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.

You CAN Teach An Old Dog New Tricks

The bougainvillea around us is spectacular this year, maybe because we had a fair bit of rain this winter.

That incredible pinky red and neutral sand are the main colours for this post's finish.
As you know, Naala turned 9 years old on March 4, and has had some shoulder issues this past month again, so earlier this week we took them for a shorter walk in a really pretty park our friend John showed us this year.  She still looks pretty amazing for a 9-year-old Rottie. She couldn't jump up on that wall that day, but Rocco, who is 6.5 years old this month, can, and did.  He learned this trick from Brandy, his red-nose pibble friend.  Rocco and Naala, in turn, have been teaching Brandy to enjoy the water:

a fun frolic at the beach a couple of days ago

Old and older dogs can learn new tricks. Pibble love is not a new trick for either Brandy or Rocco...or for their doubles. Check this out!  Just over a week ago, because Naala was on the DL, John and Brandy, Rocco and I went for a walk in our 'hood...

Four "vicious" pibbles -TWINS- meet on the street outside the one pair's house for the first time!

The only difference is that Lulu is a female blue-nose pit, and Danny Boy, their male red-nose pit.  Sweet sweet dogs, all four.  Oh, one other difference:  Rocco had to have his tail amputated from a condition known as "happy tail syndrome", where from wagging so hard and hitting hard objects like corners of walls, or coffee tables, it would bleed, and eventually cause an ulcer that wouldn't heal.

Anyhow I took a short video of them kissing each other and being the happy, lovin'-life type dogs that these sweeties are.  I have a feeling it will get hundreds of views when I put it on Instagram.


So this old dog (moi), learned some stuff this past few weeks too.  In actuality no, I am NOT old, I hate to even say but I guess I'm maybe middle-age, since I plan to live until around 100.  Anyhow, in February, I tried to do the Scrap-a-Palooza quilt, which was improv piecing with a red corner triangle.

The bottom row shows the playing around with layout ideas I had, with nothing grabbing me.  Until the third layout reminded me of the bottom of a heart.  Hmm, maybe a red square in the corner with two improv HSTs to round the edges might work?   You see what I got in the top picture.

So I decided to go with it.  After all, I did want to make a Valentine quilt this year.  See my Q1 FAL list.

Some of the hearts looked a tad gooby, so I pulled apart a few seams and inserted a small triangle to make them flow a little better.

Yep, that's better

Sewed two blocks together with sashing.

Kinda cute!

Bella, as always, supervised.

And once I took the photo, had to test it out.

Liking it, yep, yep, do the other two now.

Finished flimsy:

I'd mistakenly cut 3 extra 1.5" strips of Modern Background Essentials by Zen Chic for my Swoon Mini, because I couldn't find the safe place I'd put the first ones in.  I got to use some for the outside frame here. I like that!

That Kona Cotton patterned strip across the centre?  Um yeah, had it since 2001:

Beautiful fabric but it's got a kind of scotchguard feel to it; not much left now.

The flimsy sat on my design wall until earlier this week, when I posted about the Shadowed Star cushion.  Hello?!  This "Valentine quilt of some kind" is on my Q1 FAL list!!  I can quilt this up next, since I seem to be on a mini quilts roll this year.

Trying out a new design for me, one of Angela's fillers for negative space

I decided to do a different background fill behind each heart.  I have FMQ-ed for 20 years, but I am always game to learn a new motif, or try something new.  This fill turned out really well, and I just drew it once on a paper and then went for it.  Improv is a also a new technique I've been mucking around a bit with this past little while.

Two hearts quilted down; see how the other two poof up?  No worries; they did smoosh down just as nicely as the first two did.

Very pleased with the new-to-me 'Signature design' of Angela's.  I was also very pleased with how square this mini stayed.

Added Susie's Magic Binding.  This is another new trick for this girl, second quilt I've done it on, and I just love it.  I learned of it thanks to my friend Tish.  I used the rest of the inadvertently extra cut 1.5" Zen Chic strips and cut one more, and then used up almost all of my Dear Stella Chevrons pink and white fabric for the flange.

I call it Crazy Hearts

There was a bit of a ripple across the bottom, so I dampened the quilt and blocked it on my sewing room carpet overnight.  Do you see the pink dragonfly patch? I FMQ-ed over it in the same magenta thread I used for the hearts.  The dragonfly comes from labels fabric.  These flitted around between the labels, which have all been used up now.

The back - I like how the pink hearts show up

The label, which had its written information all but obliterated with the pebbling I did.  I went over it though.

I forgot to put two triangles in each of the top corners for a dowel to go through, so it is getting hung using Right Sides Together's Lazy Ass method.

Very close to the Swoon Mini in size

These two quilts both feature the Zen Chic Modern Background Essentials fabric, and that fabulous binding.  Both are heavily quilted.

Trying to get a bit of an angle to show the fabulous texture you get from all this quilting

I'm happy that I have another finish on my list.  I have not done very well this quarter in that regard.  I am most happy that I am wholeheartedly committed to lifelong learning, and that you definitely can teach this 'old dog' new tricks.

Quilt Stats:
Pattern:  original design, inspired by Scrap-a-Palooza
Size: 19" square
Fabric: stash scraps
Batting: Pellon Nature's Touch 100% cotton
Quilted: on my Bernina
Threads: pieced with Gütermann; quilted with Essentials 50 wt 20869 white and 21241 Magenta

If you would like to learn some of these and many more fabulous FMQ techniques, then you might want to check out Craftsy's classes.   I learned so much in Angela Walters' Machine Quilting Negative Space, and her Small Changes, Big Variety classes.  Her Free-Motion Quilting with Feathers class is well worth snagging at this price too.  I reviewed the latter two of those in this post.

Why you might want to consider taking a class if you never have:  I have both of Angela Walters' Quilting books, and the designs you see in both these minis can be found in her books.  However!  I find that SEEING her execute the designs on either a longarm or a domestic really helps me to see how the design is executed.  I also love the fact that I can watch her do this over and over either using the 30-second repeat feature, or I can go back to a design maybe 6 months after I bought and watched the class to review it.  There are many more reasons why I love Craftsy classes, and I go into them in the review post if you are interested, or just email me if you have specific questions.

The newest class I am super-excited about that I just got is Christina Cameli's latest one, Wild Quilting.  It reminds me of Karlee Porter's Grafitti Quilting and the Graffiti quilt I did last summer.  I cannot WAIT to play around with Christina's designs and learn more new tricks which I will share on the blog.

Happy Easter everyone!

Dapper boy

Linking up with:
Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Quilting is More Fun Than Housework
Fort Worth Fabric Studio
A Quilted Passion
Cooking Up Quilts 
and
She Can Quilt for the FAL party!

Musings on Guilds

I joined Erie Shores Quilters' Guild two years ago this month.  It has been a hard group to break into, but I don't think this guild is the anomaly.  Part of the reason, I believe, is that it is in a small town and rural area, where so many people are either related to each other, have gone to school together, grew up together, or have just known each other for a long long time.  Not only was I new to the guild, I was new to the area, and I am younger than the majority of the members.  Much like my beloved pittie puppy, who is 6 years old today, I was regarded, especially here in Ontario where there is a ban, with perhaps a little wariness.

Posing Tuesday night for the camera on my daughter, Dayna's, first quilt I made her, circa 1997

Making the two wheelchair quilts for seniors and donating them to a local residence caught the attention of a couple of members, and that has become our Christmas charity project for this year.  This past Tuesday, a small group of us got together at the Kiwanis Camp to sew for a day, using fabric from the guild's charity fabric stash.  It was fun!  Now I know a few more people by name and face as well as a little more about some of them!  One is a retired teacher, and is happy living alone, another is a longarmer, got her APQS machine in 2008, and quilted the fundraiser (gorgeous) quilt for the Christmas raffle (I think), another's husband has just been through some alarming times in hospital where he was sedated because he was on a ventilator (she is now going to be my helper with the guild library, yay), another is going through some fairly serious eye issues, another just won the Grand Champion in one of the quilting categories at the Harrow Fair, and another who has her own little fabric store, is going to bring to the next meeting (we hope) the rest of a gorgeous aqua fabric she used on the back of one of the wheelchair quilts so we can buy it!

Chinese Coins wheelchair quilt; I added 3 strips, the yellow, the taupe trees, and the taupe gypsy jewels

I quilted this up at home in no time on my Bernina (it was when Avril and I were on the outs over thread, and I was not going to unload Wings to do these two small quilts).  I did a wavy line with my walking foot in the columns of coins, and then FMQ-ed the square spiral, which I LOVED, and did not mark a thing for, so I was glad it ended up pretty evenly spaced!

This one is made with some of the orphan blocks I adopted at our August meeting

I used the pillowcase turn method on that flying geese one, so didn't even have to bind it!  Because the geese are so big (they finish at 5X10") I used my walking foot to do the dot to dot. I also quilted it on my Bernina, ditched and then did the loopy meander in the low volume areas.

The backs. The floral is from my stash, the horse one the guild's

Yes, you see ties on these quilts, ties to attach the quilt to the wheelchair arms to prevent it from sliding off a lap, or tangling in the wheels.  Each has a pocket on the back as well.  This makes 4 quilts for seniors in wheelchairs I have completed, one top waiting, another top I worked on that day (which is proving to be a "leedle" more involved than I'd anticipated, can you say 120 2" HSTs without a shiver), and almost enough orphan geese blocks for another.  That day I also cut fabric to make kits to have for take-home at the October meeting.

In musing over the past two days on the way I now feel about the guild, I think that I have some advice for both sides:
1.  For the new member:  get involved as soon as you can find a way.  I joined the executive in a fairly minor role as the new librarian.  In attending the executive meetings, I get to meet a group of about 10-12 great women, and means more people will know who I am.  Going to the sewing bee day meant I got to meet several more, and was able to get to know those I did already know by name on a more personal basis.  I was invited to a cottage group on my first meeting, but it isn't very close to my house...(our guild covers the entire Essex County, so a lot of area)

2.  For the guild:  1. Something I am going to put either to the new executive or in our new suggestion/tip box, is to have a person or persons in charge of meeting and greeting the new people and getting them involved right away in some small way.  This could be in a block exchange, or a mini-quilt activity, or a bring your favourite quilt book to the next meeting and the four, or however many new ones join at any given meeting, get together with the persons in charge either just before the meeting or during the break.  2. Make a bigger deal out of Show 'n Tell that is brought by new members.  That nearly made me not go back, I was so crushed over that first year.  Although I'm not looking to be revered, I sure would have liked a little more recognition for or interaction about the quilts I first brought to this group where I knew not a soul.  (btw, I'm hoping to change a bit the way we do Show 'n Tell, as in time and a space to get up close and all touchy-feely with the quilts!)  3. Somehow have a list of cottage groups available for all members to see, and where/when they meet and if they are open to someone new joining.

Back to Rocco, I cannot believe he is six years old today.  It's been a little while since he's been on the blog, so today he's a star:

Happy pittie...on a human bed with a pillow and a stuffie!

This morning after I'd given him his birthday biscuit, and sung Happy Birthday to him, and of course he'd joined in his best pitbull throaty singing voice!

Wheelchair Quilt Stats:
Pattern: Chinese coins and original design with flying geese
Size: approximately 28X36"
Fabric: guild charity quilt stash, and orphan blocks and my own stash
Batting: Warm 'n Natural
Quilted: on my Bernina, walking foot and FMQ
Threads:  Gütermann for piecing and for quilting

Linking up with Kelly at My Quilt Infatuation!

Sunday Stash Share

Another first for me.  I see bloggers doing this, but I never seem to have my stash additions timed quite right.  In the absence of any quilty pics (but some stuff has been going on this past week), I can actually participate in this activity today!  Glad I can do it on the right day; we have been without Internet for nearly 3 days.  The tech said it might have been a power surge that affected the outside box, but he also replaced our router with the new and improved (faster, and better range, and best of all, no charge) version.  I need a whoop, whoop! there for sure.  May I just say it was revealing (not that I ever doubted it) how much time the cyber-vortex sucks from my day.  Yet so much good does come of this fabulous Internet, as we all do know.  Okay, onto some good right here, right now.

John loved his quilt

We had a great day on Tuesday, humans and doggies.

My shirt is not straight, my shirt is not straight; ya I'm obsessing

 I said Brandy is allowed on his quilt; he said only on the houndstooth (back) side!

Yesterday we went to Panera (as if we needed an excuse) to get some java/tea/scones (orange-to die for)/wifi yesterday afternoon, and also to get some thread at Expert Sewing Center (online store is Sewing Supply Warehouse, great selection of and pricing on threads, not affiliated, but love them) for the current quilt.  At the register, with a mere 10 minutes left before they closed, I found out that she was giving me their special: 30% off my entire purchase from the Punta Gorda show this past weekend (that I FORGOT about, I cannot believe this still).  Instant hotflash of oh-no-I-want-to-take-advantage-of-this-what-do-I-BUY-but-husband-is-in-the-car-outside-waiting("I'm just getting thread" famous last words)-and-it's-hot-outside-aaaaah feeling.  Sigh.  Big one.  Especially when the clerk said, "Do you want to go and shop some more?" (clearly making up for her dismissive tone with me earlier when I said I wanted Isacord thread and she'd said, "But that's for machine embroidery").  However, with an oh my god I don't believe I'm doing this shaking voice, I asked if they were doing the same thing for the Sarasota show in two weeks.  She imagines so.  Phew!  Time to scheme plan an intelligent (okay who am I kidding, burst of what-the-hell) use of my funds for then! So I kept exactly what I was buying on the counter, paid, and with a "Go directly to Jail. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $50" march in my step, left the store.  Still having withdrawal from that missed opportunity.

Hmm, 3 or maybe 4 different projects in mind for these, but I'm liking the way they all play together right here! Who knew.

1/3 (why? I do not know!) yard of an ivory batik for a design that is still residing in my head, but wants desperately to come to fruition; 1/4 yard black (isn't this fabulous?) Michele D'Amore Designs (hey! same designer as my new bag fabric) Benartex for um, the Bento Box quilt (I probably have enough blacks and whites for 2 now, lol); 1/2 yard of the Diane Phalen P&B Textiles green just because I loved it, and it was on their $5.99 rack, bought not yesterday but when I got the dark green for the border of John's quilt. The pink is Dottie by Moda, 1/4 yard.  I have long admired Rita of Red Pepper Quilt's quilts of many many squares, and when I saw Lorna's rendition this past week, well, 'nuff said.

Bought at Alma Sue's Quilts about a month ago.  Bento Box, right?!  Besides, it's French!

Those of you who entered my giveaway a week or so ago know that these 5 pieces were the first prize, 5 fat quarters.  I actually bought 5 1/2 yard pieces and cut them in half...give something you yourself would love, right?!

These are from Jennifer Sampou's Black & White collection.  Not sure if a Bento Box quilt is where they will end up, but I had to have some.

So there you have it.  This Bento Box quilt is long overdue, I'm thinking.  Might have to make it a March goal...I'm doing pretty good on the finish goals so far this year!

Sneak peek of what's going to be revealed on the blog this week: (eek!)

Ya, that's Rocco, his version of pattern-testing for me.

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict, and Molli Sparkles, (it's my first time; be gentle) for his Sunday Stash Share.

Pit Bull Love

Note:  I apologize for the varying fonts in the text of this post.  I wrote the bulk of this on my laptop in the SUV while we travelled, and then copied and pasted it into Blogger.  I cannot seem to format the font to be unified.

August Update:  this is my entry for Pets on Quilts in the Dogs on Quilts category for this year's Pets on Quilts Show at Lily Pad Quilting.

Dayna has long bugged me to write a post about Rocco.

"You can tell me anything; I'm a great listener."

I tell her he figures quite often in my quilt posts and life musings.   

His happy place

Today, however, this is all about him. Well, I'm sure a quilt -- or three -- will show up.

11 weeks old, blue-eyed and chillin' (and posing!) on my "Starry Hearts" quilt

 During the binding stage of "Seaside Rose":

Notice how his hind legs (Pibble style of chill-axin' nicely frame my label?!

Since Rocco found me, I have become quite the Pitbull (aka Pibble) advocate.  Both Joe and I have.  As has Dayna; she even did one of her university speech assignments about Breed Specific Legislation.
 

Wearing his new hoodie

Even though we paid a fair amount for him, as he is 8^th generation purebred American Pit Bull Terrier, we know we rescued him from a not-so-happy life.  At 11 weeks old, he spent the bulk of his day in a crate, although he did sleep with the man of the house each night.  Because they already had two dogs, a cat, a just-moved-back-home daughter with her 1-year-old, something had to go, and it was him.  They didn’t have a name for him, just called him Baby.  Oddly enough, that is what he frequently gets called by strangers:  Baby.  And he is.

What a BABY!!!! On a bed...again...with a quilt...again!  This time Dayna's.

He is low man on the totem pole in our household; even our 6.5 pound cat, Bella, bosses him around. 

The day after we brought Bella home

Yet he is happiest there. Even when sometimes it appears not!

   

In fact, on walks with John and Brandy, his place of Zen is in the middle of the pack.

Well, here's one time where he took the lead for a few steps!

He loves life.  LOVES.  In fact, his tail wags so hard and furiously at, oh, pretty much everything, that sadly, last May it had to be amputated.  He would smack it against corners, against table legs, table edges, people’s legs, doorjambs, walls, so much so that this caused frequent cuts, abrasions, gouges, all of which took longer and longer to heal, and eventually got infected very badly.  Consequently, our vet advised us to remove it.  It was not an easy time, and I felt so bad for my little guy.

"I'm not ON the chair, really."  You can see his fur shaved off on his tail.

He sings.  I used to call it talking until I read Ken Foster’s book, I'm A Good Dog, where he described a neighbourhood Pibble who would announce his coming by singing his way down the street on walks. Many years ago we had a Samoyed named Rex, who would talk in much the same way, and so, at the hint of a “rrrrooowwwwooo” from Rocco a few years ago, I encouraged it.  And his voice has developed just beautifully.  He sings when people come to the door, he sings for a treat, he sings when people leave, he sings when we arrive home, adding the wiggle-butt and rolling wriggle through the torso that Pibbles are well-known for.

He can be pretty goofy.

He loves blankies.

Sharing

Wrapped up

Even if the blankie isn't finished being knitted!

He especially loved snoozing on our brand new patio chair cushions!

He puts up with Dayna dressing him up.

He loves cats.

Even though most cats do not reciprocate his love. Here is Muffin, the condo 'hood cat.

He has been through more than his share of hurts.  A porcupine that did not want to be friends beat Rocco up on his first birthday.  He had a few subsequent treatments for embedded or infected quills.  I've mentioned the tail issue.  He got a bad bite in his chest from Naala when he ticked her off one evening.  He just wanted to play, but it was her quiet time.  Do NOT mess around with her then!  He got an infected ear when Naala bit him because he was going crazy in the SUV over a dog walking by.  He had an abscessed tooth that had to be extracted.  He has had to wear the cone of shame on more than one occasion.

The dogs travel SO well, never complaining, happy to be wherever we are. They have covered thousands of miles in our vehicles: between Alberta and Ontario 3 times, and between Ontario and Florida four times!

Moving Dayna to Windsor, Ontario in 2010.  He was 9 months old.

Because we were on the road the last two nights, he slept with me in one bed, Naala with Joe in the other.  When we travel, we find this works best for the dogs: they feel more secure, so they tend to relax better and not woof at every little noise or bump.  Both nights he had to touch me the whole night, whether it was his muzzle to my face, his back pressed up against mine (his favourite) or his head resting on my feet or shins.

On the couch this past January

It is so wonderful to call up Bayside Pet Resort where Rocco goes to daycare and have the girls excited on the phone when they know Rocco is coming in.  He arrives and puts his paws up on their counter, singing his presence. Last time he tried to jump his whole body onto the counter, succeeding in a good thud to his barrel of a chest.  He wasn’t fazed.  The pet pals love him there, and he loves them, but most of all he loves all his buds, 20-25 big dogs milling around in the big dog outside play area.

Bandana courtesy of Bayside Pet Resort, after their weekend at the kennel

Sadly, we can’t do that in Ontario.  His breed is banned.  He was grandfathered in because of us being homeowners there, and because our little town, Kingsville, has an open-minded town office.  Our neighbours all love Rocco.  His happy, friendly, docile nature, in our Alberta kennel owner/friend’s words, “makes him an ambassador for his breed.”

Two perfect Pibbles, Rocco and Brandy

One of our Florida neighbours got a Shih Tzu puppy earlier this winter.  Rocco let that puppy jump on his head.  Stand on his little hind legs and sniff Rocco’s face and ears. 

Rocco did the usual dog greeting: sniffed the puppy’s parts, and then stood still so the puppy could sniff his.  The owner, as well as another neighbour commented that they couldn’t believe the pup had no fear of a big dog, like Rocco, or like Brandy.  That’s when I thought, it’s because the puppy doesn’t judge.  He sees a dog.  Period. Another potential kindred spirit to meet and to get to know.  He doesn’t label Rocco by breed, but by his personality, his character.  From there, he makes his decision.  

Wouldn’t it be lovely if we humans could follow this puppy’s simple outlook, towards not just all animals, but also all fellow humans?

But no, because some jerks of humans exploit the Pitbull’s love of life and of people (especially of children), his loyalty, his willingness to please, and FORCE them to fight or be killed, this incredibly loving breed has now been very wrongly maligned.  But this post is not a rant about breed specific legislation.

Instead it’s about a funny, loving, lovable, goofy, blue-nose American Pitbull Terrier named Rocco, who has taught us, our family and friends, so much about the wrongful prejudice his breed is subjected to.

Note:  Please tune in to National Geographic Wild at 8 pm tonight, April 18, to watch Cesar Millan’s “Love My Pit Bull” show where John’s daughter, Julie, Chief Development Officer for the Washington DC Humane Society, and her rescued Pit Bull, Porter, are featured!!

Sorry, that show has now aired, since I have been on the road most of the day today, and took extra-long to get lots of good pics in this post tonight!  It should be available on YouTube; in fact, here is a link to a teaser of Porter's TV début.

Here is one last pic of me with my boy, Rocco, in front of a spectacular Sycamore, aka American planetree, in Charleston, West Virginia, yesterday afternoon.