2013 January 07 — Patchwork Times by Judy Laquidara

Speck Update

January 7, 2013 · by JudyL

Speck’s an old dog. Old age isn’t being very kind to him. When we leave the house, Speck stays in his crate (kennel). He knows that if I pick up my purse or if we get the keys, it’s time to go in the crate and he rarely has to be asked to “kennel”. He doesn’t mind being in there and often, if he’s tired or not feeling well, he prefers to be in the crate.

Saturday we left to go to Home Depot and run a few errands and were gone a couple of hours. When we got home, we opened the crate door and he didn’t come bounding out to greet us and that was unusual. I figured he was sleeping soundly but knew it was unlikely that he hadn’t heard us come in. He was all wrapped up in his sheet, which is how he loves to sleep, so I tugged at his sheet, he peeked out at me but wouldn’t come out of the crate. I just left him alone figuring he’d come out when he was ready but after a while, he hadn’t budged and I knew he wasn’t ok. Both Vince and I did everything we could do to entice him to come out and it was hours before he did make his way slowly out of the crate. He was obviously sick. We don’t have any emergency vets around here and he didn’t seem in any imminent danger. Sunday morning he was his usual energetic self and I figured he had a bit of a bug and was thankful he was ok but by Sunday afternoon, he wasn’t doing well again. He was barely walking and was wanting to spend most of his time in the crate, so we let him. There’s about a 3″ drop off at the porch and he wouldn’t even hop up that after making a trip outside to do his business.

This morning I took him to the vet and he had a bit of a temp and blood work wasn’t real conclusive but the vet is treating him for pancreatitis. There were several levels that should have been elevated to confirm pancreatitis and Speck only had one that was elevated. His red blood count was high and the vet thinks he may not have been drinking enough water and is a bit dehydrated.

Dog Food

The vet put him on a low fat “GI Restore” dog food and said that feeding less vs. more is recommended so Speck gets 1/4 cup of food in the morning and 1/4 cup in the afternoon. He’s taking several meds and the vet will check him again next week.

Searching for Crumbs

He still feels really bad but he’s hungry and when he’s up and moving around, he’s searching for crumbs . . anything he can find to eat. If he starts feeling really good before the vet says he can have more food, this is not going to be a happy place to be.

· Filed Under: Home & Garden · 32 Comments

Margie’s Top Is Quilted

January 7, 2013 · by JudyL

Margie’s backing had been pieced and the backing and top had been loaded onto the longarm early last week. The great batting debate began as soon as the quilt was loaded. I know I over-analyze batting choices but I love batting and think it can make such a difference in the quilt. I went with Hobbs Natural, a light batting. I love the feel of a quilt with this batting but I do not love using it because it’s so fragile and difficult to get through the longarm without tearing. I made it . . no rips!

Obviously I don’t spend a lot of time deciding which quilting design to use! Once again, it’s Spiral Square by Keryn Emmerson.

Margie’s Top Quilted

I truly had planned to load the Baptist Fans template and use that on this quilt but then, in the end, the Spiral Square just seemed more right!

My panto is torn and stained and I think I might ought to order a new one because I’m beginning to believe that if something ever happened to this panto, I might have to give up quilting completely!

I used Signature Cotton thread, the top color is Daisy (medium yellow) and the bobbin color is Buttercup (a darker yellow), simply because I was almost out of Daisy — didn’t have enough to use it on top and in the bobbin.

Margie’s Backing

For the backing, this blue/yellow floral has been in my stash for years. It’s one of those fabrics that was probably purchased expressly for a backing but every time I start to use it, I think it’s too pretty to use and therefore, it’s been in the stash way too long so . . I used it! It’s out of the stash! Done! Feels good!