12/13/13

First Block

This morning I did all the fusing for the first block on my new project, "It's Raining Cats and Dogs". Here's a picture of the finished quilt from the pattern:


Yesterday, I made the background for the block, and so this is where I started this morning.


If you look at the pattern picture of the block shown below, you can see that I turned the four-patch on the right in the wrong direction. I thought I had it right when I sewed it, but there it is...turned 90 degrees. Doh! Ordinarily, I wouldn't be so picky about this, but I knew it would be the only thing I could see every time I looked at this quilt forever after. I decided to fix it before going on. As much as I shrink from perfectionism, sometimes it's better than living with one's mistakes. And in this case, it was easy enough to fix.


So once I had that done, I fused the dogs. Dogs. Now that's a switch.


And let me tell you, Smitty did not like it...not one little bit.


So once I had the dogs fused, I went to work on the house. My scrap stash is a little light on browns and grays, and so I'm often using the wrong sides of fabrics for this project. That goes for the pinks too since many of my pinks are very bright, and I'm trying to stick with pastels. It's working out okay. I still might go in search of a few more appropriate fat quarters before I start on the next block.


So the fusing on this block is finished. Now I'm going to top-stitch along the edges of the pieces. Also, it has some embroidery and a few little embellishments. For one thing, I need to embroider "Pampered Pooch" onto the house. Or is that a doggy hairdresser's shop? Also, I'm going to machine embroider the window panes onto the windows, and I'm going to use hot fix nailheads on the left dog's collar, both dogs' eyes, and the door knob. And then this block will be finished. I'm thinking another good long sewing session like I had today, and I should be able to wrap it up.

Fortunately, the next block has some cats in it. That should keep me in good stead with my furry friends. Here's a sneak peek of the pattern picture for Block 2. 


Once I have the first block finished, I'll set this project aside until next time. I'm getting ready to make a label for the Love Me, Love My Cat quilt. Also, I need to put a hanging sleeve on it so that I can ship it off to the Road to California show. It needs to be there by January 10th, and I hate doing things at the last minute. Time to get moving.

That's it for my sewing day. How was your Friday the 13th? Lucky, I hope.

17 comments:

Vroomans' Quilts said...

Tee Hee - love Smittie's look - all those puppies Mamma - oh no!

BillieBee (billiemick) said...

Such a sweet quilt. Purrr Smitty.

Anonymous said...

It's gorgeous, I love the colors, and little woofies like those aren't too bad, I have a little woofie and he snuggles with one of my cats as long as she can't see anyone looking :)

Brown Family said...

I have used the back side of fabric before, too. Especially when the front is just too bright! That is a pretty quilt.

Swedish Scrapper said...

This is going to be adorable, Barb! I love how you use the backsides to change the value of some of the fabrics.

Dana Gaffney said...

That is so pretty, I'm liking those soft colors which are so different for me.

Anonymous said...

Oh this is going to be such a pretty - fun - quilt - Your doing such a nice job on it - I just love it..
MaryLou
Fun4Me1249@aol.com

Quilter Kathy said...

What an adorable project... so fun!

Kathy Felsted Usher said...

Other than getting snow, Friday 13 was ok here. I see why you had to fix the block. I am working on a Christmas gift quilt that I can't show (since my relatives insisted on being FB friends with me) and found I sewed an entire border right to wrong sides together. Had to rip it out!! Frustrating when you do something that should have been so obvious.

Snoodles said...

I was particularly interested in the fact that you are using wrong sides of some fabrics to make the colors like you want them....I have done that, too. I want to use up my stash! LOL

Tami C said...

The first block sure is looking good, in spite of the furry friends opinion. I like the pastels!

Diane Wild said...

I'm going to love seeing this one progress. This may go into a quilt show, also.

Vicki W said...

That's a really cute pattern!

Dar said...

So cute and you are making great progress. Tell Smitty those doggies are not as cute as he is.

quiltzyx said...

You know, when you bought the fabric, you bought BOTH SIDES, so why not take advantage of that, right? Right! This is going to be another cute one.

Kate said...

The first block looks terrific.

Sarah said...

Love the grumpy cat face photo of Smitty! When you machine attach your appliqué, do you free motion it or use normal stitching Barbra? I've only ever buttonhole stitched machine appliqué.