128 – A Dog Comes To Life!
A dog came to life! It will be snapping at a child’s cotton candy, so it had to be menacing. I cut the dominant color of the dog as one piece and fused smaller pieces to it. I am very anxious to start sewing so this independent piece is a good starting place.
I placed the dog on some tear away stabilizer. The bits of fabric are fused onto one piece of fabric, so it is quite stable. If the little pieces were loose, I would use a clear stabilizer on top – one that I would later wash off or melt off depending on what stabilizer I used – and then I would not worry about the pieces shifting around. The whole thing looks like a big mess before I bring all the loose threads to the back. The thread ends will be secured when I fuse the dog onto the final quilt.
Meanwhile, I have been struggling with a plan for the building in my amusement park scene. My original plan for a large mural did not work out, so I’ve been trying to figure out how to fill the space in a meaningful way without changing the design too much. Compositions can be tweaked – but a large change could throw everything off balance. I have gone through several building ideas with nothing being satisfactory so far. Working on the dog gave me a good feeling of making some progress.
(Reverse side) showing the one piece of fabric that everything is fused to. 
The metallic collar and sharp white teeth make a more fearsome appearance. 
Loose threads will be pulled to the back by way of self-threading needle