Waiting...

This isn't a great photo technique-wise but I love it all the same because this is Bowdee waiting and watching for his favorite human to arrive home. I just love the shadow of him in the light. He adores his papa and gets on high alert when his 'it's time to come home' timer goes off.

Received two little travel pillows recently and had to make them their own pillow cases. It was a fast and fun project and the best thing is that I had everything in my stash. Goodness knows how old that tree fabric is, but I was happy to have enough for the two pillows. The naked pillows measured 12"x18". Couldn't resist adding the little cuff and flange. I think they are so cute and usable now that the covers can be easily removed and washed.

Speaking of Waiting....

This was me last week doing my duty. Sat through several hours of listening to attorneys and being asked questions. I wasn't one of the 9 chosen to stay for the trial so my duty is finished for at least two years.

The wind is howling something fierce but the sun is shining and the temperature is not bad. The wind is so strong that I cannot stand to be out in it though so here I wait with my nose pressed up against the window waiting for the wind to calm.

Did anyone else participate in the online Taste and See Bible Study? It was so good (good for the soul, spirit, and belly!). I never fully recognized how important food was in the Bible, but if you think about it -- we all have really great memories and many of them started around a table with friends and family. Jesus has invited us all to His table and what a wonderful, bountiful table He has for all of us who love Him; makes me smile just thinking of reaching out to His outstretched hands as I accept food from His table. Figs, bread, fish, wine and more. Can we say Amen and Bon Appetit!

Puppy Teeth & Happenings

Bowdee's big boy teeth have started coming in which means that his baby teeth are being pushed out. He's been a little moody because it hurts having teeth shoved out and new ones coming in. Did you know that puppies have 28 teeth and that when they start to lose them, they are replaced with 42 adult canine teeth! That's a lot of teeth to squeeze into a space where only 28 had been previously. I'm sure I have either vacuumed up or he has swallowed many of them but occasionally he actually gives them to me. I'm sure you are wondering just how he 'gives' me a baby tooth. Well, it goes like this. Bowdee comes up and sits in front of mommy. He is twisting his face and asking me to pick him up. I bend down and pick him up and he looks me in the face and starts sucking on his lip. I'm like what are you doing and he gets more enthusiastic about the process. I then open his mouth and right on his little tongue is a baby tooth which I promptly snatch out and then tell him what a good boy he is and then he gets a cookie. I have a collection of 5 so far. They are interesting looking, aren't they.

Here he is looking all cool and showing me he has decided to confiscate papa's chair. Papa is at work so no one can object! LOL He's grown so much and is quite the 'little tank.' I love the feel of his body. Nothing wimpy about this boy!

I finished putting all of the embroidery stitches in on my future sewing kit. Just waiting for the instructions for sewing it together. I will definitely keep up stitching because I had such a wonderful time making this. It feels so wonderful.

Homemade vanilla was made using my Instant Pot. Here it is with vanilla beans and vodka.

Here's the result after completing the cycle in the Instant Pot. This would be the equivalent of it sitting for several months and all it took was 30 minutes.

Here it is a week later. It will continue to deepen in color and flavor. I will wait a month and then transfer it into individual bottles. There is nothing like homemade vanilla in your recipes. Try it even if you don't have an Instant Pot. You will be a convert forever.

Thought I would leave you with some sunshine. This is a picture I took at the Tulip Festival last summer. It was a beautiful day and it was our first time visiting.

Savoring the Process

Now those pictures are sure to get your mouth watering. I made some things that hardly ever are made here, which was homemade cinnamon rolls and caramel candies both hard and chewy...some with sea salt and others without. It was a delicacy to enjoy them and even more so to share them with family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers. I also made homemade fudge (the one that gives your arms a workout), but it didn't get into the pictures. I had to get it out of the house as quickly as possible because fudge is something I simply cannot keep my fingers out of. It was soooooooo good.

Next Monday, January 21, I'm participating in a free online Bible Study called Taste and See. Psalms 34:8 "Taste and see that the Lord is good. How happy is the man who takes refuge in Him!" is one of my favorite verses in the Bible and I love being in the kitchen and making meals for family and friends so how can anyone resist savoring time with the Lord and learning how much God and Jesus loves food too. I hope you will join in with me on the study. I think we will all come away from the table filled and happy.

I love the process of creating. My hands have a difficult time not being in perpetual motion. This equates to having many projects in differing stages of progression. Some things complete faster than others and then there are the long-term projects that spread through years. Many times it is because what I need to do is not currently in my skill toolbox so they wait patiently for me to catch up. The end of 2018 and our Christmas Holiday enabled me to finish one of those long-term projects and I am so pleased to have finally completed her. Her name is The Lady and she has been a decade long project. I'm not sharing a full picture yet because I hope to enter her into a few shows and don't want to disqualify myself just in case they have a policy of not showing the completed piece online.

She is faced to not distract from the front and this stopped me from finishing her for quite some time. A big shout out and thank you to Terry Knott for her help and on-going patience in repeating herself over and over again as I asked for clarification for the umpteen time. Thank you Terry! Love you to pieces!

And then I also finished a a tablecloth that I've been working on for about a year. Sewing all those houses with windows and doors and trees with leaves (Yoko Saito house pattern) took much longer than I anticipated. Of course I made up the tablecloth pattern and got almost a little too creative for myself with the linen insert, fancy joining stitches and cording. Although I do love the linen insert and I am keeping up with my pledge of using as many as possible of all those pretty stitches that are available on my sewing machine.

Here it is with two sides of the 'ground' added.

All done and on the table.

I sure do love it!

And I've had some really wonderful logos to digitize at work too. I had to do a lot of online research to get the cow and tractor details correct since all I had was a shadow. Oh and for those observant ones (you know who you are), I did go back in and add the brand mark on the cow. Sometimes, I can get lost in the trees when digitizing and don't see something until I've stitched it. Of course, then it's blaring in my face and I wonder how I missed it!

This one was fun too. Love it when customers want to GO BIG!

Quick little project for a company. I love making pillows.

And I started working on a small project that Valerie Bothell started last week. There is still time to join in on the fun if you'd like to play too. I'm having a blast hand embroidering the stitches.

Still quilting this Shabby Fabrics Forever My Valentine quilt. I have three more background blocks to quilt and then I can start quilting the hearts. This has been a very enjoyable project and one that just makes me smile every time I look at the hearts. 

Can't end the post without a picture of the 'Bowdee man' all comfy in mama's chair. Enjoy your day wherever you are and know that God loves you.

Excitable Puppy Peeing

Happy New Year! I introduced you to Bowdee last month. He is growing like a weed and just celebrated his five-month birthday on the 3rd of January!

He is such a lover and greets everyone with licks and kisses and a wiggle that starts at the head and runs down to the end of his tail. He is learning so many things and finally barks at me when needing to go 'out' to do his business. There is just one thing that he does that is a first for us and that is he gets so darn excited to greet us and others that he will tinkle on the floor. We've read everything. He's very healthy, we keep our greetings calm, no eye contact, no bending over to pat his head, exercise him, many potty breaks, yada, yada, yada. He's getting better but when papa comes home, there is nothing I can do to stop the leaking. He just loves him to pieces and the flood will flow. LOL  It's not funny, but he can't help it so you can't get mad at him.

I decided to make him a belly band that he can wear whenever we are going somewhere where people might make a fuss over him. I've found it is easier to teach Bowdee tricks than to stop a person from  baby talking him when we are out. Baby talking to him will cause a puddle every time.

At first I thought I'd just buy one but trying to fit him proved to be impossible. He's too big for a small and too small for a medium and the material they make them out of is not soft and not very nice. Well, since I quilt and sew, I thought how hard can it be to make one? It wasn't hard but did take me longer than I anticipated to get the kinks out for my pattern. All in all I am happy with it. I will need to make another one sooner than I anticipated because I should have added more length for growing.

If you or someone you know has a puppy with leaky issues, you can easily make one. I cut 2 fabrics 5 inches wide by 19 inches long (next time I will make it 21 inches long). I also cut one piece of cotton batting 4-3/4" wide by 18-3/4 inches long. Placing right sides of fabric together and batting on top (which is the wrong side), I sewed around the rectangle using a 3/8" seam. Leave an opening for turning. Turn fabric right side out being careful not to pull out batting. Once turned, sew around perimeter using a 1/8" seam. This will also close up your opening. I added additional sewing lines to keep the cotton fabric from migrating around inside the belly band. I added a 3-1/2 inch by 2 inch piece of velcro (soft side on left as fabric is facing you and the rough side on the right on opposite side) at the narrow edges of band.

Now the only additional thing I made was a mini pad that I could toss in the washer. I didn't have any PUL fabric to add to the backside of it so I'll make more later. For this one, I used leftover terry cloth fabric I had and two layers of cotton batting. Basically a little pillow. I insert it inside the belly band when I put it on him. It stays put. I'll report back how it works.

If you are a picture person like me, I hope these help you.

 2 pieces of fabric (I used prewashed flannel).

 1 layer of cotton batting.

Right sides of fabric together and batting on top. Sew around leaving an opening for turning.

Mini pad for inside band. Easy to wash and keep clean.

Bowdee seems to like it.

Yep. He's okay wearing it. Went right to sleep with his chew toy.