Braid in a Day in Blues & Lime

Braid-in-a-Day Top

QUILTED with a Daisy Meander (freehand) 

TGIF peeps! Enjoy the beautiful weekend...

Braid in a Day Quilt in Gray, Green, and Blue

Have I mentioned how popular this particular quilt pattern has been this Spring? Perhaps it's due partially to the class Stitch & Craft had on this technique?

The top was QUILTED with a Butterfly Meander (freehand)

Have the "dog days" of summer hit your neck of the woods? We've had some decent summer weather, but I've managed to make it out to the pool only a couple times & I've been in the water just once. The days I've had a little time to run out there have been cloudly/rainy, and on the hot days I seem to be working like crazy or running errands.

In other news, my beastly dog, Smokey, has been put on "rest" for 6 MONTHS. The vet suspects a partially torn ACL... whoever heard of such a thing in a dog?? Leave it to mine... leave it to my dog who loves to take our daily walks (some of you may remember over the years my descriptions of how "over eager" he's been to walk me... err I mean, walk WITH me), who loves to jump enthusiastically into the pool, doing so over & over for 30 or more minutes at a time, who loves to follow me up & down & up & down the stairs as I run hither & yon doing mountains of laundry & cleaning up this old house... to curb his activity seems so mean, but then watching him hobble knowing he hurts isn't fun either. Sigh... 6 months is a long time

Braid in a Day ~ Lime

Lime Braid-in-a-Day Top; QUILTED with Leafy Swirl (freehand)

Lori's vibrant color choices were a pleasure to work on!

Soooo I've been to Paducah, and after the build-up & anticipation, I still ended up feeling like a kid on Christmas morning when I got there. There was no let-down, and I wouldn't say it was overwhelming in the sense that I couldn't take it in, but more I couldn't fit everything in during our allotted time down there. 

I have many pictures I look forward to sharing, but while I'm working on a bit 'o editing & weeding out what's "too much", I thought I'd show a few quilts that were actually done before I left! 

Mauve Sampler & Braid in a Day Quilts

Mauve Sampler Top; QUILTED with Triple Loop Meander (freehand)

Braid in a Day Top; QUILTED with Daisy Meander (freehand)

Is anyone experiencing Spring yet? We've had a couple of "teaser days", but we're back to being rainy & raw out there today.

I haven't shared a silly dog story in a little while. So even though it was raining a bit this morning I decided to head out with Smokey the Lab for a morning walk anyway. He's a water dog, right? I grabbed my umbrella from the car & off we went. All was good until we got about a mile from home, and the wind picked up, and my umbrella went inside out on me & poor Smokey got startled & tried to bolt. I hung on, lame umbrella flapping in the wet breeze. Fortunately (or unfortunately?), the wind was pretty steadily gusty, and so by positioning it just right, it righted itself with a loud fwap. 5 minutes more & the rain had gone from "raining steadily" to "pouring/pelting cats & dogs". We did an about-face. We started to jog home in hopes of shortening the actual time spent in the rain & I was hoping to keep my poor puppy warmed up. So I come barreling home, round the corner to my road, umbrella popping around spastically as I try to hold onto it even though it's impeding my gait & still being blown around by gusts, huge puffy winter coat/hat/gloves/wet sneakers, slipping in some mud, and of course there's some strange man standing on the Railroad House's front porch watching us splashing home, laughing... sigh... I laughingly explained that it wasn't raining so hard when I left. 

Truth be told I love walking/running in the rain, and I even enjoy the brisk winter walks. I don't enjoy making a spectacle of myself or almost falling down in the mud while a strange man watches :) Such is life (or at least mine!)

Take care & enjoy a Slow Sunday