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........

Happy Birthday dear BOTH

The Boy Of The House became a teenager this weekend.

Apparently this means there is a danger that he may start staring at us and saying "Whatever!" and grunting a bit.

Personally, I don't believe it. He's far too smiley and nice.

He is now very grown-up though and has joined me on Facebook and got his own email address for the first time.

Last night he had a big birthday cake and three of his really nice friends stayed over. Wil and Dom and Shaun are lovely and were very kind to me.

Happy Birthday BOTH.

I Love You!!

All the fun of Wyatt's fair

I am having a great time today at the country fair being hosted by Wyatt for his third birthday.

So I don't have much time to post.

Do stop by Wyatt's blog and see all his blogville friends having fun on the rides.

I got told off for standing up on my ride - but I've got the hang of it now.

Happy Barkday, dear Sugar...

.....Happy Barkday to you.

How beautiful does sweet Sugar look! 

A smile certainly is contagious.

But my smile's not quite as wide as Sugar's but it is just as happy.

Hope you have lots to smile about today too.

Here's my friend Biscuit who wants to say Happy Birthday to Sugar too.

Biscuit doesn't have a blog (yet!) but he DOES have a beautiful smile.

Grey and proud

Makes me proud to be a greyhound when I see stories like this one in the Birmingham Mail about a greyhound called Chicken who is brightening the lives of older folk in a care home.

No-one knows why he's called Chicken apparently, but like me he looked very sad as he waited in kennels at the Blue Cross animal adoption centre in Bromsgrove for a new home.

But now that he's out and about he's a happy chap and making others smile too.

Home manager Margaret Hook told the Birmingham Mail that his presence is highly therapeutic for the 60 residents.

"He will just sit there and they make a fuss over him and they love it. Some of the residents remember their own pets and they start talking about their lives. It helps bring them out of themselves."

The Girl Of The House is having a lovely birthday and asked me to say thank you for all your kind wishes. She would send you all some cake if she could but perhaps you can enjoy it virtually instead. I'll just get the Man Of The House to cut you a slice........

Pet memories

It felt odd to have a weekend off. The Lady Of The House had a weekend off from the computer too (and is still catching up on emails as a result!).

Thank you for your good wishes for the Girl Of The House's 21st. The ACTUAL day is tomorrow but we seem to be having a four-day celebration.

Anyway, as my little early birthday gift to her (and because we have no baby pictures of me) I thought I'd post some pictures of the GOTH with other pets the family had before me.

Hope you have a lovely Valentine's Day with those you love whether they have two legs or four legs.

The day the GOTH came home from hospital she got a cuddle from big brother Chris and a curious look from Fred the cat

Corky the cat thought it was odd that small humans had their own cages



Always good pals with her grandparents dog Jenna

Jenna and the little GOTH always liked to know what was going on

Growing up with Jenna

Dozing on the sofa wth Lucy rabbit

Playing with little Chloe in her outside run

Frankie came to call

Frankie came to visit today - with the Lady Of The House's friend Alyson.

Frankie can be rather hyper, but a lot of the time these days she is calming down and being a good girl.

She made herself at home straight away today - which was nice.

Frankie is a cross-breed, but we are not sure what dogs are in Frankie's family tree. Alyson gave her a forever home when she was a puppy at the RSPCA.

Frankie is very, very tough on toys and can destroy anything is a matter of minutes. She has lots and lots of energy and she is very clever and can be obedient when she wants to be - but sometimes she just won't do what she's told and she can very very excited.

Anyone got any thoughts what kind of dogs might be in her make-up?

Hope you have fun with your friends and family this weekend. I will be having a weekend off from blogging as the Girl Of The House comes home tonight for four days and it's her 21st birthday on Tuesday. So we've got lots of fun things to do. See you next week.

Ready for the weekend - honestly

Happy weekend!

I love weekends because the Man Of The House is around and he usually takes me for my walks on Saturdays and Sunday.

I may not look too excited in this picture, but I'm just resting ready for a brisk walk across the nature reserve and thinking back over all the fun I've had this week and looking forward to what's to come.

Our weekends are always busy. Today, the Boy has got football training and then he's got a friend coming round afterwards. The Lady Of The House has got to get stuff organised for her mum's 80th birthday on Wednesday and pick up materials from the local Marie Curie Cancer Care shop because she's collecting for them outside our Tesco supermarket on Thursday. The MOTH is threatening to tidy up the LOTH's home office (with her inside if necessary) - it's all good fun.

There's not much I can do to help with all these things but I will make sure I'm around so they can take a break to give me a hug and a nice long stroke whenever they want. I see it as my most important job to de-stress them when they are busy - and I can tell you they really appreciate it.

As it's Saturday we are taking part again in the Saturday Pet Blog Hop kindly co-hosted by by Two Little Cavaliers, Life with Dogs, and Baby Patches from Confessions of the Plume.

To take part, click on "Click here" at the bottom of the list of blogs below and add details of your own pet blog. Then grab the pink Pet Bloggers Blog Hop button (right) that our friends over on Life with Dogs made for us and include it in your post this weekend and add the linky code to your own posting then everyone who visits any of the posts on the list can see links to all the others and you can hop from one post to another all week making new friends.

It's easy, honestly. Remember to follow your three co-hosts in the first three spots on the list and if you follow a new blog you find on the pet blog hop - remember to tell them that you found them through the blog hop.

Have fun.

Love and licks, Winnie x

Birthday bonus

It's a lovely weekend here as we celebrate the Boy Of The House's 12th birthday.

I got into the party spirit by wearing a party hat just long enough for a picture to be taken.

Does pink suit me?

I couldn't share the chocolate cake of course as chocolate is not good for dogs at all. But I did meet two of the B O T H's young friends (really nice boys) who came for a sleepover after going to watch ice hockey team Nottingham Panthers beat Edinburgh Capitals 8-2. They told me it was very exciting and I got lots of fuss when they got home.