"Miss Sasha" from Toronto, Ontario, Canada~

Hi Susan

It has been a busy summer so our internet activity has been pretty quiet. We have been thinking of you and Mike - as well as your new little pup.From experience, I know that rehab can be very hard on both the patient and the family - with good days and bad days. I hope that you have reached the stage of more good days than not. Medicine has advanced so much in recent years. We are blessed to live in such a privileged era.


Our beautiful Sasha is an absolute joy. She is 3 years now but there is lots of puppy there still. We think she looks a lot like Tic Tac, her father - but we see a little of all the lovely dogs in her ancestry.

Earlier this summer Sasha spent a week with her original trainer, Joy, while we were on holiday. Here is a lovely picture taken on her first walk of the day - at dawn - yes that is the sunrise in the background.

August has been a lovely month here in Ontario and we are looking forward to a good fall.

I am reading your quilt entries with great interest. My best friend is a quilter so your blog helps me understand some of the basics that interest her. I am impressed with the family history that quilts preserve and bequest to future generations. In a sense it is a bit like the detailted pedigrees that you kept for each of the pups!

Take care of yourselves. I hope you will both come through all of this stronger than ever.

Hugs Pat & Ron & Sasha

The Puppy Homecoming!

HAHAHAHA....I found this on YouTube. I had completely forgot I made this a couple of years ago. Those were the days... LOL....

Took Ladybug to the groomer today. I'll try to take some pictures of her tomorrow. She looks just gorgeous, as I knew she would..every bit the champion-sired puppy that she is.

Love to all~

Sue

Monday September 21, 2015

Hello to all my High Calling Cocker family~

I hope you are all doing well this evening. Things are quiet here tonight. I guess that's a good thing, but it sure is different than it used to be when we had 14 kids growing up here. LOL

I am so relieved to hear from Cherrie'. I knew she had just sold her farm...but haven't heard from her in a few weeks. Glad to see she's just been really busy getting ready to move. Please say a prayer for her that the good Lord gives her wisdom and direction as to where she should be moving.

I finished baby Eva's quilt. She is our newest granddaughter, just born a few weeks ago.  I hand-stitched some pretty lace applique' flowers and her name on the quilt top.  It turned out really pretty.

I still have to finish Landon's quilt. He just turned a year old. I am hand quilting it. It's really cute. I love green, especially paired with off-white.

Well, I guess this is all for tonight. I have to play the organ for a wedding this weekend, and have to learn some new music for that before Thursday night's rehearsal. God's richest blessings to all!

Much love,

Mama Sue

Miss Bethany and Miss Tiffany from Tuckasegee, North Carolina~

Mama Sue, Mom sends her prayers and love to all.
We don't know where we're going but MOM says it will be a special place
for all of us.
I'll miss the farm and all the animals.

HARD WORK! Mom said We're going to have a new home and Bethany and I are a little bit scared!

Saturday September 19, 2015~

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick update on what's going on in my life. We will be leaving for North Carolina in a couple of weeks, so trying to get caught up here before we leave. I especially want to finish the grandchildrens' Christmas quilts before we leave. I just finished little Tommy's quilt. I designed this one all by myself. He loves drums...so I got some drum fabric and "fussy cut" the drum images out for places on the quilt. Then I got some material called "All that Jazz" for the majority of the quilt. I just machine quilted around all the squares in the material to attach the back to the top...and just brought the fleece up around the edges and stitched them down. Works for me! LOL I used black fleece on the back, but I won't do that again. It picks up everything and hard to keep looking nice. Live and learn. Anyway, little Tommy will like the quilt I'm sure....even if it isn't "pretty", it has what he loves on it.

Blessings to you all this weekend~

Sue

"Miss Nora"...aka "Clover" from Minnesota~

Hi Susan,
Thought you would like to see this funny picture of Nora ( you would know her as Clover – I got her in April 2013 – one of your last puppies).
so we have a pair. Nora was such a gentle sweetheart until Tal got here –
Now she has a lot of “responsibilities” apparently, and she is taking her job seriously. There has been a bit of “Tal, leave Nora alone” “Nor, leave
Tal alone!” but they are very cute together most of the time.

Nora loves to walk and play “ball”. It looks like an easter egg hunt in our back yard – she must have 75 balls. This picture is a classic!

Julie

Nora is the fur blob on the left  - Tal is center stage.
Their best pictures
together are when they are asleep.

Update on Chad and his twins~

Chad and Annette's little ones.

Chad sent me this picture today of how he takes the kids for a walk in his NC neighborhood. I think he must push the twins in the stroller, and pull Maddy in the wagon. Isn't this just the cutest thing??? LOL I had to share it with you!

Mama Sue

We have a brand new granddaughter~!!!

Our son Scott and his wife Rachel are the proud parents of Eva Skye, born Sept. 3rd. She is a sister to little Amelia Jean. We are truly blessed!

Wednesday, Sept 2nd, 2015~

Hello everyone,

Just wanted to touch base with y'all this fine summer's day. We had a great family picnic on Sunday. Our daughter Katie and her hubby are home from Hawaii for a few days. David is visiting from North Carolina. Jeffie (Jennifer) flew in from Louisville. It was sad that Cheryl and Chad and their families couldn't come up to join us from NC too. They were certainly missed! We had a lovely day!!! I originally wanted to have a much larger party with tents and live music, and invite all our friends. However, with Mike scheduled for surgery the Friday before, I decided I had better cut back to just family, not knowing how Mike would make out. Big sigh~ Today we got a letter from the VA. They want him to come in for another CT Scan of his chest. Honestly...it's always something~

I just finished another quilt. This one will go to Amelia for Christmas. (aka "Shoogie")

I think the next one I will work on will be little Tommy's drum quilt. I will send pictures when it's all done.

Here is Shoogie's quilt:

Romance by E.Vive Daffodil Benartex Fabric

Morgan and Gabriel

We are praising God because both of Chad and Annette's twins are finally home from the hospital! They were tiny when born and spent many weeks in the NICU in Charlotte...but are doing great and finally home! Their names are Morgan and Gabriel. You may remember when little Madison was born three years ago, she only weighted 1.3 pounds, but she is doing beautifully now. God has been so good to our family!

OK...guess this is all for now. Have a blessed "rest of the day", everyone!

Much love,

Sue

Happy Birthday Miss Maggie Mae from Erie, Pennsylvania~

Hi Sue!

It’s been a while since I’ve written, but I do keep up with your blog. I’m glad you still have it as I enjoy seeing what the other High Calling Cockers are up to as well as pictures and stories of your new little one. I’m so sorry that Mike has had so much going on and hope that the VA can help him with all of it. Our prayers are with you both!

I have to say your quilts are absolutely beautiful! Thanks for sharing the pictures, one was prettier than the next. I’m sure your grandchildren will cherish those forever. I still have the quilts my grandmother made and think of her every time I have them out.

Pat is a regular on the volunteer crew of the Flagship Niagara, a replica of Oliver Hazard Perry’s tall ship he defeated the British with in the Battle of Lake Erie in 1813. He loves being part of the crew on tall ships and has sailed on 3 different ships so far. Currently he has been on Niagara for 3 weeks sailing between Erie, Monroe, OH, Toledo, OH and is now in Kingsville, Ontario. They’ll be leaving Sunday to return to Erie.

Maggie Mae turned 3 years old last Friday, the 21st. It’s so hard to believe we’ve had her 3 years already. Hopefully Muffin and Smithers had great birthdays too! I took off from work at the Erie VA to spend her birthday with her doing all the things she enjoys and going to all her favorite places. We had a wonderful time and she got treats wherever she went. I attached a picture of our birthday girl in her birthday suit. She has truly been a blessing and we love her dearly!

Our choir at church begins rehearsals on 9/9. Summer just flew by! Hopefully everyone will be back for the new season. It’s always nice to have the break in the summer, but it’s nice to get back to seeing everyone again too.

That’s about the latest from our family. I hope all goes well for you both and hang in there!

Take care and blessings always,
Linda, Pat and Maggie

Update on Sue and Mike~

Good afternoon!

It is a lovely Tuesday...the weather is gorgeous. I am enjoying the day, doing what I love best....taking care of Mike ( aka Grumpy)and working on my baby quilts. Here is the latest quilt I made. For this one, my piece of fleece wasn't large enough to bring up to the top around the edge for a border, so I added a "satin edge". I was nervous to do it, since I have never done it before. But I followed the tutorials I see on YouTube, and used a zigzag stitch, and it went on without a hitch. Super simple! I didn't do a great job on it, but I'm satisfied with it.
I will pass it on to one of the grand daughters for Christmas.

As most of you know, Mike had surgery on Friday to retrieve the lens that had fallen back into the inside of his eye last December, in hopes that it would restore his eyesight. Unfortunately, the surgery was not successful and he still cannot see with his left eye. But we are thankful that he made it through the surgery safely. The doctor told us ahead of time that he wasn't guaranteeing anything as far as restoring his sight was concerned, so we went into it with our eyes open. (no pun intended)

Little Ladybug is growing so fast! We finally gave her a little haircut on Sunday afternoon. We had a family picnic here, and my son shamed me into clipping her hair. LOL I haven't gotten any good pictures of her as yet, but she sure looks cute! It made her look all grown up. I'll post the best one...but it isn't very good. She loved seeing everyone at the picnic and had a grand time!