Peanut and Friend

Meet Peanut, the Shih Tzu we are fostering over the holidays. Here he is posing with a stuffed toy bulldog that hubby bought for me 25 years ago.

Peanut will be with us until Saturday and then he goes back to the rescue shelter. There are appointments set up with potential adopters, so I have every reason to be optimistic that he will find his forever home in a few days. He has been an absolute joy. :)

Rescue Dogs Rock

This is a gift I made for the wonderful woman who runs the dog rescue shelter where I found my two sweet doggies.

I was browsing on Etsy for handmade textile ornaments, looking for some ideas and inspiration, when I came across a fabric dog with the words "rescue dogs rock" printed on it. Alas, I confess that this is not my original idea.

Most dogs have coats of many different colours so I decided to use a lovely blue/lime green batik for the body. I cut the ear separately and stitched it to the head around the border so that the ear flops a bit (just like my own beagle's).

I tried printing the text by hand on fabric, but gave up after several attempts. Not to boast, but I like my handwriting; my printing sucks. :( I wrote the text in Word and printed it on white paper. Then I toned down the white with some colour and sealed it with a layer of Modge Podge and finally glued it in place.

Double click on the image for a closer inspection, if you like.

I'm pleased with the end result and would love to make one for me to keep.

Fostering

My "cotton picker" creative life has been interrupted somewhat with my preoccupation with dogs. Six months ago, we adopted two rescues, a beagle/coonhound mix and a terrier mix. In addition to our own dogs, we started fostering as well. Since hubby and I were inexperienced dog owners, we thought by fostering, we could not only help deserving dogs find homes, but by having contact with many dogs, we would learn more about canines.

This summer we had the privilege of fostering three dogs and fortunately we were able to assist in placing them in forever homes. I was so happy to know that the Australian shepherd, Cosmo, and the beagle, Tinkerbell, ended up in good loving homes. We know because we have had follow up contact with the owners.

Below is a picture of Tinkerbell in her new "daddy's" arms. For privacy reason, I had to crop out "daddy" but trust me, he has a look of extreme pride in his face.

The most difficult part was the fostering of a black chihuahua named Frankie. I fell so in love that I desparately wanted to keep him. As much as I tried to plant the idea in hubby's head and even had some of my friends drop hints at him too, he would not go along with a third permanent dog in our house. Although a number of times he agreed that Frankie was special little guy, it was not to be. I never took a picture of Frankie because it was too painful to be reminded of the dog I couldn't have.

Come next spring and throughout the summer, I expect to have another parade of dogs in our care.

Cosmo

I have gone weeks without blogging before. If I don't have anything to say, I don't post and I don't feel neglectful or guilty about it.

Today I am going to write about Cosmo, the big dog on the left. This wonderful dog was at the rescue shelter for five months with no one interested in adopting him. When we approached the director at the shelter about fostering, we were assigned Cosmo. Neither hubby or I would have chosen him, had we been given a choice in the matter.

It was explained to us that often when a dog is fostered, they get adopted shortly afterwards. Well, dear Cosmo was only with us for two weeks and then found his forever home. We met the couple who adopted him and we approve. :)

I can't believe that after only two weeks, I could fall in love with a dog so quickly. I wish we could have kept him, but we already have two dogs and three would be too much for us. We will continue to foster other dogs.

I was going to crop the picture so only Cosmo would appear, but I thought our terrier, Della, top right, looked so cute that I didn't want to cut her out completely even though she is cut out anyway.

If you double click on the photo, you will get a better view of these two cuties. :)

More Doggie Pics

Alba
























Della

Ever since the dogs arrived, I've been so focused on them that I haven't stitched a single stitch in the last 5 to 6 weeks. Taking a break is not a bad thing. I find I need to do that every once in a while and then the creative juices start flowing again. I hope to get back on track very soon. In the meantime, here are a couple of photos of the sweeties, taken on one of our very early morning walks.

These guys are keeping me on my toes. They need to be exercised regularly and constantly supervised. They are perpetual 5 year olds. As I learned after the fact, that is likely not to change until perhaps their very senior years. So with 2 to 3 daily walks, sweeping, mopping and vacuuming the floors to keep up with the dog hair and the muck on their little feet, I haven't moved so much in years. I've lost 7 lbs. Thank you doggies. :)

Guard Dog :)

"Christmas" is now winding down for us and soon I will be able to get at my stitching again. We have been working long hours and for two weeks solid I joined hubby on the road.

I wanted to share the above images and let my readers know that I am still around. These pictures were taken while we were making a delivery. This is what we found parked next to our van. See how relaxed and balanced this little guy is, patiently waiting for his owner to return. He was happy to pose for us.

In the midst of my physical and mental exhaustion, this encounter made my day. :)

Blue Dog à la Cotton Picker

Below is an image of Cajun artist George Rodrique's famous Blue Dog which appears in many of his paintings. Blue Dog always brings a smile to my face. I thought it might be fun to make a little critter based on Blue Dog's silhouette.























Here is my version. This took a long time to finish. I've got a stiff neck and sore fingers from all that stitching. Does it looks like a dog? I don't think so. More like a gargoyle type of creature, but so what? The body is woven with torn cotton strips - click on the picture for a better view.






















What I love about this is the marble effect on the face. I painted it on the wrong side of one of cottons I used for the body.

ATC - 1950s Style and New Project

The latest ATC didn't turn out how I envisioned it. I thought about not posting it but it's not a bad idea to face up to the failures. Later on when I get better, I can look back and measure my progress.

I thought the background had a 1950s house dress vibe to it so I wanted a face to match. I used an old women's magazine from 1952 for reference, to remind myself how they did makeup and hairstyles in those days.

What I don't particularly like about this is the lady's hair. I must learn to paint hair. And her lower lip could be a bit fuller too, I think. Oh well, I challenge myself to make another improved version.

Below is the start of my latest project. I wonder if anyone recognizes this well known figure from the silhouette.

I started by weaving torn strips of two very similar cottons. I hope to find enough time on Sunday to finish it.