May He Chase Squirrels and Be Happy

My best friend was just carried out of the door.

Jake woke us up at 6:30 this morning and when I let him outside he could not get up to get back in.  I had to carry him. Apparently he had some type of stroke during the night. Dick and I have made the decision to have him put to sleep.  We have contacted the children and made them aware of what is going on. They understand and agree. Jake is 15 years old. He is a Lab/Shephard mix that was rescued from a groomer. He is absolutely the best dog that I have ever had.

 From the first day that he was in this house I was sure that he was my Dad reincarnated. When I was cooking he was not only under my feet, he had his nose on the counter checking to see what I was doing, but, he never took one thing off of the counters. He was well behaved in every way you could imagine.

He has been a proud, well loved and respected member of this family. I have been heard to remark that I would sooner loose my husband than to loose Jake. He will be missed for years to come. When God made this one he made a jewel.

"Squirrel Jake, Squirrel!!!!

Love, Mom

10 DAYS !!!!! READY, SET, PACK !!!!

I absolutely cannot believe we only have 10 days until we get together for Quilt Camp. However, I did start a few things today. Mr. OLT walked into the studio this morning and asked:  "What are all of those 'Carolina Pottery' bags for?"                                                    

I could not lie. I had to admit that I had been on a shopping spree for 'Summer Fun' goodies.

The beautiful carpet strip is on the floor so that when Jake lays down he has some traction getting up. After all he is 15 years old and the old boy just doesn't have the lift he use to.

 



I also managed to cut a 'kit' to take with me. This will be fun. I have everything ready to just 'sit and sew'. I even cut and preped the binding. Only thing not ready to finish this quilt is the 'BACKING'. Imagine that.

I really hope to cut at least 2 more to take for the weekend. Of course I will also have my applique to work on, I only have about 6 of those projects to do. Also I need to take my piece for the Harvest Hope 'Empty Bowls' auction to camp so that I can get it quilted and bound. So much to do, so little time.



Only 10 days!!! Let's see, I really need to start a list of things to do, things to take, things to cut, things, things, things!!


Have a great week. Maybe I'll stop in to say hello.

Christmas Really is Coming

This is the way Rocky and Jake hang around while Dick and I are eating supper.

I think that Rocky really believes that he is hiding behind the chair. We have moved the chair away from the wall so that he will have room to play hide and seek.

Sometime they actually lay on the same side of the chair. Rocky usually gives Jake plenty of respect.

I have managed to finish decorating the 'medium' size tree for this year. Just for the record, there will not be a 'large' tree this year. The 'large' tree only goes up when Dick and I host the "Thompson Family Christmas" and that only happens every 4 years. This year we will be with Pam and Marty.


I spent part of the day wrapping some gifts. I also baked two loaf cakes for our "Pack the Bra " time tomorrow.

Yep, tomorrow we pack up the Artful Bras and ship them to their new owners. The Bras were auctioned on EBay with the proceeds going to the 'Best Chance Network'. We were a little dissappointed that all of the bras did not sell, but we still managed to make over $2000.00 on the sales. This has been an amazing journey and now it is really time for it to come to an end. The book is available through http://www.quiltersofsc.org/ and also Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc. However, if you order through QSC the charity makes more money.

I really hope that I can complete my Christmas wrapping and decorating tomorrow too. I don't think that I have much more to do. One of the major things is to make the labels for the Grandchildren's quilts, stitch them on, and then wrap them up. Imagine, I might be in a position to play next weekend, instead of stressing out over finishing Christmas gifts.

Hope that you have a wonderful week. The weather has turned cold and it has started raining. No ice or snow expected, but, I am already looking forward to spring.

Long Weekend

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I do hope that everyone is safe and well. I have had some time off and have really been stressing over a piece for an exhibit for August of 2009.

Rocky, has been in trouble this weekend. He decided that Dick's shoes were a tasty treat. Needless to say, Mr. Greer, is not very happy with young dog. How could anyone be upset with this 70lbs of licking love?



Jake just spends his days napping. He really tries to ignore Rocky, but, when that is not possible he barks at Rocky and snaps at his head. Rocky yelps and runs, but, no one is hurt and Jake gets his point across.



What has Joyce been doing this weekend you may be asking? Actually if this is your thinking, then you should really get a life. Maybe I should too. I have been playing with something for our library exhibit for Devine Quilters. I have actually been working on this for 3 days at the machine. Two to three days with EQ and some type of design. One of the main ideas is for our pieces to have lots of color in them. I don't think that this qualifies.




Other things required are: nine patch block, a star, using a snowball block, churndash blocks. You don't have to use all of them, but at least 3 of them. You can distort the blocks in any way. I don't really know where this piece or this post is going, but I will keep working on it. The red-orange piece of fabric on the left, may work its way into this piece, I just don't know. I am really in a quandry over this piece. This is 1/2 of the piece as I have it now. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Each block section in this piece finished 2 inches. The size of the piece is also set to be 36x48, so that all of the pieces will be a uniform size.

I really hope to work on my Baby Jane tomorrow. It just depends on whether or not this library piece turns loose of my brain.

Baby Jane and other "Stuff"

I had lots of company in the Studio yesterday to "help" with my various projects.
This is Rocky and Patches. He really gave her a hard time yesterday. It was cold outside, so Dick decided that he needed to be inside. What a day!


He harrassed that cat all day. Rocky loves to lick, like any Lab, and Patches was soaking wet most of the time. She really was patient with him.

This is Jake. He is a 15 year old Lab Shephard mix that we adopted 15 years ago as a puppy. He really can sleep with his head in this position. He is the very best dog we have ever had. Rocky has a lot to live up to.

This is another block to my Cottage Garden Quilt. This makes block number 3. Only 6 more to go!!! This project will have to age for a while so that I can get back to work on Christmas.

Now, to Baby Jane. I have caught up again.

This Green and white block is D-7 Meeting Place

The yellow and white blockI-3 Family Album

This multi-color is L-4 St. George's Cross

This triangle is BR (Bottom Row) 8 Thunderhead.

This brings my Dear Jane signature to :

72-9-0-1496

Who would have believed that I could accomplish so much in just the 8 months that I have been working on this project. I didn't actually start until March. I am loving this project.

Have a good week and a Great Thanksgiving!!!