You can teach a new trick to an old dog....

This past weekend I celebrated my 58th birthday.  So the old dog that I am referring to in the post title is me.  The great news is that even though I am a year older, I am so much healthier and grateful for it.

I am also glad that I still have the capacity to retain new information.  Several weeks ago, maybe even a couple of months ago, Nancy J. shared a tip with me.  She had been to a quilting function and they were using their scraps to make doggy beds.  Nancy thought that the information would be helpful to me and passed it my way.  I am so thankful that she did. 

The doggy beds were made out of old t-shirts.  And as luck would have it, I have old t-shirts that I can no longer wear.

First thing you do is turn the t-shirt inside out and sew the arms and bottom together.

Turn the shirt right side out and you now have your bed ready to be stuffed.  Just put your scraps in the neck hole.

Once you have stuffed the bed about 85% full.  Take the bed to the sewing machine and finish sewing up that neck line.  Wallah you have yourself a doggy bed! Easy peasy!

Now I like the beds that I donate to be functional for A Heinz 57.  So I take some fleece and make an outside cover for the beds so they can easily wash just the cover instead of the whole bed.

I was struggling on how to close them up, and finally realized I could just sew a little fleece and make a tie to do the trick.  I do believe thou in the future I will use 4 tie's vs just the two.

In addition to all of the beds, I also delivered these 5 doggy blankets to them.  My guess is that they will be used for the puppies when they have them in the kiddy pools to keep them corralled. Long before they are potty trained.  These were made of fabric that was not 100% cotton and could not be used in quilts....but they will be perfect, and wash well, for this purpose.

NOW before you all start thinking you should donate your t-shirts to me.... get that thought right out of your head!  I have plenty to work with, between my husbands and my old wardrobe.  But I would encourage you to make a few of the beds up from your own scraps.  IF you want to donate a stuffed bed, I will make the outer casing and get it donated to Amy.

Thank you Nancy for sharing the tip.  It really did make it so much easier for me, and as you can see a lot of puppies are going to be up off the floor because you shared.

Hope everyone has a great week!