Dogged Quilt

A few weeks ago I started my own version of a Bullet Journal, basically a page-a-day list of things to do (work and private life), events and appointments. It's helping keep me on track with the niggly little things that keep slipping my mind, like washing my make-up brushes or throwing out that odd looking thing in the the back of the fridge that may or may not have been a vegetable in a previous life. I think I'm ready to start adding blogging to my list (the fridge is now clean), once a week, and to be honest I have a backlog of stuff to post about. So in no particular order I'm hoping to get a few of them up here on the blog.

In-keeping with the honesty theme in the previous paragraph, I'm going to admit that I'm having trouble finding my blog-voice. I post so frequently on Flickr that I feel like when I finally get around to posting here everything comes out sort of stilted and "well here's a quilt/hat/whatever that I made and wrote about somewhere else." Recently I read an older blog post by rOssie about the idea of "mutant" vs. "modern" quilting, which got me thinking about focusing more on documenting my reasons for making a particular item and the process by which it came into being. So for now, that is the framework on which I'm going to hang this blog. I generally have a hard time recalling or explaining my inspiration and choices when it comes to anything I make, so it's about time I tried!

One crafter I follow on Flickr has been catching my eye a lot recently. Linda Miller is both artful and prolific! I was particularly smitten with her kaleidoscope quilts and after a quick google I found a great tutorial on Collecting Threads. Luckily I received a 60 degree triangle ruler for Christmas, but I had nothing in my fabric stash that was suitable for this technique. Naturally I had to go fabric shopping to find a print with a short enough repeat to make my blocks. And because I'm me, I chose the most rediculous print I could find. Dogs. ALL THE DOGS.

I swear the pinning of the layers of fabric is the most time consuming part of stack and whack, and I was positively giggling as each hexagon came together. I mean really, I had sections of dog butts making rosettes, one dog's face sniffing the next one's butt. Yes, I am five.

 I wasn't really sure how to set the blocks, I knew I wanted sashing so that it wouldn't be too noisy because, lets face it, it was loud enough already. After auditioning just about every one of my solids I settled on a dark green Kona and set the corners with a reddish-brown. This colour scheme is not not my personal taste, but it works in two ways: firstly with the dog print, and secondly, it matches my parents' living room and style to a tee. Oh hello, joint birthday present!

 I kept the quilting simple, straight lines in a grid a half inch from the seams, mostly because I'm having a hard time adapting to basting on a rug rather than on the floor (I'll spare the internet the rant). There was more ripping that I'd like to admit because of pin tucking and there are still a few ticks in there, but overall I'm happy with the finished quilt.

 

The back was made from mis-cut half triangles, the same red-brown, a nameless fabric from a Fabric.com grab bag, and more Kona in a slightly different shade of green. I think it works.