Friday, June 3, 2022

Gracie, Enemy of Textiles Everywhere / Beauties Pageant 175

 
Congratulations to Sandra, the winner of the fabric and pattern giveaway!
 

A certain someone celebrated her first birthday here at From Bolt to Beauty world headquarters recently. I’ll give you a hint who it was: She’s the smallest and cutest member of the Cain family. She is also the naughtiest!

I wish I could say that with age has come wisdom, but Gracie still specializes in making foolish decisions and causing mayhem. The most frequent target of her antics is older sister Rose, who regularly has to remind Gracie who is boss. The other victim is my house!

To date, Gracie has caused damage of all sorts. Who chewed on my beautiful wood staircase, spilled the contents of a ballpoint pen on the new carpet, has scratched up too many doors to count? This little ball of floof, that’s who.

My sewing room has not escaped unscathed. Despite my attempts to keep things up and out of her reach, the list of items Gracie has absconded with include spools of thread, scraps of fabric, and the cap to my 505 spray. Months ago, when she was teething, she developed a penchant for chewing through cords, which was not only destructive but also potentially dangerous. Before I was in the habit of moving cords out of the way, she chewed through the pedal cord to my sewing machine. I resumed sewing on my backup machine. Alas, she chewed through that, too. Thank heavens I have a backup to my backup!

Most recently, Gracie damaged the Cosmo Bag I sewed in Amy Butler fabrics. (Amy also designed the pattern. Read more about it here.) This was not the most costly destruction Gracie has caused, but it was the most painful for me. This bag stretched my sewing skills back in 2014 when I cut all 50-plus pieces out of fabric and interfacing, and repeatedly pinned the project into submission. Now there are tiny holes on the handles where Gracie got to nibbling. : /

 
Up to this point, I’ve used the Cosmopolitan Bag only to carry quilts to guild meetings or retreats. As a dedicated quilting bag, I can put projects in it without worrying that they’ll get something on them other than loose threads. Now that its handles have been desecrated by Gracie, though, all bets are off, and I’m looking for a new large bag project to tackle and take the Cosmo’s place. If you have any suggestions, please leave them in the comments—thanks!

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12 comments:

  1. Hi Michelle, Gracie sounds lovable but challenging. Hopefully she'll outgrown some of that! Good luck :-)

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    1. Yes, the flip side to this rant is that she's super sweet (and everything she's doing is developmentally appropriate!). She's the most loving dog we've had ... Rose hasn't given me a kiss in years. Gracie has given me many today already. : )

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  2. On, Gracie, Gracie, Gracie!!! So lovable and adorable but so naughty!!! She still has time to grow out of it.
    Here's a link to my all-time fav quilt-toting bag. I made it from a FQ book, but now it's available online free--grab 6 coordinating FQs and some lining fabric. It hold 1 to 4 quilts--whatever your needs: https://blog.shopmartingale.com/quilting-sewing/free-and-easy-quilt-patterns-for-summer-stitching/
    Freebie #2--Fat Quarter Bag

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  3. I'm sorry about all the chewing, especially on your bag! But how can you blame that lovely face? And if she's a snuggler, I think that's grounds for forgiveness. (Side note: no idea why I couldn't comment with Google as usual! Blogger is now weird!)

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    Replies
    1. The cuteness does make up for a lot, Mari. She took off on my husband last week -- like, just ran into the woods for no reason and without a trace. She came back on her own volition about a half-hour later, but he was SO MAD and claimed he didn't love her anymore. Less than 24 hours later, the two were snuggled up on the couch together, naughty puppy behavior all forgotten. HA!

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  4. Wow, Gracie has accomplished so much in such a short time!! She is quite the ambitious pup! ;-)

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  5. Oh goodness, pups can be a challenge as they work through what is and isn't allowed. I hope you get some good advice for a new bag to make (I'm not great help on this front).

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  6. Gracie is adorable! I’m sorry she has been so destructive. At a year, she is still somewhat of a pup, so hopefully things will improve.

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  7. Oh dear. It seems that Gracie isn't measuring-up to her name. You-all have put up with a lot. I'm afraid I wouldn't be so patient, or full of grace toward her. But I know. She's too sweet when she's being good. And you're all terribly attached. I would feel the same way. I love dogs, but some can really try your patience. I don't have a large tote bag pattern to suggest, but I'm sure that someone will, and that there are lots of them - including freebies - that you'd like. Sorry you have to go through making another one, but enjoy the anticipation of having something new!

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  8. I'm thinking you named her Gracie when you got her as a wee pup as a premonition for the things that would surely come and for your ability to show her grace, lol! We do love our doggos, don't we, through thick and thin.

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  9. It sounds like you got my yellow lab Katie reincarnated :) She never liked to chew on wires (that was my cat Reeses), but the chewing of fabric, wood, and ball point pen was all her. She even ate the drywall off the wall in our garage once :) I will say that Katie did eventually slow down and was less destructive, unfortunately it took over 8 years for that to happen :)

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