Category: Dog Quilt

We've had a young visitor this last week so my computer time has been limited practically non existent.  But, today, after a long afternoon nap, I'm trying to catch up. 

First, because of a time limit, I want to write a post about my dog quilt.  If you've been reading here for awhile, you've already seen this quilt.  But there is a pet quilt show over at Lily Pad Quilting and I wanted to get in on the fun before the linky closed.

So, here it is:

I thought I'd put a bit of the story behind it.  This was one of my first quilts.  The husband picked out this printed panel of dog pictures.  I wasn't too keen on it, but he seemed to really like it so I agreed to try to make it into something.  Again, it was early in my quilty experience.  I did what I knew, which was to make enough blocks to have a design filling in with some other dog inspired blocks; frame them all to the same size and go with it.  So, we have paper pieced dog houses and bones, printed photos of our Golden Retriever and the blocks from the dog panel.  It's quilted with a combination of diamonds and free motion.  Here are a few close ups (again, taken before I learned a few tricks about taking photos of quilts!):

The Pet Quilt Show  is not just a show of pet themed quilts, but also of pictures of pets ON quilts.  I had hoped to snap one of those, but it's been a bit busy around here.  So, hop on over and check out the linky with some adorable photos of two things I love - pets and quilts.

Craftsy Block of the Month: August

This month's block is a two part block.  Appliqued flowers and leaves will be added to this in September.  You might think it's strange that I chose this flowered background, and I may end up regretting it, but I have this funny idea that it just might work.  I intend to actually add blue flowers (instead of the suggested red) and yellow/green leaves. If it doesn't work, I've had some good practice.  This piece used a turned applique technique for the basket handle.  Up until now I've only done raw edge applique.  Honestly, I'm not sure why or if the turned machine applique is better.  It certainly is more difficult.  Maybe I don't know enough about to machine applique to figure out why one would use this technique.  If any of you reading this prefer turned applique or have an opinion, please send me a comment.

 

 

I'm still not sure about the dark background on the tumbling blocks, As I look at the picture, though, I think the real problem is not just the brown background but the dark blue face of the blocks.  The dark color really gives the blocks depth and that's the main reason I chose it. Here's what I'm thinking this month - There are a lot of "fill in" pieces to be done including a lot of flying geese blocks.  If those are done with more brown and blues it might just even everything out . .....or plan B is just, remake the tumbling blocks with a yellow background.  And plan C is....make a smaller quilt out of my favorite blocks and use the others for different things.  Yes, this is definitely going to turn into a two year project.

 

Country Threads Block of the Month: August

I think this has been my favorite project this year.  I find these blocks relaxing to work on and I like how they're going together.  I will say, though that I'm starting to think, "sashing" at this point because having them next to each other looks a bit chaotic to me.  Some of the spaces are meant to be filled in with flying geese pieces and half square triangles so that even adds to the busyness more.  But in general, I like the traditional look and the variety:

 

 Here they are in the approximate orientation as pictured with the instructions:

I'm already thinking of ways that I might change it up a bit here and here....but, we'll see.

To Russia With Love

My local quilting guild has become acquainted with a local guild in Russia and recently we had a visit from one of their members (...who happens to have a daughter living in this area and is a new member of our guild). 

This year the Russian guild sent us a collection or Russian fabric with a challenge to create a small wall quilt that represents our impression of Russia.  Participation is totally voluntary.  The quilts will be displayed here and then be sent together to the Russian guild.  At first I didn't take any fabric because I had absolutely NO ideas of how to represent my idea of Russian with fabric.  I think my experiences in art class as a child had my mind totally frozen.  But, after I went home, the ideas started to flow and now I actually have several.  So, I asked to have some pieces mailed to me and they arrived yesterday:

The shades of color remind me of vintage fabrics.  This won't be my next project, but it's high up on the list.  I hope I can make my thoughts transfer to fabric in a meaningful way.

Curtains: A Walk on the Home Decor Side of Sewing

Son #1 and his partner recently bought a co-op apartment.  (Co-op apartment owning was a new concept for me to get my head around.  You basically own a share of the entire building with the right to live in a particular apartment in the building.  It's sort of like a condo except that the residents own the building, not the condo corporation.) The building is from the 1920's with old, large windows making them difficult to dress.  They asked me to make them some curtains for the bedroom and a French door.  So, another learning adventure began for me and has just concluded with this result.  These pictures are taken on my window which is narrower than their windows by a few inches and has a much lighter rod than theirs.

Lessons learned from this adventure in sewing:

• Curtains always take more fabric than you expect.  I bought an extra yard because it was the end of the bolt and I knew I wouldn't be able to go back and buy more if needed.  In the end I had about 1/2 yard left over.
• I still don't like making curtains very much.
• Buckram is a stiff interfacing type material used in the header to provide body.  Prior to this I had never heard of the stuff.
• Grommets are actually pretty easy to install.  The hardest part is getting them evenly spaced.
• Cotton is so much easier to work with than synthetics.  It's predictable, it tolerates ironing well, resists stretching and stays where you put it...unlike the fabric used for the curtains.  But I have to admit that this fabric hangs nicely without a wrinkle in sight.
• Curtains always take longer to sew than you expect.
• I still don't really like making curtains, but I'm always glad to be a part of my children's lives in whatever way I can.

  Here's hoping that the curtains fit as expected and are liked!

An Embroidery Kind of Week

I haven't had too much in the way of quilting to show lately, but I have been busy in the sewing room.  I've finished up my Skirting the Issue projects as well as curtains for son #1 and his partner (more about that soon).

And...I've been machine embroidering my heart out.  I signed up for a Craftsy class early this year called the Machine Embroidered Quilt and I've finally made some progress.  Here are all the pieces on my design wall waiting to be cut to size and sewn together:

Here's a close up of some of the embroidery:

Since most of the quilting is basically done, I'm hoping that this will soon be finished up.

And, since I had my machine set up to embroider, I made these pieces:

This has always been one of my favorite saying.  If you're reading on a small screen, it says:  Cleaning and scrubbing can wait 'til tomorrow. But children grow up so we've learned to our sorrow. So quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep. I'm rocking my baby. Babies don't keep. I used to have it up in the baby room when my sons were small.  I had intended this to become a wall hanging, but it turned out much bigger than I planned.  So for now, I'm just going to think about what to make with it and keep my eyes open for some coordinating fabric.  It may still turn out to be a wall hanging, or it may turn into a quilt.  I'm still so new at this embroidery thing that I had plenty of lessons to learn to create these pieces. 

 

And now, I'm ready for a good quilting project!

 

Skirting the Issue: A Somber Last Week

This is the last week of the Skirting the Issue sew-a-long hosted by the girls at Simple Simon & Co.  Each week in July was dedicated to sewing a different item for donation to an appropriate group.  You were encouraged to donate locally or to send them to the hosts for donation (which is what I plan on doing).  So, I've blogged about skirt week, pillowcase week, blanket week, doll week and now, lastly, we have bereavement gown week. 

I didn't know what a bereavement gown was at the start of the month. I was surprised to learn that these are small outfits given to parents who have suffered the premature loss of a child through miscarriage or still birth. They are often used for burial.  There were comments and posts written by those who have suffered such a lose and encouraged by such kindnesses. 

There were several suggested patterns from rather complex lacey ones to the more simple bunting pattern, which I chose to make.  I put a small ruler in the picture to give you an idea of the size.  And this is the LARGE bunting pattern.

Here is the total contribution waiting to be boxed up and taken to the post office: