Simply The Test, Better Than All The Tests.

Today we had some better news about Lorelai Gilmore's health, which was a relief. Her platelets are in the normal range,  but her Red Blood Cell count is now low. Dr David lowered her steroid last week and she has been feeling a lot happier.

She played with her plastic cup this morning and ran up the hill (slowly, but it was a run) on Friday. We go back next week for another blood test and she may have to take an extra quarter of a tablet every evening. Dr David was also very pleased that Lorelai Gilmore wasn't a "butterball" and hadn't put on any weight at all. We are vigilant and diligent and she is slim, but hungry. Her fur is growing back too, which is great.

Hedy Lamarr has grown, she is almost as tall as Gilly now. Hedy is also growing in wickedness. She sits when you come home, but now she woofs. And she barks crossly if she doesn't get her way, or things are not to her liking. She has to be squirted with the watered down apple cider vinegar squeezy bottle. She totally wrecked the treat pocket and zip of my dog walking zippy-uppy top. The top was over the computer chair, and when I put it on and tried to zip it up this morning, I realised that there was something wrong. I quickly sewed it up, but I shall have to do something about it: either buy a  new zip or a new top.

Gilly can put Hedy in her place, but not very often. I encourage her to bite Hedy back or growl, but she doesn't want to.

Hedy is in love with The pretend Stick. She plays with it all the time on her walk, and especially loves to play Chasings with Rafa.

And when we walk by ourselves it is my turn to throw The Stick and Hedy's turn to be very playful. She waits until you get close then tries to grab The Stick and run away!!

There has been very little crafting. I have started a Mohair Bias Loop: Loop de Loop, for Auntie Dutch. I am using Naturally Delight 2ply and 6.5mm bamboo needles. I did an invisible provisional cast on and though I missed knitting two stitches, I caught them a few rows up. This is nice and samey, it needs very little thought and I can just count the stitches every few rows and adjust the slant if I need to. I could have worked out the pattern, but I was happy to pay for someone else to do the thinking for me, with everything else going on - and it is also the right thing to do!!

And a while ago I sewed Tote Bags #89 and #90. I used the last of the Peri Naughty/Gilly material and I found a Doctor Who fat quarter for Uncle Dutch.

Our local bakery is always right up to date with what is trending: it was first in town with Nutella doughnuts and now: Pokemon biscuits!!!

The Labradors are asleep, and soon we will all be in bed. Going to The Vet takes a lot of energy and it was especially hot there today. I might even knit a few rows of Loop de Loop. I have until the end of October, but I might finish before then!!

Lie-low and Stitches

In between the snow and rain and wind, we have had some sunny days, and there is nothing a Labrador enjoys more (well, apart from eating and walks) than lying in the sun soaking up the Winter warmth.

All went well when Hedy went to the Vet to have her stitches removed. We went straight into a consulting room as there was a very barky unhappy-to-be-there dog in the Waiting Room. The nurse whisked Hedy out to the surgery and Gilly waited for her. Waited and waited, even though it was only five minutes. She was quite worried.

Hedy cared not one jot, she was ready to run and play again.

Instead of being like an angry giant parrot on the end of a stick, Hedy was allowed to run free at last. I am not sure Gilly was so happy, she liked being Boss of the Walk. You can just see Gilly, being Boss of the Walk, far away up the hill. She was rather naughty to run up there, but since Hedy was on the lead, she took the opportunity when it arose.

Now things are back to normal, with Hedy Lamarr at Lorelai Gilmore's heels.

We all went to bed yesterday and most of today as I had a migraine. The DVR in the lounge-room has decided not to Timer Record any more, so I had to use the others. I have two old DVD recorders that can only tune in SD stations. The remote control may have been on the bed so I could turn the news on. Late this morning I was awakened by a strange noise.....

Oh dear, this is Hedy's first official Naughty Thing. Gilly was shocked, shocked and horrified. It can not be all Hedy's fault as she had access to the remote. It still works, but intermittently. What good luck it is the remote for the DVR that is broken. Household appliances know when your Tax Return is expected. They know. So far we need a new DVR, a new Rice Cooker and a new mixer. The Rice Cooker costs less than $20 and works very hard almost every day, so I am not so bothered by that.

I am knitting WeeJock&Bessie's Mum a hat in some soft and luxurious Debbie Bliss Andes: mulberry silk and alpaca. I have only made the ribbing, twisted ribbing, thus far and I need to buy some more short 4.5mm ends to do the actual hat. This will be the not so slouchy version.

I am also sewing a Star Spangled Jacket. Here is a tip: always cut sequinned fabric out on a sheet or some other protective covering. Ask me how I know. There are sequins from dawn till dusk all over the house. The jacket doesn't have a full lining, and the spangled fabric is not solid, so I needed to make my brain work extra hard to figure out how to work the full lining and facings. I am almost to the putting it all together stage. When you are about to take a photo and you say "Wait" to The Labradors, this is what happens: Gilly waits patiently and Hedy just rolls on into the picture.

Our Sewing night has changed this term, so I have to be organised and sew this fortnight's block and bake some cakes for tomorrow night. I am thinking of baking the Cherry Ripe cupcakes from this month's Taste magazine. I bought some fresh cherries to tizzy them up. I am not sure about the overflowing chocolate ganache. Sure, it looks great, but it is not very eater friendly.

 

The Powering Inferno

We have been living in interesting times at our house: so many social outings for the holidays and with overseas visitors, an operation for Hedy Lamarr, our land-line has not been working for almost a fortnight, there were terrible storms and our power was off for two days. There has been a little bit of teetering on the edge, but I think we are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

The Labradors went to visit at MrsDrWho's house and met The Overseas Visitors. Much hilarity ensued.

Hedy Lamarr went to be de-sexed. We had been practising all the important things like having your ears, eyes and teeth checked, having a pretend injection and a new addition- having your leg shaved. Gilly and I dropped Hedy off at 7-45am.

Gilly and I went for a walk together,

and then we had hardly been home at all before the power went off. A tree had fallen on the power lines and in our street the house next door had power, the next three didn't and then the house on the corner did. Our houses very weirdly wired here, the suburb is old and houses were built and connected willy-nilly. This is not the tree that fell on our power lines, just one of the many that blew over in town. Towns were flooded, roofs blown off and almost 20,000 people were without power at one point. It has been a very bad year for wild weather.

Hedy was well enough to come home at 1pm and then we bunkered down, waiting for the power to be reconnected.

The land-line doesn't work in a power outage anyway, so were were home along together with no way to communicate with the outside world!! The Hydro rang the neighbours later in the evening to say the power was not going to be fixed and then MrsDrWho brought a thermos of hot sweet tea and more thermoses for the hot water bottle and some hot food.

The power was finally restored late the next night, and oh how I appreciated a hot shower and a cup of tea whenever I wanted one. And the internet. I still need to organise for the land-line to be fixed. The phone company just tells you to ring them about the fault, and of course I have no phone, so I can't. I did email, but they are just hopeless.

Hedy is allowed to go for a walk on her lead with Gilly. The entire time she barks, crossly and loudly. She is Not Happy At All to be restrained. As soon as Gilly is on the lead, Hedy is as good as gold and as quiet as a mouse. Hedy has recovered incredibly fast and is in total denial that she had an operation at all. She wears her cloud collar when I go out, but otherwise she doesn't seem too interested in her stitches, which come out at the end of the week. She now has smaller cloud collar #2 as she somehow punctured larger cloud collar #1 and pulled it off.

I have caught up on lots of reading. We were slightly prepared for the power outage with a torch and radio and spare batteries. I read by hanging the torch from the lamp that wasn't working. Unfortunately, the emergency services urged people to check websites and online for all the relevant road closures, snow falls and power outages and we don't have a smart phone so we were in the dark: metaphorically and literally!! We could have decamped to someone else's house but with Hedy only just having had her operation, I decided she was better at home in the place she knew, safe and sound with Gilly.

I haven't done any knitting or proper sewing. I made a toile for the Gold Star Spangled Jacket, and I finished The Extermin9 Hat for Uncle Dutch's birthday. This time I used the most up-to-date iteration of the pattern and so all the slipped stitches lined up. I like the variegated red colour too.

I have done an awful lot of sleeping, all day and all night. When things are difficult, sleep is a great refuge. And so to bed again, even though we didn't officially get up until 1pm this afternoon.

I Am Monarch Of All I Savoy

A Labrador is a bottomless pit. No matter how much I feed Hedy, she is still starving, and because she is naughty and a puppy, she finds things to eat. Gilly does not, she is such a good girl. It was very quiet and when I went to investigate, there was Hedy with her head in the bag of vegetables, and there was the cabbage all hollowed out. It was a Wombok cabbage, but I could not resist the Savoy/Survey serendipity.

My mum and aunt came to visit at the weekend and we ate out and chatted and shopped and had a marvellous time. I am so lucky she comes to visit as I can't travel on a bus or aeroplane because of germs in such a closed environment, nor can I drive that far in a day. My mum brought me a set of cups, saucers and plates that belonged to Tiger Nan. They are so pretty, and I have unpacked them and put them, carefully, in the dresser.

I sewed them some shopping bags, what a surprise!! #87 and #88

We continue along on our Summer Block of the Month 2016 quilting every fortnight. I am behind, but other people have made all four Sawtooth blocks, and here are the last.

Poor Lorelai Gilmore, Hedy Lamarr is such a trial to her. Yet Gilly continues to be a patient and kind sister. When we are walking without other dog friends, Hedy chases Gilly

and bites her. Gilly opens her mouth and shows all her teeth, but never bites back.

Look how Hedy really grabs Gilly's fur and skin and bites and pulls hard.

That expression on Gilly's face, she is resigned and not asking for help. I try to remain Switzerland, but if I do drag Hedy away, Gilly comes over and asks with her paw to have the puppy returned.

And then the game is over and it is off to smell things together.

We slept all day today, and no-one (Hedy Lamarr) did anything even vaguely wicked: which is fairly amazing.  Soon Hedy Lamarr is going to the vet to be desexed. We have to buy a new cloud collar. It is much nicer than the cone collar, and Peri wore it happily and Lorelai Gilmore wore is for fun!!!

I hope Hedy likes it too.

You're The Sun That I Want, You Are The Sun I Want: Oo Ooo Oo Oo, Sunny.

I have been both social and stay-at-home. With me it's all or nothing, as the song goes. We went to the posh restaurant at the Casino for MrsDrWho's birthday. There was stunning service and we ate an amuse bouche and later on a white wine jelly with pistachios to cleanse our palates: very swish. I had pork belly with bacon, chorizo crumb, cauliflower puree, caramelised apple & onion and yoghurt cheese. I was hoping to have room for a white chocolate fondant dessert, but I can really only have one course. Oh well.

I knitted a Dalek hat for MrsDrWho: Extermin8 and I liked it so much I have started another- Extermin9. I am getting the knack of knitting with two colours at once, and there are not too many rows in the Insulate pattern when you have to carry the thread across more than four stitches.

I also sewed two new bags, #85 Marvel and #86 with all the cats.

Cleo, Caramello and Muppin didn't miss out. I am slowly making them three cat beds. This is #2 and has some pink velvet on one side and Hello Kitty on the other. As usual, there were Lab tests by Gilly and Hedy. Just to be safe.

The Sunshine Rainbow Lollipop socks are complete. The ends aren't sewn in as I am not sure about the fit. MrsDrWho is going to wear and wash them a few times and I can undo the toes and heels and adjust them if necessary.

I also sent a present in the post to the lovely Knitting on the Avenue and Chloe. I was quite pleased with the knitting project bag that you put on your arm so you can walk about and knit. I think it is not so much for walking about but maybe for making your knitting more portable?? And a Star Wars bag because you can never have too many Star Wars bags, can you?

On Monday we had a lovely surprise and met Jet'sMum and Jet on our walk. Hedy was very excited to meet a new friend and Gilly likes Jet because she is bigger than him!! Hedy is giving him a bit of a whack with her paw.

Then there were all the dogs: Jet, Sandy, Gilly, Rafa and Hedy all running and playing and having a marvellous time together.

All the dogs that have lived in our house have their photo taken on the step outside the back door. I tried to take Hedy's picture today, but all I got was quite a lot of this:

Waving, asking with her paw and sitting sideways. She is so cute though that I shall just try again next time the Sun comes out. When the Sun does come out Gilly likes nothing better than to soak up some of the warm sunbeams. She is so funny, almost asleep, basking in the warmth.

The world is full of so many awful things now, and really I like to be like Gilly, and just look for the happy things right now, and bask in them. Sun, sun, sun.

Tomorrow it is Sewing and I plan on making some coconut cupcakes. They sound delicious and I can't wait to bake them!!!

Here Comes The Rain Again (And Again And Again)

Last week I was feeling sad when The GardyGardeners left for their new home on The Mainland. We had a lovely lunch to farewell them properly. I managed to somehow have three things happening on the same day and in the end I had a small migraine. I dosed myself up and just went to lunch: a bit woozy and fuzzy, but I didn't do the two other things. I just slept in the dark. I knitted a Corgi for them to take to their new house, but poor Corgi Ben didn't have any eyes or a nose. I will have to post him.

Corgi Ben also has tag from the engraving shop!!! He is knitted in some 4 and 5ply and the pattern is from last week's English Women's Weekly and is called The Queen's Favourite. Ben is a tad plump, but I think that he will squash down a bit, and he will be safer to be posted if he is plumper.

This week when I went to post to my blog I couldn't access it at all. I couldn't even see my blog or anything Typepad. I sent an email and this morning when we woke up it was all ship-shape and Bristol fashion.

We are in the middle of a flood emergency - a one in a hundred year event. The peak of the flood has just passed through the city. We are up high and safe, but some of my friends over the river have been evacuated, and some friends' houses have been flooded. Sadly, people have died and many cows and sheep have drowned. The flood barriers have been raised and so now we wait. It will be a long and difficult recovery for everyone affected. We are very grateful to have the Police, Emergency Services, SES and other professionals and volunteers to keep us safe.

The dam where we walk has been overflowing and fuelling the flood. The power and the noise is frightening, but when the video bumps up and down, that's Hedy Lamarr pulling on the lead and you can hear her barking.

Yesterday afternoon and evening we were trapped at home because the traffic diverted from the highway went around the front and then the back of our house. There was a seven kilometre traffic jam and in the end I walked up to the shop at the corner. This is the view of the Eastern side of the city from our front window.

Gilly was on full alert and spent hours running from the front window to the garage at the back gate, just to keep an eye on things. Hedy was a little confused by it all.

Hedy was not confused about the joy of a lot of rain and mud. She has been playing in the rain and the paddle pool and digging holes, though she would deny it.

We had a very cold snap last week and it was -2*C and there was ice on the grass at the dam. I think Lorelai Gilmore is about to be hit from behind by Hedy Lamarr.

Or worse, there could be nipping. Hedy has nipped Gilly with her sharp little baby teeth and given her tiny sores. Gilly is such a patient and good girl, and takes it all in her stride. They both love to run and play, and for Hedy, her walk is the high point of the day: after breakfast!!

I am slowly catching up on presents for my friends' husbands and partners. I made a decision that they will all be having a hat, or something I have sewn, and something baked. I knitted a hat in Hawthorn colours for WeeJock&Bessie's dad. It is The Hawk-thron Hat in Loyal 10ply, always a wonderful wool to knit with. The second hat is for Mr HouseOf and I knitted it using some Inca Spun Tweed and then Silk Garden as the colour changing contrast. The colour change is quite long, so there is not too much contrast. I used the Turn a Square pattern, but it turned out rather larger than I expected, so I just decided it is a slouchy beanie. The Inca Spun Tweed is so soft and lovely to knit with, I'll use it again.

Tonight it is Sewing and we are going to leave Hedy Lamarr out of her crate at night for the first time. We bit the bullet and let her be free during the day a week or so ago. Lorelai Gilmore is there to look after her and I suspect Hedy sleeps in her crate when there are no people about. Baby steps for the not so baby puppy.

 

Happy Walk, Keep Walking Happy Walk.

Most recent first: Hedy Lamarr has been for her first walk with Lorelai Gilmore. It all went spectacularly well. Rafa's dad and mum pointed out that Hedy is much more obedient than Gilly, who is having a little regression while she gets used to Hedy. I am just glad Hedy came back when she was called. I cheated and left her lead attached as a bit of an impediment, so I might just have a chance of catching her if she didn't come back.

I am a tad puffed out, breathing heavily, it was Gilly and my second walk for the day. Every time we play the video, Hedy comes from wherever she is when she hears me call her name. She is so cute!!!

Hedy walks very well on her lead, though she occasionally goes the wrong way!!!

We all enjoyed our walk and look forward to more happy times at the dam together.

It  is also time to start leaving Hedy out of the crate when we go out. I popped up to the deli at the corner and when I came home The Labradors met me at the gate, safe and sound.

Gilly enjoyed her last walk without Hedy yesterday. She loves the cool weather and the rain, and we have had plenty of rain and an electrical storm. If only we could have the rain spread out, rather than in one fell swoop. Lorelai Gilmore can't wait for Rafa to be let out of the car so they can run very fast together.

I have, no surprise, sewed some more grocery bags: bags 81-83 in fact. The first for a cat loving friend, and the next two for Mrs and then Mr Madcage. The duckies are a late Easter present!!!

I found the best sock wool ever for MrsDrWho: Rainbow Sparkles from Opal. Beautiful rainbow merges and glittery silver sparkles that are soft and don't feel scratchy at all.

To retain the gorgeous stripes I decided to tackle an afterthought heel. There are so many variations, but somewhere I read a tip that you should knit the heel and then measure on the person to see how long the foot should be. Fantastic idea. I knitted half the stitches for the heel on waste wool, and then slipped them back on the left-hand needled and knitted them again with the sparkly sock wool. Then it was just a case of pulling out the waste wool and picking up the top and bottom stitches. I decided to make the swirl heel from the Crystal socklet at Knitty.com. Here are the Sunshine Lollipop and Rainbow socks thus far.

Mr Madcage also has a new birthday Forest beanie, knitted in Loyal 10ply with a twisty cable pattern. I do like the Loyal 10ply. It is soft and light and very warm and knits up beautifully. I did have a better photo, but it turned out I actually took a video and I don't know how to make a photo from a video.

For the very first time I decided to bake something Star Wars for May The Fourth Be With You. I watched a very helpful video and then made some Darth Vader black fondant helmets.

I piped swirly red and chocolate two tone buttercream onto some fudgy chocolate cupcakes and topped each with a Darth Vader helmet. I don't think they are too bad at all, and MrsDrwho said the cakes were very yummy.

This week I am having a rest as far as possible. Last week I had a migraine, and then on Monday we had the NBN debacle- that's the National Broadband Network, where our house will be getting Fibre To The Home.  I met The NBN man a few weeks ago when he came to confirm that we will have the cable from the pole outside to the roof, as our house is built on a giant rock and there is no way to dig a trench. Easy, I thought. Ha!

During my five or six phone calls and Live Chats I was assured that the technician who was to come on Monday would do the outside and inside installations. I talked to my friends who have The NBN said they said this is not the way things are done, but I checked and checked again. On Monday the technician turned up and he was just the Inside Person. The Outside People had not done their job yet. The Inside had not talked to The Outside and so nothing could go ahead. Well, after all this, I ended up telling the ISP not to even talk to me until they had it all sorted out. And I shan't believe them even then, since I have had two separate communications, stating two different dates and times since then.

This week I am also going to drive an automatic car. I have only ever driven a manual car, but our car is too small to take two people and their suit cases to the airport. I am going for a drive tonight, just so I can get a feel for the car and learn it's super modern things like reversing camera and other things of which I know nothing!! Hedy is already having her post-lunch nap in her crate, Gilly is asleep on the  couch and I think a nap is definitely called for after all the tooing and froing.

Sisters Golden Hair: Surprise!!

Today it rained, rained all day with gale force wind and so much water everywhere. Hedy had not really seen rain. She is apparently fine with thunder and lightning, but hard rain hurts her delicate baby skin- or so she says!! It rained torrentially at 8am and there were warnings of trees and power lines down, so Gilly didn't go for a walk. Instead there was a bonus trip to The Vet for Hedy's last baby vaccination. And it tipped down when it was time to leave. The waiting room was full of wet dogs, wet dog smell and breath. It fogged up the windows in the waiting room and my camera too.

In exciting news, we met Hedy's actual litter sister: Daisy!! I am sure they recognised each other and much playing ensued.  The photos are too foggy, but I have a reasonable one of Daisy.

Daisy was there to be vaccinated as well. We are obedient human companions!! It turns out that Daisy's sister Abby, is also related to Hedy, Daisy and Gilly. They are all from the same breeder. What a good advertisement for such lovely Labradors. Abby is 14 and was there to pick up her arthritis medication.

Gilly was bemused by the whole thing. It was a Labrador whirlwind. Hedy is the perfect weight. She was so well behaved for Dr Megan and Dr Megan was most impressed. I am also secretly so proud of Hedy who could sit and wait when I asked her too, while Daisy just jumped on the seat, larked about and generally ignored her human!!

Lorelai Gilmore is also the perfect weight. She should not weigh any more, and could weigh a little less. I can stop worrying so much about her now. Poor Gilly was a little put out because lots of the doctors and nurses came to especially meet Hedy, though Dr Megan did slip her a few extra treats.

The house has been full of wet and muddy dogs for the last two days. The rain is wonderful, it is the first time Hedy has seen rain in her whole life. We could do with a little less all at once though.

I printed some material at Spoonflower for my sister. It has her dog, Archie, on it. I had to work with the only photo I had, but I think the bag turned out quite well. I have enough for two bags and Archie is back and front. He's a Shar-Pei. I tried to take a photo for my blog:

After eight attempts I finally had something approaching reasonable. This is bag #80.

I am not quite sure when we will get to sleep tonight. It is 11-04pm and Lorelai Gilmore and Hedy Lamarr have been playing rowdy rebel games in and out the dog door and round the house for an hour. Thank goodness it is not raining. They need some time to calm down before they will be ready to sleep. Oh, no, Hedy is woofing.

Right, all is well again. I have been knitting some TARDIS hand warmers for Mrs HouseOf's oldest daughter. OldestDaughter is very thoughtful and sent me a gorgeous knitting brooch, which is in a  bag somewhere, safe from Hedy, and I can't find it right now. It is tiny wooden knitting needles with some green knitting on them.

I have made one and a bit hand warmers. I knitted the cuff and the rib at the top in the round and the rest back and forth. I sneakily used small pieces of the wool to knit the windows on the front and back so I didn't carry them across the blue part in the centre. I am quite pleased with the writing too. It needs a good blocking to make the windows and writing sit properly.

Ah, peace reigns once more. Well almost. Lorelai Gilmore is in bed, and Hedy Lamarr is in the dining room making little cross noises because she wants some attention. Tomorrow I am baking a banana cake and then going with MrsDrWho and some of her teacher colleagues to see a play presenting three episodes of Dad's Army at the theatre. It should be great!!

Some People Want To Fill The World With Gilly Love Songs, And What's Wrong With That?

There could not be a better big sister for Hedy, than Gilly. Lorelai Gilmore is interested and kind and endlessly patient with the very annoying puppy who has come to live with us. She is so very happy to have someone to play with, and since Hedy can't jump up on the bed yet, she has an oasis of peace to which she can escape when the puppy is too much.

Last week we went to The Vet, just for a visit, so Hedy's first experience wouldn't be her vaccinations.

She was very reassured by Gilly, who loves going to The Vet. Hedy went out the back with the nurses and did an accidental wee of excitement. Gilly waited with me and had lots of pats and treats from the other nurses. Hedy has a nice new bandanna and didn't mind wearing it at all. It is very strange hearing what an excellent job Hedy Lamarr is doing when she puts on weight. She has gained almost 2kg in almost two weeks, which is exactly the right amount for a puppy.

Hedy only cried a little in the car, and I think it was because she couldn't see out the windows.

Gilly likes to play with Hedy, they love Tug of War.

They also like taking naps together.

Hedy bites Gilly, she pounces on her, she growls and she inspects Gilly's belly, just in case Gilly might be her mother and there could be a drink of milk. She chases Gilly and steals whatever she has and runs away with it. Through all of this, Gilly is never rough,or cross, and never growls. I think she should be a little more assertive, but they should work it out for themselves. I don't think Lorelai Gilmore realised how much she missed Peri, until Hedy Lamarr came along.

Here are Harki and Peri, and Baby Gilly, seven years and three days ago. I think Gilly and Hedy look very much alike!! I keep calling Gilly Harki because she is so pale in colour and Hedy is caramelly like Peri.

When Hedy sleeps, Gilly goes about her Big Dog business and usually sleeps. I take the opportunity to sleep as well, or to sew. I have made bags #74 and 75 for AuntieDutch and MrsDrWho respectively. I also sewed a sturdy Easter fabric basket for MrsDrWho. I found a less than Fat Quarter sized piece of glitter Easter material and used a free Craftsy pattern. It turned out rather well, and will store folded fat Quarters very nicely.

I sewed the best matching buttons I could find onto my Equinox cardi today and washed it and it is still drying, but it is done. I am very happy it fits so perfectly, well it did before it was washed!! The sleeves are kind of 7/8 and I like that. I used exactly three skeins of wool. I have about a metre left over so not exactly exactly, but so close I think it can count. I can't seem to photograph the colour, it is darker than this.

And now it is an hour and a half since their dinner and The Labradors have spent all of it running in and out playing Labrador games. They are very happy. Soon Hedy will need a sleep. Oh she's here now. Hedy knows her name and will come when she is called. She does almost all her wees and poohs outside (5 wees and 3 poohs inside thus far which is very good) and because we are home she is carried out and popped into the nice grassy area and praised highly when something good happens. Gilly is praised as well, and she gets everything first. First at last!!

We have started out new quilts at Sewing. It is the Summer BOM from 2015 at Craftsy. Here are our first blocks.

Oh, Hedy is complaining because something is not going her way: the door is too open, the water is too full or some other tiny thing is awry in her little world. Thank goodness we have the Lovely Lorelai Gilmore to be a good influence.

Here is The Labradors' Easter picture. Happy Easter!!!

Everything's Gone To Hedy In A Handbasket

Well, on the hottest and most humid day, Hedy Lamarr came to live with us. MrsDrWho drove us there and back in her car. I am so very grateful to my wonderful mum, who bought Hedy for us!!!

Here's Hedy Lamarr:

She had just had a bath, to no avail, as she muddied herself right up again. Gilly has been such a good girl. She met Hedy in The Forbidden Zone and I fed her a thousand tasty treats to make meeting Hedy a happy experience.

She is not quite sure what Hedy is.

At first Lorelai Gilmore was afraid of her, and she still gives a start if The Puppy touches her, or gives one of her very shrill barks.

Gilly has had more exercise at home, in the last hour or so, than all of last week. She trots around after Hedy, just in case.

Hedy know what food is, she is a little glutton and ate all her food in a flash: A true Labrador. And she's already found a little bone to gnaw on.

We all had a nice sleep for a couple of hours before dinner, and after much mad playing, running about and jumping in and out of the paddle pool, The Labradors are sleeping again. We are looking forward to some cooler weather this week.

I have had some lovely catching up time with friends: Mrs Valley and Miss NewCar - separately. I have a lovely new bag and a cowl scarf from Mrs Valley (both in the car and I am too tired to walk back up the steps)

I sewed some bags and a table runner.

My word, we had forgotten how much work a puppy can be, but Hedy is very sweet and wickedly naughty: she's already tried to chew a magazine, the washing basket and the handle of the drinking bucket outside. From now on, we all sleep when the puppy sleeps!!!

There was no Friday Food. I was swapping the sideboard and the desk and being just very hot and we went to bed at 7pm. I do have my eye on some Bunny Sacrifice Tartlets, so we will see.