So this is what have I been doing with my life lately.....

So our favorite youngest daughter has been bugging us about a dog for awhile.  We had a chocolate lab for a number of years that we had to put to down about 4 years ago.  For about a year none of the kids were ready for another dog.  And then we were getting ready to make a move and I wasn't going to do that with a new dog at the house.  It has just been this Summer that I was willing to consider the possibility.

We decided to first start out by fostering some dogs to see what kind we would like next.  Said favorite youngest daughter lasted 3 days before she was "done".  Puppies are a pain and annoying she found out.

This was our first foster, Hawkeye, at 8 weeks.

He's one of 10 St. Bernard American Bulldog mix puppies.

He was so soft and fluffy and chewed on everything he wasn't supposed to.

We had him about a week and he got adopted. 

Everyone asks how we can foster and then give them to someone else.

Well, in Hawkeye's case I wasn't sure I wanted a dog that would end up being 100-150 lbs. when it was fully grown. I don't mind large dogs, but that is a little much.  I already have "big" kids.

But hey, we like them when they sleep, for sure.

After Hawkeye we got these 3 North Dakota rescue puppies.

Piper, the little brown one and her two sisters Xena and Gabby (red collar).

Piper went to another foster family after 2 days with us and they ended up keeping her.

In the foster world that is called a "foster failure", but a win for adoption. 

We had these two together for 2 weeks. We affectionately called them Thelma and Louise.

At times they were a little crazy together.

Last week our Gabby girl got adopted by a nice family.

She was quite happy to go with them and they were thrilled to add her to their family.

 And now we are down to Miss Xena the Warrior Princess.

She's definitely more princess than warrior.

 The kids have all liked her the best from the beginning.

We had a couple close adoption calls, then they changed their mind or picked a different puppy.

I keep telling the foster team leader that we are getting "out cuted" by the younger fluffier puppies.

(And with about 18 more puppies available in the next month or two that might continue happening.)

However, at this point we don't mind.

Xena is a lovely puppy and seems quite happy with us.

This weekend there is another adoption event...so fingers crossed.

If she doesn't get adopted soon we might have to seriously consider keeping her for ourselves.

Note:

I am a foster volunteer thru the Carver Scott Humane Society.  If you are local in those MN counties go check out what's available for adoption.

Alexander's Finished Quilt

Within the last couple weeks I got Alexander's quilt back from Lynn (who was in the process of moving for crying out loud!  Thanks, Lynn!!)  She did a fabulous  job as always.

From this distance you can't tell that the print doesn't line up perfectly.

So make sure you just look at the back from afar...so you can remain amazed.

I found a nice dark gray on black polka-dot that I used for the binding.

I really like it.

A couple of the individual t-shirt squares.

One of my favorites from his collection.

Strict instructions on the direction of this red shirt on the left.

And since we didn't have any school or team shirts for Alexander I asked Lynn to add his name and his graduation year on an empty space so that it would be completely personalized.

Straight out of the dryer and into his hands.

He was super happy with it.

I got a number of hugs before he left.

Details:

• Previous post here.
• Finished measurements: approx. 70 inches by 90 inches
• Used 24 shirts
• Binding fabric from Jo-Ann's. Needed about 2/3 of yard cut into 2 3/4 inch strips.  I like my binding a little wider than most.
• Machine binding method from CrazyMomQuilts--basically it is attach the binding to the wrong side and flip to the front and topstitch.