New Family Member!

Just a quick note to introduce our new trouble maker!

Presenting, 6 month old Tucker!

So now we have a matching pair, one red heeler mix, one blue heeler mix (heelers are Australian Cattle Dogs aka boneheads) Don't ask me how this happened! We've been looking for and older dog to keep Casey company but this guy just caught our attention. When we introduced them they were fairly compatible. Now they gallop up and down the hall sounding like a herd of horses.

He's young, he's bouncy and he's already learned to mess the bed. I have my work cut out for me with this one!

Hoot Hoot and Other Projects

This is a flannel panel quilt I've been working on. It's been great for practicing machine quilting, something I need to do. I've gone around all the squares and right now I'm working on the binding. After that I think I'll go back and do some more quilting in the squares. It's cute and super soft. I'm really enjoying it!

 I've also joined a small group of women quilters. We're starting a quilt called "Along the Garden Path".

And because I'm a big dork, I like to scan things into photoshop, and apply my on fabric finishes that I've scanned on the printer/scanner! It's not perfect, the scale is off, but it gives me some idea of contrasting colors.

Then my friend and I went to the fabric store and spent a delicious couple of hours picking fabrics! I decided to go with a bit of a 30's-40's theme after I picked some discount fabrics (the cherries and roosters)

I didn't pick any backing up. I'm going to wait until I can get to one of the chain fabric stores as the sales on plain old fabric are usually pretty good.

I'm currently cutting out the fabric pieces using both the rotary cutter and my Baby Go!

Rag Quilt

I started a rag quilt awhile ago, my first one. I used the AccuQuilt Baby Go.
I really like the machine. It's especially good for people like me with wrist problems. I have a few different templates and I loved the idea of the rag template.
I probably should have made one rag quilt by hand first, just to experience it, but I jumped in with both feet and used the Go to cut out my squares. It was super easy to do and I was quite excited about the whole thing.

Duh-duh-duhhhhh

Then I tried to sew them together and it became a nightmare! Picture me ripping my hair out again and again! And ripping out seams as soon as I sewed them. As soon as those fringes started to stand up it was impossible to sew! I finally tore everything apart and started again from the very beginning, ironing after every line I sewed together. Even then it was hard! I think in this case doing rag quilts by hand might be easier then using the GO template. The only thing it might be good with is flannel (maybe?)

So the last few days I forced myself to finish it... it was painful... and yet I kind of love it... it's got a nice weight to it and currently it's been washed once (in a pillowcase to take care of some of the shedding threads) and it will be washed a few more times I think...

You can see the complete madness of sewing this together!!

And here is the finished product!