Pugtastic Tuesday: Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend

Aspirational pugs:

As seen on Etsy. I never wear necklaces, but since the artist does custom work, perhaps she would make me a bracelet? Just in case you are thinking of buying me an expensive gift...

Here are my real-life best friends.

Caesar

Elvis

LarryPug

Not too much sewing going on. I'm meeting up with my family in NYC this weekend and I had high hopes of bringing everyone a new Aunt Nancy pillowcase. I've cut out a few but I may be passing out IOUs.

I bought this cool fabric at Mardens the last time I was in Maine. It is a Riley Blake print. It is perfect for my pre-med niece, Rachel and science-loving nephew, Ben. It is also appropriate for my microbiology major nephew Josh (although he won't be in NYC--other side of the family). Don't worry, I bought enough for Josh too...

My friend Julie has asked me to make her leopard print pillows for her new boudoir. Obligingly I took her shopping and we purchased fabric yesterday.

Thanks for visiting!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

Pugtastic Tuesday: Pug Bags

Hello Dear Blogging Friends,

Today I'll share some of my pug-themed bags with you. This is what I could grab quickly this morning in search of a post. There are definitely more pug bags floating around in my house.

LarryPug is always happy to pose for the blog. Here are two cool shopping bags from TJ Maxx and Marshalls. I have a couple of the pug in sunglasses. My friend Sue bought me one and my friend Deb mailed me one from St. Louis. The shipping cost more than the bag, but I love that about her. I have such generous friends! And you can never have too many pug shopping bags! Right, LarryPug?

Here is LarryPug with an ancient, but never used pug purse (or as we say in New England, pocketbook, pronounced pock-a-book). I have it hanging on my closet door. Too good to use!

Here's a close-up.

My sister-in-law Diane sent me this bag. I've had it for years and I keep it on my nightstand. These two boys looks so much like Romeo and Elvis, the original pug dynamic duo.

My friend Eleanor, the great shopping bargain hunter, fought against her natural urges and paid FULL PRICE to buy me this adorable pug dop kit. I LOVE it!

This cute bag was a gift from my sweet friend Carol. As you can see, you can never have too many put bags!

I bought this little pug wallet online somewhere.

Not a pug bag, but a new pug collectible that I picked up at Hobby Lobby.

He is small but mighty.

I've been having computer problems, so you may receive this post twice.

Thanks for visiting!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

Roundup for the Week ending July 22nd

Nothing super exciting happened this week, but I have little updates to share with you.

I ran into my friend Maria and she gave me this cute photo of Baby Ava sitting on the quilt that I made for her.

Ava is already seven months old! Isn't she adorable?

I did actually finish something. It wasn't this week, but a few weeks ago, and it is actually quilted.

This was a kit (one of two) that I purchased from Nancy's Notions. The tree is pre-fused and all cut out. You only have to iron it down to the background and add binding. I did actually quilt some of the branches. The photo above is from Nancy's website, but mine is fairly identical. It was a nice, mindless project and I will probably give it as a gift. It will be a pretty table-topper.

My friend Logan turned five! And so did Prince George. Do you remember when they were born?

Here is Logan, far left, at his birthday party. He loves art and rainbows, so his Mom, my friend Anna, made him a rainbow art cake!

Here are Logan and Cameron with their baby sister Adalynn.

In honor of Logan's fifth birthday, I made him five pillowcases. This may become arduous when Logan turns 27...

There are monster trucks, dinosaurs, sports, Thomas the Train and rainbows. Of course, there is also a pillowcase for Cameron too.

I started a quilt for my co-worker Lauren who is getting married next month. Lauren wanted a grey quilt with a modern feeling. I offered to make Lauren a lap quilt as a wedding gift and she was very excited. The next day she came into the office and told me that she had spent the whole night looking at quilt photos on the Internet. Fortunately the quilt she chose is very simple, made of large squares in two shades of grey, plus white.

Thanks for visiting!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

Pugtastic Tuesday: Pug Doormats

In celebration of our almost-finished kitchen, I purchased pug doormats on Wayfair. As always, when you buy something online, you aren't 100% certain what you're going to get.  They are quite nice, so I'm very happy.

The purple one is my favorite.

I had barely even gotten the blue one out of its box before LarryPug and Caesar were clamoring to road test it.

Here is the blue doormat without pug tushies on it. The design on the blue doormat doesn't show up as well as the purple version (in case you are thinking of buying one).

The weather has been really nice so we've been spending a lot of time on our patio.

Caesar

Elvis

LarryPug

LarryPug

No progress in the kitchen this week as we wait for our contractor to schedule the tile guy to install our kitchen backsplash. In anticipation, Mike and I picked up the tile last Saturday at The Tile Shop. Almost finished!

Thanks for visiting!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

Pugtastic Tuesday Kitchen Renovations Mashup

Today is Pugtastic Tuesday and we're celebrating the Kitchen Renovations Mashup Edition with some Pugs in the Kitchen! When I last gave you a kitchen update, it was almost a month ago. In the interim, we also had some Internet connection issues, which we have gotten resolved.

Our contractor has made a ton of progress, and the finish line is imminent! The kitchen is just gorgeous and it feels like we have a brand new house.

Our appliances have been installed. Check out our new kitchen farmhouse sink, which is quite large. How large is it?

One pug...

Two pugs...

Three pugs full! There may even be room for a fourth pug (just kidding, Mike)...

 Mike got a swell new stove...

LarryPug loves to pose and the stove is NOT connected in this photo.

...and a beautiful new refrigerator.

Pretty and shiny!

This new fridge looks like it can hold a lot of dog treats!

Our counters are here!!!!

I LOVE our counter tops. They are granite but they look like soapstone.

More counter top porn... they will never be this clutter-free again...

 The walls have been painted and bead board has been installed.

Such a pretty, pretty shade of blue!

 For a special treat, I even ordered some pug knobs!!! I found them on Wayfair. They are super cute!

No, I did not install them on every cabinet. There are just three pug knobs, just like the Pug Boys, although this was mere coincidence.

Last week Mike and I celebrated the Fourth of July by unpacking seven boxes of kitchen stuff. I think there are at least 20 more boxes in the basement, but we haven't counted them...

After unpacking, we enjoyed dinner at The Yard House. You will notice that I am wearing my patriotic pug flag t-shirt.

The Pug Boys say that Kitchen Tours will commence soon! And Mike wants to throw a blow-out party when it's finished!

All that remains is to install the tile back splash and the range hood. Then the floor will receive another two coats of polyurethane. And then we can unload our POD, our basement and all the stuff being stored in our upstairs rooms and put all our furniture, accessories and knick knacks back in some semblance of order on the first floor.

Thanks for visiting!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

Blocks for Emma

Our littlest Brown Bag Quilter, Emma, age 12, was recently diagnosed with diabetes. Unfortunately this disease runs in her family. Of course, we decided to make Emma a quilt.

We chose a friendship star made of bright colors on a black and white background. All of the Brown Bag Quilters are busy making blocks. I'll be sure to show you the quilt when it's finished.

Thanks for visiting!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

Turquoise quilt for Dianne

I finally finished a quilt project. Not my own project, but a UFO from 1996 started by my friend Dianne's Mom, who passed away last summer. I blogged about this project previously, here. I backed the top with polar fleece (Dianne's request) and stitched it in the ditch about every 8 inches with my walking foot. The quilt was eager to get out of the paper bag and it quilted like butter. I finished it with a wide binding made out of the border fabric. Even after 22 years, the turquoise and teals are still very pretty.

Here is Dianne with her finished quilt, only 22 years in the making...

Dianne was so pleased when I gave it to her. She posted it on her Facebook page and shared it with all her friends and family. We're having a heat wave right now, but I'm sure that she will put the quilt to good use this fall and next winter.

Thanks for visiting!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

A visit from Colette!

Last week my friend Colette, who blogs at What About Rheema, made an epic trip from Michigan to Maine to collect her favorite rows for the 2018 Row by Row. She mentioned it in her blog and I reached out immediately to see if we could meet in person. I was so excited! Colette and I have been corresponding for several years and I was eager to meet her and her little dog Bobbin.

Colette arrived on Sunday afternoon and we enjoyed a few hours of relaxation on our patio, followed by a lazy lunch at the Yard House. We were hoping for a little romance or at least a rousing game of tag for Caesar and Bobbin, but she was a little intimidated by the Pug Boys, so they watched each other from afar. LarryPug wanted to keep Colette for his own, so a couple of times he and Bobbin barked at each other quite territorially. Elvis is a senior citizen and was quite indifferent, although I believe that Bobbin did give him a little kiss. We were amused.

We still had about 45 minutes left after lunch to visit Ann's Fabrics which is open on Sunday. They were having a sale, so Colette and I rescued some fabric and brought it home.

The next day, I took Colette to Framingham (my ancestral home) and we visited Sewphisticated, Fabric Place and Joann Fabrics. The enchanting Miss Bobbin accompanied us and she was so quiet that most people in the fabric shops didn't even notice her hanging out in Colette's over-sized shoulder bag. We rescued some more fabric. Colette even found some goodies that she had been searching for for over a year at Joann's.

Here is Bobbin peeking out of her travel bag.

Bobbin, Colette and I enjoyed lunch alfresco on the patio of Whole Foods in Framingham.

Colette brought me a great gift, the Row by Row kit from the Fabric Garden in Maine, which I had greatly admired. I will make it (eventually) for my darling husband Mike who is a classical guitarist.

Here are Colette's posts about our visit, part 1 and part 2.

Colette--Thanks for visiting! Come back soon!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

Pugtastic Tuesday: The Fourth of July edition

Hello Dear Blogging Friends,

Sorry, it's been a while. In addition to my usual excuse of "I'm tired", we also had a broken Internet connection for a bit. While I'm still tired (a permanent state), our Internet has been fixed.

Last year at the gym, my trainer Mark pointed out that I did not have a pug-themed Fourth of July t-shirt. I remedied this immediately and now have two.

Here is Lady Liberty. I wore this one to the gym yesterday.

I will be wearing my Pug Flag t-shirt on Friday to the gym. Or maybe I'll wear it tomorrow...

Today I am thinking about my Grandpa Hyman. July 3rd was his birthday and he was very proud to be an American. Grandpa Hyman, was my Mom's Father, and his family emigrated from the Austrian-Hungarian empire, which eventually became Poland, when he was a young child of about 10. His Mom died before they left, so Grandpa and his youngest siblings were raised by their older siblings. I remember my Grandpa as a happy man who was always singing along to the radio and reading the Yiddish newspaper. He passed away when I was a senior in college, many years ago. Happy Birthday Grandpa Hyman!

I have probably shown you my Fourth of July pug flag before...

Look closely in my dark, back-lit photo and you'll see Caesar (curled up in the drop cloth) and Elvis (the black spot to the right of Caesar) supervising the painting of the kitchen. When I'm at work, the pugs are crated during the kitchen construction. I was meeting with the contractor before I left for the office.

LarryPug and Caesar hanging out at the bottom of our bed while I read a book.

An adorable selfie of Elvis and Mike that he took as a sweet surprise for me on my phone while I was otherwise occupied.

This week I promise to blog about: Dianne's quilt, my visit from Colette, and more kitchen progress, so come back soon!

Have a safe and Happy Fourth of July! Remember that fur babies HATE fireworks, so keep them  indoors.

Thanks for visiting!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy