Quick Update

Hello Dear Blogging Friends,

Thanks for sending my Dad a card for his 90th birthday. To-date he has received well over 100 cards. Last week in Florida was quite crazy. Both my parents were ill and Mike got sick too. My Mom ended up in the hospital for the week with bronchial asthma. We took my Dad out to dinner for his 90th birthday and I think that he had a good time. Several of my cousins traveled from across the country to join us, so we managed to have a party of about 16 people, which for our little family, is a lot!

My Mom is now out of the hospital (yeah!), but unfortunately my Dad was hospitalized on Friday with pneumonia. So I'm headed back to Florida to help Mom out.

Just wanted to keep in touch!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

P.S. Here are some cute pug photos to tide you over until I write again!

LarryPug will turn 11 in March. Ziggy will be one in May. He is now taller than LarryPug.

In this photo, Ziggy demonstrates that he can indeed stretch out and take both dog beds. Caesar is not pleased.

Pug cuddles. The snuggle is real!

January Sunday with the Brown Baggers

Greetings Blog Friends,

I've been away too long. I'm not quilting much, but I miss you all. Lately I've been bringing my beading projects to my monthly quilt group meetings.

Here are some of the quilt projects that the girls were working on.

Kim G. is hiding behind this beauty.

Kim G. with her second finished top.

Terri with a striking Bento Box quilt done in modern fabrics.

This is a very old UFO that Marion is finishing. We took it as a workshop many years ago in Cape Cod. I think that I only made two blocks and I ended up giving them to Marion.

Our most recent meeting was this past weekend. We always use our January Sunday to host our annual after the holidays party. Everyone brings a dish with no advance signup of any kind and it's always lots of fun. This year our table overflowed with all kinds of yummy goodies including apple strudel, homemade soup with sausage and kale, delicious buffalo chicken dip (two different kinds, so we had a taste test!), a yummy strata and equally yummy quiche (I had both), brownies, blondies, and fudge (oh my) and birthday cake. Plus there were some healthy things like veggies and dip.

We also had our annual gift swap. This year Joannie found some new rules online where you rolled some dice and then acted according to the number. It was lots of fun. I ended up with a very cute clock that is shaped like a sewing machine.

Thanks to everyone who is sending birthday cards to my Dad for his 90th birthday on the 17th! He has received 18 cards so far and can't wait to go out and check the mail box every day.

Here is my first finished project of 2020. I gave these earrings to my hair stylist as a gift.

Thanks for visiting!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

90 Years Young

Here we are at my Dad's 87th birthday dinner in 2017.

In two weeks, the Cohens of California, New York, and Massachusetts, will converge in Florida to celebrate my Dad’s 90^th birthday. We are taking my Dad to his favorite Mexican restaurant and the party will include presents, balloons, and an enormous chocolate cake with a LOT of candles.

Although my Dad has slowed down physically and his short-term memory is not what it used to be, his long-term memory is razor sharp. He is active, engaged, and still interested in current events. If you ask my Dad what he likes to do, he will tell you that he enjoys shopping (aka bargain hunting) and weekly visits to the library. His favorite stores are Walmart and Target. Dad is an avid reader and is partial to mysteries. He still putters around the house and my Mom recently had to hide the step ladder after she caught him climbing up to change a light bulb.

It is amazing to think of how the world has changed since my Dad was born and all of the things that he has seen. My Dad was born during the Depression. An Electrical Engineer in civilian life, he also served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War and helped develop radar and nuclear submarines. He started his career with a slide rule, moved on to a calculator, and then a computer. My Dad has always embraced technology and we were the first family I know to own an answering machine, a VCR, and a TRS-80 (one of the earliest home computers). Even today my Dad owns several computer tablets and enjoys looking up facts on Google.

My Dad is an only child and we have a small nuclear family. So ten years ago when my Dad turned 80, I asked all of my friends (and their friends) to send my Dad a birthday card. My co-worker Michelle posted his name on her pen pal group and he received cards from Japan and Australia. Other friends passed his information along and he ended up receiving over 100 birthday cards. My Mom said that my Dad would eagerly await the arrival of the mail man every day. Ten years later, they still have all the birthday cards in a special box.

Want to send my Dad a card to help celebrate his 90^th birthday? Let him know that you read about him on the PugMom Quilt's blog. He will get a big kick out of it. His birthday is January 17^th. Here is Dad’s info:

Alan Cohen
10604 Royal Caribbean Circle
Boynton Beach, FL 33437

Have you had a milestone birthday recently? How do you celebrate a milestone birthday?

For more historical fun and facts:

25 Moments That Changed America

How America Has Changed Since 1940

The 50 Biggest Changes In the Last 50 Years

 

Thanks for visiting! 

Pugs and kisses,

Nancy

Pugtastic Tuesday: Happy Valentine's Day (almost)

Check out this little pug beauty. In case you're wondering. This is NOT one of the Pug Boys.

I now own Valentine's Day pug dish towels, found at Hobby Lobby. I'm not a huge Hobby Lobby fan, but who can resist these? Since Mike prefers kitchen towels out of cotton towel fabric, rather than terry cloth, these little pug sweeties are in our guest bathroom.

Thanks for visiting!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

Pugtastic Tuesday: Pug Boots

I have new rain boots!

I was inspired to look for pug-themed rain boots after I saw some children's rain boots with pugs on them. An adult-size version was quite easy to find. I bought mine on Amazon. They are perfect for puddle stomping and taking the Pug Boys in the yard, especially when it's muddy. Note: If you don't like pugs, there are 41 other patterns to choose from!


Thanks for visiting!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

Victoria's Baby Quilt

I woke up this morning and decided to finish baby Victoria's quilt. I worked on it last week at our MLK quilt weekend and it was nearly complete.

All the fabric came from my stash (aka Nancy's House of Fabric). I mixed cotton prints with flannel. I finished it with a wide satin binding. I think the baby will enjoy all the different textures. There is no pattern for this quilt, I just used what I had. The gray squares were cut 4.5" wide. 

The finished quilt is 36" x 42".

Here's a close-up of some of the quilt fabrics.

Here is LarryPug doing his best Vanna imitation and showing you the back of the quilt which is pink flannel owls. Nice and toasty warm.

My brother Gary asked me to make this baby quilt as a gift for his co-teacher who had her second baby in November. Her colors were gray and white and her theme was owls. I have lots of owl fabric because my little friend Lily loves owls. I don't normally work much with gray, but I had bought a bunch of gray prints when I made my friend Pat a Chubby Charmer for her birthday a few years ago.

Thanks for visiting!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

2019 Birthday Blocks

Each year the Brown Baggers choose a birthday block for our annual exchange. We vote on the block choices in the fall and create a sign up sheet. We can choose our own colors and often provide one or more of the fabrics in the block.

This is our 2019 Birthday Block. The pattern is from Stitchin' Therapy's blog.

Last year's block had way too many half square triangles and it caused me (and others) a lot of angst. Debbie finally found that if we used the Layer Cake papers, it made the block come out a bit more easily, but by then, half the year had gone by.

This year's block is easy and fun (see picture above). Marion celebrated her quilting birthday during our MLK quilt weekend, so we got to see the new blocks all made up in Marion's color choice which was a scrappy white background with Kaffe Fassett fabrics.

Here is Joannie laying them out on the table as Marion opens her gifts.

Here is Kim P.'s machine all set up to assembly sew lots and lots of birthday blocks!

Here is a photo from Stitchin' Therapy's blog, showing the quilt top. Isn't it pretty?

I chose not to participate in our birthday swap this year, but I may make the quilt on my own because I really like it! And it looks like a great way to use some of your scraps (although it won't make a dent in my scrap pile!).

If you want to see more of our birthday blocks, just type "birthday blocks" in the search bar on the right hand side.

Thanks for visiting!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy