The life and times of our dogs

After reading yesterday of someone loosing their Beloved Scottie on one of my yahoo groups, I began to reflect on the life of our past and current dogs. Those of you who may not know, I'm a dog lover, more specifically, I love Scottish Terriers. I just love their personalities, their courage and even their stubbornness. My husband and I got our first Scottie in 1991, 8 months after we were married. His name was Chad. Chad wasn't the most friendly guy out there but if he knew you and trusted you, you were his best pal. He had this uncanny sense of knowing if someone was a dog lover or not. If you were, he accepted you. If you weren't and showed fear, he caught onto that and he didn't like you either. He was a very vocal dog, not that he barked a lot but he used his voice to make the most unbelievable noises. It was like he was talking to you. One of our fondest memory of Chad is when he "yelled" or made this noise in the middle of the night because he wanted my husband to move over so he could put his head on my husband's pillow. Of course, he moved over so Chad could sleep right beside him. Sadly just a month short of his 12th Birthday, Chad lost his battle with cancer. He left this life in the same dignity as he lived it. He passed away while both my husband and I were out of the house getting more medicine and food for him. When we came home, his best bud, Jeb was sitting right beside him.

Our second Scottie, Jeb, came along on New Years day 1992. He was a beautiful Wheaton Scottie who was bred in the Shenendoah Valley of VA. My husband just loves history especially the Civil War. What was more appropriate than naming our little guy after a Confederate Civil War General, J.E.B. Stuart, thus beginning our tradition of naming our dogs after famous people. Jeb was a gentle giant. He was quite large for a Scottie but had the most kindest heart. He was friendly with everyone, even children. Due to his buddy, Chad, being boss, he did have to challenge him once in a while so we did have a few fights to break up. They were also best friends and it wasn't unusual to see them sleeping side by side. Jeb became suddenly ill in 2005 and we had to make that tough decision to help him cross the Rainbow Bridge. I'm happy that both my girls were able to meet Jeb and that he was as kind to them as I knew he would be. Jeb and Chad were treated just like our kids for over 12 years before we adopted M and E.

During our long wait for referral for M, I had this urge to find another dog. I began to look for rescue Scotties on petfinder.com. I found what was described as a purebred Scottie at this shelter in Indiana. I got in contact with the shelter and arranged a meeting on June 4, 2002. When I arrived at this shelter, they brought this black dog out. He was definitely not a Scottie, but I just couldn't leave him there. He was having some issues at the shelter and the people were totally shocked that he was so loving towards me. I asked him if he wanted to come home with me and he looked me in the eyes and licked my hand, so home he came. He is now known as Ike(after Dwight D. Eisenhower). Ike's saving grace was also that someone didn't know what a Scottie looked like because I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't have driven 2 hours to bring him home if a photo of him was on Petfinder.com. I'm so thankful that I didn't know what he looked like too or else I wouldn't have experienced the total unconditional love that Ike gives me everyday when he looks at me with those brown eyes. Ike came home one month before we found out that Chad had cancer. I guess I was suppose to find this dog for a companion for Jeb when Chad died (by the way, Chad didn't like Ike at all). Jeb and Ike got along wonderfully and Ike was totally lost when Jeb passed away. Today Ike still has issues with strangers due to abuse prior to us rescuing him. He has stranger anxiety (especially men) and has to be locked up when we have people visit. It takes him a long time for him to build trust with people and to know that you won't hurt him. He is still wonderful with me and he is also great with the girls. We estimate Ike to be about 6 1/2 years old now.

When Jeb died, we needed another Scottie so badly. We called Jeb's breeder and she had this Wheaton Male available that was 6 months old. He wasn't a young puppy anymore and she was having problems finding him a home. He was a distant relative of Jeb too which made us feel better that we were going to have a little of Jeb still with us. So 2 weeks after Jeb's passing we drove to VA and brought home our 3rd Scottie, Mosby (named after another famous Civil War person from VA). What can I say about Mosby. Mosby has so many of the same characteristics of his distant relative, Jeb. He is the most friendly Scottie that we have had so far. He became fast friends with Ike and the 2 of them were chasing each other around the house shortly after we brought him home. Mosby isn't perfect, especially when it comes to house training. We've had to install baby gates to keep him out of parts of the house because of his marking problem but that's ok.

Our dog crazy house didn't stop with Mosby. My brother (who is also a Scottie Lover) told us that his breeder just had another litter. That is how our sweet little Belle became a member of our family in May 05. You may think Belle is named after the Disney princess, but you are wrong. She's named after a Confederate Spy, Belle Boyd. We just had to continue our tradition of dogs named after famous people in history. If I could describe a perfect dog, that is Belle. She was easy to train and is really friendly and gentle. She can put the 2 boys in their place if needed and the boys respect her for that. She has spunk and can be seen chasing and playing with Ike and Mosby all over the yard and house. Belle is our last dog for a while. We hope she is with us for a very long time.

So, my house is very active with 2 kids and 3 dogs but I wouldn't have it any other way!!!

Surprise Visitor

This is what I saw when I happened to look out our basement window.

I felt so sorry for this poor deer because it appeared to be injured. The front leg looked like it was broken. The deer was very weary of everything around it and was just trying to hide in our bushes beside the house. Once it got dark, the deer did finally leave. There are areas of woods near our development which many deer live so I'm hoping she found her way to the woods. It was kind of shocking to look up and see the deer. I took some great pictures of it through our basement window. The girls enjoyed watching it through the window also.

Santa Weekend

This was the weekend for Santa Visits. E. saw Santa at her Dad's work on Friday (the photo to the left) and both M. and E. saw Santa on Saturday at their Chinese School. E. has been very specific on what she would like Santa to bring her. In her exact words "A dance and sing, Pinkie Pie my little pony" M. has varied her requests from a beautiful doll to Streak and Style.

This is the first year, that M. has had doubts about the whole Santa thing. I think she still wants to believe but isn't so sure how Santa can deliver all those presents in one night (she is asking how that's possible now). She is also saying that the Santa she saw was just someone in a costume. I guess she's growing up faster than I would like :(

Quilting Stuff

My Christmas present to myself just arrived today. I ordered a new camera. My old camera worked just fine but I wanted one with a more powerful zoom lens and wide angle lens. I was having some difficulties taking photos of some my quilts due to the camera not having a wide angle shot. Well the new one worked fine today and I was able to fit a full/double quilt in the frame and didn't have to stand the whole way across the room. Below are a few of the projects that I've been working on during the last several weeks.

This is a OHGW quilt that I'm making for a client. It uses 179 squares and they are set on point with a 1 1/2 inch sashing between. I used a purple fabric for the corner triangles that matched the outer border print. I just finished the top a few days ago and now I need to do the machine quilting. Hopefully I will have time to get that done before the Holidays.

This is a closeup of the quilt

This is a large tote bag. I'm currently making one for a client and I wanted to make sure that I could follow the instructions well enough to not mess it up before I started my clients tote. I just used fabric that I had here at the house. Most of the fabric is from a Laurel Burch Line. Even though I did my sample one before I started my clients, I still managed to goof up and cut the lining incorrectly. Luckily I was able to find the fabric online to fix my mistake.

This year, I tried something new and made my first purse. I had so much fun so I thought why not give purses as gifts this year. Here are just 3 purses that I've done so far. I've completed a total of 6 purses and I have 2 others halfway done.

Christmas Photo 2007

Every year I try to take a photo of the girls in front of our Christmas tree. I will then print the photos and include them in our Christmas cards. I finally took the time this afternoon to take the photos so that I could at least get our Christmas cards in the mail before Christmas. This year was the easiest year yet in getting a good photo. In previous years, it was very difficult to get E. to sit, smile, and look at the camera all at the same time. M. has always taken great pictures. This is the photo that will be in our Christmas card.

Beach quilt

I just recently saw this blog that showed a quick and easy way of making blocks by using 9 squares. The blog used charm squares (5x5 inches) but I thought that

the same technique can be used with any size of square. I have tons of projects going on at the moment, but I just had to try this technique out. This morning before the girls got up, I was able to complete a whole quilt top in under 2 hours. I had some squares from a swap that I did several years ago with a beach/ocean theme. I cut them down to 7x7 squares and then sewed them into the 9 patch. I then cut the 9 patch into 4 sections. I had 27 squares so I was able to make 12 blocks.. This is the quilt that I made this morning. I'm also proud of myself for only using fabric that I already had in my stash and I used up some squares that were collecting dust for a while. It turned out kind of cute and it was very simple and fast to make.

Fun in the Snow

We've had some snow the last couple of days and the girls got a chance this morning to play. They would have played earlier but I was a bad MOM and hadn't bought new snow boots or even gloves yet for the year (maybe I was silently hoping Winter wouldn't come). So yesterday after school, we headed to Target to buy M. some new boots and some snow pants and today they got to play. Even the dogs enjoyed the snow! I cheated and stayed warm inside drinking my coffee watching everything from the sliding glass door.

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Gymnastics

Both of my girls have been doing gymnastics. M. started when she was 3 1/2 years old and is now on the Gym's Pre-competition team. She goes to the gym 3 hours a week now and if she continues, the time spent at the gym will do nothing but increase. I spend a lot of time just sitting and watching both of them get into great shape (maybe I should be doing some gymnastics, on second thought, maybe not because I'll end up in the hospital if I did) So far, M loves it and is doing very well. I'm always amazed at what she is able to do now and how strong she is becoming. E. started gymnastics this year in the preschool recreation program. So far she loves it too. She's not quite as adventurous as M. is but she is also doing well. She is so excited the day she gets to do gymnastics like her big sister instead of just watching her. I just had some photos taken of them so I thought I would share.