My first quilt and a sad goodbye

Way back before I really knew what I was making a quilt I made this - from a Butterick or Simplicity pattern no less. I wouldn't really consider it as my first because if anyone had asked at the time I would have said I was making a blanket for my newish puppy.

That was 11 years ago. The blanket is still going strong, unfortunately Mollie is not.

I mentioned last week she had been sick but she appeared to be mended and back to her old self. Her death caught me, my partner and the vet completely by surprise.

We have shared a lot, Mollie and I. She always knew when I needed a hug and was pretty good at asking for a pat on those occasions. She sat up with me at nights when I was finishing the seemingly endless pile of uni reading and assignments.

When I got my first 'real' job she moved out of home with me the first (and different to my brother and sister - only) time I left. It happened to be to a town 100km from friends and family and she kept me company and warned me of the snakes in the back yard.

She moved back to Perth with me a year later and warned me of the snakes there too.

When I moved away for work again she came again - and helped me turn the garden there from this.... to this.

She has lived in three states and visited two more.

She moved interstate to Sydney when I when to made the big decision to move to the other side of the country to join my partner- where she travelled on the plane on a very hot Boxing Day. She could never really understand why she wasn't allowed to swim in the ocean there. Or body surf the waves as was her preference.

She spent a lot of time in the back seat of the car journeying near and far. She kept me company on the weekend drives back and forwards while I was living away and was an obedient and compliant travel partner when we all took a four day drive to Perth....and back a few week later a little over a year ago.

She moved again, ever the traveller, to Melbourne six months ago.

She didn't like thunder, rain or wind but loved surfing the waves at the beach. I'm not sure if she liked birds or not but thought it her mission in life to keep them out of the backyard. The possums she encountered in Melbourne had her a bit stumped.

She was playful and gentle and a little bit headstrong. And I miss her.