Sally Said Sew

If there is one thing you need to know about me, it is I love animals. I am a supporter of several animal rescues including the Idaho Animal Rescue Network. I recently started making doggy beds for them out of old pillowcases stuffed with fabric and batting scraps. It's great in that they supply the scrap batting. The founder of IARN has a family member that is a longarm quilter and she saves the leftover batting and fabric scraps. Perfect! Making a doggy bed is a fast and worthwhile project. First thing to do is to wash your pillowcases. Once that is done, it is time to sew! Start by turning the pillowcase inside out. We are going to box the ends to give the doggy bed a little shape. Align the side seam of the pillowcase (or the fold line if no seam) with the bottom seam (or fold line). Pull it into a point and smooth out. I used a 3" seam so I measured down 1-1/2" from the point and marked my sewing line.  Stitch twice across line, backtacking at ends. This helps ...

Have you ever made a quilt where a seam ripper was required, not because of mistakes made, but actually needed to complete the quilt? I recently did. Late last month, I visited Be Lazy Quilting  in Three Forks, MT. This is a wonderful little quilt shop. There was a quilt hanging on the wall that caught my eye - I think it was the colors. Teals and browns, very earthy feeling. The pattern is called Sierra Snow  by Villa Rosa Designs. It is one of those small pattern cards you find normally near the cash register. Sierra Snow Shop Sample Quilt I have never made a bargello style quilt but have wanted to do one. I read the instructions on the back of the pattern card and it seemed pretty straight forward. "Let's do this!", I told myself. I am also a huge fan of Moda's Grunge fabric line. I love, love, love Grunge. There are so many colors and it is a versatile fabric. I decided then and there that I wanted to do my quilt out of Grunge. Luckily, the shop had a dec...