Monday, September 30, 2013

Mammy at 8 weeks

 Just a quick post because I am still up to my eyeballs in wedding stuff.  The wedding is this weekend so after that things should get back to normal for me.  

Today Mammy turned 8 weeks old.  She weighs in at 16.4 pounds. She is a feisty little girl, so full of energy. All she wants to do is bite and chew but we love her sooo much. Here she is today when I took her out for playtime. She likes to hide behind the barrel and wait for me to walk by so she can jump out and bite my ankles. LOL!
 She caught scent of something and was off tracking it.  :)  I swear she has "Doggie ADHD" 
 After playtime she came back inside and passed out, she was so tired. 
Kristsie



Sunday, September 29, 2013

The Quilted Mule

I've opened up an Etsy shop!  I've listed a few of my quilts that I am parting with.  If anyone is interested in looking, I've added my Etsy shop to the tabs above.  

I've named my shop, "The Quilted Mule"  If you have read my blog for a few years you will remember my dear old mule, Ole Jim.  He passed away a few years ago and it was like losing a family member he was so dear to me.  

Thanks so much!
Kristie

Monday, September 23, 2013

7 weeks old today

Mammy turned 7 weeks old today!  Here she is doing what she loves the most....eating. 
She is a handful but funny!  We all love her.  She is growing so fast.
Kristie

Bridal Shower for my sister

 On Saturday we had a Bridal/Household Shower for my sister.  I have a ton of photos to sort through but here are two. ;)  This is the "dress" cake that mom and I made.  Chantal loved it! 
 We were exhausted!  We were trying to keep this all a secret from her and with all of the other wedding stuff we had going on were were just worn out.  Friday, I baked 66 cupcakes not counting all of the other stuff that had to be done before Saturday.  In the end it all worked out well and she was very happy so it was well worth it.  She even cried!

Here is a photo of a clothespin that I painted and decorated for the shower.  I made a half a million of them.  LOL!  They were used in a shower game that we played.  I tried to make them look as close as I could to the bride and groom.  Chantal has brown hair and Ronnie is bald.  She loved them!
 I'll post again as I can.  The wedding is in less than 2 weeks so I will be very busy!  
Kristie


Sunday, September 15, 2013

What I'm working on...

 Not much quilting going on here the past few days.  This is what I have been working on....wedding stuff for my sister!  Yesterday I started decorating her archway.  The plan is to decorate it in my sewing room, let her look at it to make sure she likes it, then take it apart and set it up in the Church a day before the wedding.  Here is a sneak peak of it so far.  I still have a lot more to do to it but my lower back and hips started really hurting last night so I had to stop.  I think it was due to climbing on that ladder.  The archway is 7ft and I'm only 5ft so I was on the ladder most of the time.  Anyway, this is the photo that I sent to Chantal last night and she loved it.  Once I get it completely finished she will come out and look at it for the final approval.  I have over 40 yards of tulle on this thing!
 I still have a lot more wedding stuff to get finished and the wedding is 3 weeks away!  I didn't worry and stress this much over my own wedding.  She is my baby sister and she has never been married before so she is super excited.  

Other than the wedding stuff this little girl is taking up the rest of my time.  Mammy has made herself right at home.  She is hard to keep up with, a ball of energy!  I had forgotten how much work a puppy is.  I love her and she is so worth the work! 
 She will be 6wks old tomorrow and right now she weighs 9.4 pounds.  The vet said she was healthy as a horse and trust me, she eats like one too.  

How could you resist this little face?  :)
 Jazz the yorkie, doesn't like her at all, probably because she tries to chew on his nub/tail.  Leo our boxer, likes her or should I say tolerates her.  LOL!  Leo has lots of energy too but I think after a little while she annoys him.  She follows him around everywhere and tries to nurse!  :)  Actually she has been eating well on her own for a few weeks now but I guess that is only natural as young as she is.  

I guess that is all for now, I'm going to stretch out here on the couch for a bit and see if I can get my back and hips to ease off.  
Kristie

Friday, September 13, 2013

Playtime!

 Playtime with Mammy!  Mammy cuddled with her quilt and playing with her new little toy.  Isn't she soooo cute? 
 Hunter and Mammy having some playtime in the yard.  Mammy is settling in very well. 
 I was worried with how Leo would react to her but he loves her.  He wags his tail (nub) and makes every step that she does, like he is protecting her.  I love her already and as you can see from the photo above, Hunter does too. 

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

More photos of my little love....

 Here is the photo of Mammy that I posted yesterday....isn't she so cute?  :)
 So this evening I went to pay her a little visit just to make sure we were going to "connect"...

Here is a few photos from our visit today.  She will be ready to come home on Monday...
 I didn't get any photos of it but she kept trying to climb and snuggle on my breasts and neck.  :) 
 I think she is already spoiled....she cried when I put her back in her playpen and Maggie sent me a message later and said she had been howling since we left.  I think she misses her mommy.  LOL! 
 You can see her cubby little neck in this one...we look alike.  LOL! 
 She doesn't whine...she grunts.  :)
 This is her little face when I put her down.  :(  How could anyone resist that?  She was saying, "mommy take me home now...and I need a doggie quilt." 
 I think I'm in love....I even cried on the way home because she is just too darn cute and I couldn't bring her with me.   I know that is sad for a 42 yr old to do that but I did.  :)  

Expect tons of Mammy photos in the future! 
Kristie


Quilts and Puppies...

 It's almost midnight and I just finished quilting this quilt.  It has been on the frame for a few days but I haven't worked on it much.  I was having some tension issues so I had decided to walk away for a bit before finishing it.  :) 
 It is a lap size quilt measuring 52x64 that I bought as a kit from Connecting Threads a few years ago.  It feels great to have another one quilted. 
 I'm thinking that next I will load a few bits and pieces of quilt that were never finished for one reason or another and make a few doggie quilts for this beautiful baby girl....
 Isn't she the cutest thing ever?  She will be coming home next week.  She turned 5 weeks old yesterday.  She is an AKC registered Bloodhound.  I've wanted one for years and the opportunity came about for us to get her.  Her name is..."Mammy"  
Kristie

Monday, September 9, 2013

A Busy Weekend...

 We had a nice but long weekend.  Friday we had some dozer work done on the property.  We had the driveway moved to a total different place on the property.  Our old driveway has you parking right in front of the house and I didn't want to sit on my front porch and have to look at the Jeep.  Silly, I know but we've wanted it moved for a very long time. 
 Saturday I took Hunter in town to watch the parade. Then we headed on to a baby shower and I gave the little stacked coins baby quilt that I quilted the other day.  Then we came back home for a few hours.  

Headed back in town for the evening festivities.  Here are a few shots of Hunter on the mechanical bull. 
 When Hunter was real small, Richard used to ride REAL bulls and Hunter loved watching him.  Always made me so nervous because those real bulls don't just stop when you fall off, they try to kill you. :)
 If you look close in this last photo you can see his hat on the left and his foot on the right of the bull.  LOL!  He finally fell off, but he had lots of fun.
 Sunday afternoon I made a batch of salsa.  It turned out really well. 
 While I had my salsa in the water bath canner, my burner caught on fire.  I had flames shooting from it.  I pulled the canner off and tried to get it put out with a pot holder but that didn't work because they were just too big so I grabbed the flour and threw it on there.  I finally got it out but my house smelled like burnt flour.  :( 
 I was just starting to get my kitchen cleaned up and Richard called to tell me that he shot a doe.  Archery deer season came in on Saturday morning here in KY.  So I spent most of the night canning venison. 
 My family loves it and we eat a lot of it.  I didn't get it all canned last night so I'm trying to get it finished up today.  

Last but not least, here is a pic of me and my baby.  ;)
 Have a wonderful and Blessed day
Kristie



Friday, September 6, 2013

Another one on the frame...

 It's going on 2am and I can't sleep so I loaded another quilt on the frame.  This lack of sleep is killing me and we have a very busy weekend coming up so I hope that I'm not exhausted.  Anyway, I used a quilting design that a friend gave me that I've not tried before.  I forgot the name of it but I like it.  LOL!  My machine is doing a lot better but not perfect....I'm getting there.
 My sister spent the night with me a couple of days ago and we were trying to fill out her wedding invitations and her poodle, Zoey started pouting because we were not paying attention to her so she decided to sit in the box of invitations so we couldn't get to them.  :)  Dogs can be so silly and Zoey is spoiled. 
 I've also been working in more apples.  As you can see these are HUGE!  Lot's of work but I love being able to put all of these apples up for the family to eat later. 
 My mom came home a couple of hours ago!  That makes me very happy.  I've been so worried about her while she was gone this time.  She has been having some health issues and I don't like her being that far away.  

Our little town is having it's Septemberfest this weekend.  So Saturday will be a very busy day for us.  For one thing, deer archery season starts on Saturday, so I'm hoping that Richard gets a deer which season is in until some time in January, but I'm wanting to can some of the meat for later.  Hunter also wants me to take him in town for the parade at 11am.  Then I have a baby shower at 2pm and then the main festivities for the festival is Saturday night.  Not sure if I will have the energy to take him back in for that but Andrew said that if I didn't feel like taking Hunter that evening that he would.  I was very proud of him for offering since he is 20 and doesn't mind for his little brother hanging around.  :)  Then Sunday we have Church and after Church mom's work is hosting another family outing to a local amusement park.  So with all of this that I have to do this weekend, if you don't hear from me for a while you will know why.  :)
Kristie

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Shades of Lilac

 Another one quilted!  This one is called, Shades of Lilac.  A baby quilt that I pieced last year when I had my surgery. 
 I quilted a large design called, Flower Power. 
 It feels great to have another one done.  I still have to do the binding on this one too. 
 I still have several to do but I need to stop this machine quilting and get back to working on my sister's wedding stuff.  

This seems like it will be another long night as I it is already almost 1am and I am wide awake.  :)
Kristie

Monday, September 2, 2013

More quilting...

 I had a few good nights of sleep and now I'm back to being up all night.  Can you tell that my body does not adjust well to change.  :(  

 So I did a little more adjusting on my quilt machine and found that once I turned off the stitch regulator it sewed a lot better, not perfect but better.  I quilted this one of mine and it did fairly well until that last row and it was a headache.  I had to pick that last row out twice. 
 Overall it turned out okay, I just had to double check every stitch that I made.  Another one of my quilts quilted and marked off the list. 
 I loaded another quilt on the frame, you can see the purple one here.  It is a large crib/lap size.  I've decided that I don't want to load another huge one on the frame until I get it completely lined out. 
 I also got the yellow binding finished this morning on the baby quilt.  I'm glad to have that finished as I need it this coming weekend as a shower gift.  I still have 2 more quilts that need the binding done and that is not counting the purple one on the frame.  One of the quilts that needs binding is one that I forgot to take a photo of.  I'll post it once I start on the binding.  

I sat down last night and counted and I still have 34 of my own that need quilted.  

I guess that is all for now, Richard is sleeping because he worked last night.  I'll probably get him up sometime around 3:30pm so I had better get off of here and clean the house up a bit because once he's up I can't get anything done.  Anyone else like that?
Kristie