Where To See The Crazy Dog Lady

Jan Quejo is a very talented quilter, who I have met through the Material Girls Quilt Guild. Jan likes to make pet quilts, and she is very, very good at it. Her favorite subjects are dogs, and she bills herself as the "Crazy Dog Lady", but she does create gorgeous quilts with other animals. too. In her "Other Animals" gallery, she has one rabbit portrait, but Weasley thinks  maybe she needs to sew more rabbit quilts.... 

Anyway, in January, Jan will be having a one-woman show of her quilts at the Charlton Sewing Center, in Charlton, Ma. If you haven't been to this shop before, let me just say that the shop alone is worth the trip. It is in a converted church, and the light and space are amazing. It is the kind of space that really enhances any quilts that are hanging in it. There is a nice collection of fabric available, and a thread selection beyond belief.

If you happen to be in Central Massachusetts this January. check out Jan's show. You'll be glad you did. And if you can't get there (although quilts are always much better viewed "live"), check out more here.

A Good Old Dog

 

I'm a bit late, like usual, but I've still made it in under the wire with my quilt for the Pets On Quilts Show hosted by SewCalGal. I decided to go a different route, and not show you any rabbits on quilts this time. Instead, I have a little quilt featuring my parent's old dog Oreo, who crossed the Rainbow Bridge several years ago. Oreo was a very good dog, who liked to carry really big sticks, and who loved his people. My parent's rescued him when my kids were very young, and he is still the epitome of dogness for us. Here is a picture of the old guy on vacation with my Dad.

 

Now let me tell you about the quilt. One day last fall, I needed a take-along project, and had absolutely nothing ready. I grabbed a handful of scraps off the floor (really!), a nearby ring of floss, my traveling box of sewing tools, and ran out the door. I made one little quilt from this mess, and had so much fun that I started another one from the same bag of scraps. I'm now working on number 3, but this is the second quilt.  

Raw edge applique with embroidery floss, machine quilting, tea-dyed cheesecloth binding.

I know. Its very odd. And you are probably thinking that the dog has the wrong coloring (and that I am crazy). The crazy part my kids will confirm. As for the dog, I was definitely thinking Oreo when I put him on the quilt, but I knew that a mostly white dog with black spots wouldn't show up to well on the background I had created. I decided to invert his colors to allow him to stand out. Why the dinosaur followed him on to the quilt, I have no idea. I am sure that Oreo would have tried to befriend him if he had met him. He was that kind of dog.

OK, I can't actually pass up a chance to show you Weasley with the quilt. He was totally unimpressed. But, would you expect anything else from a rabbit?



"Hey! I remember this guy! He used to eat all my papaya treats. And he thought I was a gumball machine. He was a very weird rabbit."



I hope you enjoyed seeing my strange little creation. For more Pets On Quilts, check out the links here (there are prizes to win, too!).

Happy Birthday, Dad

St. Patricks's Day is a very lucky day in our family, because it's my Dad's birthday. Last year I made this quilt for him based on his astrological symbol (Pisces). It showed him and his old dog Oreo, who had recently passed away.

Have a great birthday, Dad! Hope Ed cooks you a nice dinner, and Mom makes THE CAKE (send me a piece?).

A Good Dog

This week's Creative Cue was "heel". I used my sewing machine to do a free-motion sketch of my Dad, and his old dog Oreo. Oreo passed on not quite a year ago. He was a good dog, even if he did flunk obediance school.

"Heel"

This time, instead of tracing paper, I put my drawing on Solvy dissolvable stabilizer with a marker, and then layered it with fabric, and a heavier tear-away stabilizer. Then I free-motion stitched with black thread. It was nice not to be picking small bits of paper off the drawing with tweezers. Two things that I found to be an issue were:

1. The Solvy was sort of stretchy, so I had to be careful not to pull and distort my image.
2. It was hard to see my stitches, as they seemed to sink into the Solvy. I couldn't easily check the tension. In some places I had to go back and add more stitching after dissolving the stabilizer. This was because I discovered that I had only stitched those areas once, and I like the effect of a double or triple line of stitching.

Still, I would probably use the Solvy again, unless the drawing were a very intricate one that might be too easily distorted.

I hope you like this one, I am pleased with it. Can't wait to see what the next cue will be.