Ya ain't nothing but Houndstooth...

Since I've gotten Nina, I've been drooling over different projects on Pinterest that I could do.  Watching YouTube and Craftsy videos didn't help my desire (but will help with my technique and final products eventually).  I've decided that I'm going to make a throw quilt a month (or try to) to either give away to friends or to sell on Etsy (given the pattern I use allows me too).

Anyhow, one of my friend's bought their second home (check out her blog about it!) so I wanted to make them something to celebrate.  My friend is rather modern in her decor and I tend to mock her for it as I prefer comfort.  However, when I found a free Houndstooth pattern online I knew I found something that I could make her and she would like. It was rather easy pattern to follow.

My one complaint is that when cutting the 21 2.5" stripes into triangles, the pattern recommended making my own 6.25" triangle pattern to make my life easier when cutting.  In theory, that worked on some of the stripes.  I recognize that it was probably due to my own undercutting (I prefer to have too much fabric rather than the exact amount) that created my issues but I was able to fix it.

As is the blanket is as big as my pool table. If I had added the other rows it would be bigger.

Also, I didn't make it as big as it claimed it should be (otherwise it would be a HUGE throw).  But I noticed that the template had me making an excess of squares... even with the correct dimensions   So I have a bunch left over.  Maybe I'll make matching pillows eventually... who knows.

As for the colors, my friend has two dogs, two cats, and I forget how many chickens.  I didn't think white fabric was the best choice for her house.  I went with black and a medium grey as they're more forgiving with pet hair/stains.  The grey fabric has a design on it because I can't will myself to buy solids. I know solids are a quilter's friend but... arrrggh sooooo boring.

Love the orange stripe with paw prints.

The fleece on the back is a darker grey than the front color and the stripe of orange with paw prints gives it a little flare that I think looks rather nice.  I know her tastes in favorite colors changes regularly, so I was going for a blanket that would stand the test of time (or at least match a season!). Originally, I was going to use an  orange binding to tie in the stripe.... but I remembered her mentioning something about neon colors/zebra print and decided to use pre-cut strips from a jelly roll the mom in law sent me. It made it so much easier.

I used a fancy stitch on the binding to help prevent it from ripping apart too easily. Still a real possibility though.

I used four different zebra/cheetah prints.  I think it adds a nice BOOOM to it.  Quilting it might have been too much with the houndstooth pattern.

Also, I didn't do any quilting on it.  I had found a couple tutorials on how to add straight diagonal lines on this pattern, but it just seemed too busy for me (I would have used black or white thread).  So I opted to not stitch it together and to use a fancy stitch on the binding for strength.  I purposely used a different thread color to stand out.

Klaus approves.

Thoughts?