Quilts of love

Important update - after being the victim of a nasty email hacking attack, if you want to contact Agnes about memory quilt squares, use DACHSIESWITHMOXIEMAMA at GMAIL dot COM


We have NOTHING but admiration for people who can make beautiful arts and crafts with their own hands.

It's such a gift of real love to make something for someone - because there's always something of yourself in there too.

That's why I was so touched to hear that Agnes from Dachsies with Moxie is putting together a very special memorial quilt for Sandra who lost five of her Houston Pittie Pack in a fire that also destroyed her home just before Christmas.

The aim is to have the quilt finished for Valentine's Day which means that lots more pieces of fabric, six inches square, are still needed. Even if you are in the UK you should still have time to get a piece over if you move quickly. Just email her if you have any questions or to get her address. She needs the fabric squares by January 16.

Ideally it would be good if you could send some material that has some meaning for you, which you could explain in a covering letter that will be passed on to Sandra.

Although the Lady Of The House is a bit rubbish at sewing, I said I'd be happy for a piece of my first blue blanket to go across to America for the quilt. This was a blanket that was waiting for me when I arrived here in August 2010 and I've always loved it. Here I am enjoying a snack on my blanket.

Here is the square that the LOTH made and which we posted the day before Christmas Eve. We hope it arrives safely. It took the LOTH a long time to remember how to do chain stitch - but she dredged the knowledge up from somewhere in her very old brain after several false starts.

Anyway, if you can send a fabric square (or two, or more) to Agnes PLEASE do. I'm sure the finished quilt will mean so much to Sandra and her family.

By coincidence, while we were thinking of the Pittie Pack and Agnes's lovely quilt plan... someone else was thinking of us.

On New Year's Eve it was a special birthday for the LOTH (it ended in an "oh!" whatever that means), and her friend Carol had been busy in recent weeks making this quilt and a quilted bag specially for the LOTH as a super surprise present. You can just see the special message panel she stitched in to the underside of the pink quilt.

Carol has a birthday ending in an "oh!" too - tomorrow (Jan 3) so we would like to say a very special HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Carol.

Carol and the LOTH are having a joint celebration girl's night out with lots of their friends from the Little Theatre Company on Friday at a Greek restaurant in town. They are calling it the Oh-Oh! Birthday Party.

It sounds like trouble to me........

Bloggers with big hearts

I am so sorry to everyone if you think I have been ignoring you recently.

I've not had chance to visit any blogs for AGES because of the Lady Of The House working really hard on the computer on boring stuff she calls work.

But today I've been catching up a bit, and I discovered that I'd been given THREE awards while I wasn't looking.

Both What Remains Now, and Graceful Greyhounds gave me the lovely Liebster Blog Award, while Chancy the Gardener gave me the Kreativ Blogger Award.

I am very pleased and proud and I do hope that you don't think I was ungrateful for not mentioning it before.

The Liebster Blog award is given to help promote young and growing blogs. To accept the award properly I have to pick my five favourite blogs - with less than 200 followers and pass it on to them.What a lovely idea!

In return for the Kreativ Blogger award I am supposed to tell you 10 things about myself that you wouldn’t know and pass the award on to six other bloggers.

Hopefully it's not cheating TOO much if I just pick five blogs with less than 200 followers (and one with more!!) If any of the blogs I nominate have already had one of these awards, please feel free to accept the other one.

Flora, Fauna, & Food - is a new blog I've only recently started following. 'Garden Girl' explores the world through nature and food and also shares lots about her three wonderful dogs (and her two cats).

Finn's dog blog  - is a blog I've followed for a while because two-year-old bulldog Finn just has the handsomest face ever (and I love him - but please don't tell him I would be embarrassed).

Grey hares on my sofa - is a lovely blog about re-homing, fostering and adopting retired racing greyhounds (like me).

The Circus Dog - is another bulldog blog. This one tells the adventures of Lola, and American Bulldog.

Kind Hearts - is one of my all-time favourite blogs that I followed soon after I started blogging. In north east England Grumpy Bobby and Dippy Pip watch foster dogs come and go and the blog is always full of love and laughter. Grumpy Bobby is my Boy Of The House's favourite dog in the world (after me of course) and he loves watching the videos they often post.

My sixth choice - which has MORE than 200 followers - is Homer the Golden Retriever, international jet setter and another very very handsome boy who makes my heart flutter a little.

Ten things about me then......Hmmm. You may well know some of these, but here goes....

1. I can dig for England (in fact I may well be digging for Australia at the rate the hole in the back lawn is developing)
2. I love Cheese and Marmite biscuits made by the Bespoke Dog Bakery (who do NOT pay me for my endorsement of their products!)
3. I like to dig in my loose blankets and make a warm and cosy nest for myself.
4. I bark at cats, would love to chase a squirrel (if I ever got off my lead) but if I see a wild rabbit I just stare at it silently.
5. I get so excited when the Man Of The House or the Lady Of The House comes in the front door that I put my paws up on their chests.
6. I love car rides, and if we walk past a car with its boot up I often try and jump in.
7. I have an unusually long nose and an overbite that gives me character.
9. I was humiliated this summer by being entered into a greyhound fancy dress competition as a camel and came 5th (out of 5).
10. I have a scar on my nose from an operation where the vet removed an abscess by going in through the top of my snout (that was before I came here).
                                   
Like everyone who follows lots of dog blogs I have been shocked and saddened by news of the devastating fire that destroyed the home of the Houston Pittie Pack and killed five of their seven dogs - including the amazing Shelby, a severely abused dog found in a car park covered in puncture wounds and sores. One theory is that she had been used a live bait for fighting dogs. Bloggers around the world followed Shelby's fight to live and recover from the summer of 2010 onwards.She made it - but has now been cruelly cheated out of her happy-ever-after along with fellow rescue dogs Guero, Coco Chanel, Tiger and Lucky.

Sandra Gonzalez lost everything, but was able to escape with her mother, son and two of their dogs. Bloggers have been raising funds since the tragedy on December 16 through a Chip In fund. You can see a link to it below. Although the initial modest total has been reached, anything you can spare this holiday season will help this devastated family.