I fully finished my Blackbird Design piece, We Live in Hope. WHEW. I’m so excited about it!!

I started stitching this back in 2022 and then set it aside. Later in December I was frustrated with a different piece I was stitching so I set that one aside and picked this one up again. That’s when this one stuck and I stayed with it. I finished the stitching in early February. Then it was time for me to make a frame. I framed this one tight. I don’t like a lot of border or open space between the stitching and the frame.

The colors on this are like the first photo in this post. Speaking of colors…I stitched this with all of the called for colors. If you look at the chart the colors are entirely different. Stitched it’s MUCH brighter and I like it so much better. Many thanks to The Attic for showing this in their newsletter. It’s what got me wanting to stitch it.

I got the frame at the thrift store for $3. I cut it down and then ordered some conservation glass for it. I put good glass on everything that I want to make sure it lasts. I ordered the glass from Custom Frame Solutions.

I stitched this one to…

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Cross Stitch Finish: We Live in HopeRead More »

I started a new feature here on the blog called Jo’s Favorite Finds.   In these posts, I’m going to share  some things I’ve discovered.   You might already know about them…and some you might not.   Here are today’s featured items.

I’ve been chomping at the bit to do a little Spring Cleaning.   So many things in the house are starting to bug me.   I’ve spent the last 5 months fostering dogs and I’ve not come up with a good solution on how to keep all of the dog food separate.   I have food for my dogs…for quite some time Izzy was on puppy food but then I found a food that is good for both puppies and dogs combined so I swithed to that one.   Then I have old dogs I’m fostering.   I have weight reduction food and puppy food for fosters.   It is all too much.   I didn’t have storage space so I found myself with ziplock bags of dog food sitting out on my kitchen counters.   UGH.

That got old but I couldn’t come up with a solution.   Then one day I was at the rescue coordinators house and saw she must have had the same problem as she had canisters on her counter with different dog foods in them.   YES.   That would be the perfect solution.   I hated to give up counter space but I hated even more that ziplock bags were sitting all over.    

So I went on Amazon and bought two canisters…one for foster puppy food and one for foster senior dog food.   HERE are the canister’s I bought.

I love these vintage style glass jars.   Ila gifted me a couple but those are vintage with red handles.   There was no way I was using them for dog food.   They are in my sewing room holding scraps.    

I put the dog food in them and was so happy with them.   I was happy enough that I ordered two more.

A week or two later I was in the laundry room.   It’s a small room just off my kitchen.   The room was a mess.   I still had childcare stuff in one of the cabinets and I haven’t done regular childcare for over a year.   Oh my.   I decided enough was enough.   One day I cleaned out the cabinets above the washer and dryer.   A couple days later I cleaned out the cabinets on the opposite wall.   A few days after that I decided it was time to do some with the shelf above the washer and dryer.   In the past, I kept dog treats and equipment there.   Doesn’t it look messy?

I hated it.   Then I got the idea to take the dog food canisters that I had bought for the kitchen and check to see if they would fit on the shelf.   Oh my word…they fit perfectly.

I love how it looks!!   It’s so much neater and clean looking.   The food isn’t in the kitchen but it is in a really good spot two steps away from the kitchen.    

Now, I just need a matching washer and dryer set.   My husband, who has passed away, was addiment that a washer and dryer didn’t need to match…When the next one dies, I’m hoping to spring for a new matching set.   But, I’m not hoping for that too soon as I won’t buy anything new until at least one of them dies…but, I also have an extra washer in the basement so who knows.   I’ll likely live like this for quite awhile.   They do a fine job doing their job so I’m content for now.

I ended up getting these one cup measurer to go in the jars with dog food.   You can find them HERE.

Izzy ended up needing a slow feed dog bowl.   She had been eating quickly and then half cough and half gagged on her food.    

This has been perfect for her and I highly recommend a slow feed bowl for any dog that eats quickly.   You can find them HERE on Amazon.

One last thing I want to add in case you missed the blog post about the handprint quilt I did for my grandson Carver’s classes school wide fundraiser.   Here it is…

You can find the fabric paint that was used on with the handprints HERE.   This paint was awesome.   It was not globby and thick.   I would longarm over the paint and the thread wouldn’t break.   That’s amazing as other quilts I’ve tried to longarm that had handprints on them were so hard to work with.   Every time the needle went over the paint, the thread would break.

That’s the latest things I’ve found that I’ve been super happy with.   Do you have anything you would recommend?   If you do, please leave a comment.   I love discovering new things!!    

 

 

• Cross Stitch Update
• What I’m Reading: Out of the Corner
• Community Quilts from Karin
• Ask Jo: The Thumb Ring
• Cross Stitch Finish: We Live in Hope

I know many of you enjoy news from Heart Animal Rescue, the dog rescue that I volunteer with so I thought I would give you the latest update. Do you remember that we had a pregnant cocker spaniel momma who had come to the rescue in the same surrender that I had Bianca in? Well, that momma was named Brandi and she had her pups last week.

Sadly, it isn’t the story I wish I could tell. She had three puppies. They came by emergency C-section in the middle of the night. One died immediately or was born dead. One, the one on the left, was born with a cleft pallet. The one on the right is healthy as far as we know.

We don’t have the means to care for a pup with a cleft pallet so that guy was shipped out and is now with a neo-natal rescue that has a lot of experience with a pup in this condition.

The healthy pup is doing okay but momma isn’t interested in her pup leaving the foster volunteer with the job of bottle feeding. She had tried and tried to get them to work together and it hasn’t been very successful…and mom really doesn’t want to be a mom…so it’s been determined that this little gal is likely going to have to be bottle-fed throughout her nursing time. It’s been a bit of a sad experience but the pup is still doing okay. We are thankful for that.

We are so blessed to have a great foster home for this momma and pup. I can’t imagine getting up in the night to feed this little one but the volunteer has been awesome. As I said, we are so blessed to have her.

Below the pup is snuggling up to one of the crinkle toys a blog reader donated from the Amazon list. You can find the list HERE if anyone is interested in seeing the foster needs. Many thanks to all who have donated goodies.

Our hope is that this little one can thrive and grow. We are also hoping momma can recover from surgery and find a good home where she can be loved and live out her days away from the puppy mill without having to birth continual litters. Momma is six and will be looking for her forever home. If anyone has patience and experience with puppy mill dogs, Brandi would love for you to apply for her. HERE is the link to HEART Animal Rescue website where applications are located.

In other news from the foster rescue…
Someone contacted the rescue a bit ago and was to surrender this bunch. Well, actually they were looking for a place for nine of the 11 puppies. It was said the pups there were wanting to surrender were a German Shepherd/Poodle mix. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what that mix would look like. Here is the picture the rescue was sent. Well, that isn’t at all what I expected!! They are white and don’t have curly hair!!

This birth was the result of not realizing their male who was under a year old, could breed the mom. The end result was 11 puppies.

These are all from the same litter. Again, they are a poodle/German Shepherd mix. They are expected to larger dogs.

This request for fosters came in a couple of weeks ago. We scrambled trying to find fosters for the 9 pups they wanted to surrender. For us, that’s a big task. Well, then we didn’t hear from the owners so we assumed they found homes for them. We were contacted again about two weeks later. The family found homes for three of them so now we are getting six in the surrender.

Two are coming to my house. I have named my two Daphne and Velma. I have two females. Another volunteer is taking two females and two males are going to yet another volunteer. I’m hoping we can find homes for everyone. I’m told that they are already over 20 pounds so they will be the biggest pups I’ve fostered.

My two have vet appointments to be spayed on Wednesday. A few days after that they will be ready for adoption. I’m hoping we can find homes for these quickly as there is another bunch of pups waiting in the wings for foster homes. It seems we could always use a few more foster homes…we do the best we can but we are a small group.

I was happy to have a break but happy to have puppies again.

Please if you haven’t, spay and neuter your dogs…Accidental litters happen too often.

• Cross Stitch Update
• What I’m Reading: Out of the Corner
• Community Quilts from Karin
• Ask Jo: The Thumb Ring
• Cross Stitch Finish: We Live in Hope