Houndstooth

I have wanted to make this houndstooth quilt for quite some time.

A friend's daughter is having a baby soon and I wanted to make a little quilt for the occasion.

I wanted to keep the striking contrast of the black and the white but in the black fabric, I wanted some small pattern - preferably animals or something appropriate for a girl or a boy. I couldn't find anything I liked here but when I was in the U.S. last week, I found exactly what I wanted at JoAnn Fabrics - coloured dots on black and a companion fabric for the backing with outlines of animals in the same colours! Perfect!

I spent most of yesterday evening cutting the strips to make the stripey diamonds. Thank goodness I had purchased a triangle ruler and an 8" square ruler with the coupons I had printed. The rulers were exactly what I needed to cut the strips and squares the correct sizes.

I pieced the white squares with the striped diamonds, then all the black squares with their diamonds. Here are a few laid out. If you squint, you can really see the houndstooth pattern.

This evening Mo came over to knit (and learn to cross-stitch!!) while I sewed the white pairs to the black pairs. I got all of the 47 patch blocks done just as I was running out of white thread. Tomorrow, I'll pick more white thread up and a couple of other sewing items I need, such as iron-on vinyl for another project I have in mind. I couldn't find it at any of the stores I visited last week but I have seen it here for mucho $$$$.
 
Many years ago, while on a trip to Boston, I bought some pretty sheets to make a duvet cover for my bed and some matching curtains. I made the duvet cover right away and have used it ever since. It now is on James' bed which is being converted to a guest room this fall. I never did make the curtains. The window topper I've had up in James' room for the past 16 years was from his nursery when he was a baby. The matching crib duvet had long since worn out.  I finally decided what kind of topper I wanted for the window. While at Dianne's a few weeks back she suggested a type of pleated curtain. I did some research, scratching my head, measuring, and finally got the sheet out and got the curtain started. In the motels we stayed in last week, every window had a pleated curtain like the one I wanted to make. I studied them quite carefully and finalized the planning for mine. It took me forever to finish the sewing as there were long seams to sew and I was very slow.  But, I'm happy to say I got it finished on Monday. Bring on the company!

It looks like I need to clean the windows (again). A homeowner's work is never done.