Carolyn's Surpise/Socrates' Shame!

When I learned that "surprise" was our theme, I immediately thought of an incident that happened several years ago when we had a black lab named Socrates - "Soc" for short. At the time, the "surprise" was a total shock to me. Now, I view it as a humorous event in my family's history.

One Christmas we hosted a large family gathering. When it came time to open presents, I put Soc in our bedroom. Later in the evening, I heard a commotion down the hall. I opened our bedroom door and found Soc sitting on top of our brand new, custom-made bedspread in a puddle of "you know what"! I screamed "Soc"!!! He jumped down and looked up at me with guilt written all over his face. Needless to say, the stain was permanent.

I quilted a quilt out of loud colors to represent the bedspread (not an actual replica). Then I sketched the dogs, transferred them to fabric, made the appliqués of Soc, the fire hydrant and the puddle, and stitched them onto the bedspread.

Soc, the puddle and the fire hydrant are on the front of the quilt. The surprised and shameful Soc is on the back of the quilt.