Freezer Paper and Sea Creatures

I have mostly been working on my QAL lately, but I have made a little progress on quilting my blue ocean DNP sampler.

This is my super secret freezer paper template quilting method which has given me very nice results every time I've used it. It even looks good if you don't follow the lines exactly. The only downside for this particular usage is that I sew the freezer paper so it's not reusable and I have to pick out little bits of paper when I'm done.

It is kind of a pain

Picking out freezer paper stinks, but there is basically no other way to achieve such intricate designs (at least for me). Also, I thought about the paper picking beforehand and purposely used much smaller stitches than I usually do with FMQ to make the ripping easier. So far, I've done half of the planned freezer paper sea creatures. They take about an hour to sew and remove the paper which is not too bad but I really haven't had the time recently. As soon as I can finish the quilting I want to start using this baby so I already put the binding on and have sewn about 1/3 of it down.

Loki has been quite helpful in this process ^_^

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.

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?

First Finish and a Sneak Peek

I recently purchased a sewing machine and have been making things for about 3 weeks straight. I blame my former roommate for sending me some cool patterns and charm packs for Christmas. 

And so it begins.

I have done some quilting in the past but I always just used my mom's stash. Since buying my own machine I have made frequent visits to the ladies at the conveniently located quilt store (about 3 blocks from my house) and have been calling my mom all the time to ask for advice. I never realized all the nuances and decisions that have to be made. It was way easier when I just used whatever my mom had! Friday night I finished my first quilt with my shiny new machine. I had quite a bit of help with it along the way...

Loki consulted on the layout.

Admiral helped with the quilting.

This little guy (about 30"x40") is going to my cousin and his wife who are having their first baby in April. I don't know if it is going to be a girl or a boy so I tried to go for gender neutral but I really like blue so it ended up more boy-ish than girl-ish. Whatever, no one will begrudge a free blankie!

The requisite outdoor photo.

Close-up of the quilting and backing.

Pattern: Drunkard's Path

Fabric: Pieces of Hope by Riley Blake Designs charm pack with flannel for the back

Quilting: Concentric circles (only in the background fabric) using freezer paper templates

New Techniques: magic binding, sewing curves


I currently have two other quilts in the works using the fabric I got for Christmas (as seen in the first photo). The tops are pretty much done (minus borders) and one has a back. Here's a preview of one of them using a pattern called "Little Peeks" designed by my roommate:

I'm pretty sure it is impossible to quilt without a banister.

Cat Tornado (Canado?)

Over the last two days I have been on campus/at work for 30 hours. While this schedule has been great for my research and has inched me closer to being able to ask my advisor for vacation time, my animals have not been appreciative. Last night (a.k.a. early this morning), my dog could not even be bothered to lift her head up out of her kennel to greet me. How bad is life when even your dog snubs you? I'm used to that from Admiral, but he's a cat. Speaking of cats, my other cat, cute little Loki, took a somewhat opposite approach to let me know how unhappy he is with my absence: he went through my room like a cat tornado. He pulled every toy out of the dog's toy box and then proceeded to shred some of them while spreading others around.  There are bits of fluff everywhere.

The start of the trail of destruction.

The most probable fluff source.

Some may wonder how I can possibly know that it was Loki who did all this when I have two other pets, not to mention my landlady's dog. It's actually pretty simple.

1. Pi, the dog, never removes her toys from the toy bucket. If she is feeling destructive she either rips up paper (but only if it's left on the floor) or pulls strings out of the rug.
2. Admiral only destroys food. If I don't let him outside often enough or if he gets hungry he will find either his bag of treats or an unopened bag of food and rip it open.
3. Snoopy, my landlady's dog, would never walk up the stairs. In fact, you have to carry her up them in order to give her a bath. I'm not sure she has ever voluntarily been upstairs.
4. Loki loves plastic Easter eggs.
5. His name is Loki. I mean, come on.

Easter egg bits ended up in the bathroom too.

Easter egg in the water bowl.

Ever since my friend accidentally stole his collar, Loki has been enjoying his stealth mode. Perhaps a little too much.

Innocent? I think not.