Catching Up With Everybun

Hi, everybun. Bet you were wondering where we've been. I've been right here, Mom's the one who has been out and about.  Since she's on the couch with her leg up in the air after a rather dim-witted maneuver, she said I could make her long catchup post for her.

First Mom and Dad went to Pittsburgh, because my Oldest Sister was wearing a funny suit at Chatham University.  Mom says she got her Master's in OT, but she isn't really finished till she finishes her field work in a couple of weeks. Not sure what field work means (or OT either, actually), but I'm guessing it has something to do with hay.

While they were there, they were happy to meet Emily Eckel, who makes dolls and buttons, and lots of other things. She is also one of my sister's professors.

Apparently Chatham is a very beautiful campus, so they spent some time looking at the fancy buildings.

The room below was once an indoor swimming pool.

"Oh, Romeo!"

They walked the meditation labyrinth on campus. I prefer to meditate while meat-loafed in the sun.

They spent time watching the wildlife. Mom says it's where Rachel Carson went to school. She wrote "Silent Spring", a book that is very important to us non-human beings.

Mom told me that the Mom and Dad Ducks were nearby, so these guys weren't alone. There was also an Uncle, and then a Stranger Drake that the Duck Mom chased away.

Most importantly, they saw some of my distant relatives.

They also spent some time enjoying the beautiful, busy neighborhoods of Pittsburgh.

 Mom likes to sit at the outdoor tables and people watch. They had fun visiting Pittsburgh. They should take me next time. I'd be a hit at the cafes.

Then, Mom came home the long way, and spent some time at her Mom and Dad's house. Meanwhile, the Curly One and I were at home, emptying out her room. She and Mom spent a couple of days painting it bright yellow when Mom got home. That was smelly.

Next, Mom spent some time working in the garden, planting veggies, and weeding. She says the roses are looking very good this year, especially this bush that died way back last year.

The lupines and roses are nice together, or so she tells me.

And apparently, rhododendron goes well with lupine, too.

Mom says she is especially enjoying the poppies this year.

She should be doing more garden work now, but yesterday she tripped over a step. Her head was probably in outer space, like usual. She almost put her head through a glass door, but all she did was mess up her knee that was finally healing from last fall.

That means the Curly One is still taking care of me. Good thing she's a real sweetie. 

I love my sisters.

Well, that's it. We are all caught up. I'll make sure Mom stays on the ball from now on. Or, I may have to eat a UFO.

Alien Abduction!

I was just sitting in the sun, minding my own business, which is to say napping. Ssuddenly, I was picked up by this UFO!

 I was a little worried at first. I've heard that when aliens abduct someone,  they do a lot of probing.

 But then I remembered that it's usually veterinarians who do probing, and I didn't smell a vet anywhere.

 And, I realized that this UFO felt an awful lot like a quilt, so I decided to continue my nap.

I wonder if all UFO's are this comfortable?

A Very Happy Wednesday

My Sister's home! The curly one. For awhile anyway. Until she takes a little trip to Nantucket with some friends.

 Mom's jealous. I'm not. But then, I don't really know anything about Nantucket except for this limerick that Mom said I'm not allowed to tell.

 Maybe if I follow up this cuddle by licking my Sister's elbow until she can't stop giggling, she'll decide to stay with me.

It's worth a try. I love my Sister.

Stil At It

I'm still quilting away at this month's UFO. I'm getting there, though. You can see that I am quilting the outer border now.

Next,  I need to bury my thread ends. Way too many thread ends, in fact, because I like to change thread colors frequently. After that, I put on the binding.

Then comes the scary part. I'll need to wash this to remove some of the markings that I used for quilting. Normally this would not be an issue. But, this was a group project, and I've discovered that one of the dark fabrics used by another person bleeds terribly. And, one of the threads that I used to quilt may be a bleeder, too. If anyone has any advice for me, I'd love to hear it! How would you handle this?

Wet Weasley Wednesday

No, Weasley's not wet. Wednesday is. And very, very gray. Weasley wants to know why.

Get it? Y? (To use the lovely shell's word, yes, I'm a dork!)

"This is what I think of that joke, Mom. And the day. I'm going back to bed!"

 

 

Good idea, Weasley. See you at cuddle time.

Weekend Retreat Report

My Mom and I spent a wonderful weekend at a Quilt Retreat in New Hampshire. Not only did we have a good time, but we also managed to get a lot done. And, as a bonus, we were completely inspired by the talented people around us.

The retreat was held at The Inn at Mills Falls, on Lake Winnipesaukee. Our rooms all had fireplaces, and balconies overlooking the lake. It was so amazing to wake up to this view.

 

The classroom was a large conference/ballroom. We were set up mostly two to a  table, with a big, communal cutting table in the center. That was the site of many discussions, as we all sought advice or offered opinions on projects at  various times throughout the weekend. At some retreats, everyone makes  a specific project, or learns a specific technique. We chose a retreat where everyone was working on their own individual projects, so there was a lot to see, and to comment on, and learn from.

In that last picture, you can see this month's UFO hanging from my sewing machine. Across the table is my Mom, also called Sue, by people she hasn't given birth to. On the right is Jane, the owner of Quilter's Way, the shop that sponsored the retreat. We called our table "The Cursed Table". I managed to lose the free motion foot to my machine, only to find it in my accessories box (where I swear I had already looked three times) after searching the trash cans very thoroughly. Not fun, but I can now say, unequivocally, that different quilters have very different ideas of what an unusable scrap is.

Mom managed to lose a large section of her project, only to find it later at the ironing station. What can I say? Strange things happen when you sew from 7:30AM to Midnight.

And "what about Jane?", you may ask. After all, she was at The Cursed Table also. Well, she spent the weekend sewing and unsewing a broomstick skirt, interspersed with bouts of sewing "Snoballs From Hell". See them?

Actually, it's going to be quite nice when she's done, but that is a lot of octagons. She designed it using the shop's Kit Designer, which allows you to design a quilt, and pick out the fabric for it. The Kit Designer calculates yardage, you pay for it, they cut it, and either mail it to you, or you can pick it up at the store. It's a pretty cool feature for a quilt shop to have. You can check it out here. Meanwhile, I'm going back to work on my almost finished UFO.