Pi's Trick Log

I was thinking, recently, about all the things I've taught Pi to do as well as some of the things I wish I could teach her to do. So, I decided to make a list.

Commands She Knows:
-sit & sitz
-down

Action shots!

-up
-stay (sit and down)
-heel
-come, come here, & come here now
-go away
-go outside
-go home
-go potty
-open the door
-upstairs
-downstairs
-get in your spot
-vacuum
-shake & other paw
-high five & other paw
-high ten
-hup (like beg or sit pretty)
-bark

Hoop is a fun trick!

-circle (counter clockwise)
-stand
-wait
-leave it
-bowl
-water
-crawl
-fetch it up
-catch
-roll over
-let's go
-turn (away from me)
-this way (turn with/towards me)
-in
-on
-off
-jump
-over
-under
-hoop
-move it
-push (a button)
-okay (for release)
-aaah/erh (this sound I make that is vaguely buzzer-like when she does something wrong)

Things We're Working On:
-drop it
-quiet
-stop (like stop walking/running)
-stay (when standing)
-pull (for tug of war)
-shake it off (she'll only do it once even if she's still wet)
-focus (like watch me)
-back
-spin (clockwise)
-play dead
-give (she knew this once but I don't know if she still does, I don't have much opportunity to test it)
-say hi
-go find
-freeze (stand with one paw raised)

Words She Recognizes:
-bike ride
-tasty treat
-park
-who's a bad bad dog?

Words I Hope She Never Recognizes:
-vet
-bath

Some of the commands I think are more about the hand motion than what I'm actually saying. For example, she will pretty much go wherever I point. Not all of these commands have an associated hand signal, but sometimes, like for hup and circle, the hand signal is more reliable than the word. Also, I have two different whistles that I use: one is for pay attention/look at me and the other is for come. They're really useful at the dog park so I don't have to shout, I can just use the look at me whistle and then do a hand motion for whatever I want.


And now, to be fair to the feline population, Admiral's Trick Log:

1. Sit

3. Stick 'em up

2. High Five

I also apparently convinced him to jump up on that bucket but I'm pretty sure I just led him there with tuna so it doesn't really count as a trick. Originally, I planned to teach him stick 'em up and then bang bang (play dead) but I've never really gotten to it. I also once attempted to teach him to jump through a hoop but he was not interested, not even for tuna.

Teardrops!

I have been working hard on cutting, laying out, and fusing my teardrops. And yes, I did decide to make two versions, we'll see how that goes.

Quick phone pick of the "final" layout in case
something happens before they're all fused

Ready to lay out some drops!

I actually ended up a little ahead because I started fusing before Monday's fusing post but I have a feeling that I'm about to fall behind on the appliquéing because it's nearing the end of the semester so I have lots of things to do for class as well as my research (20 page paper due Monday, yikes!).

I borrowed my roommate's bed to lay out this one because
my bed is tiny and the other one was already on my floor

The neutrals went together without too much fuss/rearranging (I actually think I didn't move any background squares and I'm pretty sure after the first layout I only switched two or three drop pieces). The brights were a very different story. I didn't photograph many of the iterations but at one point I picked up every piece and started completely over. I seriously messed with these for a week. When I got this layout I stopped and fused them before I went completely crazy. Of course now, looking at the picture again, I think the lower left corner is not quite right...

Too late, they're already fused. Science alligator hypothesizes
that all will be fine, but so far the data are inconclusive

At any rate, I have to make sure I finish the neutrals version on the QAL schedule because it is going to be a gift for my host when I go to Korea this summer. My dates aren't set yet, but I'm planning on leaving no later than June 13 which is pretty much exactly the QAL time frame. Good thing it's a long flight to Korea just in case when I'm binding last minute!

Prepping for Korea, Part 1: The Menagerie

My first concern as I started to plan for my trip to Korea this summer was, of course, my animals. Before I even knew if I had gotten the fellowship, I had confirmed caretakers.

Pi will be going to Santa Fe, New Mexico with my landlady and co. She is going to have so much fun! The kitties will be staying home and my meimei has agreed to feed and water them. That makes them sound like plants...

Who wouldn't love this?

Now that I know I got the fellowship, the rapid preparations have started. First I bought all of the kibbles! Then I moved Pi's vet appointment up so she would get her checkup and teeth cleaning before I left. And finally I got some new tags with my landlady's or sister's cell phone number on them because it will not be very useful for people to call me when I'm in Korea.

This is what 90 lbs of kibbles looks like

I still don't know my travel dates or where I'll be staying or what exactly my research goals are for this summer, but at least the important stuff is sorted ^_^

Are you coming, or what?

QAL Progress: Making Templates

This week in my QAL is for making the teardrops and cutting them out. I have been busily tracing away. I feel like a teardrop factory or something. I taped the template to my desk and just move the roll over after I finish tracing, assembly line style.

It looks like a paper onion.

I also started cutting out the drops, but only the outermost shape. I'm waiting for tomorrow's cutting guide to do the inner pieces because I really don't want to mess them up! So far cutting these out with the little baby sized cutter has been pretty fun, though a little weird to get used to.

I kind of like the shape when they're solid, reminds me of ornaments

Other WIPs:
-Fly South - top is done, layers are basted, and I have thread and a plan for the quilting
-DNP Sampler - most of the quilting is done (I think, I haven't really been able to stick to a plan with this guy so we'll see what happens) and I sewed the binding on to the front I just need to do the hand-sewing (that's right, I put the binding on before the quilting was done: take that rules and conventions!)
-mini charm pack thing - I cut all the corresponding background squares to go with the mini charms; all of the pieces for the blocks are sorted and just waiting to be sewn

I like this whole making a list of WIPs thing, it surprisingly makes everything seem much more together/organized than it looks in my closet/all over my floor...

QAL Fabric Choices and Prep

Last night I went shopping for a few things that I need to start the QAL. Apparently week 1 is for getting your stuff together so I am on track (except for getting the coordinating threads which is problematic since I have so many different colors...)

Ready. Set. Sew!

I am as yet undecided about fabric. The original quilt, as well as the suggestions, are all brights on white.

Brights are nice

But, I also think it could look really cool using neutral prints on other neutrals (solids and prints that look more or less solid).

Neutrals for the drops

If I go for neutrals I only have 17 so some of the drops would not have the outer-most ring, which I think will significantly change the look of the finished product. Maybe it will be so different that ignoring the whole "use high contrast fabrics" thing will be okay?

Most likely, I will end up doing both versions because, well, I'm all over ambitious like that.

I'm linking to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced