Coming home!

Three years ago, Emily and Matt took off for Austin, Texas.  They have had a new opportunity come up for Matt, and they are moving back to the Chicago area, as of today!
The trip to Texas was the two of them, plus Emily's dog, Cohen.  They have since bought a house (on the market soon), got married, and got another dog for Matt, Vinny the boxer. I hope that the looooong drive today and tomorrow goes well for them!

Emily and Matt at a recent event in Austin. Love those two!

Nice photo of Cohen (beagle mix). I've missed him!

Vinny!

Christmas 2014

Our tradition is to open gifts leisurely, over several hours - so friendly and relaxing.  Emily's dog, Cohen, had to get into the act.

Our dog, Dora's, formal Christmas portrait. Pretty girl!

Emily and Matt, home from Austin Texas for the holidays, with me and Scott.  So great to have them here!  I gave them both quilts but somehow did not get pictures of them opening their gifts! I will post on that later.

Genevieve and me.

Hannah and her new blouse, and Danny.  Merry Christmas!

Gift quilt re-do, new favorite sandwich, Texas kids update

So - I am not remaking Emily's quilt "disaster" (see previous post here).  Maybe disaster is too strong a word...but anyway, here I go on a NEW quilt for Emily.  Based on the ideas she showed me on pinterest, I made the example above, and she loved it! I will make a simple zigzag quilt, still using the bright beautiful colorful prints I love, balanced by the soft gray neutral that Emily prefers.  And, it will be a lap size, for a couch throw - also what Emily prefers.  

When we visited Sujata, she served us the most delicious lunch! This is my attempt to recreate it.  Sandwich is: brown and serve ciabatta rolls brushed with olive oil and balsamic mixture, and filled with fresh mozzarella, sliced heirloom tomatoes, grilled slices of zucchini, and fresh basil. 

Salad is:  corn, finely chopped onion and red pepper, minced parsley, and a simple olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette.  While my lunch was tasty, I am going to retry - after finding out Sujata's recipe.  Same as above, but: sandwich roll was brushed with a simple vinaigrette with salt and pepper; her salad also had finely chopped celery and orange peppers, and hers was dressed only with the juice of one lemon, plus salt and pepper. 

The Texas kids are doing great! They each bought a car (Emily a white Jetta, Matt a black BMW, his first car ever!), and are making strides in unpacking and making their townhouse a home.  Emily is still researching job possibilities in Austin.
Matt started his new job this week, and seems to be enjoying it - including the relaxed dress code!
And Cohen continues to be his usual charming self. 

Autumn in DG

Wow, too long since my last post!!! My excuse?  I am in a new position at my "day job", and I am busy non-stop from 7 to 3.  Then I come home and teach piano from 330 - 6, make and eat dinner, and pretty much collapse after that.  

But I am trying to improve! Need more exercise, and more sewing!  Started going to the gym today, and also did some sewing this week! First time in WEEKS.  Both good things!

 Halloween was Dora's birthday! Little Cricket's Luna's Dove Dora is now 2 years old - happy birthday sweet girl!

 We had a gorgeous day here about two weeks ago - sunny and warm - couldn't resist taking glamour shots of the pups.  Dora posing nicely!

 Even Cohen posed for me - very unusual for him!  But I had a treat in my pocket! Isn't the burning bush glorious!

Scott and I took a wonderful five-day trip to Boston in October.  We got to see lots of the sights - but the main reason for the trip was to visit our daughter, Emily (and her boyfriend, Matt).  Here we are in her school, Boston University.  Do I look just a little proud? :)

We had a great vacation - more on that later - as I intend to be a more faithful blogger!

The Further Adventures of Cohie the Circus Dog

Our doggies are so fun - I caught Cohen (beagle) doing his Circus Dog routine with Dora (lab) - hilarious! Despite what this might look like - Cohen just enjoys dancing around on his hind legs until he gets Dora to fall down, and then they wrestle. And obviously, they were not very interested in last week's political convention.

our crazy dog

We decided to give the dogs a bath today, partially because it was "time", and partially because our house is starting to smell like dog. Well now the house smells like WET dog, but it will fade...in the meantime, at least the dogs are clean! Thanks Scott for bathing the beasts!

This is what Cohen likes to do after a bath, or whenever he gets wet, like from the rain. He's pretty ridiculous. Enjoy!

Cohie Boy

This darling puppy is now almost 4 years old, and lives with us. His name is Cohen, and he is actually belongs to our daughter, Emily - but due to his incessant barking whenever she would leave the apartment, he has lived with us for the past year.

Emily adopted him from the local Brew Beagle Rescue group, as Cohen is part Beagle.

LOTS of dogs are part Beagle.

Isn't he precious? Doesn't he look like he'd be no trouble at all?

Looks can be deceiving! Sometimes, I call him "Mr T" - as in, Mr Trouble, or Mr Tinkles. Although, he is much better on the second thing now!

Cohen is obviously part Beagle - just take a look at his pretty, pretty coat.

Yes, he IS pretty - even though he is a boy. Pretty boy!

But he is also part JACK RUSSEL TERRIER. Have you heard of this breed? SUPER high energy, SUPER high intelligence - which means he is very smart about finding ways to get into trouble. Hence the Mr Trouble part.

He has been known to get UP ON TOP OF THE DINING ROOM TABLE, if something up there is very interesting. Once, he dug in a potted poinsettia. Thankfully, he didn't eat the plant.

Recently, Scott left a partially eaten pizza on the table while walking Dora (our other dog). The pizza was GONE when he got back into the house. Also thankfully, Cohen suffered no ill effects.

This IS Cohen - a fun, free-spirited doggie. Yes, trouble sometimes - but he is so sweet, and charming, and we love him to bits.

Saturday Fun!

Scott had fun yesterday cleaning up the driveway with his new toy! We got about 6 " of snow on Friday. Scott was able to clean our driveway, and not just our sidewalks but up and down the block, all in 1/2 hour! Definitely an improvement over shoveling!!!

Action shot!

Clearing the driveway - obviously, this was taken from inside the house...see the screen?
Ah - the best part of the day - after a nice visit with Hannah, Scott's lounging on the couch with two of his best friends, and talking to Emily on the phone. Life is good!

Happy Birthday, Dora!

Autumn glory!

Every year, I go out and try to take pictures of the fall colors, and every year, the pictures don't do the trees justice. This maple, out on our boulevard, is spectacular in its beauty - the color is almost magenta - it just glows! and when the sun hits it, wow!

Dora was kind enough to pose nicely for me - Dora the 1-year-old doggie!!!

It's also hard to take pictures that are as beautiful as Dora truly is. Of course, part of her beauty is in her sweet disposition and expressive face, too.

Doesn't she look stylish in her new leather collar? And her coloring blends beautifully with that of our backyard maple leaves. What a pretty girl!

Dora and her best friend, Cohen. Happy birthday, Dora!

Dog Days

I know this picture is a little out of focus - but it really captures how our dogs are with each other! They do run and play a LOT every day, but when they finally crash, quite often they are found snuggling together, in Cohen's dog bed, or on the floor, like this adorable shot.

You know those Cottonelle ads? with the adorable puppy running through the house, leaving a trail of tissue paper behind it? Well check out our own "model" dog! Dora is really a good dog, so sweet, with such a calm and loving personality - but she is also very good at getting into mischief! We just had to snap a couple of pictures before we cleaned this up.

Posing nicely for the camera. Love the tissue hanging out of her mouth. Even with that, what a pretty face!

This is our older daughter, Emily, holding Dora about a month ago. Doesn't she look happy? (and cute too!)

I was just noticing, this picture shows a lot about me - my daughter, my dog, a quilt in the background, some antiques, the green wall (my favorite color). I'm pretty lucky - Jimmy Stewart isn't the only one with a wonderful life!

Christmas Projects Finally Posted

Of course I couldn't post about Christmas gifts until after Christmas - and I just received these photos from my daughter, so here we go. I forgot to take pictures on my camera, not sure why!
I made this Christmas stocking for Emily's boyfriend, Matt. He's a great guy, and we all like him a lot. Since he and Emily spent the holidays at our house with us, I thought he definitely needed his own stocking! I added the Notre Dame logo, his alma mater. The front is scrappy/crazy pieced, the back is solid fabric, then both were overall stipple quilted before assembling the stocking. Fun project - and Matt liked it!

Emily asked me to make her a tree skirt. I love to sew for my daughters, but they haven't let me do so since they were in grade school! I was thrilled that Emily asked for something - but she didn't ask me until sometime in December! I was already up to my eyeballs in sewing projects to be completed by Christmas, and working two jobs, so I told her I would sew one - for next year. She was fine with that - and was definitely surprised when I DID finish it for this year! I found a tutorial on another blog, crazymomquilts, added a few changes of my own, and had the whole thing done really quickly. I just did simple grid quilting, and finished the edge by bringing the backing around to the front - a quick and easy finish, quicker by far than a separate binding. And it is totally fine for something that will get little wear and tear. The tree skirt turned out great, and Emily's dog, Cohen, looks just precious posing on it, doesn't he?

I guess Cohen got tired of posing - but he still looks pretty cute! Emily was unable to properly attach the tree skirt under the tree, as it was late in the season and the tree was too dry and brittle to get close to and under it. Better picture next year!

Cohen Goes to the Park

We love it when Emily's dog, Cohen, comes for a visit. We went for an early morning walk on a recent weekend, and enjoyed some beautiful scenery.

This is Barth Pond in Downers Grove. Note the fall colors reflected in the pond. Cohen was too busy sniffing to pose for a picture.

Gorgeous scenery! Of course it was prettier in person.

We happened upon a great blue heron, who had just finished its breakfast before I snapped this picture. We could get really close, and he didn't seem to mind.

More sniffing to do!

Great profile shot - Cohen was looking at a small pond full of ducks! What a cutie!