.just another monday.

Yesterday, my Mom’s Mary Engelbreit daily calendar said, “Vacation is having nothing to do and all day to do it in.” That’s exactly how I’m feeling! I love it!

This morning started off by taking a round trip Franklin/Adams county tour starting by going out Hendricks Rd to Radar Hill to Kameron & Christine Jenks’ house. Then Radar Hill to Othello to the vet to have Samson’s stitches removed. On to downtown Othello where my plan was to get a smoothie to treat myself. I ordered in the drive through at McDonald’s then reached in my purse to grab my wallet. It wasn’t there. Oh right, it was still on my bed where I left it this morning after paying some bills. Awesome. I had to tell the guy at McD’s that I had to cancel my order since I just realized I forgot my wallet at home. He probably thought I was such an idiot!!
Anyway – from there to Johnson’s farm to drop some things off for Kate and then on home.

I went downstairs as soon as I got home and went to work on this table runner using scraps I had from other quilting projects.

It’s using Camille’s “It’s the Little Things” pattern. I’ve had this pattern since I first began quilting and had never made it. I don’t know why because I love this!!

 

It even has a little flower embellishment!

 

I think I even have enough fabric leftover to make one more of these which is great because I have some wedding gifts to bust out.

This afternoon I vegged with Samdawg and watched Oprah & Dr. Phil. I researched online how to use a Silhouette cutting machine (Melissa has one and has never used it. Shameful, I know!). I made dinner for Dad & I and am now chillaxing watching Design Star. Nice day!

.fun creations.

I’ve been making the most of my summer time and spending a lot of time quilting!

I finished piecing this quilt top at the lake. It’s made out of Bonnie & Camille’s Bliss fabric using a Buggy Barn pattern.

Here you can see where I take the pictures of my quilts & quilt tops!

 

I used all the aqua and red fabrics in this line and love the results!

 

 

I made this quilt top at the lake last week too. The pattern is from Camille’s Simplify book and it’s made with Sunkissed fabric by Sweetwater.

 

I quilted and machine bound it real quick yesterday morning so I could give it to Madie Poulson at her bridal shower!

 

Sometimes this happens when I machine quilt…I think it’s oil from my machine. WHAT?! Any solutions, friends?!

I finished this quilt top today. I made the blocks a few weeks ago and pieced it together today. I found this pattern on Pinterest! I used up some fat quarters that I had in my stash. The fabric is a few years old but I found enough fabric for the backing & binding from fabric.com.

  

 

Here’s another one I finished at the lake last week. I bought this kit from a quilt store in Utah. I saw it on a blog and ordered it a few months ago. I finally pieced it together last week. This pattern is also a Buggy Barn pattern. I love it!

 

I took the advice of the kit maker and made bias binding for this quilt…it wasn’t as easy as the tutorial I found had said it would be. We’ll see how it goes when I actually bind the quilt.

 

This afternoon I organized some of my fabric. I need to make some table runners for wedding gifts and just get my stash under control.

This is all the Bliss fabric I have left to my name. :( SAD! I think I’ve made 5 quilts out of this line of fabric! Hopefully I have enough to make a table runner and maybe another baby quilt.

 

Make Life…is another favorite of mine and this is what is left of my stash of it. I think I’ll make a baby quilt out of it along with some other fabric that sorta coordinates.

 

I’m loving this time I have to quilt…loving summer!

.4th of July Priest Lake style.

Our 4th of July week at Priest Lake was definitely more laid back and relaxed than it has been in years past. It was just Mom, Karlye, Amber, & I but it was great to be with K & A to catch up with them. We haven’t all got to spend much time together recently, so it was fun to be together.

We played a lot of cards (Progressive Rummy, 500 Rummy, Speed, and Nertz), taught Karlye & Amber how to play Speed Scrabble, read, sewed, beaded, tanned, watched movies (Country Strong, Burlesque, and Eat, Pray, Love), and just enjoyed relaxing.

We had dinner at Cavanaugh Bay, went to Sushi Wednesday at Hill’s and introduced Karlye & Amber to Mike Wagoner’s music, had dinner with Strohmaier’s, got ice cream at Tamarak, got Coolin Bay sandwhiches at Leonard Paul, and checked out the Coolin Maul at the dump. Just a few of our favorite things!

Samson wasn’t very good at playing catch with his cone on….haha

Someone is wearing Amber’s suit! ;)

 

Coco relaxing on her favorite chair…she snuggles in like no other on that chair!

I took Samson’s bed so he’d be comfortable on the deck – it worked great. I’d tell him to get in his bed and he’d stay there the whole time we were on the deck! This time he had his nose to the house like he was in trouble. No idea why…

His froggy legs are so funny!

I took my new camera and was excited to try it out. Too bad I forgot the manual. I still played around with it and got some nice pictures!

 

On Thursday evening, a storm rolled in. It had been predicted all week and as it got hotter and more humid, the storm was imminent. I love a good storm, so this was not disappointing. As our neighbor said, “We don’t want anything wimpy – give us a good one.”

I took a lot of pictures – the sky was so dark!

    

This is from out the back door – a rainbow was on the water!

   

And a rainbow out the front door! (I kept trying to get it with different settings since I know NOTHING about the settings and what goes with what.

        

The storm moved to Cavanaugh Bay and it looked like they were getting quite the downpour.

    

A little later – another storm came through. Both of the storms came with thunder, rain, and lightning…just like I like it!

   

I love this with the rain on the water.

  

Another rainbow!

    

I promise I will not post this many pictures all the time just because I got this fun camera. This storm was too great to miss out on though!

We came home today from Priest Lake…we’ll head back next Friday. We came home because my cousin Kevin is having his bachelor party there this weekend. Not sure the lake is ready for that party. It could get kinda crazy!!

.nursing Samdawg.

Samson & I took a visit to the vet on Friday. His dew claws weren’t removed as a puppy as they usually are. He’d been having some problems with them – as he runs outside and in the weeds, the dew claws catch on things. A few years ago, one tore and it had to have stitches. He’d been licking them like crazy so I figured something similar had happened again. We went to the vet to get some sedatives for the 4th of July and to check out a puncture wound he had under his chin. I asked about the dew claws and the vet said she wouldn’t object to removing them even though it’s a tough surgery to recover from as a “middle aged dog.” So, I made the appointment for two days later along with a teeth cleaning which he needed.

I felt AWFUL taking him to the vet that morning and leaving him there a happy, licking dog – he had NO IDEA what they were going to do to him and what I’d walked him into. :( So sad!

My Mom & I picked him up a few hours later. The nurse gave me LOTS of instructions, some prescriptions, and a very sedated dog with a cone collar and two bandaged front legs. He slept on my lap all the way home and barely moved from the couch all evening.

 

Did I already mention that I felt terrible about what I’d done to him?!

Look at those sad eyes!

He did fairly well with his bandaged legs. He didn’t bother them too much. He had a regimen of antibiotics, pain medications, and anti-inflammatory pills to take 2 times a day. One is beef flavored so he thinks it’s a treat – he loves it.
One looks like a pill, acts like a pill, tastes like a pill – so I hide in a finger full of peanut butter and he takes it like a champ.
The last one is a liquid that I put into a syringe to give to him. To say that he hates it is an understatement. I have to hold him from behind and literally open his jaw with my fingers to shove the syringe in his mouth. He gasps and puffs, but takes it ok. Did I mention that it's red and it stains? Yep. Lovely.

I had to take off his bandages on Tuesday morning. It was traumatic and I think we both cried. It wasn’t as easy to remove them as the nurse had described. He did really well with an incompetent-amateur nurse like me.

He’s had to wear his cone collar more now since the stainless steal stitches bother him more and catch his attention when the wires poke him. We try not to laugh too much at him running into tables and chairs with his collar on. 

Graphic photo ahead…..here’s his wounds…

 

Poor Samson….he’s been a champ and I’m really glad his recovery hasn’t been as bad as I’d thought it would be. We go on Monday to have his stitches removed and hopefully NO MORE cone collar. It’s been too hot for it!