Dog Show 2

Thanks to Jane's excellent suggestion, not only have I got a nice, gutsy border for my Dog Show quilt, but I didn't have to go and buy any! (No, I didn't steal it, and neither did Jane give it to me - generous as she is!) She suggested a piano keys border using the fabrics I had used for the dogs themselves. What a great idea. I didn't have enough of all the fabrics (as ever) but I think it works well.

I have decided to label all the breeds, because I'm not sure whether everyone will be familiar with them.

This is Robodog. (He was actually the first one I made, and turned out a little chunky!)

Here is Aussiedog, made from fabulous Australian fabric.

This is Pointer, who is so interested in something, his head has nearly left his body!

And here is Stripedog, a bit of a throwback from the hippie era, with his purple coat.

And now to label the rest!

Bleaching

There was an interesting article in the latest edition of 'Quilter's Newsletter' about using fabric which you don't like or is out of date. One of the suggestions was to bleach it. The article showed a brown fabric which turned an attractive shade of marigold yellow after bleaching. Since I have been sewing strings to make yet another Mile a Minute quilt, and have found lots of dreary brown strings in the bottom of the box, I thought I would give it a go.

Here are the strings ready to be transformed.

And here they are after their transformation.

Rather similar, you'll agree. Apart from a few which have gone green, and others which have turned grey (both reactions which I think I would have emulated, had I been immersed in a bleach solution!) the majority of fabrics look the same. I suppose it's a matter of trial and error, and it was worth a go, but I think some of them will be finding themselves in my charity rags bag in the near future - there's only so much brown a girl can hide in a scrap quilt!

Dog Show

I have finished sewing dogs. Here they are, all posing for the show.

I wish I hadn't used beige as my background, but it was an experiment (making dogs, not using beige!) and has turned out pretty well, overall. The dogs are all different breeds, from the pale green Robodog (bottom left), the Tartandog (top right), Bonedog (just under the WOOF) and the Stringdog (easy to find!) I think a cat has even sneaked in there too! Now I need to find something gutsy for a border.

Parcels

I'm no mathematical genius, and don't bet on anything, but I reckon with 16 people in my draw and only one winner, the odds against winning are 15:1. (Please feel free to correct me if you know better!) This time, I asked DH to pick one of the entrants, and he chose number 7, which is Joyce! Please let me know your snail-mail, Joyce and I'll put the goodies into a parcel and send them post haste!

Yesterday I was in the post office with a parcel, as I have entered into a Siggy Swap with Connie. I contacted Connie when I heard about the swap, but was too late, as it was full. She kindly said she would keep my details in case there was a second one, and I forgot all about it. Then on Friday I had a very polite note from her to enquire where my blocks were, as the closing date for the second swap was now gone! I didn't even know it was happening! So apologies to all those participating in Siggy Swap 2, as my blocks will delay the whole thing by a week or so.

Here are my blocks ready to go. I chose a fabulous novelty fabric with flappers on it and a green batik. Most people seem to have printed their signatures by computer, but I wanted quick, so I have written them by free machining. I chose a fairly firm fabric for the cream and startched it before I machined it to eliminate pucker. Hope people like them.

Five a day giveaway

Whoops! I was just fiddling around in blogland today, when I realised I had posted 150 times! I didn't realise I had so much stamina! So I thought it must be time for a celebratory giveaway.

In these health-conscious times, we sedentary quilters struggle to maintain our figures, so I have decided to offer a selection of fruits and vegetables with some baskets to keep them in as an incentive.

OK, so it's four Martha Negley vegetable and fruit fat eighths, and a Monkey Buttons basket wall-hanging pattern, but if you fancy winning it, please leave a comment on this post by next Friday (17th April). Good luck!

Lovely day

Yesterday we went to Simon and Hazel's wedding. They got married in Saint Mary's Church in Lutterworth and chose a beautiful, sunny day for the occasion. The ceremony was lovely - the rector, Mervyn is so full of enthusiasm, he really made a lovely event even more special. The music was supplied by the Lutterworth Town Band, who managed to do a fantastic job, even without Simon on trombone!

Here is the happy couple after the ceremony

here they are not really trying to dodge the confetti,

and here are DH, DD and myself in our wedding finery, standing in the churchyard just before we head off to the reception!

The mystery revealed!

I have been working hard all week to complete my Rocheberie mystery quilt designed by Jane and Chris. I sewed together the first quarter,

and then realised that there were quite a lot of component parts in my 'little blocks' box. This is where I put all the leftover half square triangles, four-patches and anything which has been joined together, but isn't yet a block. I was able to save myself a lot of time and cutting, as there are quite a few half square triangles needed for this design. I quickly got half way.

Then I was on a roll. With the end in sight and so many components all ready to use, it was very straightforward. Here is the completed top.

Doesn't it look good? Many thanks to Jane and Chris for designing and organising this. Now I'm going back to the dogs! (Literally, not metaphorically!)