Just in case you're wondering...

Back in November, this little cutie joined our family.

 

Yes, we already had a dog, three cats, a parakeet, and 10 chickens.  Call us crazy for adding an energetic Border Collie puppy into the mix, but hey.  We just like to keep things lively around here, I guess.

 

Jasper, like all puppies, has grown faster than I could imagine.  Here is what he looks like now, just four months later:

Doesn't he have the prettiest blue eyes?

 

ANYWAY, this post is not about how cute and adorable our new puppy is, although I won't argue you on that point.  But Jasper is involved in this post. 

 

So, remember the teepee from my last post?  Well, while I was sitting on my bedroom floor, surrounded by what seemed like miles of canvas, my pin cushion suddenly went missing.  I mean, "it was right here" just a second ago" missing.  Seriously?  I hate it when that happens!  I figured it must have gotten lost under the fabric, so I grabbed some back-up pins and kept attending to my project.  Never mind that Jasper had just made a quick visit into to my room to say hello.  He does that a lot.  By why I didn't connect the missing pin cushion with his visit is beyond me.

 

Fast forward a few hours.  Yes, a few HOURS.  I am now downstairs, getting dinner ready, and a suddenly hear Jasper crunching on something.  He does that a lot, being a puppy and all, so it's not too unusual.  But I see something red out of the corner of my eye, and I decide I'd better investigate, just to make sure it's not something he's not supposed to have, like a kid's shoe, stuffed animal, etc. 

 

To my horror, this is what I find:

My tomato pin cushion!  Now, this picture was taken AFTER I'd removed all my glass-headed pins from the top.  And I thanked my lucky stars that I must have caught him just in time before he potentially hurt himself on those pins.  Then, as I started sifting through the sawdust that was trickling from the tomato, I discovered a new horror:

 

204 hand sewing needles and 8 sewing machine needles were INSIDE the tomato!  Did you hear me?  I'll repeat that in case you didn't...212 needles total were inside the tomato!  I've had this pin cushion for probably at least 8-10 years.  And I always stick my sewing needles in it when I'm done with a project.  Yet somehow, they always seemed to go missing.  Well, now I know where they all went.  People, I'm here to tell you that tomato pin cushions eat needles.  I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.  So there you go.  Just in case you're ever wondering why your sewing needles keep disappearing, there is now a logical explanation. 

 

p.s.  I don't know how Jasper escaped serious injury from this little escapade, but he did.  He obviously has someone watching out for him!