I'm a terrible blogger...

I'm so sorry that I've been such a bad blogger of late. And now, I'm only blogging to say that I'll be gone for a week. I'm off to be a weekly director at Camp Winnataska with my mom, my brother and my friend, Karen.

I hope that I'll have so much fun, and I expect to. It is always good to get back to nature. My great-grandmother was a camper at the first session in 1918, so I've always been drawn to Winnataska. Even my dog Winni is from there.

Speaking of dogs, I should tell you about Calvin. He went for an ultrasound because our vet found elevated liver enzymes when they ran his blood work and thought he should have his liver checked. The vet that did the ultrasound was the one that did his surgery two years ago as well.

If you don't know, Calvin had a 10 pound cancerous tumor removed in August 2006, just two weeks before our wedding. He was given four to six months to live. At our rehearsal, we all prayed for Calvin. We prayed very hard. David and I know that those prayers are the reason he is still with us today.

The new from the ultrasound could be better, but it could be worse as well. The vet said that Calvin is nothing short of a miracle. He couldn't believe that Calvin was doing so well. He found some spots on his liver that weren't there in 2006. He said that his first symptoms of getting sick would be loss of appetite and lethargy. We figure since he finishes the girls food and then chases them around the back yard, he is doing pretty well for and almost 13 year old cancer surviving, pound rescue, mutt-dog.

We would still appreciate all of your continued thoughts and prayers for him. He is such a wonderful companion and has seen David through some really rough times. We hope that his good health and wonderful attitude continues for... well forever actually.

That's all I have for now. I'm going to hug my dogs. I hope that you will do the same.
See 'all in a week!

Another quilt...

A friend called me yesterday and commissioned a quilt for her cousin's yet to be born baby boy. It is SO much easier to find girl fabrics, but I love a challenge so I looked through what I had in the stash and found...
these two fabrics from the Ginger Blossom line by Sandi Henderson for Michael Miller.

I took them to Hancock today to find something to go with them but struck out on finding stuff to match. Which was GREAT because I found these wonderful selections...
which I like even better. (Click for a larger view.) I have used the navy paisley on simple quilts before and I love it. I'm so pleased that I found three coordinating fabrics to work with it. I have realized that finding things to coordinate with designer fabric lines can be difficult, but that may be a mental thing, since they are introduced as a set. But it could be the matching of multiple colors across different fabrics.

Any way... I sketched three options for the top design...

Tried and True

Squared Away

Round Peg

I totally just make up those design names (and the designs) so there's no need to go googling for the patterns. I can't decide which I like the best, so I'll have to think about it. If you, dear blog readers, have any suggestions, just leave them in the comments.

I also bought myself this pattern. It uses 3 yards of knit, and I'm trying to stash-bust, so I might make two versions; one black and one in something else.Vogue 1027

One more picture, and then I'm going to concentrate fully on So You Think You Can Dance, which is my guilty pleasure, since Lost is on break.

Ginny on her perch.

So I took two dogs to the vet today...

Calvin and Chica were due for their ($600) annual visit to the vet. I'd love to say that they were perfect angels (Chica had to be muzzled in the back) and that I had tons of pictures (Calvin DOES NOT LIKE the exam table), but alas, only text.

They are in perfect health, as far a the vet could see on his examination. Dr. Kidd said that Chica is "very muscular" (which I think means obstinate, strong and scary). He said that Calvin is doing very well, too; a few bumps and cataracts, but at one month shy of 13, that is no small feat.

We are still crossing our fingers that the blood work comes back good. The regular rounds come back tomorrow and Calvin's "special," old man, post-cancer, blood work comes back Saturday or Monday. After the long wait on the blood work after his 10 pound tumor removal, I don't relish these next few days.

It will be a long wait, and I hope that what Dr. Kidd says holds true.

Also, did you see in the news about the shooting at the polling location. Yea, I got there about an hour after that happened. It wasn't all that exciting; just a stray bullet from across the street. No one was injured. Good thing I took the dogs to the vet and missed the whole thing!