Finished Quilt

I must say this is the first quilt I have ever finished.  Seriously I have about 6 quilts I have started that are somewhere around waiting for completion.  The difference with this one is that I was making it for someone else. 

I am rather proud of it to be honest.  I don't do much sewing anymore and I was pleasantly surprised that I did not stuff this up.  Granted the poly cotton fabric nearly melted at one stage on the lowest heat setting on the iron, but thankfully I was able to hide that with the yellow stripes.

There was no exercise today as bub is being born via caesarian tomorrow and I really wanted my friend to have it before she went into hospital.  As soon as I got home I sat down and sewed the back to the front and wadding.  Mum had done some knitting as well so we went over almost as soon as I cut off the last thread.

Thankfully my friend loves it and that is the main thing. All that pain staking hand sewing around the giraffe paid off. 

 

Sneak Peak Plus

Last weekend I finally got new orthotics.  My old ones were currently over 10 years old and are starting to fall to pieces.  When I walk with them I am getting a lot more blisters and aches up and down my legs, so I figured it was time to get a new pair.  The new pair are higher in the arch and fit a full shoe rather than a 3/4s.  The right foot is perfect.  The aches in my legs are less when I walk and I really don't feel like it is there.  The only difference is that it is higher and at times I feel like my foot is coming out of my shoe even though it isn't.  The left foot is a different story.  Within the first few hours of wearing it I had two lots of blisters forming in the arch of my foot.  Consequently I am now wearing one new one and one old one.  Thanks to this and a head cold, walking did not happen much last week.

By Thursday I seemed to have a relapse with my cold and ended up going home early and having Friday off.  I really hate taking sick days.  Especially the amount I take due to migraines. You get the feeling that people stop believing you are ill and that you are just chucking a sicky.  I could be on my death bead and feel guilty for not going in to work. 

Here is Lilly in one of her tops that calls her the angel.  If they had one called the annoyer then that would have been more appropriate.  She insists on curly up next to me on the lounge.  Not just next to me, she has to be so close that even though she is not technically on me she is definitely super glued there.

On days like today when I am not on the lounge she gets there herself.  Yes this dog managed to get herself all nice and snug like this with no help from any human.  She certainly knows where to get.

Last weekend I also promised myself I would finish the quilt I was making for my friends new baby.  That is until I got a really bad head cold and wound up doing nothing.  Bob (as they call bub at the moment) is due this week so this weekend has been one super sewing session. 

I managed to get the front section completed yesterday and the backing put on.  There is still some quilting stitching that needs doing but I really needed to get down and do some hand stitching.  I have 28 stripes that need blanket stitch to hold them nicely in place.  That was today's job.

It took me half an hour and a google search to remember how to start blanket stitch but the instructions I found worked opposite to me so somehow I managed to alternate between the two once I got started.  I also did not have a very sharp needle that would allow the embroidery thread through the eye so it took forever to punch it through the five layers I have.  I would have completed the embroidery before the backing went on but it would have been stitched over when I started to quilt it and that would look horrid.  Anyway it took me over an hour to do one small stripe (16cm around the outside) and it looked terrible.  I also started to weigh up how long this would take and realised that Bob would probably be one year old by the time he got the quilt.

Finally I decided to try it on the sewing machine.  There was a blanket stitch on there but I had never used it.  A test run went well and I even figured out how to turn the corners (which was my main worry).  I put the quilt in the machine and started on my first stripe.  It was a dud so I had to unpick and try again.  I did something I have not done in years, I put the machine on a snails pace.  First stripe looked great.  Second stripe, just as good.  By the eighth stripe I was finally used to how the machine moved with this stitch so I was able to speed up again.  I am currently half way through them and plan on getting it finished tonight.  Well maybe the stripes at least.  The rest may have to wait until tomorrow. Anyway here is a sneak peak. 

What! Did you think I was going to show you the front side.  This is a lovely view of the neat stitching at the back.  Front side will be shown once delivery has been made.  :)

All Things Cute

If it is cute, I am a sucker for it.  As a teenager I was never into putting posters on my wall of music bands, actors etc.  If I did it was only because I felt like I had to.  Even my files for school were covered in images that could pass the peer pressure of socially acceptable but boarded on cute.

This is why I love getting cute outfits for my dogs.  I use the excuse that they need to cover up to keep warm in winter, and in summer it's to protect them from the sun.  I mean the Aussie sun is so harmful right!

I am not however, one of these people that get clothing made specially.  If I spend more than $5 on a top for the dog that is too much.  I was kind of hoping Bo's clothes would fit Lilly but they are a little on the big side so she has had to go naked for a while.  Some of her new clothes turned up today and this time they fitted her perfectly. 

She is one hell of a difficult dog to photograph though as she is constantly moving.  If she stops moving she gets this look on her face that says "I'm guilty and I know it."  I am surprised at how well these photos did turn out considering they were taken on my phone.

This is only one of her outfits. I will put more photos up at later stages when she is in the others.

Mum trying hard to hold her still.

I told Lilly she had to be a lady in this outfit... hmm.

I leave my office chair for one second and up hops Lilly knowing there is food on my desk.

I had fun with this one

To totally change the topic, I have now lost 9kgs so far this year.  I am stoked.  I still have another 60 to go to get to my goal weight so at this rate it will take a couple of years.  As long as I keep losing it and don't put it on.  What I am not too happy about is that I am currently between sizes.  Too small for what I currently have but still too big for the next size down.  People at work are starting to realise that my tops are looking a little over sized so at least the weight loss is starting to get noticed.

I currently have two projects on the go.  One is a quilt I am making for a friend whose bub is due on the 24th.  I was hoping to get a huge chunk of it done on the weekend but ended up with a head cold and in the frame of mind that would probably ruin it than finish it.  The other is something I am making for art abandonment.  More on that when they are ready.

This year has gone so fast.  I can't believe that in two weeks time I can start doing my tax return.  I can't wait for it this year (normally I end up leaving it to the last minute).  I think it is because I am wanting to use my refund on getting my new camera sooner rather than later.

That about does me for news.  Hope you have had a super start to the new week.

Two Dogs. a Park and One Long Lead

I took both dogs to the park tonight.  OMG Lilly was not happy on a short lead, and Tess was getting tangled in Lilly's lead because Lilly insisted on going everywhere.  Eventually I took Tess off her lead because, unlike Lilly, I knew Tess wouldn't do  a runner.  I added her lead to Lilly's to make it extra long. 

Well Lilly pranced around very happy then.  It was like she had all the freedom in the world.  The extra lead stopped her from choking herself to death (in a harness no less).  If a dog can choke itself to death in a harness it would be our Lilly. 

Lilly barked at anyone and everyone that dared to come close, (even when we were the ones closing the gap).  Amazingly enough she made friends with 3 other dogs.  The last time we took her walking she growled at the other dogs and really got her hackles up.  I must admit I was very impressed.

It appears though that once you have a dog at this park it means all other dog owners will talk to you.  This meant I was standing around for a fair bit having a good chat while the dogs got close and personal smelling each other.  Even my jittery Tess joined in. 

At one stage I thought I had lost Tess.  She will be 15 in December and is quite deaf and I am sure her eyesight is not what it used to be.  I turned to look back where we had come from and couldn't see her.  I looked down, and couldn't see her.  I turned in a circle scanning the park for her and still couldn't see her.  I had no idea where she was and was starting to freak out when I saw a dash of white.  Tess likes to stay either beside or behind you.  When I looked down she was behind me, so close in fact that I could not see her.  When I turned around, so did she.  It was like an unintentional game of hide and seek.  I should have guessed this is what she was doing as she does it at home as well.

Of course dogs being dogs, they have to sniff, find the best spot and pee.  My Tessa is a lady though, she rarely pees in public places.  Lilly on the other hand had to sniff every tree, chair and water fountain we passed.  Eventually she finally chose a concrete fixture for the lights that had obviously been peed on at least twice.  I stood and waited... and waited...and waited.  Eventually she decided to it was good enough for her precious smell so she cocked her let.  Unfortunately she only got a tiny squirt out.  She was standing on a small slope and lost her balance.  It was an interesting hop dance that ensued because the leg in the air was so close to the concrete, her belly was almost touching the concrete.  As she lost her balance she hopped sideways on her other hind leg so she could quickly drop the one in the air and then raise the one she'd been hopping on.  She still didn't have her balance and ended up flopping sideways.  It was like watching one of those old black and white comedy routines where the mad falls down and jumps straight up as if nothing happened.  This is exactly what Lilly did.  Jumped straight up and proceeded to walk away as if we had never stopped there.  The embarrassment was too much for her to stay and finish marking her territory.  It obviously wasn't that good anyway. 

Back home Lilly's new pj's had arrived.  I was really hoping they would fit her because it was hard to get the right measurements with her wriggling all the time.  Lets just say if she loses weight and then stretches it, it will fit nicely.  Here she is in her cute but tight pjs.

Lilly trying to get it off.  I took it straight off once I got some photos.

General Stuff

Today I shouted my mother and Aunt to the movies.  We saw Pitch Perfect 2.  I love the singing in this movie and I must admit I am very much a fan of their German rivals.

On the way home, we stopped at a small, but very busy shopping center.  I think we took one of the last available car parks.  Mum went to get what she needed and my Aunt and I stayed in the car making fun of people's parking.  Normally it is mum's parking we make fun of but this time she was pretty straight.  Hmm I wonder if that is because the car next to us was so crooked.  If it was straight maybe Mum would have been crooked.  Anyway I am diverting.  The car next to us was in the white lines but it was so crooked.  Trust me the below photo does not portray how bad it actually looked. 

I got started on how I really don't like people who reverse park just because it is easier to drive out.  I understand why they would do it but time wise it is not any faster.  In fact I think it is slower.  I find it takes them twice as long, if not longer, to reverse park than to reverse out.  It also holds everyone else up who just wants to get in and park and get to where ever they are meant to be going.

To prove my point, not long after Mum left, another car decided to reverse park two spaces away from us.  The car park between us was empty so we could clearly see what this driver was doing. This skilled driver had one of those new fan-dangled cars that beeps when you get too close.  I know, because the driver had the window down and the beeping was really loud.  Guessing from the angle the driver was looking while reversing,  I think there was also a rear view camera.  You would expect that would make things so much more simpler.  Unfortunately no.  The driver was never satisfied with how they backed in.  They would stop, look out the window, decide they were too close to the white line, go forward and reverse back into the same spot.  After the third try and holding up quite a few cards, the driver finally seemed happy.  Note that I said seemed.  They got out of the car, walked across the road, and decided from there if their parking was good enough.  Seriously this took about 5 minutes.  I kid you not.

Within seconds someone else had decided to reverse park into the space next to us.  They took a while, though not as long, but they were on the white line and couldn't give a toss if were or weren't.  I don't know who is worse, the one who holds everyone one up for 5 minutes going in and out, or the one that holds people up for a short time but then prevents someone getting into their car because they parked on the white line.  Suffice to say, Mum just managed to get in.

Mum will be the first to tell you she is not good at reversing.  I normally have to do it for her.  She did however prove my point that it is much easier to reverse out of a carpark than reverse in.  Mum was out of the carpark in 2 seconds flat and didn't hold anyone other cars up except for the one that, you guessed it, decided to reverse park into the space we vacated.

Walking wise I have been doing quite well.  Over the last two weeks I have done a lot more walking and I have lost another kg.  That is 8kg  so far this year.  I am between sizes as the moment.  My normal clothing size is a little loose and I find I am constantly tugging at my pants to keep them up.  The next size down however is still a little too tight. My new t-shirt arrived last week and I got a couple of comments from my fellow classmates.  It is so true though and suits me well.

I have been stealing my mothers wool to make little hats (I will show you a photo once they are all done).  She doesn't quite have the colours that I want though.  The other day we were in Spotlight and I found that they are selling little mini wools.  They are so cute and the perfect colours for what I want to do. There is just enough in each to make two and a bit hats.

While I was making these hats I lost one of the the paper rings that went around the wool.  I had sworn it had fallen on the floor as I distinctly remembered seeing it there.  When I bent down to get it, it was gone.  It was like it had got up and walked away on its own.  Well it kind of did but it had a little help from my dog Tessa.  I saw this on her back foot about an hour later ...

Unfortunately blogger is up to its old tricks and is not positioning my photos correctly so you will need to mover you head 90 degrees towards your right shoulder and you will get the gist of the photo.

Looking at that photo you can also see that Tess was in bad need of a hair cut.  She has always been so good for me while I have been shaving her, but this last year she has become scared of the shears.  She gets so bad that she starts to shake all over.  She especially won't let me touch her face is really bad with tear crust.  I am just hoping the vet can do something about it when she goes for her injections.  It is not the best photo but you can see she is bald in some areas where she moved.  My poor baby is 14 and a half years old now.  I can see her age has caught up with her as the weather gets colder, but she is still so full of life.  I think she will be getting her jacket put on tonight.

This week gone was the last week my friend had at work before she went on Maternity leave.  I can now post the card that I made for her.  She knows she is having a boy (no 3).  No name has been decided on yet so she keeps calling him Bob. 

Before I say goodnight I have to add one more photo.  You see Lilly gets very jealous of Tessa getting all the attention, and Tess certainly got a lot of that today.  Albeit, unwanted hair cut attention.  Anyway to make it up to the little one who thinks she can waltz in here and take over everything in a month, I had better put up a photo of her as well or there will be trouble to pay.