Two Thumbs UP!!!!!

Guess what I did after work last night? You got it. J.K. Rowling did a fantastic job pulling the story together.

These are pictures I used my 'screen shot' feature to get. They're from the clip of the movie I watched on line.

I love the blues in this shot.

S and I have argued throughout the books about Snape. From book one I said he was a friend and protecting Harry. He didn't come to that conclusion for a couple of books but was right when he though Snape hated Harry but was protecting him for some reason.

The job D just quit had a guy who worked on this Dragon. He said every 5 frames were his work. D said he was very talented and shy. He got embarrassed when he showed D some of his beautiful work.

I didn't remember Grimhook getting killed in the book. Guess I'll have to go back and read it for the 5th time.

If you haven't seen this movie, do it. That's all I can say. It was fast and very enjoyable.

When it's quiet.....

Not much going on around here lately. This morning the dogs were very quiet. In this house when they're quiet, be afraid...be very afraid.

I couldn't figure out why Nissie was so quiet until I went in the family room in search of her. It would appear there was something in the Bear's cage she wanted. She was pulling the Bear's 6' x 54" blanket out through the squares of her cage.

She was concentrating so hard, she didn't hear me until the shutter clicked on the camera. I didn't get a picture of the guilty expression on her face. Nuts.

Look how much of that blanket she was able to pull through the side of the cage. I'm still amazed at how successful she was.

Just goes to show, when someone's determined to do something, they'll do it.

That Darn Well Again!

The other day Nissie and Nuttie went to D and were driving him nuts. Nuttie was running around like a goof and Nissie was doing her, "I'm staring at you and want something" routine. Finally, D got the hint and asked, "What do you want?" They got really excited so he said, "Show me!".

They ran to the bedroom with Nuttie barking and raising holy heck. D opened the closet door and it looked like a bomb went off in it. The gift bags were all over the place as was the ribbon and wrapping paper.

There was a huge lump in the Bear's sleeping pillow. She has this huge stuffed doggy pillow she sleeps on. Apparently she went digging for something (I'm guessing a mouse) and tore up the closet in the search.

When she didn't find it, she chewed a hole in the pillowcase of her bed and got herself stuck inside. The other dogs saw her and ran to D to tell him, "Timmy is stuck in the well again!"

D got her out of the pillow and proceeded to wash both the outer casing and the batting itself.

As you can see, the clean batting became a playground for the other two dogs. It's hard to tell but Nissie's collar is hooked on the batting and she was dragging it all over the kitchen. That caught Nutties attention so she attacked it, ripping it apart in an attempt (I'm sure) of saving her darling daughter.

My solution: Dump the pillowcase and batting and put the Bear on my old bathrobe she loves and a blanket. It apparently worked because she instantly went to sleep on the new bed without a moan.

After the fun with the batting, Nissie decided to put herself to bed and Nuttie decided she'd jump in my lap and groom herself. I was watching TV and although she quit for this picture, she was in a half circle trimming the nails on her back paws.

Yep, she was grooming herself in my lap. It's nice to know the humans are good for something.

Frustrating Day in the Embroidery World...sigh....

I've been having fun working on the critters for the quilt but today has been so darn frustrating. I think it began when I actually wanted to sleep in this morning and D refused to wake up and feed the dogs. Now sleeping in for me is 7:00. I hauled my tush out of bed and took care of them. Once I'm up that's it. I tried going back to bed yesterday at 5:30 but ended up reading until 7. So I think I'm out of balance.

Anyway, I put this little snail together today and the satin stitch just wouldn't grab the fabric. I've been basting the fabric, cutting it out and gluing it on the final quilt block, then attaching it and doing the embellishing.

On the second try, I basted the fabric to the quilt square and cut around it with my applique scissors. It's better but I'm still not happy. I need to cut closer to the basting stitch, change the basting stitch to a double run so it'll hold everything together better. The basting stitch is allowing the applique to move. I also think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and widen my satin stitch. I wanted it narrow but I think it'll allow the fabric to fray after washing.

I don't think I'll have to make the satin stitch too thick, I'm thinking of going from 1 mm to maybe 1.2 or 1.3 which may give me that extra grab I'm looking for without intruding on the design.

The frog is pulling away at the outer edges of his legs so I'll redo him too. Also, it's driving me nuts that he doesn't have holes for his nose. Sorry S, I think he needs to breathe. I've already digitized them in for the next design and changed the satin stitch to 1.2 mm.

I just got off the phone with my son. He's on his way to work so I was describing what I put in this blog and he got real quiet. After I finished he said he didn't understand a thing I said. Hahahahaha! He was polite and listened while I rambled on about the designs, so that meansI trained him right. Hahahahahahaha!

Well, I need to get away from this project for while so I think I'll go watch Sewing with Nancy and Quilt in a Day. Two of my favorite shows. I see the old Zorro TV show is on between the two, so I think I'll go grab some lunch and eat my way through the next 90 minutes and chill out.

Babies everywhere....

No...this little darling isn't in jail. It's actually doing what it's supposed to be doing....resting on the other side of the fence while mom is grazing and eating the weeds off the horseshoe pit. It's sibling however....

Has been very active and getting into everything.

See my birdbath? Well, what's left of it. This is what happens when a itsy bitsy deer brushes up against it. I haven't taken the time to check and see if it's broken or just resting. That's on my 'to do' list this morning.

Speaking of little ones. Here's my 12 ouncer the size of a banana floating around letting S take care of it. I think it's a little monkey. Look at that head! Both of my children came out as heads not babies which of course doesn't thrill my poor daughter in law.

S has been reading the blogs and wants me to make sure Aunt Elayne knows Frogs are absolutely okay. I believe she said something like, there will always be frogs, frogs everywhere. So yep, green frogs and pastels are to be seen all around the kids room.

Hey S, how about shooting me a picture of the wall you're doing? I can post it on the blog.

I was also asked about a shower and I think it's September but I'm having a senior moment so don't quote me on that. I just know S & S want it to be a picnic/BBQ at the park where kids and spouses are invited. They want it to be laid back and not the least bit a typical girly shower.

I swore I was going to clean house and shampoo carpets today and then go on the computer. I've already turned myself around so maybe I'll watch one episode of SG1 and then work on the house and then digitize and watch a bazillion more episodes of SG1. Sounds like a plan to me.

It's finally real....

Finally, I can go out and start the Grandma thing. I ordered the crib for S&S which is my gift to them. Then I went Craigslist shopping. S wanted a Jungle Jumperoo and it happened one of the places I was going had one. She went nuts that I bought it because it matches the theme of the baby's room.

I was actually headed to buy this swing when the Jumperoo issue arose. This is so completely different than the swing we used to crank for Paul. I can still remember trying to wind it up without waking him.

Don't know what happened to the corner of this picture. Hmm....a Tuesday morning mystery. Oh well. This is the Pack n Play I bought to keep here for the baby visits. Play pens have come a long way since I last used one.

I digitized the giraffe and then S sent me her updated version so I scrapped what I did and digitized her version.

Here's the sample sewout. Now I need to go find some yellow polka dot fabric for the background. I'm really enjoying digitizing these little creatures.

Saturday S, her mom, Margie and I went to a baby swap. You bring baby stuff, pay $5 at the door and then take whatever you want. For free! We left with an almost identical swing for S and newborn diapers, a changing mat, tons of newborn clothing and bibs. S. spent the rest of the day laundering items. It was really a lot of fun!

Finally a Swimming Pool!

We decided to join the ranks of the rich and famous and get a swimming pool installed. So a trip to the upscale Le WalMar was in order. First I had to decide on shape. Hmmmm...did I want round or round? After much soul searching, I decided on round.

Next, did I want blue or blue? Darn! Another tough decision to make. "Okay", I thought, "I'll go with the blue".

Oh my, now size. Well I was limited on space so I thought maybe the 12' that's a hair under 3' deep will do. After all, I do need to be able to get in and out of it without breaking my neck.

Now it was time to find a crack installer. I decided Mr. David's Construction and Remodel would do. After all, they're highly professional in dress and manner.

Once I signed the exclusive contract, Mr. David himself started the construction along with his able assistant Ms. P.

Mr. David immediately tackled the filter and electrical while Ms. P. handled the pool herself.

Fortunately she's a hearty old gal with strong lungs. Although, I did hear grumblings of being light headed once in awhile. Then of course there were the times when she would lay down and blow into the pool inflating it.

While Mr. David was still busy with the pump and such, Ms. P continued to work on the pool itself. Okay, out of fairness, Mr. David did give her a hand trying to work out the wrinkles.

Once the pool was being filled, Mr. David took on the job of blowing up the accessories. As you can see, he's not quite as long winded as Ms. P so he decided it would be beneficial to take the accessories to the garage and blow them up with the air compressor.

A great plan in theory with the exception of the loud 'BANG!' Ms. P. heard on the other side of the house. Yep, you guessed it. He blew up the accessory with enough air to make it explode like a balloon. Luckily, that particular chair was for Mr. David.

Here is the pool almost done with Ms. P.'s chair and a new pink raft to float on. She is nice enough to let Mr. David use her floating chair. What a doll.

The pool still needs about 3 more inches of water which will be done most likely tomorrow (Monday) and a little more air in the top ring. Other than that and a little more tweaking, it was a joy to float in last night in the heat.

This job is so professionally done, there's a deep end and shallow end. Luckily the patio was custom made to drain rain water so the pool can have the customary deep/shallow ends.

I've never had a concept of space and always have to lay out a remodel plan with tape on the floor in the house. To me 15' is the same as 5'. For someone who uses measurements in embroidery all the time this is really a handicap.

Anyway, when I was looking at the pools, I thought 12' that's not big. I almost went for the bigger one but decided I'd pay attention to the wallet and scale down. Holy cow! 12' is really big! It took up the entire patio off the deck. While floating last night, neither of us bumped into each other unless we specifically tried. How cool is that?

When I got out I told D, "I didn't realize how big this thing was going to be until it was done. Then I thought about our first bedroom being 8'x10' and this pool is bigger." I couldn't quit laughing.