Grandma's Apples

I made this quilt last week with fabrics I got from my Grandmother Eunice's stash. She had the fabric swatches in a Ziploc bag with the pattern, but never put it together. I chose the red and lime green background fabrics as a contrast to make them "pop". I think it came together quite nicely, although probably not exactly what she had in mind.

It's a bit of her and a bit of me; I feel like I have a little piece of her with me when I look at it.

I'm excited to use more of her stash in future projects.

Nic's Big Surprise

Last year, my brother, Nic, got me this oil painting for my 30th birthday.

So it seemed only fitting that I get him something really cool for his 30th birthday. But what? He doesn't want stuff... He loves movies... I could make him a quilt...

A MOVIE QUILT! THAT'S IT!!

So, here it is.

When my best friend, Erin, came out to visit for Easter, we went to a really cool quilt and knit store. I saw this awesome Wizard of Oz fabric and thought, "I should make something for Nic with that". Thinking more about it later, I remembered seeing an old character photo of Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West.

I based the concept of the quilt off the photo. I traced it onto graph paper and then drew in the rest of the scene as I remember the Wicked Witch's Castle looking in the movie. John then took the sketch to work, enlarged it, and printed it on their poster printer. With the help of my friend, Lois, I cut out all the different pieces and hand-sewed them onto the black background, a technique called appliqué. (That took about 2 months.) Then I backed, bound, and quilted it on my really cool sewing machine.

Apparently Ichabod approves; but he is always trying to lay on my quilts.

Nic says he loves it and that it was totally unexpected. I hope he enjoys it. We'll have to wait for a photo of him with it to see what he really thinks...

Happy 30th Birthday to my big little brother!

Ichabod

While our blog is titled "Sleeping in the Doghouse", we do have other animals in our family. This is our cat, Ichabod. He is so named because he is black and we got him about a month before Halloween. Also, John thinks it is funny to call him "Icky".

Like most indoor cats, he spends any time he's not asleep looking outside. He has gotten out a few times, but always comes running back in because it's too scary out there in the "real world".

When we got Daisy, he became a living squeaky toy. She likes to pounce on him and chew on him until she finds the spot that makes him meow. Icky doesn't like this very much, but he's so gentle that he won't fight back. He just meows until we pull her off of him. Poor kitty!

But his most favorite thing to do is groom his Daddy. He will sit for hours licking and trimming John's hair.

Although he is a gentle indoor kitty, this is how he really sees himself:

Don't they all?