New Spring Outfit

Shannon and I found Louie a special outfit at the craft show yesterday. How handsome is he!

Work Space

Spring Break is long over. Back to work for everyone. Louie's vacation at Shannon's was fun, but this week he was back to being an office partner for Allen on the days he worked from home. I kicked Allen's office off the kitchen table and onto the library desk in the living room. I guess it isn't quite a roomy as the big, round oak table, but Louie seems to like the new accommodations. The view through the front window is nice too. I had to go back to school too for the last nine weeks. My view out my school window is significantly different because they are getting ready to begin construction on the new office. Testing starts this week, but supposedly construction will actually get under way each morning after testing is finished. Eventually, I will only have a brick wall to look at. That depresses me. I will have to think creatively to fix that problem next year. Hey, I know -- I could take Louie to school to entertain everyone. Wouldn't he love that!


Meanwhile, it's a beautiful spring weekend in Huntsville. Shannon and Nathan came Friday night for chicken curry, a new recipe that seemed to go over well. Shannon and I went shopping yesterday, and Allen and I watched movies last evening. I finished batik block #14 out of 20. Today's projects -- have Allen hang the new clock I bought yesterday and go to the craft show. Louie will enjoy his Sunday walks and the Nascar race with Allen.

Spring Break Adventures

No pictures of Louie this time -- He has been on vacation at the Miller home. If you want to see pictures of his Big Spring Break Adventure, you'll have to look at Shannon's blog. Apparently he was not too much of a pain-in-the-neck-Pug, and he did a little better than he did the first time he stayed. They have pictures (and plenty of hair that he shed) to remember his visit. He seems pretty happy to be home and ran to bed without a complaint last night, but I bet that he has doggie dreams of running free in their big backyard.


Our week in Denver was great fun for me. I quilt shop hopped (including the Great American Quilt Factory, the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum in Golden, The Creative Needle, and The Fig Tree Furniture and Quilt Store in Fort Collins.


While Allen worked, I worked on a new batik quilt (finished twelve blocks out of twenty).


Friday, we took the train to Denver for a walking tour downtown.


Saturday, Allen and I went to the New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins.


On Easter Sunday before we flew home, we had lamb for dinner with Joan and Frank, Joni and Jon.

Louie's glad to be home though, and so are his people.

Louie Takes a Nap

Yup, that says it all. All three of us are ready for a vacation, a weekend, a late morning. Allen and I are tired from work and the fast-forward from the switch to Daylight Savings Time. Louie's just worn out from extra walks around the neighborhood, but the people in his life have had other stresses. I am feeling good that I have accomplished a few things on the "to do" list: I know I am resting easier now that the accreditation visit is over at school. Then the yearbook deadline was this week, my kids took the writing assessment two weeks ago, and now we are at the end of the third nine weeks. Plus, I even finished Taplin's quilt. Time to relax just a bit. Louie is setting a good example!

Not quite

The last time there was significant, measurable snowfall in Huntsville was apparently in 1993 when we had 7.3 inches. This is more like a half inch to an inch, and at our house, the streets were just damp. By noon, the sun was out and the snow was gone. Let's hope this is the last breath of winter. Ten days until official it's officially spring, but we're not quite there yet.

This is Louie on Friday evening. He was helping me finish Taplin's quilt. All I had to do was sew on the binding. That is good, because it's the middle of March, and Taplin's due date is April 21. Taplin may not be quite ready for this world, but I want to have his first quilt ready and waiting. Louie's my favorite sewing pal - that is, when he isn't eating the stealing the fabric.

Shannon and Nathan stopped by Friday evening and had a bowl of chili with us. Nathan may not be quite sure about Louie all the time (especially when Louie is at their house), but Louie and Nathan are good buddies when Louie is having a calm moment. Good luck with Louie next week!

Hey, now, that is my shoe! Louie is a grand thief. He steals every piece of underwear and every sock that he can. He loves my slippers and my smelly, old Merrells. This is just my black shoe that I usually wear to school, and it is not, I repeat not, your shoe, Louie. However, he will trade for a piece of food. Usually. He's just a puppy still, not quite a well-behaved dog.


Louie's newest trick is jumping up on the couch. He jumped up on the futon upstairs yesterday, and that is fine with me. Looking innocent and cute is fine with me. Having a nap or watching while I am on the computer is fine. Nuzzling under the pillows might be acceptable. Chewing on them and tossing them about, not quite so fine. He does look good surrounded by red and black though, doesn't he? Louie caused me some trouble this week, but then he is so sweet that I can't stay mad at him. He tripped me when we were walking Wednesday after school. I lost my balance, and then he took off running. I fell flat on my face and my left hand, which is now black and blue. However, when I let go of the leash which I had been holding, I yelled, "Louie, come," and he turned around and came to sit by me. Such a little pain. Such a sweet little guy.

An Hour of Sewing

For Christmas, Shannon gave me a fun quilting book called Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts. I decided to try the first project which is supposed to take less than an hour, quilted coasters. What fun! In less than sixty minutes, I actually made two coasters for my sewing room. The directions were easy to follow, and although they aren't perfect, they are pretty darn good. Recently, I have run into a couple of discussions about how long it takes to --- you fill in the blank. I typically underestimate how long quilting projects will take. I think I should try to be more like Louie sometimes and live in the moment. Dogs just know the here and now. If I'm enjoying what I am doing, then watching the clock or tallying hours makes very little sense, doesn't it?

One of the coasters is for my elephant pitcher (water for the iron), and the other for whatever glass or mug I've dragged upstairs with me. When I go downstairs, I am going to work on hand sewing the binding on Taplin's quilt. Based on experience, I have a good idea of how long that will take, so I should be able to finish it in two evenings of television.

Now while I was sewing, what was my sweet little pug up to? First, he tried to eat my book. Sad. However, I took the time to finish it this morning, so it could be worse. He could have eaten the solution to the mystery.

Louie finally decided to keep me company, planting himself under my sewing chair and right behind the foot pedal for the machine. With a rawhide chew in his mouth, life couldn't be better.

Treasures

It's been a busy week for Mr. Louie. Allen has taken him on dozens of walks (and a few more walks with me), and as you can see, he has dragged home quite a few treasures. Every yard started the week with a white, rubber-banded flier. Louie would pick one up, walk several houses, and then trade for a different one. He only stole two -- the third started out at our house in the first place. One day, he found a strand of curly birthday package ribbon and carried it the entire block until he was almost home, but then a big stick caught his attention, so he exchanged the ribbon for the stick. It must be hard to choose what to carry when there are so many options. Today we took a drive to Goodletsville, Tennessee which is just north of Nashville. The batiks are part of my treasure from today. The mission was to check out yet another quilt store, The Quilters Attic. Walking through the store looking at their quilt display, especially upstairs, was like free admission to a quilt show. The saleswoman told me that all but a few of their quilts have been made by people who work there. I appreciate stores like this where the clerks are friendly as well as efficient and helpful. Sarah from school recommended this store, and I'm glad we checked it out.
These reds will be part of the bed-sized quilt I am going to start for Nathan and Shannon. I'm collecting reds and yellows for that one. I didn't buy as much as Allen expected, I don't think. It surely is hard to pick when they all are wonderful. My little fabric treasures are more expensive than Louie's (and I don't steal anything like he does), but I guess we aren't too different in gathering what we like, having a hard time choosing, and arranging and rearranging our prizes when we get them home.