.  I don't think its scratchy for wearing, it just has a nice scratchy texture while I'm knitting it but still feels soft to the touch.  I like that.  Its my favorite kind of texture for knitting and wearing. 

For Bear: Gus and the Woolen Ball

Hi Bear!!!  Dis Gus!!!  I want show you play wif favorte things!  This my ball.  Mom like tease wif it, but den she throw it.  So Fun!!  Mom say ball come froms you.  We play longs times wif this afternoon.  Abby chases me.  Fun!!  I not give ball ups.  Thank you for funs balls!!  Dis really good gift. 

Gus loves these balls.  He really can't get enough of playing with them.  "Do you want the ball Gussy?"  The answer is never no.  Usually he'll jump for it and then he'll race across the room trying to get it before Abby does.  See both feet together in the picture?  Can you imagine how he runs?  Its just like a puppy.  He's never gotten the adult dog stride down.  Probably because his hips hurt and moving the way Abby or another other adult dog moves is just too hard and painful.  Its pretty cute to watch him run though.

Usually in a race to get something, Abby gets there first.  He's no match for her speed.  She picks it up but once he comes over she puts it down to "defend" it with growling and playful fighting.  She forgets she's got the toy in her excitement at "play" and Gus bends down and grabs it. He'll bring it back but only to tease me with.  "Haha! Its mine.  You can't have it!!"

He's very protective of it and will run from place to place to make sure Abby doesn't get it if she gets interested.  He growls and poses, but mostly he cuddles it.  Today he fell asleep...

...and Abby stole it.

:: ::

Chris spotted the birds nest the other day.   I think it probably belongs to our cardinal that smashes itself repeatedly into the back windows.  I suspect they've flown off for the winter because we haven't seen them in several weeks.  This picture is actually meant to show that today was a gray rainy day.   I'm not sure it does the job but the nest is interesting.  This is the perfect type of day for curling up in a chair or the couch and just chilling.  

So while the bulldogs partied with their new favorite toy I took in some reading and knitting and crackers. The rest of my holiday decorating can wait til tomorrow. I was pretty pleased that I managed to get the tree up this morning and so I goofed off most the afternoon. The only thing that could have made it better was to have the gas fireplace installed already since we don't have any logs available for a regular fire. So cozy!

Also Penny apparently thinks our tree is a real tree and keeps gnawing on the ends. I'll be making very very sure the lights aren't plugged in whenever I leave the room. Just for you guys one of my favorite ornaments which is not of the tree hanging variety. These two birdies were a gift a few Christmas' ago. I love them.

Windowpane Quilt

Finally finished, washed, ironed and looking so pretty!  I used some leftover blocks from Kambelle's quilt as my inspiration.  I started piecing around the squares and got the idea for 11x14 inch "squares" rather then my normal squares which are square because these were originally going to be not only bigger then 11x14 but patchwork bags.   I'm pretty sure between this, Kambelle's quilt, and yesterday's doll quilt I've use every single bit of purple in the house.

I was aiming for an improv style but with a specific enough pattern to appear to go together.  That's why there are bits and pieces of greens and purples everywhere but the same basic shapes in each of the matching blocks.  As usual I laid things out as I finished piecing them and said "OH it would be better like this!" and from that moment on it was a quilt and not a set of bags.

I quilted around all the blocks, the outside of the cream outline of the nine patches and the inside of the cream outline of the nine patches.  I quilted on the seams of the nine patch squares.  Then I filled the rest of the empty space with squiggle lines.  This took, um, surprisingly longer then I thought it would.  Imagine that.  I don't know why it surprised me so much.

The final measurement of the quilt is 36 inches by 44 inches.  It would make a lovely crib, baby, or lap (for a shortish person) quilt.  I really like this one.  It turned out exactly as I hoped it would, but its not for me or my house.  The colors do a wonderful job of clashing with just about every couch, rug, painting, or decoration I own.  So this one is actually available for purchase in my shop.

(Oh and the back is Kona Cotton in a mossy green.)

Another doll quilt?

I hope everyone in the US had a Happy Thanksgiving!  Ours was just fine.  I didn't actually make a turkey until today.  It was yummy so what's a day late?  I've started decorating for Christmas too.  It took most the day to get the stuff out of the storage closet and sorted.  Then to get it all downstairs.  I'm mostly doing it for me since Chris doesn't really care one way or the other and nobody else really sees it.  I enjoy the holiday finery though, so up it goes.  I'll try to take some pictures when I'm finished so you guys can enjoy it too. 

Took Gus in for a quick checkup this morning.  He had one more stitch to remove which actually was a dissolving stitch which worked its way from out from the inside.  He's looking good on his belly incision.  His prolapsed urethra hasn't resolved itself so we are back to the regular vet next week probably to decide to do another surgery.  Poor Gus.  He didn't want to get out at the ER vet this morning.  He had this look that said "I know this place and it pretty much sucks!" and I practically had to drag him out of the car.

After the vet I decided to stop at the pet food store to get some more food because we're low on bulldog food.  Gus hasn't been in pet stores much.  I found out today that he'd probably be the playground bully.   We went in the store and passed several small children.  We passed a lab, a doberman, and a German Shepard.   No reaction.  The manager (or someone?) stopped me so he could hand me a flier just as a little chihuahua and its owner turned into the main aisle.  If I hadn't stopped Gus wouldn't have seen it because we would have turned off the main aisle.  You could not believe the barking if I told you.  He was beyond LOUD.  So I'm taking this to mean he's a bully because he only picks on the smaller dogs.  (Another example is that he picked on my SIL's small dog at the wedding.  Blue certainly had his own part in the starting of that though.) We turned around in the aisle and left cause once he starts he has a hard time completely stopping.  He'll half bark (I'm already saying no barking so he won't fully bark) and make funny little sounds like he's being strangled.  Its actually kind of funny.  He wasn't happy with me when I put him back in the car.

I've another doll quilt for you guys.  This one is a wonky bento box style (a tutorial is here).  This is one of my favorite quilts yet.  So cute!  I'm pretty sure this one is going to be hanging in my craft room (um...not finished yet.  Sort of stopped working on it to work on some other stuff and haven't gone back.  Soon!  Maybe over the Christmas holidays.)  I quilted this one in a square spiral.

Frogged

I've been drawing this little frog since I was a teenager.  I must have found him in a book or something because I'm sure he didn't come from my imagination.  When I doodle this is the first thing that I usually doodle.  So this time I decided to doodle in fabric and thread.

I think he looks a little queasy this time.  Probably has something to do with choppy waters and nearly being toppled over.  Poor guy.  This is a itty bitty quilt.  The tallest side is about 10 inches.  The smallest side is 8 inches.  The others fall somewhere in between.  He's free handed using three different colors of thread: teal, dark green, and medium green.  I used the same color bobbin (teal) for all three front colors so the back is just one color. 

He needs something on his backside to aid in hanging because I don't think he's even big enough to call a doll quilt.  Also I need to put a label on him or my signature somewhere.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with him (being blue and all...) but for now he's hanging out in a little pile of finished quilts just waiting to be blogged and for me to decide what I'm going to do with.

Sock 3rd Dog and Lasagna

Here are the dogs waiting for me to "accidentally" throw a treat (shredded mozzerella) on the floor for them while I put together 2 pans of lasagna this evening.  I make it a few times a year and can usually make more then one out of a box of noodles.  So I can cook one and freeze the rest.  This weekend I made LOTS of sauce.  Enough for a meat sauce on spaghetti, a meal of chili (requires a bit more cooking and some additional spices and beans so I just stuck the right amount of sauce in a container to think about the rest of the cooking later), and a small lasagna (normal size for us is 9x9) and a large lasagna (about 9x15; meant for later in the year).  Yesterday I cooked the noodles and bagged them still wet so that tonight I could take less time to get the lasagna together.  The large is in the freezer now.  Chris and I dined on less then a quarter of the 9x9.  Hence why I make that size.  I'd go smaller but its doesn't work out so well to put together a smaller size usually.  Its still 3 more meals, plus probably a lunch for him or me, of leftovers.  I can't imagine making the big size regularly for the two of us.  It would take us two weeks to eat it.  I was a bit miffed because I used a different brand of noodles for this batch then usual and I actually had to open a second box of noodles and cook 2 additional noodles before I could finish the big pan. 

I've made it down the leg of my first 3rd Dog sock.  Its a really quick pattern when I actually work on it.  I feel like my craft time went down hill for a bit.  Probably the rest of the month and next month and January, except for the end of this week and around Christmas are going to be the same.  This is busy season at work.  There is always more then enough to do even with an engineer working with us this year that has a clue what he's doing and knows about the programs we use.

Anyway...my sock in progress.  I actually totally cleaned out my Ravelry queue this weekend.   This is the only pattern in their right now.  I've noticed an oddity about my queue.  I never seem to knit anything in it.  Every time I go to Ravelry for a pattern I almost always look up patterns to see what's there and pick something not in my queue.  Its almost like if it is in my queue its off limits for knitting.  Not that I don't want to knit those things, just that I never seem to.  So nothing in the queue until I'm actually planning to knit it next since queuing things seems to curse me for actually knitting them. 

Things that are (things that were going to be)

This is a post of things that are...

I've been in doll surgery repairing Gus and Abby's toys.
I've been binding the double hourglass quilt.  My best binding job so far!
I've been cleaning the upstairs of my house.
I've been cleaning out [cat] toys that might be unsafe for dogs.
I've been watching movies while Gus slept almost in my lap and Abby just next to him.
I've been catching up on blogs.
I've been grocery shopping.
I've been doing laundry.  Lots of laundry. 

Some images of the day for you.

Penny - looking quite grand hiding under our coffee table.

Abby - part Tasmanian devil.

Freaky spider on the back porch - Chris took the photo because I won't go near it.  Its been there for a week and its creeping me out.

 Cramped quarters - late late last night (had to throw this one in...)

...And of things that were going to be.

Finished project post for my windowpane quilt.   So cute!  Didn't make it out of the dryer in time to photograph today.

Finished project post for an arty doll quilt.  See above reason.

Finished project post for a not as arty but equally cool doll quilt.  Ditto.

Scarf in progress?  Well I haven't added the next ball or worked on it at all today.

Socks in progress?  Well I haven't gotten any farther. 

Today is a good day for quilting

First I need to tell you about an awesome give-away.  The Flea Market Fancy Freaks blog is having a giveaway to encourage more people to sign the petition to bring Flea Market Fancy fabric line back.  They are up to 900 signatures.  Do you think it would be inappropriate to have people that don't even sew sign the petition just because the rest of us want it to come back so much?  Yeah, I didn't think so either.  So go over and look and if you like it too (even just for looking at something pretty) you could sign the petition too.

I totally will be getting some of this when it comes out. I want a fat quarter of each, but maybe some yard pieces of others because the colors and patterns are really versatile for use in a large variety of different quilts.  Greedy much?  I'm vaguely hoping it will be a good number of months before it comes out because of the Gus bills (and more coming if his new issue doesn't resolve itself this coming week) bingeing on fabric might not be so cool.  Want to pay most if not all of that off first.  I've got my eye on this line and the newest line from Tula Pink which comes out in January.  I love Tula Pink fabrics.  This one has been on my list since I saw it on her blog way back at the end of August.  Of course if I can't get any of either I'll just be happy staring at other peoples gorgeous projects.

Today I've been working on two wall/doll quilts and one of my big quilts that needed the binding finished.  Don't you love my "binding clips"?  I got the kiddie clips because they were so colorful and they were actually $2 less per pack then the "adult" ones.  I was shocked since they are exactly the same except for the colors.  Anyway, the two doll quilts are bound now and I have one side and 12 inches of the bigger quilt.  I'm enjoying it alot.  When you get into the swing of the hand sewing its actually pretty fun and relaxing.  Like knitting.  I've finished the first half ball of the scarf and I've left about a color repeat to see if I can match it up and be more likely to continue the diamond pattern.  No new pictures of that.  The pups weren't thrilled with my choice of afternoon activity.  They insisted they weren't tired.  See?

What?  Oh.  He's sleeping.  Oops.  Well maybe Abby did better...

Oh well.  We can just pretend they are acting like they are sleeping instead of really sleeping.