The Cute is in the Trimmings

Dog dresses!   These two were made using some fabric scraps from my neighbor (the bodice) and arm bands from a dance recital.  DD dreamed these up and they turned out even cuter than I'd imaged.  

The tiger stripes needed a little something, so I added these chained bows.  They are scalloped and then tied, so each is just a single ribbon which runs all the way from the left hip to the right one.  I'm sure these will be even cuter on.

Fancy Dog Dresses

Yes I'm getting back into the swing of making dog dresses.  I tell you what planning to do anything in the summer time is rather like trying to cram a mole into an ant hill.  Today I have a dozen dresses for you to see.  6 matched pairs for the little sister and big sister we adore so much.

Now the red dresses and the pink ones are embroidery blanks, they are simple now so they can be embellished later.  As for the black with the tiger stripes I am most proud of that one.  When I was handed that fabric, I was told "I don't know why I bought that fabric I don't even like it, it's more what my husband would like".  Well hopefully by adding the sparkle black to the top thereby toning down the orange everyone will like it.  The fabric by itself made me daydream about DD and our new dog Shelby.  Wouldn't it be neat if they dressed as Jasmine and Rajah for Halloween?

New Curtains

I just finished up some new curtains for DD, at a whopping 8 years old I felt it was time to replace the faded Winnie the Pooh Bear ones back from her nursery days.  I took what my mother taught me years ago about using two layers of fabric to create a light blocking effect and made these using a beautiful hand made batik on one side and a coordinating solid purple on the reverse.  Now should I decide to make tie backs I will made them using the last little bit of batik fabric that I have.  That way the curtains can be turned so that the purple side shows with a bit of batik detail or the simple batik as shown here.

Doggie Do Doo, Baggie Holder

The other day in my online shopping travels I encountered an adorable dog bone.  The purpose of the dog bone is to be carried  along with your dog leash when you take Fido out for his walkies.  This way you always have a baggie for any little (or huge) dookie piles left behind by your best friend.  Well you know I just had to make one.  Mine is quilted, made with french seams and has no form of Velcro or other closer for you to catch yourself on when you really just need the bag out now.  I made it big enough that it will hold the rolls of bags you can buy at your local pet store for this purpose or you can just re-purposed grocery sacks.

Personally I think it's cute enough to make a change purse as well.  To bad I'm not into all that fussy crafty stuff.

To Spite Sore Arms

Well now I have learned a very important lesson, never show off the corner of a quilt when you can show off the entire thing.  

Mandala Back so far

This new picture of the back of the Mandala quilt shows off the deep rich blue very nicely, where as the other image seemed to show the blue as lighter and more vibrant than it is.  I'm not sure what should come next?  Perhaps green?  I have two deep greens, one a batik and one a print that might work.  I also wondered if perhaps I should do something with pieced blocks?  I have more spirographs from the front of the quilt 6 big ones and 14 little ones if someone was thinking I should add a hint from the front on the back.  Though I'd like to save one or two of the big ones for a pillow...  At your suggestions I think the answer here is to use only deep rich tones, vs. bold bright ones that would detract from the Kaleidoscope blocks.

Mandala Front Complete, Backing grows.

Last night I worked on my Mandala quilt.  Working on Mandala's is said to be a healing process for the creator.  I don't know about that but I do know I dread each new step with this quilt only to do it and discover oh that wasn't so bad.  This quilt now measures 96" and it's plenty heavy so I only took pictures of the corner.  In this first image it is a corner using a small kaleidoscope block, as well as those zillion half square triangles for the last HST border.  The red folded border looks wonderful over the whole of the quilt.

 Then I began working on the back of the quilt.  I bordered out the back Kaleidoscopes with the black as I'd planned, and then added the water batik all around.  The trouble is right after I finished sewing on the blue border I found 2 yards of the blue in the picture above, that turquoise and royal, clearly I'd intended to use that on the back.  It doesn't play well with the blue batik I added though.  Any thoughts?

Tie Purses

I just finished up these for a friend.  The purple one is my favorite, though the brown is a close second.  I have this vision of using two matching ties one for the gentleman to wear and one to make a ladies evening bag with.  What do you think?  I selected lining fabrics and cording to match and all purses have interfacing within.

If all else fails, ignore it.

I haven't been at my sewing machine lately, hence the blog silence.  The last time I sat at my machine it was skipping stitches horribly and my both my scissors and my sips needed sharpened, so I set everything aside and figured I would take care of sending the scissors in while DH fixes the machine.

Well then yesterday I read an article about digging in and dealing with what we've been putting off.  So forgetting my sewing studio woes I cleaned it and started sewing the final folded border on the front of the Mandala quilt.  That's funny, the machine purred like a kitten.  With not a single skipped stitch.  Everything was perfect.  Hmm, I think to myself, okay perhaps DH fixed it and didn't tell me.

When he got home later in the day I asked him about it.  Nope he never got to it.  So neglect fixed my sewing machine.  Funny, I wonder if it was lonely or just wanted a little vacation???  

Mandala Quilt Status Check Pictures

Just this morning I finished sewing the strips of the Kaleidoscope blocks together, from here I plan to border around in the black, likely the same with as the strips shown and then who knows?  Any ideas?

Hexagon Kaleidoscope Blocks Center

While I was taking pictures it occurred to me that I haven't showed you the Mandala front since adding the most recent border of half square triangles.

Mandala Quilt front with latest HST border 

Mandala Quilt weaving borders view

The above side view is the reason behind all of those small half square triangles.  See how the border stripes appear to wave through the quilt?  I'm planning to quilt Celtic knots over these to further emphasize the woven effect.  At first this was challenging and I constantly needed to look back to my EQ files, but as I worked it became clear this technique has two sweet spot corners. This corner and the one opposite.  Just as with any sweet spot starting here causes order to become obvious and with a little help from DD sewing the borders became much more natural.

Hope you enjoyed this little update.

Mandala's Reverse Starts Coming Together

Kaleidoscope Strips Layout

Last night I started squaring my rows of Kaleidoscope blocks up by adding the smaller triangles at the top and bottom.  Boy was I glad I hadn't thrown my scraps out!  All those end bits that I cut off to make the black equilateral triangles really came in handy.

Kaleidoscope Blocks Stripping together

I ran into a little bit of a problem working on my hexagon Kaleidoscope Blocks yesterday.  The problem was simple.  My mind told me I was making octagons, when really six sides makes a hexagon.  So I did some online digging and found the answer to my issue on a blog called Prosperity Stuff Quilts.  You see, it seems that some quilters who venture into Kaleidoscopes Blocks make many, many, quilts using this technique and have more than one for a newbie like me to drool glance over.   

About half of my Kaleidoscope Blocks

First I laid out my blocks as you can see above.  Each row represents two rows as I have them stacked as "sort of match" pairs.  We're headed for 6 rows total. 

First Strip of Blocks Together

DD said "wow" under her breath when she saw my first strip.  I took it as a wonderful heartfelt compliment, especially when she wanted her picture taken with it.

Second Row!

I couldn't stop, the blocks might get out of order you know, thereby I just had to finish up the second strip before she went to bed.  Can you see why I say these are "sort of matched" rows?

Sneak Peak Kaleidoscope Blocks

Kaleidoscope Quilt Block Layouts

I've cut all of my pieces and I'm now ready to start sewing them together.  What do you think of these first few blocks? I always find taking a step back and looking at quilt layout options through the camera lens to be a big help and today is no exception.  

Cutting Time

Ready to Cut?

I'm getting ready to cut my Opalescence fabric to make Kaleidoscope blocks for my Mandala's quilt back, I'm a little nervous!  Ever done one of these before?

This Week's Dog Dresses

This week I must have had my head screwed on backwards.  I created a new dog dress pattern and worked on another new pattern that I'm still trying to work the kinks out of from last week.  The good news is that the dresses are beautiful.   So I'm going to tack these up as well worth the effort.

Chocolate Humor

DH:  (looking at one of my cookbooks)
Me:  Oh!  Whatcha wanta make?
DH:  (shows fudge recipe) But it takes 2 hours, I'll make it another time.
Me:  I can make some fudge frosting, it will be ready in less than five minutes.
DH:  What would I do with that?
Me:  Eat it with a spoon of course!
DH:  (rolls eyes heavenward and laughs) I should have known you were going to say that.
Minutes pass
Me:  So do you want me to go make that frosting?
DH:  Sure
Five minutes later DH is eating fudge frosting with a spoon.
Me:  See, five minutes and it's good isn't it?
DH:  Well it's not fudge, but it is good.
Me:  Not bad for five minutes.

Good to the Last Selvage

Fusions Selvages for Organizing

I have a confession.  I adore seeing what other quilters have done with their fabric selvages.  It's a secret hobby of mine.  I've been following Karen at Selvage Blog for years!  At first I collected my selvages for a fellow quilter, but now I keep them for myself.  I always figured I'd like to make a spider web quilt some day.  Perhaps like this one.  Yet recently my serger has been working over time dumping thread bits all over my lap as I sew.  Sure I could be more careful about being tidy, but instead I've been lusting for my own Serger Thread Collection Bag.  The more I looked, the more dull and boring I thought they all were.  Really, why use a single fabric when instead I could make it to would showcase something I really love?

I started on this little sewing machine organizer yesterday using the selvages from the blue Fusions fabrics my friend Vicki gave me when I first took over my spare bedroom and made it a sewing studio.  A sewing room warming gift if you will.  Most of those fabrics were made into the waves of my Children of the Sea Quilt but I quietly kept the selvages, knowing someday I'd use them.

Selvage Sewing Machine Organizer and Thread Catcher

Vicki is always a wonderful inspiration to me when I'm dreaming up new projects - or trying to figure out how to quilt them so perhaps I should place the phone in one of those pockets?

Thanks for stopping by!

Baby Pineapple Finds a Friend

Add caption

My baby pineapple sure has been growing.  See it's starting to grow its top?  Today when I was out watering I saw this little lizard was guarding it from bugs.  Hopefully the two will remain friends a while.

My grandfather had a name for all the lizards we have here in Florida.  Big or small he called them all Mr. Friendly.  That sure brings back memories.

Local Dog Show

Today the local pet store had a dog show.  The kind all in good fun.  DD showed Mocha and Morgan with all three sporting dresses I made, yes you read that correctly I made a dress to match for DD.  Our charming trio won first place in the "Look Alike" category as well as "Best Costume".  What a good time we had.  My favorite part was the obedience segment performed by all of the therapy dogs.  Wow! To see them all lined up waiting for the next command!  What do you think, the best great thing - obedience training for children?

DD was so excited.  She was thrilled to be there and the honor of winning was really the icing on her great day, she kept saying over and over I can't believe we won.

DD after receiving her award

Serendipitous Dress

This afternoon I drafted a new dog dress pattern.  Except I seemed completely unable to follow my own directions and made the bodice and the back in reverse.  The results are two charming apron style dresses, which I think even the most exacting therapy dog will be happy to wear.  What do you think?

Apron Style Dog Dresses

Welcome Spring!

How has Old Man Winter been treating you?  Here we've had all sorts of inside, outside, upside down weather.  But some of my plants think it might be Spring.  Just check out my blooming pineapple plant.

Mandala Final Border, Naw....

Mandala Quilt Showing off Stripes

Mandala awaiting another border

Today I attached the large border of spirographs to the Mandala Quilt.  As some of you know I made my half square triangles at 2" sewn in, instead of 2.5" sewn in.  This has created a bit of a size issue.  The quilt as it is right now at 73" square really isn't big enough for two people to share.  I believe it will need another border.  I've been looking it over and I think this will mean another folded border and another set of diagonal stripes.  That's another 328 HST's!  Right.  I am so not loving that idea.  Any options that you see?  I have some fabrics that match rather well which I had been planning to use on the back that could technically go on the front.  I demo'ed them on the edge for DH.  He said one in particular but when I protested, saying I think the best answer is the HST's he said "yeah, I know."  Really?  LOL.  That means he's telling me what I want to hear even if that means I believe him and take the easy way out.  Men!

Rare Visitor

Dina Yellow Butterfly on Meyer Lemon

This morning a Dina Yellow male butterfly joined me for breakfast. See how he doesn't have the dark fore-wing tip of the female?  It's times like these that I adore the zoom on my camera, as it allows me to see all the little details while not disturbing him from his rest.  It is rather windy today with the big ever green branches arching in the winds.  Likely my new friend needed a break.  How about you?

Mandala's Large Spirographs

I've been busy working on the Mandala Quilt, as you can see I have started to add the Large Spirograph borders.  It seems like this quilt will be getting harder and harder to photograph from here on out.  One reader suggested I make the second border of diagonals run in the opposite direction.  That was a neat idea, but I'd already latched on to this one.  Pick one of the bright diagonal stripes.  See how you can follow that stripe all the way across both borders through to the other side of the quilt?  That took some doing, yet I believe the results are worth it.  These large diagonal runs should become even more pronounced when I add the quilting.

Mandala Circle Spirograph Quilt Grows

Yo-Yo Dresses

Yesterday I was inspired by quilting to make these special dog dresses.  I think perhaps I should make one for DD as well.  Wouldn't it make the cutest little girl dress?

Yo-yo Dresses

Inspiration into Reality

Faux Flowers within Skirting

Original Dress per
Zulily's Website

The other day I was casually shopping online and I saw a beautiful little girl's dress.  The dress was white with a faux flower at the hip and then some petals trapped within an organza over skirt.  A traditional mother would have been inspired to buy it for her little girl, instead I was struck by the dress and instantly inspired to create it as a dog dress.  Or in my case two dresses.

It's a dreary overcast day, so I can tell you the color in my flowers is off, they are actually vibrant royal purple flowers.  Originally I had thought to use some 1/4" purple trim that I have, but when next to my purple flowers it wasn't a solid match so I went with the silver instead.  I can hardly wait to hear what my friend has to say!

Mandala From the Inside Out

Mandala Quilt Grows from the Inside Out

Tell me, please what have you been up to?  This is what I've been doing.  Working on the Mandala Quilt, circles, triangles, and squares, what fun.  The border of half square triangles had me wondering if I should rename this quilt to Viper's Poison instead.  The second folded border was a little tricky and then the applique border thankfully went on with just a bit of pinning.  I'm almost sad that I'm back to another folded border, and then even more half square triangles.  I've decided the next folded border is going to be blue.  Should I go with the medium blue and teal or the darker one?   Right now as you see it the quilt is about 40".  Which isn't what it should be but I made an error in my HST's accidentally made them smaller than the original plans called for.  So I'm thinking a fat impromptu outermost border might be in order...

Mandala's Applique is Complete

Yesterday was an amazing day for my applique!  I hand stitched all of the smallest applique circles as I had finished the larger circles the night before, so now it's time to spend a bit of effort thinking the thin border around the large center circle.  Should it stay raspberry as I'd originally intended?  Should I demo another color?  Green perhaps?  What do you think?

All Applique for Mandala Quilt is done

Mandala Going Well

Two posts in one day, isn't that a shocker?  I just finished up three more of these applique circles.  I'm on a roll, hehe.  No more tonight though, someone has decided they need cuddles and stitching does not go with cat cuddles!

Here are the pieces I have so far.  You can see I have appliqued the entire top row of large circles and have  also finished the one there underneath on the left.  The center is finished and is exactly as shown.  While I do have many, many HST's shown I wont update them into the layout until I start sewing them together.  

Layout of Mandala Circle Quilt with completed details

As Always feel free to click on any picture to see it in better detail.

Mandala Quilt Progress

I've been working on my Mandala Quilt!  Currently I have the center as well as the two large Spirographs in the upper corners fully appliqued.  I plugged the pictures of my real work into the layout so you can see how that's coming along.  All of these circles are being appliqued by hand and I've been surprised the going isn't as slow as I feared it would be.  Currently I have five other large circles pined and ready to stitch, so I'm ready to sit and sew this evening.  Anyone want to read my book aloud so I can sew and enjoy my book at the same time?

Can You Sew a Curved Line with a Straight Stitch?

As some of you may have known I planned to piece the straight lines on the Mandala Center Quilt Block, then applique each ever growing ring.  Well for some reason today I changed my mind and instead decided to put the rings together by building up each wedge - piecing the curves first.  I can see why the directions don't tell you to do it this way.  As it's especially tricky there at the end, but I loving the results.  Besides there is something about that moment when you know each curve is coming out just right and then the wedges sew together until your on the final one and open it...

Pieced Mandala Quilt Center

Have you been up to anything good?  I hope everyone who is covered up under snow has a snow blower to help get themselves uncovered.  Boy did I hate shoveling snow as a teenager!

A Special Weave

I have been making smaller versions of dog dresses I've already made, this time for the puppy.  The dress below was a big challenge because the purple lilacs were to honor a departed family member.  The first time I made this dress it was trimmed with a delicate purple lace.  There was only enough lace for the one dress.

Woven Ribbon trim

When it came time to make the twin of that one I wasn't sure what to do.  It had to be something special.  At first I thought to combine a royal purple and a lilac ribbon, but as they were two different thicknesses I wasn't sure how to go about it.  A little online digging and I came up with this.  It is a Hawaiian weaving technique.  Isn't it lovely?  I am so glad I waited to embellish this dress until the moment was right!

The Dog Dress Zone

This week I just worked on dresses.  I cut fabric when I wanted to, I sewed when I wanted to and just all around enjoyed the week.  I started and finished these 9 dresses, and I also made 14 others.  Those are technically finished but are waiting on embellishments to put them over the top.

I enjoy making these, as they are quick to finish and each one is unique as to which ribbon and how to make the skirts etc.  Perhaps this is why people like crafting quick results that look good.  While I'm not one of those people I certainly find the joy in having a bit of music and watching these beauties come out of the sewing machine.  Pay no attention to the dirty floor, I was in the zone!

Adding Width to a Wallhanging

Ruffles for this panel

It's been a while since I've done any alterations.  So I was pleasantly surprised when one of my neighbors called me to see if I had time to do some for her.  She is such a sweet lady, I always have time for her.  Amongst other things she had this panel that she wanted me to added a ruffled edge to, and I thought I would show it to you.  Aren't those colors amazing?  So vibrant!

I reached my goal this month for dog dresses, as I made number 18 on Wednesday.  When I got home just a few minutes ago I came right in the sewing room and started planning the next one I'll be working on.  It is a completely different fabric and quite slippery so hopefully that wont be a problem.

Puppy Dresses and My Tired Tiny

Tiny all worn out

How have you been?  I've been thinking about you.  Lately I've been making puppy dresses for the newest addition in our friend's home.  Since a puppy is always growing I've brain stormed up some "grow with me" ideas and built them into my latest dresses.  You can see one example below, but I'm not going to give away my secrets.  This year I'm hoping to average about 18 dresses each month which will allow my family and I to go on a vacation together in 2014.  This month I've finished 17 and am working on number 18 now.

As you can see Tiny says we've just been working our little paws like crazy and it's always good to crash in the sewing room, even though momma doesn't recommend it.

Big Girl

Little Girl

Quiet Much?

The Beam Compass DH made for me

Perhaps I should rename this blog to "Quietest Little Blog"?  Na, I'd never do that.  Around here things have been busy.  I have made good progress on my Mandala blog.  DH made this wonderful Beam compass so I can rework some of the pattern pieces I wasn't happy with.  Currently, I have over 200 half square triangle blocks completed.  These are used in the multi colored slanting borders, so I just have one color left to make and then I will be on to the piecing of my center most circle and a lot of applique.  Below I laid out a sample of what the border will look like for you to see.  The last color that of HST's that I will need to create is raspberry, but I haven't settled on just which fabric to use yet.  The pattern suggested a random scrappy look but I think this will work out better...

Mandala Border

Have you been up to anything good lately?

HST's 8 in 1!

How do you make your half square triangles?  I've always been a two at a time gal myself.  That is until I started looking at how many of these little bundles of trouble are planned into my Mandala Quilt.  So I decided to go on the hunt for a different answer.  The answer I discovered is to do 8 at a time and it goes like this.

Sew like this

Yes, just four lines of stitches, which is easily chained to make the 64 HSTs I needed of this color combination.

Cut apart on White Lines

Press open and trim

To make these the size you need, take the block size you want - in my case 2" finished, 2.5" unfinished.  Multiply your unfinished number by two and add 1 for the seam allowance.  (2.5 x 2) +1 = 6.  Don't they look great?  I love this new blue fabric I picked up for a song at my local quilt shop.  I nearly bought the entire bolt I was so charmed by it.  

Hope all your projects are coming along well!