Yes, I just finished Falling Leaves, so....I need a new quilt!  It's not like I wasn't working on  Cascade or anything, right?  A semi-local designer had a class at Sew Simple for her Piccadilly Square quilt on Saturday.  I've always heard that she teaches a lot of "tips and tricks" in her classes, so signed up for it.  She didn't disappoint!  I walked away with a few more ways to do things, and 3 completed quilt blocks (out of 12).  

Falling Leaves is done - just in time for fall!

This was a fun quilt to make - the leaves are all from my fabric stash, so it makes me feel like I'm being thrifty (even if I do have to buy the background, backing and binding fabric, lol!)

Cindy M and I took Ripley, Cooper, and Roo to the off-leash dog park on Friday.  Cooper and Ripley aren't much of a concern off lead, but Roo is a different matter.  She did great!  When she's on the lead, she still barks and pulls toward other dogs, but when she was off the lead, she was pretty well behaved.  She is scared of the other dogs, so would go see them, then retreat back to Cindy when she overloaded.  

We had a great meet-up with a couple of ladies with a dalmatian, pit bull, corgi mix, and a puppy (10-12 weeks old?? - too cute!!!).  The pit bull wanted to be in charge, but everyone else ignored him - fun to watch!.  Ripley did her normal meet-and-greet and then went to the river for a drink. Then, the dalmatian saw a squirrel - the chase was on!  Ripley joined in the action.  Roo did great with all the different dogs bustling around, being dogs - barking, sniffing, etc.

I followed Ripley over to the river bank - the river was beautiful!  (I did NOT join her for the squirrel chase....)

Ripley found a squirrel...hoping it would come back down to play??

Once again, I have help when quilting, even if I don't need it.... 

 Somehow, having the 60 pound GSD in front of the batting roll does NOT help!

Ripley and I visited the off-lead dog park off of Bechelli yesterday, and she was perfect!  I have only had her off lead with dogs that she already knew, so was a bit concerned how she would react to other dogs. She's been good on-lead with other dogs, but the dynamics change when the leads are gone!  I'm still not sure how she will respond to an aggressive dog, since all the dogs we met were also acting properly.  Hopefully, no one takes their aggressive dog there! 

One part of the trail goes under Highway 44 - kind of a cool view.

Cindy M and I met up with some of the book club ladies in McCloud yesterday for the Apple Harvest Festival (which should not have Apple in the name - no apples were in attendance!)  Mt.Shasta was hiding the first part of the day, but was clearing up by the afternoon. 

Some of the ladies were staying the weekend at a "cabin" at the Friday RV Park, and this was the view from their deck.  

I was getting Alli's breakfast ready, and noticed that her TV wasn't working correctly - there were a bunch of pop-ups on the screen. It didn't take long to see the cause....Jessie was pushing buttons again....laptops were not made to be cat warming stations!!

Progress on the Cascade quilt:

Note the Doxie head on the right???  I've converted Cindy M to the dark side, she's making the All Wrapped Up quilt for her sister who has multiple Doxies.  Too cute!!!

Ripley and I took a walk at Turtle Bay - I measured it at just over 1.25 miles per my workout program on my watch (always subject to accuracy), so it will be a nice walk when I'm short on time and want a different path.   

Some more photos from along the Sacramento River.  Ripley is loving the morning walks we are getting.  She looks so upset when I go somewhere without her now.  (Trust me, she doesn't want to sit in the car on the college campus for two hours for my class, but she doesn't agree.  It was 100 degrees here yesterday!)

My latest project - Cascade - is starting to go up on the design board, and it's a good thing.  I had several of the starts up for a while, and then took a second (or third) look at them.... 

Why can't I notice this before I press the block (maybe even before I actually sew it???)  

Even worse, I only noticed one of the blocks that were put together wrong at that time.  I found the other one later that day.  Only 12 more star blocks to make - let's see if I can put the rest of them together correctly....

Not content with just blocking access to my ironing board when I'm sewing, James has also decided that the puzzle table is hers....I have a feeling that when we get close to the end of the puzzle, there are only going to be 999 pieces on the table. 

I spent a bit of time yesterday quilting, and had a few "helpers"....Ripley was crashed out on the bed by the sewing machine.

Luna was crashed out on the bed by my cutting table.

James was crashed out on the ironing board.  Please note that James is laying ON the fabric I was trying to press - it's a bit harder to iron that way is all I can say.  James may be "pressing" the fabric, but she isn't very good at it.