Flying by

It's been too long since my last post. Life is flying by at an alarming rate and I can't believe we are at the end of April already! I found a great site http://www.quilterscache.com has tons of traditional & Original patterns for personal use for free.

(I've been working on this post for well over a month so I apologize if the past/present text is off)

It's been just over 2 months since I received my sewing machine and started on this quilting experiment. I think back to the quilts I dreamed of making when I first started, and while they are still in the back of my mind I've found myself wanting to make more traditional blocks. I was neutral about flying geese and stars, 9 patches and my fabric choices were heavy on batiks. I have to say I love starry patterns and am loving all sorts of different fabrics.

24 " Carpenter Star http://www.quilterscache.com/C/CarpentersWheelBlock.html

 A few weeks ago I made my Carpenter wheel. 24 inches of pure joy. I loved it so much I started making 12' blocks with the same fabric. I had a plan for a large quilt which meant I needed to go back to the fabric store and pick up more fabric of the two colors. They didn't have the blue. I was so disappointed and Chris could see my excitement drop by the second.

Morning Star http://www.quilterscache.com/M/MorningStarQuilt.html

He knew I needed to actually complete something usable other than continue with orphan blocks. Always thinking he picked up dog prints he'd seen while helping me search and said why not make a dog quilt. We picked out the fabric and I picked up some baby quilt sized batting. Spent a few hours choosing a design with my honey's help. We settled on Morning Star

Close up

Wow, after making only single blocks cutting all those pieces for making those little stars was much more work than I anticipated. I was cutting them a few blocks at a time but I finally just counted out the number I needed and cut them all in one shot. After I had a few rows put together I put the blocks on my design wall with the batting to get a sense of the borders. Originally it was going to be 5 blocks across and 7 down. This didin't leave any extra batting on the sides or for finishing off the border stars so I adjusted it. Now the rows are 6 across and 4 down. It is now wider than longer. Lessons learned for the next one.

Back

The black border material is the main fabric I'm
 using on the the back. Now that it's almost done I think it's more suited for the couch than the dog bed. It will be my very first quilt so at this point I'm not quite willing to give it to the dogs (but that may change once I actually quilt it together).

Adding it all up I've been working on my dog quilt for a month. I'm obviously not very quick and decided to border the back in flying geese which has been the past 2 weekends. I have a hard time shutting down for the night and the next morning I pay for it, so I've been limiting my quilting to weekends.

 I did not give up on my Carpenter's Wheel - Chris and I went shopping a few weekends ago and on the way home we went to the clearance center of store where I picked up the fabric. We spent just over a hundred and saved more than that amount. I found my the fabric I was looking for and so much more. While shopping Chris kept going back to the faux fur. It was about 75% of the regular price so we bought 2 meters. I cut a quick strip and threw it in the washer to see how it stood up. It washed like a dream - no fraying/shrinkage or loss of fur. I'm going to cut some pieces and back it and put a few sections around the house for the dogs. I didn't see a point in making something for the dogs that couldn't be washed. I draped the fabric over the chair by my sewing area and they love it!



I also bought material for my neighbors baby quilt which I'll start as soon as the dog quilt is done. The main fabric is the same yellow that I spoke about in one of my last posts (I got it for $6/m) for that price I had to scoop it up. I have already washed all the fabric (I still need a purple though) and it's waiting for me to start. I've been waffling between stars and pinwheels with an applique. The applique I want to do on the front and mirrored on the back probably a simple 9 patch would look the best. Good thing I have some time to decided. The back will be giraffe like print and appliques are going to be done in dark chocolate dot minky (which I got for less than half price as well). I'm toying with the idea of using some of the minky on the front as a border or to bind. I would love the front to have some of the same softness as the back.

Not so great pics this time, my daughter borrowed my Nikon and was returned with the memory card  missing. Something to put on the shopping list. Meanwhile my blackberry camera will have to do.