Someone turned 3 years old!

Today is Napoleon's birthday. I will be grilling up a steak for him and Caesar to share. 3 years ago, he was my first "baby" and now I have 3, one human and 2 fur babies. Babies and dogs bring a lot of laughter into the household.Someone else is having a bundle of joy soon, so I made this Care Bears soft book for her. Don't worry, Napoleon's paws are clean. Since both my dogs live in a Chinese household where we take off our shoes when we enter the house, they get their paws washed when they come in, too.I made my first soft book from a kit I got at Joann Fabrics, but this time, I bought fabric panels from Hayloft Fabrics. You just have to supply the batting. I used a nice cotton batting I got from Michaels. Hayloft Fabrics delivered quickly and without any problems, so I would definitely recommend them.

The only problem I had was in making the book. The panels are not printed in perfect rectangles, the sides are not straight at all, so you can't cut them out straight. In fact, some of the sides are warped, so it made lining up the panels very difficult. I did my best not to lose any of the important parts of the book when I sewed them together, like the star numbers and the pictures. It was frustrating and I almost didn't send it since I felt awful it wasn't perfect. But then I remembered that babies won't scrutinize the book for imperfections. They are just happy playing with it and putting it in their mouths.

This is the second month of the virtual quilting bee at Common Threads and I made this 14 inch quilt block for Melissa. Curves are hard, but I had a lot of fun with this block. I just don't know if it fits in with her theme. When I hung it on the wall to take pictures, it reminded me of a modern art painting. Slap it in a frame and you can hang it on your wall.