Walking the Dogs 44x43
Walking the Dogs is one of the newest quilts from this year. In fact, this is the first time I've posted about it. It began with a stack of fabrics from Japanese designer Yoshiko Jinzenji that I bought at QuiltCon 2015. I actually intended to make something very different when I sat down with these fabrics, but sometimes the fabrics will lead you somewhere different than you intend.
I cut the prints into strips without regard to motif, except for those two dogs. You might notice the doughnuts, splotches and dots. There are also areas of black and white that appear to be pieced, but that's in the print too. I paired the black and whites with grey and indigo chambrays from my stash.
Somewhere along the line I got a notion to do some half log cabin blocks (also variously called housetop blocks or quarter log cabin blocks). I first noticed this block in works by the Gee's Bend quilters and have loved them ever since. I've used them before in Iris Dreams and Puzzling World. I have plans to use them in the future as well. Maybe I could do a year of the half log cabin?
After completing the nine blocks I needed to figure out an arrangement. I did a lot of rearranging on the design wall before I settled on this one. At first I was going to do something asymmetrical, but then this happened. In the end it came to look like walking paths, hence the title.
To tell the truth, although I like this quilt, I thought it had the least chance of getting in the show. Above you can see where the machine quilting lines went askew, unbeknownst to me. I never notice that sort of thing until the quilt is finished. I entered it anyway and was surprised to see it was accepted. I'm assuming it will show up in the modern traditional category.
Oh, another funny thing. I originally intended for the machine quilting lines to be vertical, but again I didn't notice which way the dogs were situated until I was done and realized I had done them horizontally. I could have turned it I suppose, but I had always had the dogs going that way in my mind.
So there you go- lots of unintended design decisions and it ends up in the show. There's a lesson there somewhere. I wonder how it will be received by the public?
