Valerean

We stopped by an outdoor animal rescue fundraiser event to see if they had any pups there available for adoption, but they were just offering cats. They brought some other animals for the kids to see, and I had to snap some pics. I didn't get too near the horse, ha.

I finished all the hand quilting on the patchwork runner, so my last task before binding it was to embroider the words Lake House on the center panel. I chose this text because it's the title of my favorite movie (I like both the English and Korean versions, too), and it suited the original maker's composition. I took my printout of the text and used a knife to cut the letters to serve as a tracing template. I do this on card stock when I plan to reuse the template, but since this was a one-time-only deal I just used the bond paper printout. For the embroidery I picked a size 5 perle cotton variegated thread with green, blue and brown colors that went best with the patchwork, and then got out my disappearing ink marker to trace the lettering. Since bond paper is flimsy I pinned the template to the quilt and went very slowly with the marker. Once I had my words traced I started to back-stitch the letters. It came out better than I expected, so I'm happy

Our new puppies have moved in with us at last. This is our sable, Beau. He was the largest pup in his litter, and the feistiest. I've always wanted to name a dog Beau, and he's very good-looking so it suited him. Shadow is our little tri-color, although he's mostly black and white (and also hard to photograph.) He was the runt of the litter, and the sweetest. He stays behind his big brother, like a little shadow. The boys are eating and playing well, and Beau is already barking. Shadow is still a bit skittish, but he's warming up to me. Expect more pictures. :)

Our two new puppies are coming home with us today, so we went shopping yesterday to get everything I needed for them. Which ended up being over three hundred bucks, but I invested in a couple of things I really wanted for them. I also had to buy the same food the breeder is using right now for them so I can gradually switch them over to the brand I prefer. I spent a little extra on this Sherpa pet carrier, too. I never like having puppies lose in a car; even on leashes they can get bounced off the seats too easily. It fits pets up to 22 lbs., and since our little runt probably won't get very big he'll likely fit in it for life. I'll reveal their names tomorrow, so stay tuned. :)

I've finished quilting the patchwork elements on the runner with holographic Sulky. I could have done something more elaborate, but I really like how it looks with just outline stitches. I'm debating on whether or not to add a little more quilting in the off-white background to keep the batting from shifting when I wash it. I might do that in a plain offwhite cotton thread. I'm also working out how to embroider the words Lake House above the little lake. This is the text in Kunstler Script 175 pt, which seems the prettiest.

Although each episode of Kiss Goblin is only about 12 minutes in length, this supernatural kdrama romance packs a suprising amount of story into every scene. It's also charming and funny, and I thought just about perfect for a sweet romance. A 160-year-old forest goblin, Ban Sook (Bae In Hyuk) wants to become human. To do that, the Goblin Queen (Lee Jung Min) tells him he must kiss ten humans and absorb and learn an emotion from each of them, something no goblin has ever been able to do. It's also dangerous, as there are exorcists in our world who hunt goblins to protect humanity from them. Because he doesn't want to be alone forever Ban Sook takes on the impossible task anyway, and comes into the human world to get started. While kissing his first two targets he's seen by jaded college student Oh Yeon Ah (Jae Hye Won), who goes after him for being a two-timer and discovers he's not human. After stopping an exorcist from killing the goblin she then decid

A local Sheltie breeder we've been in touch with let us know that she had some puppies available for adoption. Since we've had no luck finding rescue pups available we decided to buy two brothers from her litter. This boy is a sable Sheltie, very active and playful, and even barked when I played with him. This mostly black tri-color male is the runt of the litter, very sweet and cuddly. He probably won't get very big but I fell in love with him immediately. They'll stay with the breeder until they get their shots next Wednesday, and then they come home with us. By then we should have names picked out for them. You cannot believe how happy I am to have these beautiful boys join our family. I'm tearing up as I type this. :)

I chose the estate sale runner as my next project, and sewed on one strip at the top to give a little more balance to it. I decided against adding anything more fabric-wise. I don't want to mess with the original work too much because it's lovely just as it is. I batted and backed it with a piece of scrap muslin. I have to work on it this way because the piece is so long. First I'm going to outline stitch around the patchwork with holographic Sulky, and then decide if I want to do any embroidery.

One of these days I'll get a vanity book of my flower and nature photographs printed. In the meantime, some blasts from my pics past:

I love 15-bean soup, but my guy doesn't. His mother forced him to eat split pea soup as a kid, and it left him scarred or something over any soup with beans or peas in it. Anyway, with Kat gone I haven't made it because there is no recipe for a one- or two-serving soup. I miss it, though, so I decided to make a batch and freeze what I couldn't eat. I make an evolved version of my mom's bean soup; This recipe is pretty close to what I do. Mine is basically a large package of Hearst Has-Beans, lemon juice, diced onion, diced celery, diced potato, a medium can of tomato sauce and a small can of shoepeg corn. I simmer the beans by themselves for an hour, drain the pot (discarding the water also gets rid of what causes gas), add in ten cups of new water and everything else and cook on a very low heat for six hours. Also I don't use the seasoning packet that comes with the beans but throw in my own herbs, usually thyme, rosemary and some black pepper. The en

I actually subscribed to an Asian video streaming service so I could watch the k-drama Doom at Your Service , which I will never regret because they have hundreds of Korean drama series on their site; far more than Netflix. I also took my time watching this series because it was so sad, lovely, thought-provoking and essentially wonderful. The drama starts with a bang, as a young web novel editor, Tak Dong-Kyeong (Park Bo-young), learns that she's dying from an aggressive brain tumor, which will be causing her more and more pain and imapirment as it grows. If she does nothing about the tumor she has only three months to live; if she has a dangerous surgery she live for maybe a year but with significant, permanent impairments. If this wasn't enough for Dong-Kyeong to handle, on the same day she has an ugly run-in with her boss at work, her younger wastrel brother again tries to wheedle money from her, and and she finds out that her boyfriend is married from his pregnant wi

For my next project I'd like to do something simple and practical; art is wonderful but it's also very time-consuming. Since I picked up backing fabric for this double wedding ring lap quilt top that's one option. I need a new, summer-themed runner for the counter wall in my kitchen, and these estate sale patchwork pieces would work nicely into one. I'm leaning toward the runner because it's the smaller project. But I really want to make the lap quilt, too. Argh.

To wrap up my summer art quilt project I used the vintage moire satin to make the binding, and sewed that on. I had to deal with some fraying along the way, and the thickness of the layers at the corners made them hard to square, but I didn't fret over that. This slow-stitched project was about doing, not worrying. This was my third large slow-stitched art quilt, and it taught me a great deal. Embracing the fray would be at the top of that list, ha. Allowing myself to dream while embroidering was another valuable lesson. I loved how this panel turned out. Being able to let go and just stitch helped me relax and work on my mindset to find calm during a fairly busy, chaotic time during Kat's relocation for her work. I'm also happy that nearly every material I used for the project was either vintage or recycled. I'm going with Summer Dreams as the name for the quilt because that's what it gave me. Here's the finished quilt: Now to take

I finished quilting the last two panels on my summer art quilt. I added two little Swarovski pearls to the twine embellishment on this one. Deciding how to quilt it was making me a bit muddled, so I went back to the don't-overthink-it mindset and just did what felt right. Tonight I'll make the binding out of the vintage moire satin and start sewing that on. Stay tuned to see the finished piece.

I harvested the scallions from our veggie garden, and while a little on the thin side they were nice and crisp. Scallions have a lighter, sweeter taste than most onions, so you can eat them raw in salads or other dishes. I used most of ours to make dak-kochi . :)