Dogs and quilt making don't mix

Hello friends!!  I hope all is well and sunny where you are. We've been blessed with about 4 weeks of no snow or frost. Mind you, I got a bit careless with the last round of frost - and I neglected to bring my potted plants in.  The result was a trip to the greenhouse to buy more replacement plants ;)

I've been lucky enough to find fabric at the thrift stores. Normally a a few casual visits to the thrift store will yield a couple of pieces of fabric.

Nice bit of quilting fabric and stretch denim.

Lo and behold.  One day I popped into the thrift store between errands, and I came away with a whole load of fabric.  Most of it for quilting.  The black and white bundles are for clothing.

Jackpot!

Which lead me to my next conundrum.  Now almost all available surfaces in my sewing room are covered with fabric.  Which normally wouldn't be a problem, except for the fact that I'm in the middle of piecing denim quilts.

The finished quilt top looks like this.

I have several more quilt tops to make...and I need to cut strips of fabric.  I need to cut a LOT of strips.

After I sew the fabric together, I lay the strips on the floor to get a sense of what they will look like when pieced together. I'm going for a 97% random look.

Hmmm, not random enough.

"Approaching 97% randomness Captain!!"

In order for my system to work. I need to lay material out on the floor and leave the house.  When I come back, the first impression of the material layout either works or doesn't. I'll rearrange the material then try again.

Here's the problem.

I like to roll in fabric :)

My dog is a lovely dog.  She sheds lots, and she loves it when I leave fabric on the ground where she can cover my beautiful, potential quilt with dog hair.

Which means I get to wash the fabric, again.  If I don't zigzag stitch the fabric, this is what it looks like when I pull it out of the dryer.

What a mess!

Untangling and ironing this bundle took a couple of hours, grrr! Because the fabric is now frayed, it's too narrow to use in the quilt.  It went into the scrap bin instead.  I went back to work cutting more fabric to replace what I lost.

This is why quilting can take a loooong time with a naughty dog in the house.  But I'm persisting.

Get 'er done!

I'm *hoping* to post pictures of 2 more quilt tops soon.  Then, dog willing, I'll be able to actually *finish* the quilts.  What a concept!!

happy thrifting ;)