Working to quote on my dog quilts

Lol --- yes --- depending on the time of year you were here at Springhouse Retreat -- many of us have watched the corn grow! There never seems to be a lack of entertainment in the form of the fancy equipment moving in and out of that massive driving shed! I find it fascinating!

I've done pretty well at my goal of making those eight quilt tops from the dog fabric. Here is number one. 

Dog quilt number one!

I want to keep them simple and easy to piece. I want them to be approximately 60 inches by 72 inches, and I would like to primarily use the fabric I brought with me. The two that I worked on yesterday both had the same panel. I could have cut the panel apart, but that would have made things way too complicated for my task. So I added two strips of fabric to the top of the panel, then one narrower strip to the sides of all that. The final step was one border around the entire thing. Easy peasy!!! And it looks cute. 

I don't have enough of any fabric to make bindings, so I'll probably use solid black for all the bindings. That's going to be a lot of binding! I don't have any here, so while the quilts are being quilted, I can work on making the binding. 

Here's the second one. 

Dog quilt number two

They look the same, and in fact, they are the same, except the fabric for the outer border is different. 

When I did the initial sort through the bags of dog fabric, I set aside three larger pieces that would work for a quilt back. And you know what? They were exactly the size I needed for one of these quilts. So the backing of one of them is made!

The backing of one of the dog quilts - DONE

So while that one is being quilted, I can work on the other backings, or I might get some of them done here, as I have the backing fabric for the rest with me. We'll just see how it goes. 

I've already started to work on the next two, which are also from panels, and I happen to have two more identical panels. I needed a fabric to add an extra border, and we went shopping yesterday, and I got a solid grey. That was at Heart and Home in New Hamburg. 

The solid grey for a border

It's not a perfect match, but it's going to work! Then we went to a second quilt store (Ye Olde Fabric Shoppe) that is very crammed with fabric. I bought a couple of patterns - I didn't take pictures, but I'll share them another day. I had to laugh when I spotted this. I remember people saying they would not go back to Ruti's Needlebed in Mississauga (now retired), because it was so jammed with fabric. 

A fabric jam!

Well, this path was completely blocked. But as we were there, one of the staff came by and mentioned that she had to remove it from the shelf to let someone do some work. I don't know where it came from, but she was busy putting it back on the shelves. 

I had another quilt top with me that I needed to find a border for. It's an odd teal color, and I knew I might struggle to find something. I managed to find something at the first shop. We hadn't planned to go to the second shop, where they had a larger variety, but I'm happy with this. Not perfect, but close enough! I hope to get those borders on while I'm here as well. I have lofty plans — simple, yet ambitious. 

Border for a quilt

I had a troubled sleep last night. Not sure why, but I tossed and turned and then finally fell asleep. But when I got up, my brain must have been muddled because I started to calculate the borders for the next two quilts on a piece of paper. 

But seriously, I have EQ8 on my computer, so I fired that up and within a few minutes I had the measurements for the three borders. DUH!!!!

Designing the borders for the panel

And yes --- even here, the leaves are starting to turn!!! 

ACK --- fall is approaching

I did another bad thing yesterday besides going shopping, which cut into my sewing time. But it was a successful trip, so I don't begrudge that time. However, I found a 1000-piece puzzle at the house that had quilts on it. Actually, there are two. I did one a couple of times ago, so I pulled the other one. Hmm -- should I attempt this? It sat for the first day, and then I broke down and put all the pieces on the table. 

Working on the jigsaw puzzle

It's not the best trying to put a puzzle together on a round table, so I'm working from the top down. Typically, I work on the border and then fill it in!! I'm not sure where I'll go with it today, but it's a pleasant diversion!!!!

There is something to be said for coming to a quilt retreat. It's such a great place to build friendships - both with new people and people you've known for a while. Of course, I can't share anything that happens, but you know what? We are here for each other, and that's all that counts! There are fewer retreats scheduled for next year, and I'm OK with that. I will always treasure our time at quilt retreats because they are special times! Since there are fewer retreat days, I'm going to try to remember to schedule some retreat days at home. I'll be sewing - just for me!!

I see it's rather foggy or misty in the corn field this morning. But it's time to get back to work on those panels - I hope to finish the remaining two quilts from panels today. 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!