Happy Valentine's Day

Linking today's post to Finish it up Friday at Crazymomquilts.blogspot.com

Hello again! It's been awhile. I thought I'd share my Valentine's Day inspired zipper bags and pot holders. It all started with a beautiful piece of home decor weight flowered fabric that I received in the mail from my Aunt Pat. I thought it would be great for zipper pouches. Once I started, I made a bunch and ended up selling them all! Maybe I should have kept one. Oh well. I can always make more! The pot holders were a custom set for my friend who requested them to give to other moms who assist her in teaching. I did keep that last pot holder and it's all finished.

I made two other pot holders for my Mom and MIL for Valentine's Day but I forgot to take pics. My Mom's is above in the third tray down. My MIL's was very similar. For these two, I did some free motion quilting! I'm getting a little better. (That bottom tray is a coaster I made for Mitch's girlfriend.)

Yikes, I know...this one is kind of a mess. It's just a practice scrap but you get the idea. A friend suggested practicing on paper to get the flow of where you are going with the design. It doesn't always come naturally. And the needle needs to be traveling at a consistent, almost fast, pace to keep the stitches even, so you have to have a plan in your head! Here's my practice page with pens.

Mitch and his girlfriend got a little valentine's day surprise from us.

Jack got a Seattle Seahawks t-shirt for Valentine's Day along with some sweet tarts --- did you hear they won the Super Bowl?!!!

This was his outfit for Spirit Day the Friday before the Super Bowl. He won top 20 most spirited at his middle school and went on stage for a treat. We made the hat! :-). How about some photos of Duke?

He and my friend's dog get along so well! We've been to the dog park a lot lately.

Wishing you a happy valentine's day!
Xoxo, kris

Holiday Sewing

I love English paper piecing and happened across a new shape, the rounded thimble. It's refreshing, creatively, to work with a new shape. Since this shape forms rings, it also takes less of them to create the desired end result. I can see myself making more variations (crossed rings, half rings, rings with solid centers, rings with diced up centers) in the near future. For now, I wanted to make a table runner before my parents arrived, which was just the motivation I needed to stick with one project and finish it, while watching Homeland or Scandal. The pink block was a personal preference to keep it "not so red and green" and I'm happy with the color combination.

I made a pillow for Mitch, who is now a Kappa Sigma. There will be more Kappa Sigma presents under the tree. His Great Aunt gave him a Kappa Sigma bow tie for his birthday last month (he LOVES bow ties!) He thinks they're cool. :-).

After making little Duke I decided to make another and change the face a bit. I think I like the small felt pieces versus the stitched ones on the doll faces because they show up better. I still want to change the eyes. Eyes are difficult to get just right. Jack's class was collecting toys and he said, "Mom I know just the thing I'd like to take but I don't know what you will say because you worked so hard on it." My sweet boy. Off it went!

Duke is doing really well! He had blood work done Friday to see what level his meds are at in his system. We find out the results today and may be able to lower the dose. He has adapted really well to them. I see a slight balance issue with standing on one hind leg to pee, but that's about the only difference to how he was before the seizure weekend fiasco. The medicine has made him more hungry and what do ya know....he has gained 10 pounds this month. Oops! He was slim before so it was hard to notice. We've come to the conclusion that everyone in the house can't give him treats all day long. He will stand by the dish and bark, and we all obey!

Here's hoping all of you are enjoying your holiday preparations ~

Kris

Little Duke

I am happy to report that Duke has a new little friend to keep him company during his recovery. The pattern is from Dollsanddreams.com and altered a bit to look like Duke.

(See my last post for the details on what happened to Duke).  

I was in a bit of a rush to finish it yesterday before friends came over for a craft night.  Duke is happy to snuggle with "little Duke"!  HAHA

I made some easy-peasy bunting for the staircase.  Just starch the fabric really well and feed the triangles through the sewing machine (join with regular thread).  

I'm Christmasing the house!  This weekend is the official lighting of our downtown Christmas tree.  Santa Claus arrives on a fire truck.  It's such a fun family event.  Next Saturday is our Christmas boat parade.  We could watch it from our bedroom window where it's toasty warm, but we choose to bundle up and walk over to the city dock with others singing Christmas carols.  So fun!  This year I'm hosting a Christmas Cookie exchange first, amongst friends here at the house.  We will have chili around fire pits in the front yard and serve "grown up drinks" to stay extra warm.  :)

Mitch was home from college for Thanksgiving and he was so happy to be with Duke. 

 (and the rest of us, probably!)

We are all so relieved that Duke is doing so much better.  

He is his bossy self, barking for treats and hip rubs!!

xoxo, Kris

linking up to Finish it Up Friday

at Crazy Mom Quilts

Duke is doing much better!

We have had a happy thanksgiving weekend mainly due to the fact that our sweet Duke is getting back to his old self. If you follow me on Instagram you have heard...if not, three weeks ago, Duke had the first of four seizures, over one weekend. My husband was out of town. It was so awful. The first one happened while I was sewing and he was laying on his sewing bed under the table. We were terrified. I was screaming. Jack was crying. Finally, he stopped. He seemed fine. It was so out of the blue and odd. I called the vet who said we would do blood work Monday morning and to call her if it happened again. It was smooth sailing until the following afternoon when it happened again. This time I was more prepared and didn't scream my head off, patting his back gently, and he came out of it more quickly. Another call to the vet...same plan, come in the next morning. That night as I slept in my bed I awoke to Duke at my feet, having another seizure. This one was longer and he appeared blind and was very still afterwards. A bit later we were downstairs and he was, again, acting normal, even playful, and I was seriously panicking - on the phone with my husband, then my son (at college) about Duke. As I sat on the floor talking with Duke, he went from extremely playful, to falling on his side and having the worst seizure yet. Terrified this was going to keep happening, we took off to the emergency hospital in Tacoma (leaving our harbor town and crossing the Narrows bridge into the closest big city). It was 2 am. Duke was medicated there and we waited for tests until we could see our local vet. Blood work later showed nothing was wrong with him. Ugh! Really had hoped for a specific problem we could address. Now, two days later, Duke was acting totally normal (though on his doggie downers still). The long term solution for Duke was to start him on phenobarbital (an anti seizure medicine also used for humans). The drug slows down the neurons in the brain. The new problems - the side effects, which take 2-3 weeks to subside. Duke no longer barked, had on/off hind legs problems with jumping and made funny moaning sounds. He also had a BIG appetite, trying to eat food off of our plates when we weren't looking. Well I am happy to report that fast forward 2 weeks and he is adjusting really well to the medication. Yesterday when I pulled up in the driveway he came to the fence, stood up with his front paws on it, and looked out and gave me a friendly bark to welcome me home. :-). He is back to jumping on the couches and bed without needing assistance. He still loves his walks and he isn't moaning at night. And there have been no break through seizures.

That was his Halloween costume and here he was waiting for turkey. Here are some Thanksgiving photos. We have Mitch home along with his sweet girlfriend.

Happy Thanksgiving!


Xoxo Kris

And Duke