Custom Dog Quilt

Well it sure has been a long time since I finished a quilt, hasn't it? This one was a custom order-- my sister-in-law requested a primary colored dog quilt for my nephew. He happens to be 6 months old already so you can imagine how long I've been stalling on this one! I had the quilt top pieced a long long time ago but just wasn't confident in my plan for quilting it so I let it sit. and sit. and sit. I really wanted to try free-motion quilting but I knew I didn't have enough practice. I ended up doing a number of difference techniques. I did some straight-line quilting in the dog squares to accentuate them and then wavy lines with my walking foot on all the black sashing (that's where I chickened out by not using free-motion there). I finally put my new free-motion skills to work with the solid colored pieces. In the photo-strip edge I free-handed a single star in each colored square. For the large solid colored blocks I really went to town and did swirls and stars. it was fun, really fast and it turns out that you can't really see the "mistakes." Everything looks like it's supposed to be that way.

I always wanted to try free-motion quilting but thought there must be some sort of trick to it. I finally took a class this winter and learned the trick. The trick is-- there is no trick. You just have to do it. So far, stars and swirls is about all I can handle but I'm excited to try some other techniques and I think I have the confidence to free-motion an entire quilt. I'll start with something small- a baby quilt I'm sure.

It feels great to have this project wrapped up. A huge weight is lifted off my shoulders. Now I'm working on little clothing projects for the kids and designing a big big big project for my brother's wedding! Only 5 months for that one... Must get to work!