Crafting Skye Terriers

You might remember Dusty, who made his first appearance on the Fancy Tiger Crafts blog modeling with my Parisville quilt. Dusty belongs to my mom, who has been breeding and showing Skye Terriers for over 40 years.

Ch. Royalist Dust Devil "Dusty"

Skye Terriers are a rare breed of terrier that originated on the Isle of Skye in Scotland and are one of the oldest terrier breeds. They have changed little since their beginnings as ground vermin hunters and still retain their long coat (for protection) and long bodies (for getting into small spaces). Because Skye Terriers are such a rare breed of dog, Skye "paraphernalia" is hard to come by. For this reason, crafting is perfect. You can make all the Skyes you want - sewn Skyes, knit Skyes, felted Skyes - the sky's the limit! The problem, of course is finding patterns, so for rare breeds or adorable mutts, it might be necessary to create your own.

Olde-timey Skye drawing

When the new book Knit Your Own Dog came out featuring knitting patterns for 25 dog breeds, I knew there would be a pattern I could work with to knit my mom a Skye. The 25 breeds featured in Knit Your Own Dog cover everything from wrinkly little pugs to sleek and muscular whippets, so dog lovers will be sure to be able to craft their favorite canine friend!

Sure enough, the Corgi pattern was perfect for the general long and low body shape of the Skye. I used the loop method described for other breeds like Afghan hounds to add long hair and we were good to go - a completely cute knit Skye terrier!

Knit Dusty

My mom (who is responsible for my crafting addictions) has also made her share of handcrafted Skye Terriers. She whipped up this beautiful needlefelted specimen. Needlefelting is perfect for making animals and is a great free-form craft that you can easily experiment with to make any breed of friend.

Needlefelt Skye by Karen Jennings

Yay for crafting and Skye Terriers!

Jaime's Tula Pink Quilt

There are great fabrics that come out all the time, but rarely are we blown away by an entire collection. For me this happened with Tula Pink's Parisville collection for Freespirit that came out at the end of last year. This collection was just begging to be made up into a quilt!

I wanted to do something that showcased all the fabrics so I used one Parisville fat-quarter bundle to make this queen sized quilt. At the time, I was in a crafting frenzy, whipping up tons of handmade gifts for the holidays every free moment. One Sunday, I channeled this creative energy to create the top for this quilt. It only took a couple of hours to make! All I did was cut the fat quarters down from 18" x 22" to 18" squares, cutting a 4" strip off of each one. Then I laid the squares out on my living room floor to come up with the perfect combination, which ended up to be totally random.

I pieced my 4" leftover strips together to make two stripes on the back of the quilt. I even had enough strips to make two pillowcases that match the quilt perfectly. For the binding, I went with one of the new Jay McCarroll polka dots, which coordinates great with the Parisville fabrics. I chose a basic stippling pattern for the quilting and used a nice, soft cotton batting.

Yay! Now I have an awesome quilt for lazing about in parks on sunny spring days! Dusty the Skye Terrier loves hanging out on it as well...