They Make Our Lives Whole

"Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole." --Roger Cara

That is one of the quotes on the Amy Bradley "Dazzling Dogs" quilt I just worked on recently. It's true though...dogs really do make our lives whole!

Another quote on this quilt put a smile on my face. It said: "The more people I meet, the more I like my dog."

Each of these blocks were appliqued by my customer. She really had a great collection of fun fabrics to use in this quilt.

You may notice all the dogs are missing eyes. After my quilting was done, the quilter was going to sew button eyes on the quilt. (I appreciate that she waited to put the buttons on...that way I didn't need to worry as I quilted around them!...I wouldn't want to to hit some poor dog in the eye!)

I used different background filler techniques throughout.

I also changed the threads to match the fabrics. I didn't want my machine quilting to be too distracting on this already bright, fun quilt.This is the perfect quilt for dog-lovers, like me! Don't tell the Purse Dog that there were other dogs before her! She thinks she's my only one true love. Below, I am five years old, holding our beagle Chumbo, in Penn Hills, Pennsylvania.And pictured below are my kids here in California when they were little with our bassett hound, Molly. She was a wonderful, sweet, loyal dog. During the years we had Molly, I had this cartoon hanging on our fridge. I hope you can see it. Posted inside the dog house of the bassett hound, a sign reads:

"Daily Schedule--8:00 Chase Ball, 10:00 Chase Cat, 11:30 Chase Mailman, 2:00 Chase Cars, 4:30 Chase Tail."

The owners say: "Boy, what a life--what I wouldn't give to just lay around all day!"

That sounds like the Purse Dog too! But she lays around all day keeping me company as I quilt.
Here she's saying, "Now back to work, Vivian!"