This last quilt is for my husbands nephew - the first child for his youngest brother. My brother in law and his wife both love dogs. This pattern was the perfect fit for a couple that love dogs. So I ordered an online pattern on the internet and printed off the pages.
It has been many years since I have paper pieced. I was a very keen paper piercer about 15 years ago and made many quilts from Margaret Rolfs books, animals on much smaller then these 8 inch blocks. But I am clearly out of practise, as there was lots of unpicking and language that needed to be censored. Especially on this ear, which I had to resew three times...last time because the first piece was upside down!
By the end of the 11 blocks I was over paper piecing. There are supposed to be two narrow blocks of machine appliqued paw prints at the top and bottom of the middle row. But I was very grumpy so skipped straight to sewing the top together. Please note this was the first time I had sewn flange on blocks as well. I had real issues with the foot slipping and they are not straight, but I just persisted.
This baby needs a quilt soon and I was determined to get this top done, so I could move onto something I wanted to do! The eyes and noses were added last, I satin stitched those on, again fiddly and time consuming and I remembered why I love machine piecing v machine applique.
But adding the facial features made the dogs come to life and I started to enjoy the cute dogs and the fun lime green spot. I got all the fabric for dogs out of my stash and the blue background was left overs from backing for another recently finished cot quilt. I did buy the navy for the flange and the lime green.
I needed to add a final border. So back to Spotlight I go and found this wonderful star print. I immediately brought the rest of the bolt, which was not a lot, as it will work well to tie a busy novelty print kids scrap quilt together really well. I wanted the softest fabric for a backing so I purchased some flannel with dogs on it, super cute! Quilting has commenced, as this baby has been born and the weather is cooling down!
well done with those dogs.... they are very sweet and will be much loved....
ReplyDeleteHugz
Those pups are pretty cute. It will be well loved.
ReplyDeleteA LOT of work, but absolutely adorable!! Great job, Sue!
ReplyDeleteAs a dog person, I have to say that is a wonderful quilt! They all have so much personality.
ReplyDeleteWell done Sue! Your patience paid off....you have way more than me! I hope the quilt is well received! Hugs x
ReplyDeleteYour dogs look great, good on you. Now I do like a bit of paper piecing, but these look a bit tricky.
ReplyDelete