Meet Romy

We are going to take a break from all things quilting related today to take time to introduce you to our new puppy.

Her name is Agent Romanov, aka Romy.   If you aren’t an Avengers fan, you probably don’t know who Agent Romanov is, but let’s just say there is a certain 40-year-old male that lives in this house who is a BIG fan of practically all comic book movies.  And, no matter how much fun is made of him by a certain female that lives in this house, he still watches all the Marvel comic book movies over and over (and over again.)   So, after the puppy went almost a full week without a name, we decided that Romy was the favorite  – and not because Scarlet Johansson is our favorite actress – but we thought the name was unique and cute.  (A special thanks to SIL Andrea for the idea).

Romy is a German Shorthair Pointer.  She is the same breed as our last dog, but this time Joel decided to get a black one instead of a brown one.  They are a little more unusual and so far many people have confused her with a Springer Spaniel.  Those of you who are GSP people probably won’t have that trouble, as you will recognize the GSP build.  We even had one little girl think she was a Dalmatian.  Whatever she is, you may recognize the family resemblance – as she and Joel have matching white chins.

This is the first photo of Carter meeting Romy.  He was pretty excited when Joel brought her home!

He’s always excited to see her  – Though it is usually followed by this face, as Romy goes in for a lick and Carter tries to get out of the way.  (sorry for the bad iphone photos)

 

Romy is now 12 weeks old and has already grown quite a bit from when this picture was taken (about a month or so ago)

 

Carter and Romy have gotten along pretty well, but there has been a little of this . . .  Carter does not always want to share his toys.

There has also been a little jealousy on Carter’s part – mainly where Dad is concerned.  When Joel is holding or petting the puppy, Carter comes running and says “Catch” – That means he wants to be held or picked up.

 

This picture has nothing to do with the dog – I just thought it was so cute.

 

The main issue with the dog has been nipping.  This isn’t a very good photo, but check out those teeth.  They are super sharp and Romy is constantly jumping on Carter and grabbing hold of whatever she can.

Initially it was Carter’s ears  – thus the big cap with the flaps in a previous photo.  Now it is usually his shirt – thus many t-shirts with holes in the back.  We are constantly after her to get down.  In fact, if you ask Carter what his new puppy’s name is, he says “Sit Down, Puppy”.  Every. Time.  It’s pretty funny.  Joel’s sister warned us that we need to make sure that Romy understands that Carter isn’t his litter mate, which is exactly how she acts with him.  We have a local “dog whisperer” coming in a few days to help us out with this issue, but otherwise it is going well.

 

One last photo of something for Joel and I to remember.  Carter was playing Playdough, with Romy perched up on the table watching.   It was cute until Carter leaned forward, stuck his face into Romy’s food dish and took several large licks.

As you can see, I was knitting so it happened before I could get over there to stop him.  It was empty, but still.  Yuck – and I’m sure it won’t be the last time!

 

 

 

 

More Winners and More Runners

I’ll start by announcing the winners from my last post.  The two lucky people who were  selected are:  (and by the way, winners aren’t selected based on their comments, but are randomly selected from the pool of commenters.)

Molly Augustine and Barb Lyons!  Please email your shipping addresses to:  hmulder@wecnet.com.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the giveaway.  The favorite runners from the post (by a landslide) were “Spinners” and “Nordic Stars.”

 

I have currently been working on quilting and binding all the runners made by the testers.  I have had lots of shops requesting trunk shows from the book, so I need to get the runners all finished and shipped out tomorrow.  I am trying to get them photographed to share with you, but the weather here isn’t cooperating too well.  It’s either too sunny, raining, or too windy, so I will share a couple today and more as I get the photos done.

The first one is the Spinners Topper.

 

This one is made using Basic Grey’s new Christmas line – 25th and Pine.  (I don’t think the yardage is out yet, so I used prints from my stash for the border and binding).

 

Here’s a shot of the original, just for comparison’s sake.  They are pretty similar, but the binding on the new one is way better.  I was running low on stripes for bindings when I did the original.  I may have to take that off and change it!

 

The second one for today is the “Bookends” runner.  As you can see in the background, it is an absolutely gorgeous day here in Minnesota.  It makes me want to go by some plants and get my pots done.  We had frost warnings here in MN last week, so I haven’t done it yet.

 

Back to the runner – It is mostly made with prints from my Summer House line.  (They aren’t quite this bright in person, but photographing in bright sunlight will do that to some fabrics)

 

Honestly, I prefer the original one from the book.  I think the darker background makes for a much more dramatic runner.  Just a thought for those of you who were thinking of trying it.   I actually made the one above first and was going to leave it out of the book.   But, after some contemplation and a little fabric shopping, I decided what it really needed was different fabric.

 

All for now – I’m off to get a little more work done before Carter wakes up.  Then we really need to go for a walk and take advantage of this nice day!  I will try to get some pictures while we are out so you can meet our new puppy.

 

On The Run Again Preview – Part 2

Back for Part 2!

First, let’s start with a couple randomly selected winners from the last post.

#1 – Kris Pedrow and #2 Sunnybec.

Just send me your shipping address and I will mail out a copy of the new book (below).  My email is hmulder@wecnet.com

I really appreciate all the feedback from the last post!  I am always so curious to see if what everyone likes is what my guess would be (or not).  The favorite runners from the post were Chatterbox and Awesome Blossom.

 

Let’s continue taking the tour around my “booth”.

I have to say – maybe this way isn’t so bad.  I am able to have a much nicer furniture and room settings than I could ever have in my little 10′ x 20′ market booth!

 

#9 – Nordic Stars

 

I rarely do quilts that aren’t totally scrappy, but I am loving the red and white, with just a touch of blue.

 

I also think the stripe binding is important on this one.  It just adds to the drama, while keeping the color combo simple and dramatic.

 

#10 – Divine.    Precut used:  10″ squares

I am loving anything with 60-degree angles lately, and this runner is yet another example.  After making so many quilts over the last 17 years, I get a little bored with only 90 and 45-degree corners.

 

All of the runners in the book that have 60-degree angles use this ruler by Creative Grids.  It’s one of the most popular rulers on the market, so I know a lot of you already have it in your ruler stash.  (It’s also the same one that I used in my Sizzlin’ Sixties book.)

 

 

#11 – Happy Dance.   Precut Used:  Fat Eighth

I wanted to include one or two photos with a kid or two as props.  I’m not sure why I decided to use a setting with 4 moving props, tempting cupcakes and noisy blowers.  My husband just thinks I am a glutton for punishment!  I took tons of photos and not one had all of the kids smiling.  I ended up having to switch a few heads around to get this shot.

 

 

It was still fun though and I like the some of the action shots too.

This is one of only 2 shots where Carter smiled for me.  I guess the sugar was starting to kick in – as you can see his cupcake no longer has any frosting left.  We got chocolate cake and colored frosting all over my sisters dining room.  Oops!

 

I’m guessing you were busy looking at the kids in the last few shots and didn’t even notice the runner, so here is a close-up of just the runner

#12 –  The pattern also comes in a topper size.

 

It’s made using 4 fat eighths and a bit of binding.

 

#13 – Venetian Tiles.    Precut Used:  Fat Eighth

 

This is a great starter project if you want to give 60-degree angles a try.

 

BTW – I love this color combination – if you couldn’t tell from all the things I have been making lately with these colors.

 

#14 – Spinners.   Precut Used = 10″ squares

 

This is probably my favorite runner from the book.  It combines hexagons with 60-degree triangles, so two of my favorite shapes in one block.  (Have I mentioned that Carter likes shapes too?  and that Hexagon and Zig Zag are some of his favorites?  Yeah – you can tell he is spending a little time in my sewing room, can’t you?)

 

 

Despite looking difficult, this block isn’t too bad.  Each block only has 13 pieces.  That is only a few more than a simple 9-patch block and isn’t this block so much more interesting than a 9-patch?  Also, none of the seams are set in.  I have an easy technique to avoid such evil things.

 

 

Lastly, #15 – the Topper Variation of the Spinners pattern.  The perfect way to give the block a try.

 

Wow!  That was a lot of photos to make it through.  For those of you who are still here, I will give away a couple more books from this post.  Just leave a comment to be entered to win.  Like last time, I would be interested to know which is your fav

Thanks for playing along!

 

You can click here to order a copy of this book.