More Puppies! (and a Travelogue)

A few weeks ago, I made a couple of puppy blocks (Dog Gone Cute pattern by Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts) for Karen at KaHolly. She is collecting them to make wallhangings and other items for an auction fundraiser to support a pet rescue agency in Texas that is helping victims of Hurricane Harvey. 

I just could not stop at two puppies. I had a couple more ideas to try. My first idea was to make a husky with blue eyes. Well, it turned out looking more like a Border Collie or an Australian Shepherd. Oh well. 

I tried again with some cream and gray Grunge fabrics. In my mind, the block was awesome, but my placement of fabrics was just wrong, and block was so hideous that I'm not even going to show you. Puppy fail. Funny how that happens.

I also wanted to try a brown dog--I don't know what they're called, but I know I've seen them--with blue eyes and a pinkish nose. That one turned out more like what I was imagining.

I wonder, though: do these puppies look a little vacant? A little zombie-ish? Maybe I should have used a slightly darker blue for the eyes. I love them anyway, and I'm sure someone somewhere will love them, too. I probably should have named them, but then they'd be harder to part with. Wait, I'll name one. The Border Collie is Fly, of course, from the movie Babe. Love that movie! You can name the others if you want.

I have other ideas, but I think I need to stop  eating potato chips  making puppy blocks now. These little pups will soon join their playmates for a little trip to meet up with all the others at KaHolly's quilty dog party. Oh, now I have a Go Dog Go earworm. Remember that book by P.D. Eastman? I must have read it a million times by now. It's a fun book. 

I'm linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday. Have fun with your puppies--whether furry or fabric. And thank you, Karen and Lorna, for making this project possible!

Okay, since this has been a tiny post, how about a few lot more vacation photos for those of you who like armchair travelogues? These are from the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail, in the rural district, which is an area that I think of as ghost farms--a rural museum in the National Lakeshore (hard to explain). A lovely area. I think they are considering some heritage farming there in the future. We rode the newest part of the trail this year. 

A peek through a window of the farmhouse--layers of wall paper and linoleum printed to look like carpet.

Rest stop tree

Narada Lake

Do you see the beaver cuts? Two trees about to be toppled and one pointy stump where one has already been felled (way on the left)

Log school house from the 1800's (right across the trail from the beaver work)

A peek through the window. This is one of my favorite pictures from the ride. I love the dusty light.

I wonder if this could be a Native American trail marker tree.

The brightest spot of color we saw on the trail.

Okay that's it for this post. Bye bye.

Birthday Puppies

Last week, Karen at Kaholly posted that she had a birthday coming up and her wish was for Dog Gone Cute blocks (pattern by Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts) that she could make into wallhangings and other items for an auction fundraiser to support a pet rescue agency in Texas that is helping victims of Hurricane Harvey. 

So Happy Birthday, Karen!! 

I had so much fun making these. They really are like potato chips. (I think there will be a few more before I'm ready to send them.) I like tiny piecing, so I chose to make them in puppy size (6 by 9 inches plus seam allowance). The hardest part was choosing which fabrics to use. I've made a Dog Gone Cute block before. That was in blues and turquoises, and I changed it a bit to look like my granddog as it was for my grandson's baby quilt. I think I might have paper pieced parts of it. But I decided to make these in more realistic doggy colors and stuck to the pattern and instructions, working really slowly to try to get my seam allowances/size accurate (or close enough), my seams pressed smoothly open, and my backs neat. Is anyone else really self conscious about block backs when you give blocks away? My block backs are usually so messy--thready, with seams not lying down where they are meant to. It all gets covered up in the quilt, but giving a block away is so exposing! Maybe I should use starch or a starch alternative. Does that help keep things neat? I've always assumed it does, but don't really know. (I probably still won't use starch if it does. It makes me sneeze.) 

I remember that when I watched all of the people being rescued in the flooding from the hurricane, I was struck by how many pets were rescued along with them under such difficult circumstances. Some of the animals seemed bewildered, but they looked so calm, trusting their rescuers and families to keep them safe. So many pets. And then I was impressed with how quickly agencies responded to shift animals to shelters around the country so that they could help displaced families stay as close as possible to their pets. 

I enjoy seeing how my granddog is a much loved part of life for my son, daughter-in-law and grandson. He's a goofy rescue dog, and watching him develop such a fun relationship with my grandson helps me see how close that bond can be between pets and their people. I'm sure all the pets rescued in the hurricane are a source of great comfort to their families as they reunite and begin rebuilding their lives.

Isn't it neat that Karen is making these wallhangings and other quilted goodies? They will celebrate pets, honor the rescuers, and provide needed funds for pet food and supplies. What a great gift! 

So thanks, Karen. Thanks, pet rescuers. And thanks, Lorna, for such a delightful pattern. I can't wait to see the finished items for the auction.

I'm linking up today with Sew Fresh Quilts (of course!!) for Let's Bee Social.

He's here!

Our new grandson has arrived! He was born yesterday afternoon. He's 20 3/4 inches long, weighs 7 pounds 12 ounces (same as his daddy did) and is cute, cute, cute. What I can't tell you is his name. I wouldn't anyway to protect his privacy, but he doesn't have a name yet. His parents are waiting to get to know him a bit before they pin one on him. We've been spending lots of time holding and admiring him. We are over the moon!

So now I can finally show you what I made for him. Get ready for a long post. I have a pent up need to share after keeping this a secret for so long. (And no, I did not write this all today. I actually pre-planned a post. Hurray for me.)

My inspiration came from Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl. Yup, I shamelessly copied. She made this quilt for a baby awhile back. I was really struck by the crisp color and design. The pattern is Diamonds in the Deep by Kirsty at Bonjour Quilts). There was more inspiration for the back, but I'll get to that in a minute.

I added a block to the width of the baby size to make the quilt square. My fabrics are Kona cottons in Prussian, White, Lagoon and Breakers. The dark blue matches the carpet in Baby's room. At the time I started the quilt I wasn't quite sure what color the room was going to be, but my daughter-in-law thought it would be a bluish green. (She had paint left over from another project.) It turned out that the paint color had a bit more yellow in it, so I included that in the quilt backing. I found a stripe on sale (I'm sorry, I can't remember what it is and can't find any printed selvage. I must have thrown it out--please don't tell any selvage savers. I also did an online image search, but the fabric didn't show up.) I also added in some greens from my stash. 

Speaking of the back, I got all caught up in everyone's Dog Gone Cute Quilt Along mania from Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts. Since Baby will have a buddy, Samson, I just knew I had to include Samson in the quilt. So he got his own block on the back. 

Did I mention I put a Dog Gone Cute block on the back?

Even closer!!

I used Lorna's pattern, but I wanted it to look a little more like Samson, who has a longish snout. So I did kind of a mash up of several blocks to get the ears and head style I wanted, added a little to the length of the block, and changed the nose just a bit. (His nose wrinkled a bit after washing, but that's okay. He's a crazy dog.) I think it's still unmistakably Lorna's pattern, though. It was so fun to make. There is also a cat, Harvey, in the family, but he doesn't much care for Samson. In fact, he's downright mean to him, so I left him out. (Sorry Harvey. If you make nice, maybe you'll get to be on the next quilt.)

More pictures, because I can't stop sharing:

Wrinkly goodness

As close to a label as I get these days

Here are some other details. The quilt was about 52 by 52 inches before washing and 49 by 49 after washing. The batting is Warm and Natural, which I had on hand. The quilting thread is Superior King Tut in Mint Julep. I bound the quilt in Kona cotton Prussian using this technique. I still prefer hand stitching to the back, but this quilt will get washed a lot, so machine stitching it was. I used the Mint Julep thread to sew it because I thought that fit in well with the quilting in the body. (Never mind that I didn't have any thread to match the dark blue.) I pieced the quilt on my Singer Featherweight and quilted it on my Singer 115 treadle. It's is a little stiffer than I'd like, but I know it will wear well and get softer with use and more washings. 

Whenever I make a quilt, I like to note how things went and what I might do differently in the future. So here are my notes on this quilt:

--I did have a minor crisis while quilting--you can read about it and how I solved my problem here). Here's a close up of the area  (See that narrower stripe to the left of the horizontal stripes?: 

It turned out okay, but I certainly learned to double check my pin basting and to pay attention to what's going on on the back as I go. Also, I might think twice about using a strong stripe in a backing because any distortion really shows. 

--I don't often follow patterns from other quilt makers to make quilts that have blocks in them (I usually draft my own patterns from looking at a picture of a block), so this was an interesting experience for me. The instructions said to make the blocks with a scant quarter inch seam and then trim to the correct size after the blocks were finished. That made me nervous because I wasn't sure if my scant was the same scant the designer had in mind. My first set of blocks were barely the right size, and then I had to trim quite a bit from the remaining blocks. Maybe I overcompensated? If I make this pattern again, I'll probably figure out what the dimensions of each round should be on each block so I have a better idea of how I'm doing as I sew them. (Perfectionist tendency showing, you think?)  

--I need to work a bit on my squaring up when the quilting is done. Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl, put up these tips the day after I squared my quilt, and those will help next time.

--Working with a strong blue and white was a little scary. But I had no trouble with bleeding or crocking when I washed and dried the quilt. This makes me really confident about using Kona colors. 

--Meandering is still my favorite FMQ for getting a quilt quilted quickly! And baby or throw size quilts (or smaller) are definitely a good fit for me. I've been bogged down on working on a large quilt for awhile now. I just don't like spending time isolated at my machine for hours (and days) on end. Either I need to move my treadle (not going to happen) or keep working smaller so I can get a quilt finished with just a few little sessions. 

I haven't had a chance to get a picture of Baby on his quilt yet. (They keep babies really busy in the hospital what with needle pokes, hearing tests and the like.) But soon I'll try to get one that respects his privacy. 

I'm linking up this week with Sew Fresh Quilts (Let's Bee Social), Crazy Mom Quilts (Finish It Up Friday), Confessions of a Fabric Addict (Can I Get a Whoop Whoop), Faith and Fabric Design (TGIFF) and Lizzie Lenard Vintage Sewing (Free Motion Mavericks). Buttons are on the right. Also, finally putting that Dog Gone Cute button up because I can without anyone wondering why.