The Story of a Dog Quilt (and three grandkids) Posted by Virginia "Ginnie" Leiner on June 29, 2022 at 12:00pm View Blog For years and years and years and years, I have been promising my three grandkids Halloween quilts and this is the year it is finally happening. When we all started making vacation plans in the family, I played the Gramma card and told my two daughters it was time for a visit to Gramma Gigi and Grandad George's house. They had not all been here together with their families since 2018. So plans were made and Gramma, that's me, decided to have Halloween quilts ready for the grandkids to select one. I then proceeded to work like a maniac and got seven, count them, seven Halloween tops made and quilted by my friendly longarmer before they arrived this month. (There are two more to be made but they are not suitable for grandkids - more scary. What can I say, I just had so many ideas!) When I told my quilting friends about this and how the selection was going to occur (each child would indicate 3 quilts they liked and Gramma and moms would decide which one they would get), my friends all said, "What will you do when they all choose the same quilt?" I responded, "there are seven quilts to choose from, for God's sake! Certainly that is plenty that they will not all want the same one." Well, guess what. I was dead wrong and my friends were right. They all wanted this one, the dog quilt, called Who Let the Dogs Out?What to do now???

Before the families left, my daughter (the moms) and I had made the choices for the kids and I let the moms pick one for themselves as well. It was decided who would get the dog quilt (Sylvia the Texan grandkid) and that the California kids Wyatt and Ruby would get these two, Wyatt the Monster Mash

and Ruby the Dog Tricks and Cat Treats,

provided, I put lots of dragons on the back of the Monster Mash and a few more dogs on the back of the Dog Tricks and Cat Treats. We have not told the kids what they are getting, that will be a surprise when the box arrives at their house in October. Being the "Yes" Gramma that my daughter Jamie accuses me of being, I started brainstorming how I could make everybody happy and that meant making two more dog quilts. So I went on line on ebay to purchase more embroidered Halloween dog blocks only to discover that the seamstress had stopped making them. Since I had bought tons of stuff from her previously, I contacted her and asked her if she would make me, a returning customer two sets of dog blocks. She agreed, I paid, and they arrived in the mail Since I never make a duplicate quilt, I now needed to find Halloween dog material that was different from the original Who Let the Dogs Out and come up with two different quilt designs. Found the fabric, ordered and paid for the fabric and it arrived in the mail. I had by this time come up with the quilt design for the first dog quilt and was working on the second one. So this weekend, I am talking to daughter #1 in California and I tell her I am willing to make two more dog quilts and she poo-poos the idea, saying the kids need to learn that you do not always get your first choice (true that) and that they will love whatever quilt I send them because it is from Gramma. I think she is dead wrong about her strong willed 7 year old daughter who will be very unhappy that it is not the dog quilt, but that will all happen in California, many miles away from Gramma in Pennsylvania. I will go ahead and make the other two Halloween dog quilts. The fabric and blocks are just too cute to waste and who knows, I may keep one myself! or my Ruby in California may talk the "Yes" gramma into giving her another Halloween quilt. Happy quilting! Ginnie