The Days Are A Blur. Plus A New Years Start...OMG For February!

Wow has it really been over 7 months since my last post!!!! So much has been going on, some good some bad. All I know is this years has been hard on our family. My husband lost two of his brothers within months of each other and his father the beginning of the year.

We decided to move to Bowling Green since our son was going to go to WKU. Finding a house was crazy! I would send texts to our realtor about a house we wanted to see and it was already off market! We did finally find a house and it's only 3 minutes from Timmy's dorm! He's been coming home on the weekends, and I think that has helped him deal with the newness of it all. Duke and Gracie are very happy when he comes home...Me too! Duke and Timmy have gotten very close and it makes me so happy to see the bond they have.

 I love the way Duke is hugging Timmy back by leaning his head into him.

I don't think I ever gave an update on Duke and Timmy. In the beginning he was afraid of Tim and Timmy. After 2 1/2 weeks he went to Tim, but Timmy was proving more of a challenge. The Rescue we were working with almost wouldn't let us keep him because they were worried about Duke never getting used to Timmy or afraid he would bite ending with us giving him up or having to have him put down if he did bite. But I saw that he was interested and just needed more time. He never showed aggression or any indication of biting. When he was scared he would run away from Timmy. It took him around 4 months to finally go to Timmy. I thank Gracie for that! Duke would watch them together and you could tell he wanted some of that attention too. Now Timmy is Dukes boy. He misses him all week, I catch him in Timmy's bed whenever I leave his door open with the saddest of faces. And when Timmy comes home he gets bunches of hugs. I believe Timmy is benefiting from his hugs as much as Duke is.

Our new home was also very close to the tornado that went through western KY in December. It was very scary and way too close for my liking! But we were blessed and had very little damage. The homes a couple blocks away are still waiting on work to be done. And the main street just past that still looks like a war zone.

That's about it on the update of my life, onward with the projects I've been doing!

My first finish of the new year! Well, maybe finished...

Pat Sloan used this block in her new QAL Sweet Dreams that is going on now. She suggested making a throw and has a free pattern available at her site. I'm not sure if I'm going to put another border on, maybe the strips of fabrics I used for the hearts and I'm not sure if I'll do the big HST in the outer border. I used fabric from another sew along and I still have a few blocks left to do and I don't want to use up that fabric on this and not be able to finish it. I plan on working on that, in fact that will be my OMG for February. 

Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal February Link-up

I want to finish my Home Is... quilt from Pat Sloan's spring QAL. I have three of the big sections done and put together, I just have to make six blocks and 4 of those are super easy. So my goal is to complete the Home Is... quilt top! I'm not sure about borders, but if I can get the blocks sewn together I will be very happy. 

I'm hoping to get these up on the bulletin board so I can see them better. But there is a bunch of blocks you can't see. I do have a spot in my new Studio for a design wall, just need to buy the material for that. Until then my bulletin board will have to do.

Another project I have been working on is also one of Pat Sloan's QAL called Fall Frolic. I decided to do mine from a fat quarter bundle I bought awhile ago. Most of the fabric was Return To Winter's Lane and Signature Linen by Kate & Birdie Paper Co. for Moda. I added Winter Wonderland (Clothworks) and for my solids I used Kona Cotton in Mushroom. I also purchased a .5 yard of Poppy for the border in case I didn't have enough, but I think I have plenty. The blocks are done I just have a few sashing blocks left to do. Here are some of my favorites.

The sashing blocks are simple, economy blocks using the papers from Fat Quarter Shop. You don't need to use the papers, but I got them in one of FQS Sew Sampler boxes and figured I might as well use them!

I do have more projects to show you, but this post is already a novel! So I'll do another post in a couple days with those in it!  Thank you for taking time to visit my blog! Hope to see you for Part 2 of catching up!

Sheila