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. Now I just have to bind it and it'll be finished.
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 decides to help protect him while he's on his mission.
Thanks to a two-timing ex and a job as a busy restaurant server Yeon Ah hates people in general, so she's not interested in the handsome goblin romantically. Instead she has him move in with her, do her housework, pay her rent and cook for her in exchange for her protection. Yet she's drawn to Ban Sook, who is a gentleman, and gradually their alliance becomes a friendship that evolves into a quiet romance.
Every human Ban Sook kisses teaches him an emotion he's never before felt, which develops his character beautifully through the series. There are always consequences of him acquiring emotions, too, which are often funny but sometimes quite touching as well. It's like watching a teenager grow up in a few weeks.
The targets forget the goblin immediately after the kissing, and there's no harm done to them, so he's hardly menacing. He enjoys living with Yeon Ah and becomes quite protective of her when her ex causes trouble. Yet the exorcist pursues Ban Sook relentlessly. The reincarnation of another exorcist who once fell in love with the goblin queen, he wants him dead before he can become human.
Finally Ban Sook learns that his tenth and final target is Yeon Ah, and she must teach him love. The Goblin Queen then informs him that moment he kisses her, she'll lose all memory of him, and he'll also forget her as he becomes a human being. At first Ban Sook decides to give up his quest and leave the human world forever rather than forget Yeon Ah, but once she learns about the consequences she convinces him to kiss her. If they're meant to be, they should leave it up to Fate to bring them together again.
While abbreviated on the world-building and short on details (such as why exactly goblins are considered by the exorcists as such a threat to humans) Kiss Goblin does a nice job in delivering a fun story in basically two and a half hours. I think seeing heartthrob actor Bae In Hyuk kiss ten girls was probably the whole point of it, but they did a decent job creating a story where he could. The ending was predictable (I saw it coming by Episode 2) but still very satisfying. The final scene of the series even offers some hope for the exorcist and the Goblin Queen, too. Available to watch free (with lots of commercials) on Viki.com.
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.
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.
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 end result is very filling, freezes well and is quite tasty. A nice meal with homemade biscuits.
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 wife, who throws water in her face at a cafe. The icing on the cake is when a video of the cafe incident makes Dong-Kyeong go viral on the internet as "Adultress of the Week." Naturally Dong-Kyeong goes home and gets drunk, and shouts out a dire wish from her balcony when she sees a shooting star. She asks Doom to come to the world and destroy it.
Somewhere in the eternity of the universe Doom (Seo In-guk), aka the god of everything that disappears, hears the drunken wish. As it happens it's his birthday, and on this day he's allowed to grant any human one wish. He's also sick of his existence as the one who makes misfortunes for humans and sees everything he touches die, so he decides to answer Dong-Kyeong's wish. It's a bit comical when he shows up on Earth to make a contract with the dying young woman, as he has to prove to her that he really is Doom. But once he convinces her of that fact through some very dramatic incidents, they strike an interesting bargain.
Doom offers to keep Dong-Kyeong pain-free for the next hundred days, and help her live her dream life. He'll also grant her one extra wish. At the end of the hundred days she has to wish for him to destroy the world. If she doesn't, she and the rest of the world will live, but the person she loves most will die. Dong-kyeong resists the contract at first, but Doom puts her life on the line, so she accepts his offer -- and then decides to fall in love with Doom so that he'll be the one to die.
I don't know who wrote this drama, but they deserve all the screenwriting awards in Asia. Of course the bargain these two make is nightmarish, especially as Dong-kyeong has to save herself and the world by falling in love with Death, which is basically impossible. Or is it? Doom is not only handsome, intelligent, powerful and (weirdly) tragic, he's necessary. When he doesn't do his job, the world falls into chaos. Dong-Kyeong, who has already had a tragic and unfair life even before she got the tumor, seems as incapable of love as Doom.
And then they fall in love, the kind of epic love that only happens in fairytales. Only this one can't have a happy ending either way.
I liked the questions that this drama asked of the viewers, from What would you choose to save? to Why does everything have to end? I found it both perplexing and reassuring; the kind of philosophical conundrum that makes me want to write. I also thought the large support cast did a fantastic job. Doom's boss, who is basically God/Jesus/Buddha all wrapped into one, appears on the scene to keep things lively. There's also a secondary romance/love triangle between a writer, Dong-Kyeong's team leader and the team leader's brother (who happens to be the writer's first love) that is just as absorbing as the protagonists' story.
Does Dong-Kyeong make the right decision in the end? Given the results (and no spoilers), I thought so. The last episode is what I'd describe as romantic payback for the viewers who hung on until the end, which you don't usually see in k-dramas. I thought it was very sweet and touching, too. Highly recommend if you ever get a chance to see this one.
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 a short break, and then onto the next project. :)
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. :)
If you have diabetes, then you have to regularly have your A1C tested. This is a blood test that measures the level of blood glucose (or ...
