Layout. So far.

This is my first afternoon in nearing three weeks that I've not had to do any sort of work.  I'm pretty happy about that.  I have work to do tomorrow but this afternoon it was all play.  There dogs will say that not enough of that play was with them.  They'd probably be right. I was working on something for them though.

I'm trying to decide if I'll be making it slightly bigger by adding one more row or one more column.  I guess it depends on whether I have enough fabric to make more of those rainbow blocks.  Also I feel like this should have a fourth white dog on the third row from the top.

So my thought is that white fabric wasn't ideal for a quilt that I was planning to give to the dogs and I decided black sashing was the way to go.  I like the effect so far.

The other thing I have at issue is how big the border should be.  It will be black like the sashing.  The sashing is 1.75 inches (so I cut 2.25 inch strips) and I thought maybe the border should be thicker then that?  What do you guys think?

Layout

Yesterday I trimmed all the blocks to the same size.  After that I wondered how big it will be and what the layout would look like.  So I stripped the bed of the covers and laid it all out.  Hoping to see how it would look with white sashing.  Well nearly white sashing since my sheets are more cream colored then white.  What do you think?  I have an idea about this that I'll hopefully be sharing sometime soon.  I like the layout of the blocks though.  Next time step ladder so I can get a full view.  This thing is going to be large.

Looking for Suggestions

So yesterday I hinted that I'd gone crazy with the sewing not just last weekend but this weekend too.  This weekend, specifically Thursday and Friday, I started on the "non-dog" portion of the quilt.

I really like how these turned out.  I mean really really pleased.  Each one I made turned into my favorite and only made me want to make more.  I made as many of each color as I could before I just didn't have enough scraps left for a variety.  Well I made as many as I could until I got to 21.  21 dogs, 21 wonky patched blocks.

Then I laid these out on the bed with the dogs.  All of this random of course, placement would change later when I really looked at what I was doing.  Sorry for the blur, this room doesn't get great light. 

So here's the question.  I feel that this looks really busy and that the blocks don't really compliment each other.  What do you guys think?  Would this be better if I stuck sashing between the blocks?  How wide should the sashing be?  This is about an inch and a half.  More? Less?

Or should I just call this a no go and just make more dogs and put them next to each other?

Or more dogs and sashing only?  Same sashing questions as before?  More? Less?

Or think of something else to space out the dogs (by that I mean a different kind of block of some sort)?  Thoughts? Opinions?

Ultimately, I want this to be a generous lap sized quilt so the bulldogs can burrow under it (or share it if they are on top) so adding sashing might actually be better then not since it will add a decent amount of size overall. The blocks all together like the first layout is about a lap size just so you have an idea on how I'm doing on size.

Gone Crazy

So last weekend I went insane or something and made 15 of these things.  After the first five or so they got easier.  After ten I decided that it must be so late in the day I should take a picture really quick before I lost the light.

Then I realized that it was only one in the afternoon and I had a bit more time.  So I made the other five.  Three with regular bodies.

The other two were made with white bodies, specifically for Aurora.

There's something special about the white bodied blocks.  In case you didn't notice it, I'll point it out with these arguing puppies.

These white ones are the only ones facing the other direction. 

So then, I had twenty finished.  I was pretty happy with that number, thinking I was done with the dog bits of the quilt.  I laid them all out in what I thought I wanted the pattern to be and realized I needed 21.

More to come on this weekends insanity.  I had a very busy day sewing Thursday and yesterday.  I have a lot to show for it, but I'm not sure its usable for this.

Dog Day

It started with just one yesterday morning.  I wasn't really planning to do much more then that as I had some other stuff to get done. 

But, somehow, it turned into two.  I guess I thought the little guy would be lonely or something and I HAD to make another. 

Well you know how these things go.  It was something like WHAM...suddenly there were five.  All in the same direction.  I think its time to make some facing the other way.  Don't you think??

Rainbow Scrap Piles

I love this photo.  There really isn't anything about it that makes a good photo.  Is just so colorful and pretty.

What is this?  Well yesterday in a fit of insanity I decided to iron and sort my scraps.  I can't imagine what I was thinking.  Its one of those projects where I felt done with it long before I was done with it.  So my scraps by colors.  I was getting them prepared to make doggy blocks.  I started that today but no photos just yet.  Finished too late.  Tomorrow I'll have blocks for you!

I'm posting this for you guys, but I also posted on my normal blog.  I think that for future posts I'm just going to direct people here.  That seems to make more sense to me.

My first block!

For some reason I found this method super confusing- trying to figure out the angles and how the fabric will cover the space, and had to rip out almost every seam at least once!
But here's my first attempt! I think I might practice this method with an easier (less pieces) pattern 'til I "get" it....!
But I like how it works and turned out pretty well for my first try, I think!



Fun times! Yippity yap yap!