Catching up...

During my long absence from my blog I have been doing some sewing. Our guild had both a quilt challenge and a quilt show in October.

We had a Log Cabin challenge. Basically we had to have at least 3 log cabin blocks (12 inches or less in size) and the quilt could be from table runner size to lap quilt size. I decided that I wanted to do a quilt with different shaped log cabin blocks. I used EQ and tried using different blocks as quilt layouts and setting log cabin blocks in each section of the quilt layout. Here are a couple of designs I came up with:

I think this is a Lone Star block layout:


Storm at Sea Layout - This is the one I chose. Mostly because I was worried about having enough time to complete the Lone Star quilt above.


Here is the final quilt. I paper pieced it, although it wasn't really necessary since those are pretty large blocks. I was a little worried about getting the angles and corners right if I pieced it traditionally.

I also ended up switching out the corner blocks from log cabin blocks to plain square in square blocks. I just ran out of time trying to get the quilt finished.

This is the first quilt I've designed in EQ and actually completed the entire quilt. I've got a few others that I've designed and haven't made yet. But I do enjoy using the software and have a couple other quilts in the works.

I'm am a horrible blogger

I have been away way too long and will try to be better. This summer and fall have been really busy. I realized I didn't even give an update on Valerie. So here is a quick update, then I'll try to get back to blogging more frequently and get back to quilting.

The Belgian Shepherd Rescue Group was able to raise enough money to pay for Valerie's surgery. Valerie's leg was amputated just above the knee. Everyone at the vet's office fell in love with her while she was there. Valerie also had to be spayed.

Val had to keep calm and quiet for several weeks following the surgery while the sutures healed. She had a hard time with our hard wood floors..they are a little slippery. So Valerie would try to jump or run from one rug to the other to minimize the time spent on the slippery floor. Of course that just made her slip more. So we ended up making paths of rugs everywhere we wanted her to be able to go.

Valerie healed quickly and before long she was able to go out and run around with our other dogs. She and our Standard Poodle, ASCII, liked to play in the yard. Valerie could almost keep up with ASCII, even with three legs! She likes to play fetch and when she runs you can't even tell she is missing a leg.

While Valerie stayed with us she was one of the easiest, sweetest dogs I've ever known. She even got along with our cat. We did find out that she was scared of thunder. So we had to make sure she was inside and kept calm during thunderstorms. I'm pretty she ended up in the animal shelter with a broken leg because she panicked during a thunderstorm and just started running.

My husband took Valerie to obedience classes and she did very well. Valerie even went to a doggy yoga class with me a couple times. She loved the part where she got massaged.

Valerie stayed with us from around the 4th of July until Labor Day Weekend then went to another foster home. Her new foster mom loved her as much as we do. She had 3 other Mals to play with. Including an older male who she seemed to take a shine too.

Just this week Valerie went to her new forever home in Connecticut. Her new family seems to have fallen in love with her right away. They have been sending us daily updates and it looks like she is getting spoiled rotten already. I'm so happy for both Valerie and her new family.

I can't express enough gratitude to all those people who helped Valerie out. She is a really special little dog who got a second chance at a good life thanks to those people who helped her out.