The best dog bed in the world

A moment of insanity is the only explanation for me looking at a fat quarter pack of Anna Maria Horner fabric and thinking they would make a great dog bed. The project started out simple. I saw these neat dog beds online that were basically like a doggie duvet that you filled with old towels and clothes. Brilliant! I thought I'd piece a simple quilt top, then make it into essentially a giant pillow. Easy peasy, right?

Next thing I know there's piping, fancy blocks and a quilted bottom. That would have been enough to keep me busy into the far future without the technical problem of a sewing machine no longer interested in proper or even inconsistently bad tension. Then came the hindsight is 20/20 part. After many an adjustment by my mom, we forged ahead with the wonky machine. Then I forged ahead with ripping out all the quilting because it just wasn't good enough. So much ripping. I did find a nifty trick because I sure had a lot of practice.

With a borrowed sewing machine, I finished the quilt top. And I have to say it looks pretty good. How can you go wrong with that fabric?


Putting it together was another challenge. First starting with my lost shank and foot. Thankfully it was found with the borrowed machine, but not before tearing apart my craft room and crawling around on my hands and knees to peer under cupboards in case the cats got frisky. Even more thankfully, my mom came by to walk me through the entire process. Who am I kidding - I often let her take over. She's so fast! Everything I do is painfully slow and nowhere near as accurate. Maybe in 50 years I'll be a sewing superstar too.


Then I needed to rustle up enough stuff to fill the bed. You can't imagine how much got tossed in there - sheets, blankets, old sweaters and a whole bunch of those long since out of fashion clothes buried at the bottom of drawers. Still I could use a bit more to fill it out.

Here's the spoiled pup taking a tentative sniff of her new bed:


It seems to meet with her approval. I should really hope so considering the huge expense for fabric and supplies and then the hours and hours that went into making it. At least now the gigantic beast finally has a bed she fits on. And look at that elegant face - she needs an equally lovely place to sleep. Plus it's a nice addition to my living room that looks so much better than a plain ol' dog bed.


I wonder where my next crazy idea will take me. Oh right, I still need to make the matching pillow to go against the railing. Crazy, crazy, crazy.