Just as I was trying to sort out my feelings on the class yesterday morning, my neighbor came over and very politely asked that we do something about Choco. Her barking is driving them nuts and the evening before (while I was trying to explain things to the parents) Choco barked for a full 30 minutes. Even though that was an unusual situation (with parents in the yard) I can't deny that my neighbors have suffered through Choco's barking for two years so what could I do but apologize. I promised we'd do something (but I had no idea what) and proceeded to call Tetsu and sob to him over the phone that our neighbors were upset.
Tetsu is so positive. We should be happy that the neighbor isn't calling the police or something, we really shouldn't have let the problem go on so long, he would think of something. I felt better about it after talking to him and I went about my day as planned. I didn't get back home until nearly 4:00 and realized right away Tetsu was home. He'd had a change of schedule and decided God was giving him the time to get to work on the Choco problem. He had come home at 12:00 and spent four hours cleaning up the yard and moving Choco's kennel and dog house into the back corner of our lot. This is really the only solution to the problem. It puts Choco around the corner of our house from the neighbors. I feel sorry for Choco because she won't get any sun and I feel like we've banished her but this is ridiculous because our little Japanese yard is only big enough to park a car! How far away can she get? (From us and the neighbors!) I can still see her from a window though she isn't on our patio anymore. I hope the new location will mean Choco won't set up such a fuss every time the mailman, guests, and people in general come over or walk by or if she continues to bark, that our house will muffle some of the noise. Keep us in your prayers!
Ok. Positive thoughts! I got some sewing done on the Star quilt I decided to make. I used leaders-enders for the corner blocks and a few 2" strips. I really need to keep more strips on hand for a project like this. While making the star part, I also tried Bonnie's technique of sewing next to the primary seam line in order to make a small square from the excess fabric. What do you think? Am I really going to use these little squares I get? They are only an 1 1/2" square and sewing them together will make minuscule 1 " pinwheels. Is this a waste of time? I suppose they might be cute in a crumbs quilt but will I ever make one?
The other thing I did yesterday was spend the day with Mrs. Furui and though this doesn't look like beauty yet, because of Mrs. Furui's efforts, one day I'm going to have a beautiful quilt! I took over the feathered star block and my rough idea of what I wanted to do for sashings and corners and she spent a couple hours figuring and re- figuring measurements so that I can now go and buy fabric and start cutting and sewing in a logical way. Mrs. Furui should be hired by a patchwork publishing company to work out yardage and plan the correct steps to making a quilt! She is an indispensable part of my quilting life. Look at my scribbles and her details! You can sure judge our personalities just by looking at that!
6 comments:
It is wonderful that you have such a good friend to do the math for you! What a gift.... I've got a collection of 2" squares which I'm making into half triangle squares (finish at 1") too. I thought I'd use them for a background to a surface applique wall hanging maybe, some day....
Hope relocating the dog helps. I live in a neighbors with lots of dogs (and I don't have one) so can sympathize with your neighbors, yet know re-training a dog from its natural behaviour is like trying to block a stream, a never ending challenge. Best of luck.
I hope moving the kennel helps. I was really worried when we moved this past December because we never had to worry about Chesty's barking bothering anyone. In the apartment he's been pretty good but I have to shush him if he starts barking at something out the window.
Our dogs bark at passing people or visitors, & we work really hard to modify their barking. We have new neighbours, who have 2 dogs.They sometimes spend the whole day barking, & it stirs our dogs up. We try to keep them inside, but we are lucky, as we are home most of the time, & shut the dogs in when we go out. We have another mutual neighbour, who does not have dogs, & I feel sorry for him & his wife.
Oh poor you Tanya - you sound like you're having low level hassle (or maybe not so low) from lots of different directions at the moment - and in the true way of these things the sum of all the parts always feels greater than the whole if you get my drift. I hope moving Choco round the corner helps and thus reduces your stress level - you sound like you need some soothing stitching time to me - I sure wish I could pop over with a cake and make you a nice cup of tea ((hugs))
I hope moving Choco helps. I guess I would want a dog who barks when something different is happening, but maybe not so much. Not ever having any pets, I guess the only other thing I could think of doing is to give him some attention and let him know everything is okay so he can stop barking. My neighbors yell shut up! to their dog and that works for some strange reason.
Your new block is so pretty! I too make those HSTs with my extras. Sometimes I use them in the border or for the back. I am reading a book called Scrap Quilt Sensations where she made her stars different by including different shapes in the center, so maybe you can use those hsts in those four patches you have there?
How's Choco doing with the new location?
Post a Comment