Vintage Quilt

The fabrics for this quilt were given to me by a co-worker in Cleveland. She had many boxes of her grandmother's fabric sitting for years in her attic that she was very happy to get rid of. And I was very happy to take them! I wanted to let the fabrics be the primary focus and so decided to use a simple patchwork design of 4" squares in a diagonal pattern. I also made it double sided by using the remaining fabric for the backing. I used a fairly thick batting, making the quilt warm and heavy, and tied it instead of quilting.

Icky enjoyed the tying process as he got to play with (and eat) the strings.

I've been hesitant to make a new quilt for our bed for a few years because the last one I made was torn to shreds by Daisy. I'm hoping now that she's older it won't happen again. Ahem!

Rotted

Oh man, is it exhausting to be a dog! Especially a girl dog who is usually on sentry duty. But today is Friday and since John has to be out the door by 7:00 for a breakfast meeting-thingy, we all have to get up before 6:00 to have our walk! Makes for tired puppies. Good thing there are blankets to keep warm with and that also help to block out that bright sun.

Happy Friday everybody!

Diane Kimono Dress

My version of the Diane Kimono Dress.

I had almost entirely given up on ever being able to make clothes for myself after a few miserable, frustrating, and money wasting attempts using patterns from some of the major designers, like you find at JoAnn's (I have almost entirely given up on that store. I am so fed up with the quality of the products and lack of selection). While wandering through one of my new favorite quilt shops, I found patterns by independent designers and thought I would give this one a try. These designers go by measurements, which seem to be completely accurate. The patterns are actually written in English by the designers and do not assume that you know what you are doing. The instructions also go into detail about why you are sewing a certain piece in a particular way, which is so helpful and discourages shortcuts because the step seems unnecessary. I have already purchased a few other patterns from this and another designer. I really don't mind paying full price for a pattern that I know I won't mess up and will use many times over. There are a few adjustments I will need to make if I use this pattern again, of course, but overall I am really happy with how it turned out.

What do you think?