Top Dog Prize

Please excuse this break from normal blogging. I have returned from my vacation. I promise that my next vacation will be spent on a beach, knitting, drinking fluffy drinks with umbrellas! No whinny nieces and nephews! No sister who thinks I'm not good enough and don't fit into her image of what a 43 year old woman should do, wear & say!! I did get to drive to Cary, North Carolina and meet my virtual friend Yvonne. She was wonderful - however I had a very long day leading up to the visit and forgot to take my camera into the house - bad blogger. The title to this post refers to my group of friends - some virtual, some I have met in person who have all been communication on the Weight Watchers Challenge Boards - some for as long as 3+ years! Yvonne is one of those friends. Anyway through WW we have a challenge about walking our dogs and losing weight. During 2005 Yvonne walked her goldens every single day of the year. Just think about that for a minute - EVERY SINGLE DAY! This in itself is remarkable. What comes next is too. As a group - we elected Yvonne as Top Dog of 2005. The girls all sent me checks and I purchased a $150 gift card to REI with the money. Then I put together a bag full of stuff - stuff I would like, stuff a dog lover would like, stuff a dog would like - this is what the gift looked like: The other side of the lining is remarkably similar to this side, however, instead of having the little pocket at the top, this side has just the lower piece divided into two pockets. Above the pockets is lettering done in pink - done with my sewing machine which says Yvonne Sunny, Jackson & Beau (Her dogs) Dog Walkers of America (The name of our WW Challenge group) Top Dog 2005 Across from that inside pocket is the one seen above - with the little pocket added. This pocket was added for the sole purpose of holding the gift card. The lower piece of fabric is divided into three pockets. This is the leash that Marsha made! It is beautiful and apparently something that Yvonne has always wanted. She is quite happy with the idea of walking "Nut" (a nickname for Sunny) on the leather leash. Stamped into the leather is the words Top Dog 2005. Finally ~ this is everything out of the bag on my kitchen table. Included in the bag, was the following stuff: Fake Fur bear for the dogs; 2 handknit cotton washcloths (one blue, one purple); 2 bars of handmade soap (lavender & oatmeal, once can been seen on the purple cloth); next to the bear is a picture frame that has dog charms on it; next to that is a box of tea; there is a mug which says "Bone Appetite" on it. The chef is a dog and he's serving up dog bones. The purple cloth and soap is in front of the mug; there is a wooden picture frame with a dog on it; behind that is a red shoe squeaky toy; the leash is in front of the shoe; under the picture frame is a box entitled 97 Ways to Make a Dog Smile; under that is a photo album with a very cute golden puppy on the front. Under the blue washcloth is another photo frame - this one is magnetic and has 3D goldens around the edges. Finally - there was a green lace scarf that I knit. Since Yvonne's favorite color is green - it fit the bill!

I'm All Packed!

I finished the nephew blanket. I finished the bag for the virtual friend, the teddy bear for her dog and some toys for my dogs who will be horribly neglected while we are gone - not! I finished the pink skirt on Thursday morning. I got all the work done on my desk. I went shopping and bought (oh, the horror!) tops to go with my new cute skirts. I'm off to North Carolina for the next 10 days or so, where I will ge the priviledge of watching my neice and nephew play soccer, touring the Biltmore Estate, travelling all over the countryside looking at B&Bs for sale in preparation for a lifestyle change, and the thing I'm most excited about - I get to meet my longest, dearest virtual friend. I hope we get along as well in person as we do virtually :) I'll be back and posting soon :)

Seriously Stressed

I am a tried and true procrastinator. While I was a single mother in the late 80s with 2 small children going to school full time and working 3/4 time - I would always wait until the evening before a paper was due to write it. ALWAYS! I don't know why, but I seem to work better under pressure. With the upcoming vacation - I have lots of things planned that I want to get finished. I'm just now starting to stress that it won't all get done. Our plane takes off (yea right!) at 10:40 a.m. on Friday, October 20th. Here's the current status: *Handknit afghan for nephew - have 6 1/2 rows left, ran out of yarn, picked up remaining ball yesterday at JoAnns. Will hopefully finish on Monday. *Bag for DWOA friend - have been purchasing more stuff to stuff it with :) the shell is complete and a picture has been taken. The lining bottom and pockets are assembled and one side of the lining is complete with pockets attached, including an added pocket to hold an extra-special gift card. Photo of the empty, unassembled side taken. The lettering has been programed into my super duper sewing machine and samples were stitched this morning for centering purposes. So, about 85% done - will hopefully finish tonight. *Clothing for moi **Brown faux suede skirt - done **Other brown skirt - done **AB skirt - done **Pink print skirt - skirt is done to zipper installation, lining is cut out - hope to have time to work on Monday night. **Blue twinset - no progress other than the fabric has been washed **Pint twinset - see above **Sage t-shirt - see above Travel Knitting - has been decided upon. I'm making kitchen sets for the holidays which will include a felted oven mitt, felted potholder, 2 warshrags - ala MasonDixon knitting, and a dishtowel made from the burbcloth pattern. I have 2 oven mitts done, I just need to find coordinating cotton yarns for the warshrags and towels. Planning on heading to Michaels at lunch today. Better get to work, so I can actually leave the office at lunch :)