Churn Dash Critters

I needed one more pillow for our new living room couches and chairs to round out the set and I needed this one to emphasize the greens a little more.  I've made a churn dash quilt before and I love it, but it mostly just hangs out folded up on a shelf somewhere.

All of this is to make the case for more churn dashes.  Especially churn dashes with fussy cut animal faces as the center unit.

Just look at those cute churn dashes.

I swear. No more pillow posts. Relating to the living room. Promise.

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Symmetrical Dogs (TM) Revisited

Remember back in 2012 when we were fostering that adorable dog named Harry Potter?  We were tickled to see how often he and Norman sat and snuggled in symmetrical poses.  Was it because they were the same-ish breed and had similar body types? Was a form of pack communication?  We were never sure.  Was it adorable?  Yep.

We were hoping that when we added Molly to our family that she and Norman might someday be as close as HP and Norman were, and they are certainly buddies.

But they've never been much on snuggle symmetry. That is, until recently! Without further ado I present to you Molly and Norman: Symmetrical Dogs (TM).

This last one is my favorite because they're symmetrically giving me the sad face since I was all dressed up and ready to leave them at home to go out to dinner with Eddy.

Symmetrical Dogs (TM).  Will there ever be enough photos of this?  Never.

Check out the original version staring Norman and HP.

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I Solemnly Swear that I am Up to No Good

We're big Harry Potter fans around here.  I mean, I did wear this DIY Deathly Hallows shirt that time we went to Wizarding World.

The monkey is unrelated.  

In my pillow-making frenzy I figured we could use an HP pillow in our new living room, so I made another Deathly Hallows symbol. 

And appliqued it to some of my favorite fabric that I've been hoarding forever and ever because I couldn't bear to part with it at all ever.

Then I did that thing where I quilt words onto stuff.

Here it is! Isn't it the best!?

I solemnly swear that this is going to look great on our new couch.

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Settling In

We really like living in Portland so far and it's not difficult to understand why.  First, we really like our neighborhood.  On a normal day, there are tons of shops and restaurants to walk to. One of our favorites is an old converted elementary school with a soaking pool that is free for use by people who live in the neighborhood.

That's us! We live in the neighborhood.

On special days, our neighborhood has weird street fairs with giant papier mâché figures of the pope

and Filipino meets on a stick.

The other thing we really like about Portland is that Eddy is having a great time at his new job.

Occasionally he does actual work, but the way I hear it he mostly plays games there.

He was pretty obsessive about pinball for awhile, but now his favorite is virtual reality.

I'll admit Eddy kept asking me and asking me to visit his cool new workplace, but I kept putting it off. That is, until he found the secret to getting me to do things:

Bribing me with ice cream from the company freezer, obviously.

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Pillow As You Go

There's this quilting method called quilt-as-you go and I basically love it because it saves so many steps and it looks really sweet, but I never have an excuse to do it because I always select patterns that don't really lend themselves to that technique, but recently I had an idea for a pillow that would work perfectly.

I tested a few theories first.

Then I made a couple of blocks.

Next, it was time for the big decision: star shape?

or inverse?

Eddy picked star shaped.

And what Eddy wants, Eddy gets.

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