Making Room for Babies - both of them

Starting to get seriously ready for the baby, around here.

I decided she needed a crate blanket of her own and thought about piecing together something simple. After about two seconds, I decided that piecing the dog a quilt was really a lot of work and probably would be less comfortable than simply "birthing" a small quilt and doing a little meander quilting to hold it together.

So I looked through my stash and found a likely candidate:


I layered the backing, batting and top then stitched it together, leaving a gap. I turned the quilt inside out, then used some steam a seam to close the gap. I trimmed up the edges and prepared to square it but didn't need to.

After that, I threw it on the longarm.


I did some meandering quilting.



If you looked closely at it, you could see where I quilted the names of Pearl, Evelyn, Jezebel and Sapphire. But you probably wouldn't notice it is you didn't squint and turn your head sideways.


Evelyn was just a darling. She has definitely turned into a Blue Ribbon Quilting Buddy.



You can see the back of the baby's quilt in this picture. More dog paw prints:





I just love this picture:



I love this picture, too:




If you hadn't noticed, I really have a thing for dog paws. I just think they are adorable. When Evelyn was a baby, her pads were spotted.






She was really in a good mood, today.




Husband has been out of town for a week and so it has just been Evelyn and me. She tends to be a Daddy's Girl and before that, was Jezebel's shadow. This week, she and I have had an opportunity to bond. I am a snuggle bunny and she is acting just like me.

I have always loved this dog but this afternoon, I had a moment of just overwhelming affection. She's becoming more assertive, more expressive, more interested in communicating. I am not sure how things will go with the new baby but in many ways, I think this break with her being an only child has allowed her to grow and our relationship to deepen. Part of me has looked forward to maybe getting a dog that is "mine," again when the puppy comes home. Like Jezebel was. But I think that there is a very good possibility that sweet Evelyn may end up being "my" dog, as well.