I didn’t win – so sad – but it wasn’t because of you. Thanks to everyone who voted for my block. The winning block was right next to mine and I have to admit it was one that appealed to me ( almost as much as mine did).

You can see the winners at this link.

Adam sent me a photo of Caleb with Blueberry the Monkey that Caleb picked out when we took him to Build a Bear last week. The photo wasn’t the best so I played with one of my new apps, Camera+ to apply some special effects.

It took me a little bit to figure out where I was with these socks … Started quite a while ago but perfect for working on while I sit here with Chesty. I have missed my knitting – not sure why I haven’t worked on anything in a while. Probably because of my focus on the embroidery. Seems I can only focus on one other activity at a time along with my quilting.

I don’t know where this last couple weeks has gone. I feel like I’ve spent so much time running around that I haven’t had a chance to enjoy my time here at Big Canoe. I’d like to stay another few weeks and enjoy time on the deck looking out over the lake and trees but we’ve just got a couple more days.

I should have known better but the Craftsy site is very well put together and I decided to take a couple classes on Art Quilting. Unfortunately, I just cannot sit through the videos. I need to stick to my “book learning”. The pace of the videos is much too slow for me and I don’t have the patience to get through them for the nugget or two that I walk away with.

We all learn differently so I want to be clear there’s nothing wrong with the content and I’ve never been one to take a class to learn something I can teach myself by reading a book so I shouldn’t be surprised that the online classes don’t suit me.

Thank you for all your concern and suggestions. Unfortunately, Chesty has always had allergy problems.

He’s gone through testing and treatment, is on meds routinely, and a strict diet. Even with those precautions, there are times like this where his allergies flareup and we have a difficult time controlling them. We use the cone, increase his meds, and I spend more time trying to keep him from biting and scratching.

When he was tested his vet told me that he was basically allergic to life so I guess we’re lucky that they’re under control for the most part.

Just hoping we can get this episode under control without a round of steroids. We avoid them whenever possible and they are a last resort but there are times they are just unavoidable.

I’ve mentioned before that I love simple scrap quilts. Another eBay quilt inspired this RWB Hourglass – of course I’ll make it scrappy when I eventually get around to it.

And in case you’re wondering why I’m spending so much time looking at quilts on eBay, Chesty’s allergies are giving him a fit and I’m having to spend time sitting with him to keep him from scratching himself to death. At least the cone stops the biting.

Not sure about this one yet but I’ll reserve judgement until its done and bound. I was doubtful about the others too.

Another nice thing about having wireless here is that it allows me to look for ideas for new quilts. An antique quilt on eBay inspired this design. In Red and Blue it would make a great Quilt of Valor.

I don’t have a block encyclopedia here so I’m not sure what the name of this block is, I’ll have to look it up when I get home.