Making quilts & Penny

It has been a busy morning and I have not had time to sit and type this post. I had a very productive weekend! It makes me feel so good. I got all my laundry done Friday night and went early Saturday morning to get groceries so I would have lots of time to sew. Hubby was on the day shift Saturday and Sunday and I wanted to be through with the sewing by the time he got home at 6pm. I sewed lots of squares together on the quilt I am making for my son and one I am making for myself. Sunday after church I started sewing again and also started work on a quilt for my daughter. I won't tell you which one as they will be reading this soon. Of course I plan to start work on the other daughter one this week, also. I know it sound crazy to be working on 4 quilts at one time, but it is so neat. I just have the squares layed out all over my bed and have my sewing machine set up next to it and sew away! I should have taken pictures of what I got sewed but was so busy getting things put away before hubby got home from work, that I didn't think about it.
I did get this picture of Molly helping me hold down my squares! I had the fan blowing on me as I get so hot all the time and my squares were trying to blow all over the place. I was trying to find things to lay on them when along comes Molly and solved that problem! I told my daughter, Tara, to grab the camera so I could get Molly's pic. Those cats of ours love to lay on all sorts of things!

I was so excited about all the sewing I got done and can't wait to get back at it. I also got my very first order to make a quilt for someone who is actually going to pay me for it! A lady at church heard me telling my pastor's wife that I was making some quilts and she asked me about making one for her son. I told her, of course I would! So I have to draw it out and figure the price and get back with her. I was so excited! I have never sold a quilt before! This will be a first! Who knows this could be the start of something!

You know how sometimes you are just sitting thinking about different things and something will pop into your head and make you remember something or someone who is no longer here but that really meant a lot to you? Well, this happened to me in the wee hours of the morning yesterday. I woke up when hubby left for work at 5:30am and for some reason I started thinking about a dog we used to have named, Penny.
Penny was a very special dog. My Daddy found her along side of the road when she was a tiny puppy. It was out in the middle of no where and so he figured someone had just put her out cause they didn't want her. He brought her home to my Mama and told her he thought she was part chichuahua and that she would make a good inside dog. As you can see from the photo below she was definitely not chihuahua! We kept her in the house until she got so big she had to go outside. We used to live about 1/2 mile from the center of town and I used to ride my bike to town on Saturdays. Penny would always go with me. She was so smart. When we would come to a road to cross I would hold out my hand and she would stop. When I put my hand down she knew it was safe to cross. If I went into a store she would sit right next to my bike and wait on me. She was very friendly to everyone and never tried to bark or growl at anyone going in or out of the stores or walking along the sidewalks. When I stopped at this little dairy bar in town to get a coke I would always get her a cup of water. We had her a lot of years and she eventually got too old to go to town with me. The last time I let her go with me I had to keep stopping and waiting for her to catch up and she would just be panting. She was just too old to keep up anymore. So from then on when I would ride my bike Mama would have to put her into our utility room till I got out of site so she wouldn't follow me. Then Mama would let her out.
When our neighbors got two new puppies, Penny liked to mother them. Those puppies had a habit of laying out in the road. I noticed that if Penny heard or saw a car coming she would run out and nudge the puppies out of the road.
Another funny thing that happened with Penny is the night she rode over to my Daddy's house with us. You see, my parents divorced when I was 15 years old and my dad remarried and moved across town. He and his wife divorced a few years later and 10 years after he divorced my Mama he came back and they were together for the last 20 years of her life. But anyway, when Daddy first got Penny he was living with us, of course, so Penny was used to him coming home every night and staying. After the divorce Daddy would come visit, but then he would always leave. One night he was over at our house and he had had a bit too much to drink so I had to drive him home. When we go into the car to leave Penny jumped in the car on my Daddy's lap. I tried to get her to get out of the car but she wouldn't go. Daddy said just to let her ride with us. So she did. My cousin followed me over to my dads to bring me back home. When we got to Daddy's house he and Penny got out and Penny started walking all around the yard. I opened my cousins car door and kept trying to get Penny to get in the car. She just wouldn't do it. She walked right up next to my dad who was unlocking his house door. I told Daddy that Penny wouldn't get in the car. Do you know my dad looked down at Penny and told her she had to go back home with me and then Penny turned and walked over to my cousins car and got right in! She was one smart dog! I think that Penny just wanted to know where it was that Daddy went when he left our house. For years he stayed home and then all of a sudden he didn't come home anymore and she was wondering why!
I love the picture I took of Penny below. She was pretty old by the time this picture was taken. But I told her to smile and she did! Can you see her smiling? I think we had her about 7 or 8 years when she died. I still miss that dog. She was one in a million.