Favorite Places for Foto Finish

For Foto Finish this week the theme is Favorite Places, so I chose one of the most beautiful places I've been. 

Sedona, Arizona

In April of last year, we all gathered in Phoenix for a family reunion. David and I escaped the heat, 98 degrees, and headed north for the day. This was our first stop and where we realized it was freezing up there. 

Our second stop was to buy clothes and jackets. It snowed on us that day, which was wonderful. We hadn't seen snow in over 30 years. Beautiful. Everywhere you look in Sedona there is so much color and beauty. I completely fell in love.

My favorite picture from that trip is the little gazebo where all of us staying at the hotel would gather first thing in the morning for coffee and last thing at night for a drink. This picture was the last night we were there and we were down to just 4 of us. 

See you soon,

Dana

PYTHON??!!

I've heard from a few people about the python comment, so I'll explain. I live in Key Largo, Florida, the first island in the Florida Keys. As they say in a recent ad, "the everglades are our backyard"

We have alligators and we live about 8 miles from the Crocodile Preserve. Our crocs aren't the man eaters like they have in other countries. The American Crocodile is pretty peaceful. Gators will eat anything.

We have lizards everywhere, if you've ever been to Florida you've seen the little anoles, people call them chameleons. This guy is a Knight Anole and his body is about 6 inches. They live up in the trees, so you don't see them very often. 

If it bites or stings we have them here. This year we've had a lot of Huntsman Spiders in the house. You'll need to google that one, I'm too busy running for Raid to stop and take a picture. We have centipedes and scorpions and of course clouds of mosquitoes and other biting bugs. I've been stung twice by a beautiful caterpillar, which made my arm go numb for hours.

 I've been dragged into the water by a manatee, they are very sweet and playful. Legend says that they are the mermaids that sailors saw. I'm not too sure about that.


Don't you love photoshop? That's my daughter Coral when she was about  4 years old.



 I've seen wild dolphin playing around our boat and I've walked for hours with a team keeping a whale afloat trying to save him.


I absolutely love where I live. All of the wildlife and nature are wonderful to me. To me this is all natural.

Then came the day this came in the mail. 

 Since then I've been Python Paranoid. They've caught huge ones just a mile from my house at an abandoned resort where we used to go ride our bikes. Notice, I said used to. I'm not going back there again. My husband says I'm being silly, we have a six foot wooden fence around the backyard, but really, what's six foot to a 20 foot python? I'm sure they can wiggle their massive bodies right over that little fence.

O.K., breathe.

Now, whenever there is a ruckus in the backyard, I'm sure it's a python trying to eat one of the dogs. I go running out to save them. I did find a 5 foot iquana in the pool one time when I went running out to save them. David has pointed out that a 20 foot python would be stronger and bigger than me, so now I take a butcher knife. It's the only weapon I have. David's amused, the neighbors are amused. But I'm prepared.

See you soon,

Dana 

What Now?

Yesterday was my birthday, oh thank you. We're not really going to talk about it except to say it was different, odd and interesting. It started horribly with me running outside in the dark thinking I was taking on a python and ended with this: 

And this

So it all ended very well, and I have a wonderful husband.

The day after my Bday is always like New Years Day for me, what's next? What popped into my head was "Now you've gone and done it, you started a blog so you could show off the kids so now you have to figure this out". Looking at blogs this morning was a small answer. WIP Wednesday. I can show you what I'm doing. This is what my current project has looked like for days now.

Just sadly laying next to the machine completely ignored. I had a panel of "Dream On" my Urban Chicks that I was going to make a cheater quilt out of, but I just couldn't do it. So I cut them apart and made this with stash fabric. Quick easy and not exciting, which is what I came up with when I questioned myself about why I'm not working on it. It's boring because I've done it before.

And

So now I need to challenge myself and do something new. I have an idea floating around and when I'm ready I'll share it with you.

See you soon,

Dana

Pets On Quilts!

It's finally here the show I've been waiting for. I'm so excited to introduce you to "The Twins".

 This is Maya Grace on the right and Brady Bug on the left. My daughter insists on giving our pets middle names which comes in handy when they are in trouble, just like with children. They aren't really twins, but if you saw them working together to get a giant branch through the doggie door, then running through the house with it, one on either end, you would understand. When you hear "the twins" it usually means they are up to no good. The worst was the seafood buffet escapade, when they found a land crab, left it in the sun for a few days, then snuck it into the house. We found the pieces by following the aroma.

This is Maya wondering what this quilt is doing on "her" bed. She know that quilts are off limits, unless she's playing tent when they are on the ironing board. She's quite camera shy, so this is my trap.

Isn't she beautiful? She spends most of her time in that window watching the world go by, we call it "dog T.V.". All of the runners and walkers in the neighborhood know her, so they usually wave as they go by. We caught the across the street neighbor doing a little soft shoe shuffle for her once. 

Here's Brady, who believes that all quilts are his, even when they're hanging.

Maya doesn't agree.

One of the reasons that I love the Pets On Quilts show is all of the love we show for our four legged children. I especially love the rescue stories since I am a big advocate for pound puppies and rescues. So I'd like to share Maya and Brady's stories.

This is Maya when she first came to live with us. She and her litter mates were dumped on the side of the highway. Happily they were found before tragedy happened. Looking this adorable they were all adopted into the community. My family feels very blessed that we got that knock on the door and were asked if we could take her in. 

Here's The Bug when he first arrived from rescue. As you can see from the missing fur on his face and leg, he was very sick with mange. He was the dog who people in the Vet's waiting room would go out of their way to avoid. I cried the first time someone walked up to pet him and told him he was handsome. He's considered quite the success story at our Vet's and when he comes in, they all come out to see him. Maya hates that since she's the Princess and is supposed to be the star. I have to say though that the last time we took them both in together, the receptionist immediately said "the Gaffney dogs are here" and we were whisked right in.  No waiting room for my well behaved dogs.

Thank you for letting me share my babies with you. I hope you all enjoy this wonderful show and a huge  Thank You So Much to SewCalGal for all of her hard work. 

What's that you say? You want to see one more picture of Brady Bug with his beautiful fur? O.K., if you insist.

By the way, please notice the quilt :) It is hourglass blocks made with Tanya Whelan's Delilah. Aren't those colors wonderful?

See you soon,

Dana 

I'm Here

Hi everyone. I really never thought I would find the time to start a blog, but tomorrow is the start of SewCalGals Pets on Quilts Show, which is one of my favorite blogging events. I took part last year through Flickr.

But this year I really wanted to enjoy the fun. That's Brady Bug from last year. Through lots of bribery and treats I have pictures of both dogs I am looking forward to sharing. I am an empty nester who loves my four legged children, just ask my daughter.

So, this is my trial run for the big day tomorrow. If you see anything obviously wrong with this blog, or have tips or suggestions please let me know. I'm flying blind here.

See you soon,
Dana