On- and off-topic: Anyone want a puppy?

Sandy-

I'm so, so sorry about the damage to your amazing, beautiful quilt! What a terrible shame. My heart is sore for you. I HATE mending as you do.... and the jaggedy edges and the sadness you feel every time you look at it while mending will make it all the more difficult to do.

PLEASE consider getting a crate and crate training the puppy. It's so much more humane than him getting into trouble and scolded. He's only doing what puppies do and really doesn't know any better at this stage. He will outgrow it and then make a wonderful loving pet for you.... if you both survive this "naughty puppy" stage??? Please give the little guy another chance.....

Leslie & The Furbabies > Okay, we adopted this puppy that I think I told you about a few weeks

I agree about the crate training......wonderful, safe environment and puppies love the snuggly factor. I am sorry about your beautiful quilt.......

Laurie G. in CA (who barely got through the chewing stage.....lost a few shoes, dd's Italy photo cd, socks too numerous to count, claw feet on dining room table.....you get the picture. Dog did survive, is just 11 mos. old and a great dog!)

They beat me to the punch. Crating is the best answer for BOTH animals. Dexter can continue to come and go and your puppy can't get into trouble. Dear Samson (my 8 month old Lab puppy) is crate trained. They really don't see it as punishment. I put in an old bath towel and before I need him to go in (before I even call him to go in) I toss in a handful of dry dog food

-- so going in is always pleasant. All I have to do is walk to the crate -- knock on the top 2 or

A little late -- but a crate is sure a lot cheaper than new furniture and certainly better than the heartache of dealing with your damaged quilt. That quilt is so lovely. I'm just waiting for someone from here to pop in and volunteer to mend it for you ... and get it back to you when finished. (with the notation that mending often takes years..... :-)

Kate in MI

Oh Sandy,

I'm so sorry to hear about your beautiful quilt being damage. Thank goodness you have some of the fabric to repair it even though you hate doing this.

Why don't you like black Kona?

What breed is the puppy? I'd love a dog, but can't with still working and being out of the house for about 10 hours each day.

Sandi in New Westminster, where the sun is poking it's face out after about

Thanks, Sandi. Unfortunately, it seems that the only fabric I still have is the black. :S

He's a lab mix. If you were gone 10 hours a day, he'd have your entire house eaten by the time you were home. :(

I've never crate trained before, so I don't know -- is 4-5 months old too late to start? I'm afraid he'll eat the crate!

He's a rescue, so we're not really certain. He looks like a lab mix and is -- according to the vet who noted that he doesn't have his permanent teeth yet -- about 4-5 months old. He's 30 pounds.

My Shadow did the same thing. In less than an hour he ate the entire back of a pumpkin orange sofa my in-laws had given us. I was alternating between being massively upset with him and being very pleased that I could get rid of that horrid couch without having my in-laws upset. :)

One of my quilting girlfriends had this happen with a quilt that was to be a gift to her nephew. We did an old-fashioned patching bee -- four of us got together, patched in backing, batting, and top, and requilted that section. It looked great when it was done!

Oh, and we're flying in March, so you can't stuff DJ in our luggage when we're not looking. ;-P

Thanks, Leslie.

I know it's natural behavior -- it's just hard to watch things being destroyed. As for crate training, I've never done it before, so I don't know anything about it. Is 4-5 months old too old to start?

I'm not really getting rid of him. DH is really attached already, though he's not the one staying home all the time. :S DJ is a cutie when he's not into mischief -- if you can call eating couches and quilts "mischief". :S

If you have any ideas on how to repair it, Taria, I'm all ears. I've never had to do anything like this before. I haven't even had the heart to go back into the guest room again to look more closely.

Thanks, Laurie. I suspect DJ would look at a crate as punishment, since he likes to run and play, but I'd be willing to try if I knew that he wasn't too old to begin.

Luckily for us, the side DJ ate is pretty much camouflaged at this point. :S

I just have to find some fabrics that will work. I think that, even though the quilt was completely machine made, I'm going to have to do the patching by hand. I do have some of the same batting, so that's a plus.

By March I may have run away from home if this doesn't stop! But be sure to bring an extra (large) suitcase with you....

Kathy, if you have any tips on how to do this, I'd welcome them. I have no idea where to begin to patch this thing! :S Thanks.

Sounds like an excellent begging opportunity! :)

He's not to old, I've successfully crate trained a bulldog mix that was over

Lots of info here:

Sue's darling terror ate a hole in the middle of the quilt (it was folded, and he ate the fold, leaving about an 8" hole). The quilt was machine pieced and machine quilted. The back was pieced, but none of the seam lines were near the scene of the crime.

We picked out the quilting to logical stopping places, and used a seam ripper to remove damaged blocks on the front. For the back, we pieced in a large block of fabric, using the machine on three sides and appliquéing the last side by down hand. (We left the damaged fabric in place, without cutting it away.) Next, we pieced in batting, just laying down new batting and shredding the edges, to keep the patch less noticeable. Lastly we made new blocks and pieced them in by machine, carefully appliquéing down the final seam by hand. Last, the quilting was repaired.

Lots of snacks and talk made the job go quickly. The dog has survived into adulthood, and the recipient loves the quilt AND the story that now goes with it. :)

I don't think it is too late to start. You might want to try short times at first and definitely not when he is in trouble. Maybe when you take a shower, run to the store, eat dinner, etc. He may howl or whine at first but eventually he will get used to it. Our lab, Ruby, doesn't need it anymore when we leave for the day but that is where she goes at night while we sleep. She also will take herself to bed when she is ready! I have a fleece pad and a towel in Ruby's crate.....very soft and snuggly. We just tell her to "kennel up" and she heads right in. We used it to make her secure up until about 2 -3 months ago and she is now 11 mos. old. I still watch her when she is loose in the house.........just to be safe.

Good luck with DJ.........he will eventually steal your heart. :-)

Laurie G. in CA

Thanks, Diane, I've bookmarked it and will read it in a little while.

It sounds as though the damage to Sue's quilt was much worse than the damage to mine. Whew! Thanks for the crash course. I'm thinking that my damaged patches are small enough that machine piecing them in may be next to impossible, so I'll probably have to do it all by hand. I'm just wondering whether it would be better to leave the damaged stuff there and appliqué (ack! The "A" word!) over it, filling in the holes with new stuff.