THE TINY PAWS QUILT!

Most outstanding!
This project is looking great. The quilt maker finished assembling everything and turned it over to me today. I will take it to the quilter tomorrow. She will put the batting and backing on and quilt the whole thing. Then it goes back to Anita, who will put a binding on the edge. I am very happy about how nice this quilt is coming out.






I don't know that I want to become a quilt maker. It could be like the afghan making spell I went through. Once you have made a half dozen or so, WHAT DO YOU DO WITH THEM? I have a box full of afghans that I don't have any place to display. Maybe rescue would want to have a monthly raffle for a quilt. LOL!
I was a little worried when I sort of stumbled into being in charge of the quilt this year. I knew I could find someone local to do the quilting as there are several very good quilters in this area. Putting the quilt top together was a bit concerning however. Piecing quilts is not one of the skills I learned growing up, even though I watched my grandmother sew together numerous beautiful fabric creations.

Fortunately, my friend, Anita offered to help put together the parts. Having made a number of quilts, she knew what it would take to go from the box of blocks I received to a finished quilt. She knows about the squaring up of the blocks, cutting them all to precisely the same size, matching corners of blocks so everything comes together perfectly. Being a long time artist, I thought I could probably manage this if I needed to but now that I have made a pillow to match the quilt, I am very thankful that Anita was willing to help Ratbone by donating her time to this project.

Not that my pillow turned out bad but it sure did take a lot more effort than I expected. Making all the corners match and all the border strips the same width was more stress producing than I expected. I cannot imagine having to do this 20 times over.

It's all good though. All the parts are assembled and quilting starts this week. Plus, work has begun on the second quilt. We will have two quilts this year. The second one will be VERY striking. I selected fabrics to go with the blocks and they are absolutely gorgeous. Updates to come.

Sewing was never one of my favorite things, although I did a lot of it in school, back in the day when all girls took sewing. This applique thing is really proving to be fun. Of course it is not so much sewing as it is art. I completed the first of the edges for the quilt and have now started the second one. Anita has finished setting the blocks together and is stitching around the applique. We hung this on the edge of the bed last weekend, with the top spread out on the bed and it was really quite striking in appearance.

I am really anxious to see it all set together and get some pictures of the whole thing laid out on a bed. This would look good in my guest room. Too bad I can't participate in the drawing. Being one of the board members of the rescue excludes me from the raffle but I will be watching to see if someone I know gets the quilt. There are a lot of hours in this quilt, between the many Ratbone members and supporters who made quilt squares for us and the time donated by my friend, Anita, who makes beautiful quilts AND who gave me my first Rat Terrier.

For more information about the quilt or to get your numbers for the drawing to win, go to the link.
Ratbone Rescues Quilt