Smokey, the Bandit

7/17/2003 - 6/30/2020

Smokey died last night, probably about 1:15 a.m. on Tuesday, June 30, 2020.  He was about 2 1/2 weeks shy of his 17th birthday.  There will never be another Smokey; his personality was more than life-size.  I held him, stroked him, whispered into his ear, hummed to him--but he waited until I went to bed to depart this life.  I've warned God that Smokey can be quite mischievous--and to please let Smokey lay on His knee until I join him.  What a blessing Smokey was in our lives.

Week 26 (6/21-27/2020)

Used this Period: 16.9 yards

Added this Period: 0 yards

Used Year-to-Date:  136.04 yards

Added Year-to-Date:  76.33 yards

Net Stash Decrease for 2020:   59.71 yards

Snail's Trail:  8' 32.5"
Scrappy Camp:  7.5'

This was a productive month!  I finished the fishing quilt for DH, using a modified Snail's Trail pattern.  I had a border print that had a section for camping and one for fishing.  I used the fishing border print on the Snail's Trail--but didn't have enough for the 4th side so I used solid colors for the top border. Then I used leftover blue fabric combined with the camping border to make a large lap size quilt.  Darn--didn't have enough of the fishing hook fabric (used for backing for the Snail's Trail quilt) for the backing.  So, instead, I used a solid bluish turquoise for the backing.  I had initially bought it to use for the alternate Snail's Trail blocks but used a lighter turquoise instead.  Sigh--it all worked out, I guess.  The Snail's Trail is 62 X 73; the scrappy Camp quilt is 57 X 63.

   
Those are fishing creels in the printed fabric, which has a blue background.

   

Week 23-25 (5/31-6/20/2020)

Used this Period: 8.88 yards

Added this Period: 6 yards

Used Year-to-Date:  119.14 yards

Added Year-to-Date:  76.33 yards

Net Stash Decrease for 2020:   42.81 yards

6' for background of apricot Dresden plate
2' 32" for plates

Life happened again.  DH's brother-in-law, Glen, passed away.  We spent about 10 days in Colorado.  Glen was 87 but it came on pretty quickly--perhaps that's usual at that age.  He will be missed.  He was always supportive of me and was the first member of DH's family that I met--49 years ago!  It is always sad to look back and think of the many people we have lost--miss them so much but my time to join them is getting closer.  I will be 80 in the fall.

Our CA pup, Smokey, is in his twilight years--he will be 17 years old in July if he is with us that long.  I can certainly understand what he is going through--stiff joints, failing eyesight, loss of hearing, etc.  He doesn't eat much any more and is frightfully frail.  The life expectancy for Lhasa Apsos is 12-14 years--but it is sad to see him getting ready to leave us.

I was very tempted to change the numbers for the June quilt--this Dresdan plate has been on my list for a few years already.  But I decided to get it started and searched the stash for coordinating pinks.  While doing that, I found some matching apricot fabrics instead.  I decided I would make the quilt as large as possible--but the size would be limited by the amount of fabric available.  I did need to buy background fabric to stitch the Dresden plates onto--and played with the size of the blades (no pattern, just a picture from the Internet).  Anyway, the flimsy is done; however, I will need to get some fabric for the backing and binding.  The quilt size is 76 x 93.  I saw a picture with one blade lowered for "He loves me, he loves me not" and decided my quilt needed that, too.  So, this quilt is finally off my list!

    

I'm getting a bit tired of quilting--perhaps my quilting mojo has never really returned.  I'm trying to use all the stash but realize that probably won't happen--not enough years left in my life!  Perhaps after this year I will stop quilting for awhile.