Dog Gone Cute

Now that I have taken the summer off from quilting, I'm ready to go again! It will be nice to have a regular routine again with the kids!

I have two projects to share that I completed in the spring, however, they aren't the one I'll be sharing today. The day's topic is my latest quilt, the one my son had me do with a very tight deadline!

So it happened like this... I was reading Sew Fresh Quilt's blog one day when I hear: "Mommy, I want a shiny blue dog blanket!" My youngest son was about to start junior kindergarden and we had just been discussing purchasing a nap blanket for him. That idea quickly went out the window. Since it was already late August, I had two weeks to plan and sew a whole quilt before school started... cue the panic!

I bought the pattern and ordered the fabric (thanks for the quick delivery Mad About Patchwork!), which then left me with left less than one week to sew! No way I was doing as many dogs as on the original. So I pulled out paper and pencil and drew a few sketches. I came up with an idea that my son found suitable... phew!

It took me one evening to figure out the dog... I am flippy corner challenged! No matter how I double checked things, I ended up several times putting my directional fabrics on the wrong side... I don't think I've ever used my seam ripper so much! However, don't blame the pattern for that, it was very well written, I was just totally hopeless in terms of figuring the flippy thing. I found out that my spatial awareness was not as good as I thought!

Then to make matters worse, I drew a bone on my sketch, so I had to figure out how to do that... more flippy corners! That took me a whole other evening.

Thankfully the rest was simple and I put the top together in a third evening and took one day to do my sandwich, quilting, and binding... I was done with two days to spare!

So if you want to check out the lovely pattern that Lorna put together, go visit her site, she has a quilt-a-long for the whole of September. Then in October, loads of bloggers will be sharing their projects. Go check them out to see how they intepreted the pattern!

With that said, I am really excited because Lorna asked me to be one of the bloggers on her Blog hop. Check out all of the other bloggers and make sure to come back October 27th, I'll be sharing a tutorial for the bone on my quilt!

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Linking up with Quilt Story , Crazy Mom Quilts, and Sew Fresh Quilts

Retro Geek Zippered Pouch

I signed up for a zippered pouch swap, after never  having sewn a proper zipper before, what was I thinking?

Thankfully, after a little bit of research, reading some tips and tricks and tutorials, I was ready to give it a try. However, I did not want to take the risk of ruining my swap mates' pouch, so I made one for practice first. I used this tutorial from Anna over at Noodlehead since I loved the promise of a pouch that opens very wide so that you can see everything that is inside.

I found the tutorial very easy to follow, and my pouch turned out great, even though I accidentally squared the bottom using the measurement for the small pouch instead of for the large one. Note to self... do not sew pouches past midnight!

There is only one part that gave me a little bit of trouble, but I blame that completely on my lack of knowledge on how much room a zipper takes. On the side where the zipper sticks out, I hadn't stopped sewing far enough from the edge so I had to undo some stitches and re-stitch a part of the bag by hand. I still think it looks great though!

I love that I was able to add some details in the stitching on the bottom by varying my quilting, and adding the tab at the end of the zipper ended  up being another cute bonus. Now I just have to find something to store in it!

This pouch finished at about 9 inched tall by 8 inches wide and 3.5 inches deep. It's taller than Anna's version because of the error I made in measurements.

I can't show you the pouch I made for my swap mate yet, but I'll provide pictures next week after I've given it to her. I can't wait and hope she likes it!

If you had a lovely zippered pouch, what would you put inside?

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Linking up with Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts and Quiltstory

Patchwork Ball

My son's teacher is having a baby, but they kept the gender a surprise.

So on to the dilemna I recently had. Since my son wanted to give a gift to the baby, but I didn't want to give anything in the traditional green/yellow/brown color way, I had to figure out what to make.

I came across this tutorial by Abby over at While She Naps. The tutorial is so well written. Or at least it was for me since I do have some English paper experience. So with my template printed on cardstock in hand, I went on the hunt for fabric.

I ended up deciding to use the Mixed Bag Studio line by Moda. So gender neutral and bright!

 

 

I added some washed cereal bag to the Inside to make that crinkly sound, and this is how it came out.

 

 

 

Though now I have to learn how to make it on the sewing machine. I would love to stock up on these for upcoming babies!

 

Does anyone know how well cereal bags fare in the wash? If not, I'll have to experiment a little... Off to test washing methods!

What!? Wednesday (2)

I made another bow-tie and just wanted to show it to you... Isn't it great for the holidays!

 

The dog I made it for already has a red collar, so I just put elastics on the back like I had done for the bow-ties of a friend's cat.

 

 

 

Don't forget it's What!? Wednesday... So the question of the day is.... Do you have a pet? And if so, what would you like it to wear?

 

You can link up below with a picture or a post or leave a comment!

 

How do you make a bulldog happy?

Why! You give him a lovely bowtie!

 

 

Isn't it adorable?

 

Someone I know asked that I make a bowtie for her dog, who is, by the way, about half the size of our cats!



 

 

It's about 3 inches across.

 

 

And of nice bright colors.

 

 

They are so cute I am now considering making some from my sons.

 

Who could you see this bowtie on?

 

 

 

 

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday andSew Fresh Quilts.