Dog Gone Cute Quilt

Today is my day on the wonderful Dog Gone Cute Blog Hop hosted by Lorna of Sew Fresh Quilts

Originally I was going to make an overnight bag for this little guy that I dog sit quite often.

                         

  His name is Bruce and he is very at home at my house. His Mum & Dad are always forgetting his bowl or some other item when they return home from a visit though, so I thought it would be a good idea to make a bag to keep all his possessions in. 

However, my middle son recently visited friends who have a new beagle puppy and returned saying that they really did need a quilt or blanket for him. We knew the Dog Gone Cute blocks would be just perfect, so poor old Bruce is going to have to wait for his tote!

The pattern gives instructions for 2 sizes of block, with many, many variations of dog faces. I chose to make 4 of the larger blocks. I made two of Dog 1, one Dog 5 and  one Dog 7.

I added a 3 1/2" background strip to the top and bottom of each to make them square.

                         

  I then added 2" finished grey sashing to the blocks and I found the most perfect backing fabric.

                         

It's called Patch Bones as is by Makower UK.

I quilted wavy lines horizontally across the quilt using Aurifil 50/2 in shade 2600, and bound it with the same blue solid as I used for background of the top left hand block.

The pattern was a dream to follow. Lorna lays everything out in a clear and concise way. Her designs are all so adorable!

I think this little guy (his name is Bobby) is going to be very happy with his new quilt!

And here is Bruce proudly posing next to the quilt. He's going to be quite disappointed when he realises it's not for him!

Be sure to visit some of the other participants in the Blog Hop. The schedule is here:

Thursday, October 15

Anita of Daydreams of Quilts
Gina of Quilts and Cakes
Beth of Words & Stitches
Rachel of Quiltineering
Julie of Mack and Mable

Tuesday, October 20
Cathy of A Quilting Chick
Selina of Selina Quilts
Shauna of Shauna’s World
Gayle of Pedal Sew Lightly
Kathy of Kayak Quilting

Thursday, October 22
Sandy of Upstairs Hobby Room
Heide of Heide’s Quilty Hugs
Britt-Inger of Hill Valley Quilter

Judy of How ART You?

Louisa of Sewmotion

Quilt Finished

Yay! I finished sewing the binding onto my quilt today. It is officially finished.
I managed to take it out for  quick photo shoot before it went too dark and rainy, so here they are.
There's the usual washing line photo that we all resort to from time to time.

One draped over the shed door. I'm quite pleased with this one. I like the geometric patterns of the quilt against the brick and wood.

And one across a wooden bench. Some leaves photo bombed the shot, so I'll always know what time of year I finished this quilt!

Back indoors, it's all rolled up ready and waiting for someone to snuggle up under it tonight.

Here's a peek at the backing and binding.
I love the bright navy polka dot against the solid red binding. I was going to use the remaining pieces of jelly roll and make a scrappy binding. I'm so glad I went for the solid red. I think it frames the quilt well.

I echo quilted around the shapes and along the sashings. Not perfectly, more of a whimsical effect. In other words, I'm not patient enough to go slowly and accurately, but I'm happy with it.

Vital Statistics:
Finished quilt size: 55"x 73"
Fabric for quilt top: Reunion Jelly Roll by Sweetwater for Moda
Backing:  Bright navy polka dot, source unknown
Binding: Solid red


Linking up with  Finish It Up Friday over at Crazy Mom Quilts
                    and TGIFF at Quilt Matters

A Quilt Finish

 

 

Yay! My first quilt finish of the year!! Actually this was 99% finished way back in October last year and various bodies have been snuggling under it all winter as it's been thrown across the back of the sofa, waiting to be finished.

I have the snowy weather to thank for that. What else is a gal to do when the weather outside is awful! So binding complete and photos done. It was a VERY cold photo shoot, and I think my neighbours thought I had gone totally mad. At one point I was trying to lay it on the snow covered ground, run to the door, boots off, sprint up the stairs, open a window and take a photo so as to get the whole quilt in the frame. By the time I got there the wind had blown it into a bundle. After three attempts I just hung it on the washing line.

It's a very simple design and used just one jelly roll with scrappy sashings and scrappy binding.

The jelly roll is Oh Deer by Moda, and the white is Kona Snow.

In my hurry to get back inside in the warm, I forgot to photograph the back - sorry!

It measures 50"x72" - an extra long throw for the sofa for my 6ft something youngest son!

 

 I'm writing up the pattern, so it should be available soon.

Linking up with Fresh Sewing Day at Lily's Quilts

 

Easter treats abound in our house this weekend. One involves a trip to the beach. Brrrrr!

But there are plenty of edible treats in this household too. No-one likes the traditional Simnel cake so we have a very, very unhealthy Easter Rice Kripspie cake instead (actually we have this for all celebration cakes - birthdays included)

It's very quick to make, so I thought I'd add the recipe to this post.

You need:

For the cake - 3 Mars bars (yep! you read right!!)

                       40 grams butter

                       3 tablespoons Golden Syrup

                       Approx 10 cups Rice Krispies

 

Melt the butter, Mars bars and Golden Syrup over a gentle heat in a saucepan. Blend together with a spoon. Remove the pan from the heat and add the Rice Krispies. Mix well. Spoon into a 22cm greased cake tin and press down well with the back of a spoon. Allow to cool and harden (refrigerate if you are in a hurry)

For the icing - 75 grams icing sugar

                        25 grams cocoa powder

                        40 grams butter

                        2 tablespoons water

                        50 grams caster sugar

 

Sift the icing sugar and cocoa powder into a bowl. Measure the butter, water and caster sugar into a saucepan. Put on a low heat to dissolve the sugar and melt the butter. Bring to the boil, remove from heat immediately and pour into the dry ingredients. Beat well with a wooden spoon to make a smooth icing.

Allow to cool and thicken a little, strring occasionally, then pour over the cake.

Add some chocolate mini eggs and enjoy! Happy Easter.

 

 

 

 

Moda Pure Quilt

I thought I would share some pictures of the quilt I finished a couple of weeks ago. Its a queen size quilt and uses a Moda Pure jelly roll which I bought several months (ermmm, nearly a year!!!!) ago at the Festival of Quilts, NEC Birmingham. I didn't know what I was going to make with it at the time, but as it was designed by Sweetwater - my all time favourite designers -  AND had text on it, I had to buy it!

I used a simple nine patch with Kona Snow for the sashing and some dark brown from my stash for the cornerstones and inner border.

I just love straight line quilting at the moment. It gives such a clean and modern look to a quilt, so whilst the nine-patches are ditch quilted, I've used straight lines, just 1" apart for the outer border and white background.

The binding is more of the dark brown stash and I've used a pale coffee coloured small print for the backing.

And do you know the best thing about this quilt?

It's actually for me!! It goes perfectly with my bedroom (so I can forget any ideas about decorating) and I love it to bits!!