Binding Finished

I finished sewing on the binding on Not Quite Amish last night, and this morning i have been trying to fix the gaps that I left at the outside of the border. On the short border gaps I have tried two things. I just got Diane Gaudinsky's machine quilting book -- it is fantastic -- and on one end I decided to try her "bouncing banana motif" after outlining the design a couple of times. I love the motif, but the end result is too dense. I probably could have made the bananas bigger, but that didn't occur to me until it was too late. It did flatten out that end of the quilt, though!

On the other short end of the quilt I did some looser outlining of the motif and then did a loose McTavishing. I am happier with that result, so I will do it on the remaining two borders. That does mean that one border will look quite different from the others, but my feeling at the moment is that this a quilt for the family, and they will not care that it is not perfect! It is a bit disappointing because I really love how the top turned out, but I feel I have not enhanced it with the quilting. I love how I did the blocks, but a better and quieter choice for the sashing and border would have turned out much better, I think. A learning experience, I guess. If this quilt lasts a hundred years, people will either look at it and say, "What was she thinking?", or they will find the eccentric choices charming. It certainly has the "Dorky Homemade Quilt Look"!

My realizations about my choice of quilting motifs has made me really admire the author of "The Quilting Makes the Quilt." This quilt was actually really easy to put together, so it would not be difficult to make another one just like it and quilt it differently. But as much as I love the design, I cannot imagine making another, much less five like in "The Quilting Makes the Quilt."

I won't have quilt pictures to post today, so I will add some dog pictures and some links to my favorite dog-related web sites. The first is Goodpaws, a wonderful community where one can find dog lovers who have faced any problems you may be facing with your pets, both furry and non-furry, and are more than happy to share experiences and make suggestions. I usually only pay attention to the dog related sections, but there are sections for cats, reptiles, rodents and so forth. The people are friendly and love to share stories about their pets. It is a great place for pet lovers to hang out. The same can be said of the second site, The Family Dog, Inc. , and in fact there is a lot of overlap in the communities. Run by Sarah Wilson and Brian Kilcommons, both outstanding dog trainers, it is also a site where you can get practical guidance from a renowned dog trainer as well as find friends who share your enthusiasm for dogs. I found the site when I was having a lot of problems with our dog, and Sarah's willingness to guide us over the Internet was invaluable. I also had the privilege to take two classes with her (too bad I couldn't bring our dog!) and they were fantastic. I only wish I lived near them and could participate in more classes. The links are to the main pages of the sites so you can see all the resources available, but the message boards are wonderful.

Here is Sally helping pick up laundry around the house. It is easier training her to help pick it up then training the family to put it in the basket! She does sometimes get creative and pull things out of the basket, bring them you and put them in the basket again, just so you will give her a treat.