For The Love of A Pibble

or Why I Need Tons Of Quilts - a musings post

This past week has been rather tumultuous in my corner of the planet.  This deals with the most tumultuous of the events...

I'm a pretty simple girl.  It doesn't take a lot to make me deeply happy in my being.  Quilts make me deeply happy.  Some quilters give away most of their quilts.  I am not one of them.  Although I do give a lot away, I also keep a lot, and I make no apologies for doing so.  They make me content, and creating them feeds my soul, my passion, and although it may sound cliché, they are my therapy.

My other therapy is my prince, my beloved Rocco.  How do these two therapies come together?

This past week he had to undergo surgery.  Again.  Seventh time being under anesthetic.  He ruptured his ACL in his right back knee.

Sleeping, slowly coming out from the anesthetic, and whining and moaning the entire time after surgery - note the stack of quilts: here being used to stop any draft on him as he gets cold easily having minimal fur

We have a wonderful wonderful vet.  He said the hardest part would be the first 24 hours, and it was, and then the hardest part would be slowing down this 'love-my-LIFE-helLOO-my-name-is-Rocco-you-could-be-my-friend-let's-go-PLAY-WALKIES!!!-I-LOVE-to-RUN-meh-some-food-TREATS!!!-let-me-THROW-myself-after-the-ball-new-person!-love-you!-come-on-IN!-I-have-TOYS-let-me-soar-onto-the-couch-or-bed-ahh-bed" pibble.  That's about his day, which ends, like clockwork about 8 pm when he finally slows down and wants nothing but his bed and to be left in peace, preferably on a human bed with said human.

Already sitting up, still not happy

The photos are a bit grainy because we had the blinds down so no barking could happen from Naala and get Rocco to perk up and investigate.  We have a green strip behind us, with a wealth of wildlife that is both amazing and wonderful.  However, it is cause for much barking, growling.

Back to having many many quilts around my house.

We took turns sitting with him the first night he was home, and lying with him as the evening wore on.  I set up a bed on some foam with quilts on top and more quilts on top of that to wrap myself in.  I had moved the other stack out of the way already when I took this photo.  That first night he didn't wear his cone, but the second one he did, as we were worried he might start licking the incision.  That first night was hell; I bet I got 2 hours if that of sleep, as he whined and moaned all night, even in his sleep.

Music
Another huge component of my therapy, something that truly makes me deeply at peace, is my music.  I played a yoga music playlist on the lowest volume the entire first two nights, a classical music playlist the third night.  Waking and worrying continually, hearing this soft music calmed MacGyver and me, and I like to think, Rocco.

Miss Bella came to investigate the day after surgery, but she didn't get too close.  'Eww!' she probably thought, 'He stinks.' (vet smell can be extraordinarily upsetting to cats, firsthand experience) She has since come a little closer to him, much to his happiness (he's still dreaming of the day she will decide to wash his face and ears like our previous cat used to do).  However, she was more interested in his crate when we brought that up on Friday, much to Rocco's profound dismay.  He associates his crate with being left alone, since we used to crate him when he was little while we were at work.

The yoga mats are throughout the house to prevent any sudden slipping, as we have hardwood and tile throughout.  The old towel you see is what we used for the first two days as a belly sling to help him with his hindquarters.  He soon didn't need it; we are having to hold him back from running, yes, running to the door to go out to do his business.  This dog does nothing half-heartedly or slowly.

My home
Having all our blinds closed is extremely foreign to me; like Rocco, I am a creature who loves and needs light, preferably sunlight.  Yet there is definitely something comforting to enclosing our home, cushioning it from the world, keeping it calm, quiet and as peaceful as possible.  I guess it is much like the cocooning effect, a 'protect one's family from the world' feeling.

My sewing room
This is now taken over the dining table area and part of the kitchen counter.  Our lives will be centred as much as possible on the main floor, no prolonged basement time for the next while, as Rocco has to be on 6-8 weeks of bed rest.

I've been slowly working at my projects for Lara's Crafted Appliqué blog hop; I post on May 17!  Did you check out her retro telephone project?!  Love!  She is one amazingly talented lady, let me tell you.  How she does it all I do not know, as she is no stranger to health issues either.

One quick, mindless project I did when I first relocated to the dining area is re-covering my little ironing board which had gotten quite revolting.  I used the scrap from this Debbie Mumm fabric I bought to cover my pressing board in Florida.  Guess it counts as a green with some brown in it soscrappy project...

I only had to run the string through the casing twice, gulp.  The first time with about 6" left to pull it through, it slipped out of the eye of the needle I was using--!! Insert bad word.

See my lovely Steamfast iron??  I know, I keep going on about it, but I sure do love it.  I'm sure you've heard that Craftsy is having a fabulous sale on kits and supplies this weekend as another part of their month of May birthday celebrations.

If you, like me, have been putting off snagging something, I assure you, I think this weekend's sales are the best yet, with some items as much as 60% off.  I have my eye on another fat quarter bundle that is--gasp--a mere $26CA for 15 of the beauties.  This is a Benartex Fossil Fern bundle.  Kona cotton is available by the 1/2 yard, or 1 - 4 yard cuts.  Many fabrics are like this; I snagged 5 yards of RJR Handspray a couple of sales ago; you'll see it in one of my Crafted Appliqué projects!  Here are a few other tantalizing photos we were given to tempt you.

Clicking the picture will take you to the Loominous quilt, nearly 12 yards of fabric, which, remember can be used for ANYTHING, not necessarily that quilt, although I certainly love it, and I have heard great things about that fabric...

Yarns are also on sale.  This yarn looks nice and lightweight for a summer project:

Again, I thank you proFUSEly if you click through on any of the affiliate links on this page, as I will get a commission on your purchase.  Even if you don't go through me, try to go through someone you follow who is an affiliate, please?  This shows them people do care to support their blog.  And that is a good feeling, let me tell you. :-)

Last weekend I took a few, okay, several photos of Blue Skies and Sunny Days under my friend's glorious Weeping Cherry tree:

and on her interesting fence!

I'm off to list Sunny Days on my Etsy shop!  And write up the pattern for my intrepid pattern tester.  And work on Crafted Appliqué!  And love on a darling pibble, who is having a good pibble dream right now as he reposes on his daybed.  All in the quiet of my quilt-filled home. :-)

And yet... that simple statement fills me with such sorrow, such anguish, for all those families in Fort McMurray whose homes have burned to the ground, or, who may have been spared, but are going back to smoke-damaged, or water-damaged, or fire-retardant-damaged homes, or who may have a home in a questionable state, (can you even imagine what all this time, in hot weather, a fridge or freezer would be like?), but who might arrive back to find their place of employment has gone?  Even in my tiny town of Kingsville, our firehall has an "Alberta Strong" huge sign; in Windsor where we buy our dogfood, at For Your Fur Kids, they are matching donations up to $500 for Fort McMurray.  Our dogfood, Acana, which is excellent, is made in Morinville, Alberta, head office in Edmonton, AB.  My heart swells with the goodness of people in times of need, but also swells with such sadness and compassion for these people, and their ongoing plight, as I hear firsthand stories from my family who live in Edmonton and surrounding area.  Remember not only is there the Red Cross Alberta Fires Appeal, but the Salvation Army, where you can donate.

Linking up with
Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Crazy Mom Quilts (Wow! her link is still open, yay!)
soscrappy