Winners and weekends and Whew.

Above: official winners photo from Easter weekend


I really thought that after my work deadline was over I would have time to relax, stitch and breathe. Nope. It has been another busy few weeks. Rory and I have been traveling and dog showing three weekends in a row. And we have three more weekends coming up. They are tiring. Both physically and mentally but, oh, so much fun! More on that later.

On to the stitching portion of this post. I had participated in a couple of exchanges that wrapped up in May. I showed you one in the last post. I also took part in a Lizzie Kate exchange and the Seasonal exchange. Both of the pieces I received are fabulous. But my favorite just has to be the one I received from Jill in the Lizzie Kate exchange. She stitched me the perfect piece. The LK design "I love my dog."

For the Lizzie Kate round B exchange on I stitched a pattern from Lizzie Kate's Spring crazy and finished it as a needleroll.






















I stitched this small design from Prairie Schooler for Brenda for the Spring Seasonal exchange.






And this is what she stitched for me.

Rory at the Irish Setter Club of Central Connecticut Specialty

The biggest and best news is that my silly boy, Rory, is two points closer to his championship! The weekend of the 14th found us in Bucks County, PA, where Rory went Reserve. (Second place of all the boy Irish setters entered.) On to Trenton, NJ, where the judge didn't like him but it was still good experience. The next weekend we went to Connecticut for a specialty show (all Irish setters) in the pouring rain. Fun it was not! At least for me. Rory doesn't care and loves the rain. Again Rory wasn't this judges cuppa. A ferry ride home was Rory's reward for trying hard. Once home Rory made sure he had his version of fun in the rain and mud. After these photos you can see why I am amazed at how handsome he looks all cleaned up.

This past weekend was the busiest of all with three shows, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Now the past few months Rory has been a bit of a brat in the ring. Probably one reason too that he wasn't winning. He had been dancing and moving his feet to look wrong instead of standing nice and still in a perfect stack. Prior to February we hadn't had this problem and I have been working with him at home to get him back to stacking. Well this weekend he finally got it right. Friday he won first place, Winners dog and Best of winners. No point though since he was the only male dog enter in the classes. Saturday Rory and I again went Winners dog and Best of Winners. This time he won one point. Making his point total 11. (He needs 15 to finish his Championship.) Rory: Best of Winners, Sat. May 21st

And then came Sunday. Yesterday. The day started out fine. Got up and ready to leave the house. A gray, damp and dreary looking day weather wise. But I made sure I had my extra sneaker to run in. Got Rory's collar on him and he was dancing and jumping and so excited to be going. Get out to the car and the doors won't unlock. Hmmmmmmmmmm. Then I notice that one of the doors isn't quite closed. Yup, you guessed it. The car won't start. The battery is dead. So back in the house we go. Rory is not happy about this. But I calm him down and call AAA. Thank goodness I am always ready to leave for a show extra early. Triple A shows up and gets the car going. We made it to the show grounds an hour later than I had planned but still in plenty of time to get Rory ready.

Now even though I have been stressing a bit all morning Rory looked great. The judge thought so too. The judge, a Mr. Geoffrey Kill from Australia, liked Rory so much that he picked him for the Best of Breed!!! And that meant Rory was the Best Irish setter at this show. Over other Irish that are mature champions. Talk about being in shock! I am still wondering if I dreamed it. Heck, when the judge pointed to me I must have looked truly puzzled and I didn't have a clue until one of the others (the one who went Best of Opposite sex) had to tell me "You won Breed! Congratulations!" I sputtered and stuttered and muttered, WHAT??? ME?? Then the judge handed me the ribbon and told me what a great looking dog I had. All I could do was mumble Thank you so much. Speechless. That's what I was. Speechless.
The sporting group line up.

Since this was the third show in as many days I was (and still am) a tad tired. I had figured that once we were finished with the classes we would head home early. But not after winning Breed. You see, that means Rory had to go back in the ring for the Sporting group. ( All those dogs that are bird dogs are classified as sporting dogs. The best in that group then goes in with the best of the working, herding, toy, terrier, non-sporting and hounds groups to vie for Best in Show. ) What an honor for Rory and I. To be chosen Best in Breed and try for a placement in the group. I was and still am thrilled to pieces. Now Rory did not win the group. But he made the cut. Meaning he was in the judge's favorite 5 to 8 in the group. There are only four place ribbons but to even be a possible candidate is awesome.

I only hope that Rory continues to win like this. We have shows coming up in Wrentham, MA, at the beginning of June. Followed by one in Norwalk, CT, the next weekend. I'm not sure yet but I think the one after that will be July in Rochester, NY. Anyone living in those areas and wants to watch us run in circles is more than welcome. Rory loves to hear the WOOOOOO WOOOOO of the crowd as we run around the ring.

I am having a blast showing him and he is everything I had hoped for. Showing and winning and doing it myself has been a long, long time dream of mine. One I had never thought would come true. But it is! Next step is for him to win his championship. Then we move on to win more Best of Breeds and with some more maturity he will start winning the group and when the day comes he actually wins Best in Show......... Well, folks, you will hear my scream of surprise and joy throughout blogdom. Then Westminster here we come!!

I'll leave you with one last photo. This is Rory and his sister Terri at the Easter weekend specialty when they both went winners for the 5 points.


Until next time...........

Love and stitches

Kathy

and licks from Rory too