Christmas Shoot 2013

Black Friday.  You know what that means:  round up the guinea pigs and take photographs for Christmas cards!

Wandering Bowl

I've been amused by the way the pellet bowl wanders around the cage.  This phenomenon has only occurred since March, when we brought Cannoli home.  In the beginning it moved only when no one was looking, however now-a-days it's obvious who's the culprit.  The bowl ranges all around the cage since I fully fleeced the bottom level.  I often find it, empty, under the hammock.

I caught some of the action the other morning.  They do love their Timothy pellets, don't they?  I'm happy that they don't fight over them, although I'm not sure if I'd call this sharing.  On the other hand, they're guinea pigs.  This is sharing at it's best!

I love how Noli pulls the bowl away from Pinniped and that doesn't seem to faze Pinni one little bit.  She just follows the food dish, no matter how far away it goes.

Making a Casserole Carrier

I've worked with this pattern three times.  I've made several modifications each time I sew it and not all of the notations made it into the margins of the original instructions.  I'm tired of guessing what I did (or worse yet, pulling apart the seams on my carrier to see the layers).  I'm documenting it this time around.

I make the carrier out of four layers of material:  Inner fabric, Insul-bright, cotton batting and outer fabric.  The original instructions say to start with 2/3 yard of each, but I have found that if the cotton or batting shrinks during the pre-wash or if the length of cloth was cut unevenly, it's not enough material to use as instructed.  I've also discovered with the extra thickness I make, it needs to be cut slightly wider than the original instructions.  I found 3/4 yard each worked well.  The carrier also requires two 12" long 3/8" diameter dowels for the handles.

Cut one 41x11" piece of each of the four materials.
Cut one 27x13" piece of each of the four materials.
(Note to self: next time try 41x12" and 27x14")

Bluegrass

The last time I bought hay I got a sample of bluegrass.  It looked so green and beautiful, and yet Pinniped and Cannoli stuck their noses up at it.  I gave it away at the Boston pignic.

Now that we're a Timothy-free household, Pinni and Noli have discovered that given the choices, bluegrass is pretty good!  We were lucky that another guinea pig from the Boston Pignic, Mr. Cuddles, was willing to share his stash of bluegrass.  I picked up the box a couple of weeks ago. 

Initially Pinni and Noli dove into it.  Now it gets spread about a bit, but no more than the Timothy hay.  Pinni and Noli seem to like to play with it as much as eat it.

I think I'm slightly allergic to the bluegrass, too, but it is so much less dusty than the Timothy.  My coughing has improved a lot in the last few weeks.  So now I'm looking for a good home for about 30 lbs of 3rd cut KMS Timothy Hay that I purchased last March.  Any takers?  Pick-up would be easiest for me, but I'd be willing to ship it for the price of postage.

Fading Charms

When I found Fading Charms I thought: I can do that.  I finished the top in a little over two weeks.  I love all the colors and I handled the randomness better than I thought (although there's a few pieces that irk me).  My quilting friends urged me to do the background in white and I'm glad I listened to them.  I plan to back and bind it with a pastel pink and green fabric.  It should add some colors to the edge without drawing attention away from the rest of the quilt.

Usually I start a project and work on it until it's finished.  This will be my first UFO (for my non-sewing readers - UnFinished Object) while I work on some other sewing projects (with deadlines).  I'm hoping, if all goes well, to get back to this before the end of the year.

Template Taste Testing

Anyone who has guinea pigs knows that floor time can end with mischief if the area is not properly pig-proofed.  I recently made a little paper template to punch holes in my recipe book bindings.  I had left the template and the punch on the hearth, which is raised several inches off of the floor.  Neither pig has shown any interest in the hearth nor have they checked out anything placed on it.  Well, until now.

I had been busy cleaning the cage, so it took several seconds of listening to the distinct sound of paper chewing before I recalled that I had not given them any toilet paper tubes stuffed with hay.  I ran over to find Pinniped working diligently on my spine template.  She had managed to avoid the holes and hadn't quite made it across the width of the spine.  Not that it mattered too much - I had finished the recipe books earlier that week.  But what a fresh little pig!  She went straight for the one thing I had left out.  How do they know?

Revenge of the Cyst

Guess where we went last night?  To the vet!  Oh, joy!

Well, not really.  Cannoli was there for a baseline visit.  It was terrifying.  She made the vet work a long time to see her teeth.  Noli wriggled all over the place and couldn't wait to get back in the carry case.  She buried herself in the cozy and didn't come out even after she got home.

Her verdict:  the vet is a very scary place.

Pinniped, on the other hand, was initially very relaxed.  What a difference between the two!  Unfortunately, this wasn't just a social call for Pinni.  She ended up with a shaved and goopy belly for an ultrasound.  Sure enough, her cysts have returned with a vengeance.  Pinni's symptoms had been so subtle: a bit of hair loss in the middle of her back, a single day of chasing Cannoli early last week.  I'm glad I made the appointment when I did - she started losing weight right after I called.  I had guessed the cysts had returned, but I was surprised they had grown and spread.  Pinni will be getting hCG shots in the near future.

It's Back!

My old Singer is back home!  The repair guy was amused by my excitement when he called two weeks ago to tell me he found the problem, and informed me that the gear could be replaced.  I did a happy dance when he quoted a price less than what I had been prepared for.  I did more happy dancing last Saturday when they called to say it was ready for pick-up (plus the price was less than what was quoted!).

The only bummer -- I got it home before I realized the needle had been bumped to the right of dead center.  The mechanic quickly adjusted that, and I returned home with my prize possession.  My sewing machine is humming along, better than it's sounded in years. 

I immediately put it to work (even before I returned for the adjustment).  Sewed up some fleece for the guinea pigs' cage, repaired one of my rice bags, and started sewing the new quilt!  I've done quite a bit of it with just a few evening's work.  I'll need to get background material and batting soon; I'll be done sewing the little squares by next weekend.