New Blog

Andra and the poodles are now blogging at aliveandpiecing.blogspot.com  Please join them there. 

Latest quilt finish...

Latest addition to the poodle family

This is actually back in May.  More current pictures later, he is MUCH bigger now!

Crush

Bon Jour!
Oh, I am so exhausted from all this free motion quilting I have been doing.  It has taken DAYS!
I just have to share it...

Here is Oliver, trying to take some of the credit for all this hard work but all he did was suggest food names to include in the quilting, you know, things you might call your loved one but that are really food.  I broke down and included "honey" which satisfied him and he went off to nap.

Tess had fun helping too.  She suggested many of the less planned designs.  She is such a free spirit.

You can't see it very well but this one says "heart"

This is one of Tess's impromptu flower suggestions.  And of course, all of us poodles like to cuddle.

I was oh so happy with how my hand turned out, fingerprints and all.

This may be my favorite though... it is basically smack in the middle of the quilt.
I will show pictures of the complete quilt once it is bound.  We have to wait for human mom to do that.  Poodles don't have opposable thumbs, you know. 

We haven't come up with a name for this quilt yet but it will have the word "crush" in it, hence the post title.

Au revoir!
Sophie

Long arming desperately needed...wonder where I can find someone...

Hi, hi, hi,

Tess here...


Human Mom has been blabbing and blabbing about this quilt over on HER blog www.simplifyandquilt.blogspot.com but the snow is long gone, as is Valentine'sDay, and the quilt still hasn't been put on the long arm.  I am thinking it is going to require a dedicated poodle to get this one going. 

This one is still waiting for quilting too!  Can you believe it??!!!  What's a creative poodle to do?

Do you think she will ever get around to it? 



Maybe if I give her my big, brown, sad, poodle eyes...

And...if Oliver pitches in...


What do you think?  Will it work?
I will let you know...
Toodles,
Tess

Tess's String Quilt Guidelines

Here is the finished String Quilt top I promised, with Sophie taking a peek around the edge.  She can't believe I did such beautiful work from this chaos...

This quilt was made from strip sets that measured at least 12 inches wide, with a 2 inch (finished) strip of black on white fabric as the center strip. 

From these strips, you cut an 8 & 1/2 inch square, making sure that the black on white fabric is the exact center from one corner to its diagonal opposite.  I used 48 squares.  The left over triangle pieces from these strips then get trimmed into right triangles that measure 8 & 3/4 inches across the longest side.
The inner border of the quilt is 2 1/2 inch strips of the black on white. 
The corner squares are cut to 4 & 1/4 inches. 
It takes about 3 & 1/2 to 4 yards of black on white fabric. 
The overall measurement of the quilt is about 60 X 75 inches, so a large lap quilt.  Add another row and column of blocks and you have a large twin quilt.   
Unfortunately, I need to make about five more of these to get all Mom's scraps used up!
Happy Scrapping in the New Year!
Toodles!
Tess

Tess is cleaning out the mess...

Hi all,
Tess here...
Hope everyone has had an amazing Christmas!  We had lots of fun!  Now, time to set some goals for the New Year and get stitching!

I have been sneaking in some work on Mom's scrap bins.  She has about four that look something like this...

And this...
Can you believe it?
We can't keep those hanging around in the New Year, cluttering up our creative space! 

Looking at all that wasted fabric, I couldn't wait to get my paws on it!  So, in hopes of cleaning out some of Mom's hoard...I mean stash, I have been making strip sets.

I chose a variety of black on white fabrics for the very center of each set and then just started adding my strings!  I made sure they were wide enough for me to cut my squares with the black on white strip being the center diagonal. 
I saved the left overs and they will be used in the border. 
Stay tuned and I will post my pattern and pieced string top here in another day or two, certainly by New Year's Day, so stay tuned.
If you are inspired to start stripping with me, I would love to see your work!

Toodles!
Tess

Poodles

Tess, up close and personal

Sophie showing her bandaged leg after knee surgery.  Its going to be a long recovery...
Tess looking over her shoulder and sharing her bed.