Celebrating Zoey's Gotcha Day

 

Zoey joined my family on September 15 last year, and on October 3, I added a post here on this blog about her as a way to document her growth and progress.

Interestingly, not much has changed with her. Most of the changes are mine. When I first got her, I kept wondering if her energy and her past traumas were too much for me to handle. She doesn't jump on me or put my hands in her mouth as often as she used to, mostly because she is more comfortable with me and doesn't get as frightened or nervous as she used to. She has separation anxiety so she will jump on me or pull at my clothes when I come back from taking the trash out for pickup.

 Mostly though, I am no longer afraid that she is going to bite me or hurt me when she jumps on me.

 

She finds the ripe passion-fruit and plays ball with it until it breaks and then she eats it. She is much better than I am at determining which passion-fruit is ripe enough to eat so she gets more than I do. In the picture above, you can see a yellowish green walnut and beside that is the darker green passion-fruit. 

I tried to put a daisy on her head like I had put the dandelion in a previous post, but she decided she would rather know whether I still love her. 

Yes I definitely do. I am so happy she is here. She still loves her squeaky ball and carries it around with her, even to bed. The one that fits her mouth is small enough to roll under the couch and furniture, so I have to keep getting them for her. 

Now that firework season is gone, I have reduced her anxiety medicine. She no longer chews on furniture or baseboards when I am gone, but I still try to stay home as much as possible or get a sitter for her when I have to go anywhere for more than an hour. She walks around the house crying and looking for me.

I haven't added any more talking buttons to the board, but she loves to use them to tell me she loves me, to ask for food, and to ask to go outside. When I tell her to wait, she will wait a few minutes and will remind me when the few minutes are over. I am glad she does that.

15 Minutes to Stitch Week 41

 

I spent these weeks quilting and binding African Garden quilt. That's it in the picture at the top of the post. I am really happy with how it turned out. One of my determining factors about whether  quilt is successful is how it looks when it is all rumpled up, and this one definitely makes me happy. Even when you can't see the pattern, the colors make it so pretty.

15 minute days these weeks --14 out of 14

15 minute days this year -- 213 out of 288 days

Success rate  = 74%

 

 

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My "Vacation" So Far

 

 

Zoey and I have been enjoying our summer vacation so far staying inside the air conditioned house. The squirrels outside are enjoying eating and gathering the walnuts from my neighbor's trees and since it is raining walnuts outside and the bees are a-buzzing, Zoey does not want to go outside by herself.

It is nice to be outside enjoying nature and watching Zoey's antics for these "outings" but they aggravate my allergies so it is good and bad at the same time. 

Quilt and Color

 

Starting a YouTube channel has been much more difficult than I thought. You can skip this part and go on to the next section if it gets boring, but I wanted to record it so someday (hopefully soon), I can look back on it and say "Poor me, the things I didn't know. They had such simple fixes too."

My original thought was that it would take me about an hour to record a ten to twenty minute video, and then an hour or two to edit and publish it. I could publish one a day. I had five "practice" videos where I could just show things I have already made and then I could move on to making things and showing tutorials. It is taking me so much longer than that to publish the videos that I haven't been able to get to the quilting content yet.

I had to record the first video, the scrapbook, three times. I didn't have a tripod and getting the journal in the screen and at a good pace took quite a bit of doing. I linked that video in my last post.

I gave myself a budget and bought an overhead tripod, which is somewhat defective in its other features, but the tripod part works and I was able to get that one published. I couldn't get my voice to be loud enough so I bought a microphone as well, but decided to let the first one be music only. I know I sometimes prefer that.

The second video, the index cards, was therefore easier to film and I was able to record my voice, but I wanted to be able to edit out the blunders, the long pauses and the coughing and sniffing. I used the same free software that I used for the scrapbook, Lightworks, and it was working fine with all the edits, but then all of a sudden it kept saying "offline". I didn't know why it said that because I was able to use the internet fine for other things. I had to start over again two additional times before I could get a video that was good enough to publish. The cards are not in chronological order, but they weren't in perfect order anyway so I am not going to worry about it.

The goal is more to learn about how to do things and improving with each video, so although I don't like publishing things that aren't perfect, I think they are good enough to do the job they are supposed to do.

For the third video, Review of Arteza Paints, I decided to  so I switch to a different software, Davinci Resolve, which was similar to Lightworks but I had to learn it as well. It worked fine for a while but then it also eventually said "offline". It turns out that the software is cloud-based, and the problem was at my internet provider's end. I wound up taking what I had created in Davinci Resolve, moving it to Lightworks, finishing it off and publishing it. 

For my fourth and future videos, I increased my budget yet again and buy Adobe Premiere Elements which will be able to handle the basic functions I need and not be cloud-based. It is causing me problems where my voice is not syncing properly to the video so when I edit, I can hear my voice in stereo, with one voice being a second or two off the second voice. Very annoying. At this point, I do think Lightworks is a better software than Premiere Elements, but I think I need to give myself more time to learn both.

There is a backlog of the list of videos I want to post. I hope the list doesn't get as long as the list of quilts I want to make!

15 Minutes to Stitch Weeks 29, 30, 31 and 32

 

My last 15 minutes to stitch post was July 16. I didn't realize that it had been that long. Sorry. You can probably guess that this means that I haven't been able to get to any quilting content. I haven't come up with a good schedule of working and playing.  I did take time off from recording and editing videos to paint three canvases, which felt like cheating, so I have been creative, but haven't gotten to the fabric yet. Did you notice the rail fence in the background?

I don't know what this person is doing, but doesn't look as confident as the inspiration. Whoever looks at it can decide, but I am calling it Throw Caution to the Wind.

 

It will come soon though, I promise. I do have plans to make portraits on fabric. The success rate looks so sad since I was expecting it to increase now that the work project is over.

15 minute days these weeks --0 out of 28

15 minute days this year -- 155 out of 225 days

Success rate  = 69%

 

 

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2023: 15 Minutes to Stitch Week 14

 

When I showed you Fear of the Missed Deadline, I was in a hurry to get finished on time and the lighting wasn't very good that day, so I am showing it to you again in better lighting. I cut off the loose threads after taking the picture. This quilt doesn't get to keep loose threads like Whose Rights does.

2023: 15 Minutes to Stitch Week 14

 

Happy Easter! I spent the little bits of time I could find to make the Whose Rights quilt I showed you yesterday. Every time I have even a fleeting thought that I should focus my time on already started quilts, I rebel and start a new one.

15 minute days this week --7 out of 7

15 minute days this year -- 91out of 91 days

Success rate  = 100%

 

 

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More Progress on Boundless

 I started last week's post but decided to wait to get a picture, so here it is.

2023: 15 Minutes to Stitch Week 12

 Like last week, it was difficult to eek out time every day, but I managed to finish quilting and apply the machine binding on the Boundless quilt. I am now working on stitching the binding down to the back. I also spent a little time cutting fabric for Unallocated scrap quilt. I don't have much time to quilt, and need to get away from the computer so I can't spend much time with blog posts when I could be stitching.

15 minute days this week --7 out of 7

15 minute days this year -- 84 out of 84 days

Success rate  = 100%

 

 

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This week was more exciting. Mary Fons showed my Zou the Elephant quilt on the Quilt Nerd Show. 

 

I finished the binding on Boundless quilt. Since it was made as a part of the Dust off An Old Quilt Book blog hop, I dusted off another book, and chose a design. The original plan was to embroider a design in the diamonds, redwork style

But when I opened the drawer to see if I had some freezer paper or press n seal, I found some fusible and I decided to use the leftover binding to add some applique instead. The design is exactly the size of the binding strip.

 

Zoey approves. There is plenty of white space to let the diamonds shine but adds that extra that gives the maximalist touch.

2023: 15 Minutes to Stitch Week 13

This week, I hand stitched down the binding on the Boundless quilt, chose a design and added applique to the diamonds.

15 minute days this week --7 out of 7

15 minute days this year -- 91 out of 91 days

Success rate  = 100%

 

 

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I finished the Boundless quilt on April 1, 2023. I will show you the reveal as soon as I get some pictures.

Progress on Boundless Quilt

 

I have been quilting the Boundless quilt which I am making for the Dust Off an Old Quilt Book blog hop. It is a baby size quilt that should fit on the curtain rod above of my couch. I am very happy with how it is turning out.

2023: 15 Minutes to Stitch Week 9

I focused on Boundless for this week's stitching so that I can be finished in time. The photo is the back of the quilt. I did cut some scraps for Unallocated so I can make progress on cleaning out the fabric room.  My separation anxiety book is due at the library so I had to finish reading it which limited some quilting time, but blog hop deadline kept me sewing every day.

 

15 minute days this week --7 out of 7

15 minute days this year -- 63 out of 63 days

Success rate  = 100%

 

 

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Zoey Update

 

I have been asked to provide updates on Zoey's communication, and I want to keep records of her progress. Here on the blog is a good place to do it.

She started out with two buttons, "Love You" and "Go Outside". One day it clicked to her that she could communicate with me using them. I definitely respond faster to what she wants when she pushes the buttons because I know what she wants, and because I want to make sure she understands what each button means to me.

Since then, I have added other buttons. And also some foam holders that helps keep the buttons in the same place. They move around so I will need to tape them down to the floor. One button is lost (I haven't taken the time to look for it), so I opened the new pack and only used one out of a pack of 6. Currently her buttons are:

1. Love You

2.Go Outside

3. Settle

4. Go Potty

5. Play

6. Eat

I moved the Go Outside button from the door to the foam. So now all the buttons are in one place, but there are two types of containers because when I bought more buttons, this set was cheaper. She didn't have any problems making the change, as far as I can tell. If she accidentally hit the wrong button, I may not know, since I have to respond as if it was on purpose so she knows what they mean. I pushed all the buttons and she tested all the buttons so she would know which one is which.

I am not sure she fully understands the Settle button means. I take her to the couch and tell her down and pet her when she pushes it. She may have thought it means "couch" since a couple of times she was way too excited to be settling. It turns out that there were balls that had rolled under the couch. But the last couple of times she pushed it, it was my bedtime. The first time she did,  I told her Yes it is time to sleep. It took me some time to get upstairs since I had to put the clothes in the dryer and dishes in the washer so I am not sure it was fast enough for her to make a connection. Last night (Friday), she pushed it again and I didn't realize the time, so I watched TV with her on the couch. It seems like I need more training than she does on how to use that button.

I don't think she knows the difference between the Go Outside and the Go Potty buttons. But it is something I want to know since I can tell her "Later" when she clicks the Go Outside button when the neighbors are out, but I don't want to say "Later" if she has to go.

I just put out the Eat button Friday afternoon, and she knows exactly what it means already. This morning she kept pushing the Eat button after she had already eaten breakfast. I kept telling her "All Done." Then I remembered that she needed to take her anxiety medication. So she was right, and I was wrong.

She doesn't push the Love You button much, maybe because she doesn't need to. She gets pets and attention if she just walks up to me.

It is very tempting to add another set of buttons, but I wanted to make sure she has enough practice with these first before adding more. As work gets busy, I am not going to have time to respond to every button push to train her on what it means.

Circles and a Brand New Project

 

 

I had a productive week working on three quilts. I sewed the latest batch of circles with the last batch(es).

 I had a question about the order I put the circles. It is chronological, but very loosely. I try to put the big circles in a way that will balance with the other big circles in the quilt. That is why the big circle that was not made in this batch but is on the right. The circles on the left were made in previous batch(es) and the ones in the middle were the latest batch. I don't try to make them chronological in each batch. I am allowed to change the circles around if I want to separate certain colors, shapes, etc. 

Generally, I would be making one row at a time, but because of the big circle, I decided to make them by columns. I want to be able to sew these together so that the circles don't get lost. I do have a box to put them in, but putting them together as I go along keeps them in somewhat chronological order.

This is only half a row. I will add more circles as I make more batches before I attach to the mother ship.

 I pressed the Jazzy Blues triangles. I still need to trim them. I will count them after I trim them. I want to make sure that I keep making progress on this quilt.

I've been invited to join the Dust Off an Old Quilt Book Blog Hop which is coming up in March. You can join too. 

I have decided I should get started so I can be ready by my blog hop day. Last time I showed a finished quilt top but it wasn't quilted. I thought about quilting the same project because having that deadline will make progress on it, but I decided that the blog hop readers deserved a new quilt. Hopefully using a jelly roll will make it a quick finish.

2023: 15 Minutes to Stitch Week 6

I had seen these little buttons that you record words so that your dog can communicate with you and I got them about the time I got Zoey. I want better communication with my dog. I have been pushing them and getting her to push them but she hadn't made the connection that she can communicate with me using them.

 

After my post last week, Zoey pushed the "Love You" button. It might have been an accident, but I gave her attention, scratched her ears and gave her a treat. She went back and pushed it again, and she got the same treatment. I think she made the connection, and she ran to test the "Go outside" button. So I let her out. She has been pushing the "Go outside" button all week and she definitely understands what the buttons mean. The "Love you" button got pushed under some furniture so she didn't use it during the week. I am so proud of her. I have more buttons I can use, but I wanted to make sure I didn't rush it.

I worked on three quilts this week!

 

15 minute days this week --7 out of 7

15 minute days this year -- 42 out of 42 days

Success rate  = 100%

 

 

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Jazzy Blues Progress

 

After a long lull without sewing, I have been making progress on the Jazzy Blues quilt. This quilt is a part of a quilt along, named Aunt Daisy. All the blocks have been released and many people have already finished their quilts. There are a lot of beautiful colorways showing up on my Facebook feed, and only a couple with alternate layouts.

Last week, I spent a fifteen minute session making a trial equilateral triangle block. I have a acrylic template set to help me make them, but don't have directions. I figured it was probably already taking the seam allowance into consideration, but I decided to make it big and trim if I needed. It worked out perfectly (except for the trimming I didn't need).

 

 

So this week, I made a whole bunch of triangle blocks. I didn't make the number required because I wanted to try out different layouts and decide before making these blocks.

I need to make more of these, and also some in the contrasting colorway. Then I played with some choices. I don't think I will ever have this many different blocks available so it is fun to play around and see what kinds of designs they can make.

Did you notice that my design choices have 25 components?

That number doesn't include all the blocks that I made. The actually block has more components.

This is more like the actual layout, except I haven't made the alternate colorway for the equilateral triangle blocks yet. Can I just say that I am so impressed with the original designer of this block? There are 49 pieces and so many different types of components.

Plus, this block is so big that I don't really have a good place to lay it out. I put it on top of the crate, but then it isn't easy to photograph it or look at the layout. For some reason, my desktop isn't tiling the background picture so I will have to figure out a different way to see how this will look in a quilt.

2022: 15 Minutes to Stitch Weeks 40, 41, 42

 

 

I worked on Jazzy Blues this week, although I did take a look at the Olympics quilt. I am not going to meet my goal of finishing more quilts than I start if I don't finish two quilts this year. I might finish another couple of quilt tops in the flimsy closet instead, but the Olympics quilt is closest to being done.

15 minute days these weeks --8 out of 21

15 minute days this year -- 215 out of 296 days

Success rate  = 77%

 

Linked with Life in Pieces: Stitching Stuff

 

Learning about Zoey

One of my blogging friends posts an annual birthday post for each of her children. It is a nice place to document the growth of her children and I thought I would do the same for Zoey.

Instead of finding a name for her around the original Jaslyn that she was given at the shelter, I have settled on the name Zoey. She didn't know the name Jaslyn, and Zoey just seems to fit her. Then I remembered that Bonnie Hunter also has a dog named Zoey, so maybe subconsciously that is why I thought of that name.. Her vet and prescription company think of her as Jazz so I will keep that name too.

She is a fairly sweet, very affectionate dog. She followed me around everywhere I went on the first few days, but now she will stay where she is while she is taking a nap. She does not like to be outside without me, but she does not seem to be frightened of sounds. Trains, planes, thunder, wind rustling the leaves, loud cars with blaring music, sirens, dogs barking, people talking, band practice, and kids screaming in the playground get her attention, but she does not seem to be afraid of them. I have been coming in and out of the house for her to get used to being outside without me. She loves it out there.

 

Zoey needs more training to keep her from jumping up, not mouth me, or pull at my clothes. When she just wants more food, especially what I am eating, or if she wants to play tug, or she just needs to take a nap, she will start nipping me. I got a crate for her, and she can stand and more around in it fine, but she can't sit without bending her neck, so I have returned the old crate and will be getting a bigger one. It will be challenging to find a place for a bigger crate in my house, but I can't leave her alone without one. She ate a bag full of treats when I left her to pick up her food.

 She is also very smart and can think of other ways to get what she wants, like jumping over the arm rest on the couch or jumping down off the side of the porch.

She is so funny when she is outside. She takes a passion fruit off the vines and throws it a few feet away, catches it and throws it another few feet away. She can play catch like this for a long time, and if the passion fruit breaks, she eats the seeds inside. She now has a 2.5" soft squeaky ball that she can use. It is a little bigger than a passion fruit but she likes it too now. It is a nice way for her to use up her energy. She will just sit at the door if I am inside so I have to stay outside with her. This will be a problem as the weather gets cooler, but I do try to keep coming in and out of her house to get her used to being outside by herself.

She has a lot of energy and does zoomies around the yard when she is upset.

2022: 15 Minutes to Stitch Week 37, 38 and 39

 

 

I haven't been doing any significant quilting these three weeks

15 minute days this weeks --1 out of 21

15 minute days this year -- 207 out of 268 days

Success rate  = 77%

 

Linked with Life in Pieces: Stitching Stuff