Sweltering away, Quilting and Coco

posted in: Family, home, Pets, Quilting, sewing | 1

So, it’s been rather hot in good old Australia, and more particularly Adelaide this week. We are on day five of 40+ degree temperatures, which is just unrelenting. We are all hanging out for a cool change forecast for this afternoon, staying out of the heat and keeping hydrated.

So, what else have we been up to?

I spent a week buried under this….

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Having finally finished the quilt top for DS2’s Rainbow Rail Fence quilt, I bought the classic Nummer fabric from Ikea, and with some design assistance from DS2, finished the backing… basted it and then came the quilting. Initial plan was for straight zig-zag lines, however somewhere along the way that morphed into a 7 day free motion quilting marathon. 2 800m spools of thread, dinner eaten on our laps for days kind of marathon as I slogged my way through each block.

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Dense freemotion quilting, 5 different patterns repeating every 5 blocks, over a quilt which turned out 60×90″ – a little too big for ease of management on a domestic machine. But my Janome and I powered through, and it was finally finished! Binding is happening right now, and then it will be finished and he is already so excited about having it!

Of course, as a distraction during this time, with 2 weeks of the school holidays left slipping away before one child is in Year 11 and one starts Year 9, I decided in a moment of madness, that we really needed this…

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Meet the newest member of our family, Coco. She is a Maltese cross Shih Tzu, in these pics 6 weeks old, although they are a week old now! She is feisty, super smart, and totally adorable. She has everyone here wrapped around her little curly tail.

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She loves being outside, which is funny because she is intended to be an inside dog…. She is a bundle of energy and gives exuberant kisses on command already. Toilet training is progressing, as is major sleep deprivation as she has some emotional issues with being closed into any room – whether she is alone or not. So she sleeps in a crate by the lounge, and we take turns to sleep with her, take her regularly out for bathroom breaks and just settle her back to sleep.

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No one seems to mind the early morning wake-up call by this little bundle of love. She is so happy to see you, whether it’s been an hour or a day away! She wriggles out of her skin and showers you with kisses to signify how much you were missed and how important you are to her.

We have also been enduring her teething, which is challenging… although while watching those little needle teeth pushing their way two or more at a time through her gums, I can totally understand why she so badly needs to relieve the ache by biting on anything in sight. Including feet, carpets, furniture, and noses occasionally when she gets carried away!

So, that’s been the last 9 days for us. As Jester is getting older and her health is really starting to fail, it’s been a pleasure to have a little bundle of love around.Happy Crafting - Cassie.

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  1. Carol

    Coco is absolutely adorable, oh my goodness. And the photographs you are taking are amazing. Just know that the hard work you are all putting into her now will pay off in spades in the years to come. And that quilt is divine, I can’t wait to see it in all its glory.

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