Sister's Choice Quilts

And Sophie Sleeps In

It has been raining cats and dogs, as they say.  Last night we had thunder, which is not at all common in our area.  Sophie did not like the rumbling one bit and cried and barked until we came and got her out of her crate and took her into our bed.  There goes a year of crate training.

She loved being in the bed with us, snuggled up in the quilt du jour, listening to the rain pelting down.  When I got up this morning she looked at me as if to say, "You have got to be kidding me.  I am no where near ready to get up".  So I let her stay put while I got dressed and it was time for me to go to work.

I call this her whale eye look.  She is really hoping that I will go away and leave her alone.  So I did.  It was a great day to sleep in.

Hey, I'm Still Here

istockphoto

Sorry to have dropped out of sight for a few days there!  Guess what?  I got a new job!  It is a part time job, just five hours a day four days a week.  I get Fridays off, work with kind and mellow women, have a bright sunny office all to myself, and think I am going to like it very much.  My desk isn't quite as swanky as the one pictured above, but it is very nice indeed.  I feel so grateful to have found employment when so many people are out of work.  I am very lucky indeed.

I will have plenty of time for quilting, reading and playing with my silly dogs.  I have been sewing all weekend, so you will see the fruits of my labors in my posts this week.

The other big news is that Ozzie and Sophie got haircuts.  Did they ever need them.  I have never seen such shaggy dogs.  Ozzie behaved badly at the grooming salon of course, and had to wear the "happy cap" again.  Sophie was an angel and will happily be invited back.  We will probably have to pay double for Ozzie, if they take him again.  Ozzie is extremely unhappy with his new look, and crawled into Sophie's smaller dog crate and tried to make himself very small.  Look at that glower on his face.  I don't think he is coming out until his hair grows out.

Hope you are all having a terrific weekend!

Sophie Has Cosmetic Surgery

I know, she is awfully young to have cosmetic surgery, but something happened to Sophie and we just had to have the procedure done.  I have mentioned that she has been awfully feisty with Ozzie and that there has been a bit of fighting going on between them.  At first, she was the instigator, but there has recently been a role reversal and Ozzie has been paying her back.

They got into a scrape a day or so ago and I noticed afterward that Sophie's ear was scabbed up.  I took her into the vet for a check up and when they washed her ear off they could tell that it had been bitten right through.  Did I want her to go through life with a tattered ear like some raggedy old  pit bull?  No, I did not.  It is important to a girl to look good, and since she is such a pretty little thing, I did the right thing and opted for surgery to stitch it up.

I swear, they had better out grow this phase of adolescence, because I can't take much more.

She isn't too happy about having to wear the plastic collar.  Ozzie keeps trailing after her trying to chew on it.  She rallied around by dinner time and was her usual self, eagerly watching Daddy prepare her meal.

Ozzie and Sophie's Favorite Game

I have not posted on Ozzie and Sophie lately, mainly because they are too shaggy and unkept looking to be seen in public, but today I couldn't resist.  Here they are on the bed in my sewing room, bugging me while I try to sew.  Sophie is on the left and Ozzie is on the right.  They stare at me, grab little bits of fabric and run off, reach over and push at me with their paws, and generally pester me to stop sewing and pay attention to them.

If I ignore them long enough, they give up on me and play a little game on their own, which has turned out to be a real favorite.  It is their own doggie version of Cops and Robbers or Cowboys and Indians.  I call it Rat and Terrier.

Sophie, the smaller of the two, gets to be Rat.  She crawls under the bed, where Ozzie doesn't completely fit, and just sticks her paw out a teensy bit.  This drives Ozzie completely mad.  He is Terrier of course, and goes totally bonkers in his efforts to roust out Rat.

Here Sophie is, starting the Tease.  After a bit, she draws her paws back under the bed and just pokes her nose through the dust ruffle, just enough so Ozzie can see where she is.  He lunges and barks, and growls and generally acts like a maniac. 

At some point in the game, he can't stand it any more and tries to squeeze under the bed to get her.

You have never heard such carryings on.  I wish I had a video camera to record their antics.  Finally Ozzie works himself up into such a frenzy that I have to stop the game before it gets out of hand.

One of these days he is going to get stuck under there, and then what am I going to do?

They Missed Daddy

My husband has been away this week on vacation in Palm Desert.  We have a time share down there and have weeks of vacation in the bank with Interval International.  I couldn't take time off from my new job and we didn't want to lose our week, so my husband went on his own, leaving me in charge of Ozzie and Sophie.  He left me a detailed list of instructions on how to care for the dogs each day and just as important, a lengthy discourse on how to tend to the lawn and garden in his absence.  Part of my duties were to hand water a gazillion rose buses and potted plants.  His last words to me as he drove off were "Oh, watch out for Sophie, she really loves to play in the water while you are watering....You might want to tie her up......"

Talk about an understatement.  Sophie is insane about water and getting wet.  She is a total water baby.  As I was trying to lug the hose around to do the watering, she capered about trying to bite the water as it came out of the hose, darting through the stream of water, pitching herself onto the wet grass as if it were a Slip N' Slide.  It was pretty funny to watch, actually, and I had to laugh to see her simple enjoyment.  I'm not sure how thoroughly the watering got done, but we did have a good time.  The picture above shows her victorious after the battle with the hose.

 

Both the dogs misbehaved the entire time my husband was away.  I let them sleep with me one night, and when I was deep asleep they got into the Kleenex and shredded an entire box. When I woke up it looked like it had snowed in the bedroom.  Has any one else been TP'd by their own dogs?  One of them chewed the fringe on the new throw rug I bought to cover the stains on the family room rug, another of them (or, just maybe the same culprit) chewed the wicker basket I keep magazines in.  I took Ozzie for a ride in the car to the drugstore with me (Sophie gets car sick, so she had to stay home), and when we got home, he got away from me and I had to get back in the car and chase him down three blocks away.  I tried to sweep the patio and you can see that they got the broom away from me.  Bad dogs, both of them.

By some stroke of amazing good luck, my husband came home on Wednesday, rather than Saturday when he was expected.  He claimed going on vacation wasn't as much fun on his own.  Truly, I think he missed Ozzie and Sophie.  Thank goodness.

TGIF

It's Friday, it's Pay Day, I have no plans for the weekend except to sew, and life seems truly good. 

Sara told me she is missing Sophie and needed a dose of cuteness, so I took a few pictures of the dogs last night.  I was happy to oblige and had in mind that I would take some photos of the two dogs romping, racing, and being rowdy.

We had left Sophie and her brother Ozzie out in the back yard all day while we were at work and they had amused themselves by digging a big hole in the middle of the grass.  Not good.  After being scolded Sophie was a bit subdued, so I couldn't really get her to smile for the camera.  She has that "Gee, I get yelled at, and I didn't even do anything" look on her face.

 

Notice the new throw rug I bought at Bed Bath & Beyond?  It covers all the stains and camouflages new ones.

I tried to get the kids to look lively for a treat, but no go.

All that romping and digging must have been really hard work because after their dinner, both Ozzie and Sophie were totally zonked and just wanted a bit of a rest.  Here's Sophie, trying to keep her little eyes open.

 

Both of my pooped pups finally just succumbed to the desire to have an end to their hard working day.

 

Ozzie must have done most of the work, because even Daddy's bony knees feel comfortable.

 

The Princess prefers soft quilts for her beauty rest.

I tried, Sara.  Maybe this weekend I will have better luck photographing Ozzie and Sophie actually doing something!

Remy Meets Sophie and Gets Tag Teamed

 

He looks pretty happy in this picture, but minutes earlier, Ozzie (in the rear) and Sophie (on the right) were rolling him around the backyard like a hedge hog.  Poor Remy, he and Ozzie used to be best buds, and now that Sophie is in the mix, Rem is odd man out.  My two wild maniacs sided against him and gave him quite a going over.  Remy is tough though, and held his own.  You see them above in a moment of respite before the next go-round.

Remy was here with Sara for the weekend, and the dogs pretty much wore each other out with the chasing, tumbling and wrestling.

 

Sophie quite liked Rem, which you can tell by the smile on her face.  She knows she looks good.  He thought so too.  Nothing like a little flirtation to bring a glow to a girl's complexion.

 

After Sara and Remy split for the safety and peace of Home, Ozzie and Sophie collapsed on the rocking loveseat on the patio.

 

Remy must have really worn them out, as you see here from this picture taken late in the same day.  Hope he comes back for another visit.  All in good time.

A Sign

 

Remember this?  From my post a week or so ago?  The meager amount of sewing I had managed to accomplish lately?  I had it laid out on the rug in the sewing room to take the picture, and just left it there.  (I know, it was dumb, but I did close the door after myself.  After all, what could happen?).

This is what it looks like now:

 

Where are the four center log cabin blocks?  As you might guess, there is a story here.

I went into the sewing room last night to dig around for a baby quilt kit I wanted to pass on to my daughter Sara, and Sophie followed me in.  Before I could say "Bad Girl!", Sophie piddled right in the middle of the quilt blocks.  Tagged all four right in the middle.

Don't you think that is a Sign, friends?  A Sign that I should just put this project away for awhile?

 

Oh, I tried to wash out the soiled blocks, but I just don't feel the same about them.  I have enough fabric to make more blocks, so that is ok.  This poor project has been cursed from the beginning.  Just when I think I have it figured out and can pull it out of the fire, my darn dog pees all over it.  That is it for a while.  I packed everything up and put it on the shelf.

And she isn't even sorry.  Maybe I could start a side business making quilted piddle pads for puppies?

Separated at Birth

 

Isn't it amazing how similar they are?  They actually are brother and sister (same parents, two different litters).  Just like you and your siblings, unless you are a twin.  Twins would be the same litter, don't you know?

Since there has certainly been no sewing going on around here for ages (BIG sigh), I thought I would put out a little Ozzie and Sophie update.  Sophie has learned to sit and wait for a treat, as shown in the photo above (she is on the left).  She doesn't sit for long, so this was a lucky shot.  Ozzie is behaving like a complete gentleman, and even lets her take a chew bone right out of his mouth.  Look out if he tries to take it back though....we had a humdinger of a fight on Sunday when that happened.  Sophie was prepared to fight to the death over that darn chew bone.  We are working on her possessiveness and with time, I know it will get better.  A greedy dog is not a lovely thing to see.

They do everything together.  Chew on the garden hose or a favorite stick----

 

Take turns with a toy---

 

Ozzie is learning patience, a quality I never thought he would acquire.

By the way, that humongous spot on the carpet where Ozzie is lying, is what is left of the time he took a bottle of salad oil out of the pantry, chewed a hole in it, and got oil all over the rug.  That stain isn't coming out folks. 

But you know something?  Since we got Sophie (complete with all the challenges she has brought), Ozzie has done absolutely nothing of a destructive nature.  Oh, he is still mischievous, and snatches my eyeglasses off of my head when he can, but that is IT.  He has taught Sophie that trick as well, so now I have two demons trying to snatch my glasses.  What fun.

Sara is coming this weekend (maybe with Remy!) and we plan to sew, so I PROMISE there will be quilty posts next week!

Have the best weekend you can friends!

Livin' the Good Life

Sophie and Ozzie have settled in beautifully to life at our house.  It didn't take Sophie long to figure out she could lay claim to the other chair in the family room.  That is Ozzie on the right looking rather regal, and Sophie on the left.  Sometimes they cuddle up together in the same chair, or perch together on the top of one of them.  It has been only just over one week since we got her and it feels as if she has been in our family forever.

She is still having potty accidents, but is making it outside more often than not.  My husband cleaned the carpets in anticipation of our guests coming to dinner this last weekend.  As soon as he finished, and took the carpet cleaner back to the store, guess what happened?  That's right friends, Sophie "blessed" the carpet.  Man oh boy, was my husband mad.  She will "get it" in due time.  She is still a puppy.  Goodness, she has stolen my heart.  What are a few carpet stains (well, quite a few carpet stains) compared to that sweet face?

Let me just say that the suspicious looking object on the floor next to the chair is a chew bone.  Just in case anyone was wondering....