For Dog Lovers

After the first two purses, I thought it would be a good idea to make some more.  I ordered six more frames. I shall enjoy picking out fabrics for each one.

The fabric for this one was chosen in line with this month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  The colour is grey to black.  In amongst the scraps was a small piece of the Cute Dog fabric.

I just love the shape of these purses on the bottom.

The inside is fabric is black to co ordinate all the fabrics used.  This would make a lovely present for someone who loves dogs, definitely not one for me!

A New Bed

This is the dog's basket. Well, it was the cat's, but he decided he'd suit it better and took it for himself.  As you can see, he's made a few modifications and these are becoming a little too dangerous to keep it, so I decided I ought to try and see if I could make him a new bed.

First, I drew around the basket, adding a few inches all around to allow for stuffing.

I cut two circles of fabric for the base.  This was taken from a pair of old curtains.  I have no idea where they came from, but somehow, they were in my stash.

As the fabric was quite stretchy and frayed easily, I machine basted all away around. 

Once that was done, I joined enough of my crumb blocks together to form the fabric for the top.

I pinned the basted circle to the crumb blocks, and sewed around leaving a turning gap.

Before turning, I trimmed to size and cut slices toward the seam for easier turning and  we were ready for stuffing.

I have a pillow case full of fabric trimmings, ends of batting etc, and this is what I used for stuffing.

Then it was time for the sides.  I was going to show you how I made the sides, but I got distracted by a trip to the nurse and a little glitch in the sewing proceedings.  Anyway, the sides were made from stiff interfacing, covered both sides with wadding.  Using some more crumb blocks, and a piece of fabric from my stash, I made a cover for it. The bottom was machine basted closed.

It was this seam that was pinned to the base, and then the fun began.  Lots of pins, lots of fabric bulk, and machine stitching can be dangerous.  I manoeuvred everything into place, and surely but slowly, stitched around the whole thing twice.

Once turned the right way, the seam is hidden inside, and I was left with a cosy bed.

Just a small glitch, the dog didn't really fit inside.  Then I realised, the basket has sides that taper out, to make it easier for him to get in.  This had straight sides so he didn't really fit.

I wasn't too disappointed.  It would mean making another one, a bigger one, but it would mean the cats could have a bed again.

However,

someone was determined he was going to sleep in it, so I think today, I shall be making some modifications to see if I can make it an easier fit.

Crochet Blocks

My crochet magazines had been sitting around for quite a long time this month, they waited so long the dog opened them for me.  Fortunately, he was more interested in eating the invoice to do any damage to the wool. 

I was quite pleased with the purple square, this was one of the patterns I couldn't get the first time round.  This time it worked, and it worked for the whole block!

As I didn't do these straight away, I don't think it will be long before the next months installment drops through the door.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge-Red

For the start of this month's challenge, I got out all my red fabric.  Surprisingly, I didn't have as much red as I had expected, and disappointingly, there wasn't much of it I liked.  The only solution was to slice it all up, rearrange it and see what happened.

The inspiration came from a quilt called Simple Strips from allpeoplequilt.com.

 As you can see, everyone wanted to get in on the picture.

Although I didn't like a lot of the fabrics, once the black sashing and borders went on, it took on a different feel.  I can't say I love it, but it is growing on me, and I'm sure I will find someone that will love it once it's finished.

Even after doing this, there are still some of the fabric left.  I am thinking of doing something similar again, but on a smaller scale, but I'll have to wait until I get another sewing day.