A Few Activities This Week

I have worked on some other actives this week besides the Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt.

I have an older dog who is having a harder time eating dry dog food.  I don't want to start feeding her the boughten canned food, as it can get expensive.  So once a month, I make her my own recipe for soft dog food.  Basically, it contains, about a pound of meat (I used some older frozen meat that had started to get a little freezer burned.  This time I had a small baggie of leftover turkey, left over ham, and a couple of salmon patties), six cans of vegetables (I used some of my canned carrots from prior years) and enough cooked rice to hold the mixture.  Rice is very gentle on her stomach as well.  I scoop out about 3/4 cup size onto cookie sheets, freeze them, and then take out one a day for her evening meal.  Total cost is about $4.00 and about 2 hours of time.

A few posts back, I posted about a quilt I did for one of my sons that will be part of his Christmas present.  His twin brother is also getting a quilt for Christmas quilt that I posted about awhile back when I first started working on it.  I managed to get it quilted this week.  

I quilted it using what I call the straight line method by quilting lengthwise down the long prints and then quilting crosswise on the various different prints.  

This is a peek at the backing of this quilt.  I had do some piecing of the backing fabric, as I did not originally purchase enough to do a backing for this sized quilt.  I rather like the look of the stripe down the middle of this one.

This is just a close up of the fabric used on the backing.  Perfect for this son who is a avid fisherman. 

I also did work on the next part / clue #3 for the Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt, but I will save that for my post tomorrow, so I can link up on Bonnie Hunters blog.

Warmest...

Critters

In my profile, I mentioned that we have a host of domistic animals and chickens. So, since I just recently read a post about "likes" on a blog that mentioned everyone always likes animals and pics of animals, I thought I would share our 4 four legged friends.


This is Junior, also known as, Tin Man (the shelter's name for him). DH also calles him, Junior Jones Junior The Third, bugger nose, little boy, brat, and snot rocket. He came to us via my son, who couldn't keep him anymore in the apartment he was living at. He hasn't gotten big like most tom cats do, and I swear he has rubber for bones, because he sleeps in contorted positions, and when he snuggles, he rolles up into a ball and purrs!

Next we have Sierra. She also came to us from one of our boys, via an ex-girlfriend. She is the great proctor for us. She has bionic ears and is better than an alarm system. She is also the groomer of the bunch, and gives everyone a bath when she can get them pinned. I can attest to the fact that the cats are not fond of the grooming routine, especially the sniff and lick of their behinds after coming in the doggie door.

This is Rufus, our only pure breed in the house. He is a Sheltland Sheepdog, commonly known as Shelties. He was a runt of the litter, so I got him at no charge. Rufus and Sierra are about the same age, and are inseparable. Shelties, like our Rufus, need lots of attention, are high maintenance, have sensitive tummies, and very sensitive feelings. He's expressive, extremely loving, and very loyal. his nicknames are, buddy boy, Ruffie, Wussy, and Fart Knocker (hence the sensitive stomach)

And finally we have Chunky Tuna (yes, DH is very creative in naming our pets). She is a chunk of a cat sounding like a moose when she fast walks down the hall. She is almost pure black, except for three white hairs on her chest. She is very aloof, cranky, and does not like anyone except DH.

We will be babysitting another son's new puppy next week while he attends some training out of state. I can only imagine how much fun that's going to be, especially for the cats, as I think they have reached their saturation point with our two dogs!