And Puppy Dog Tails...

And here he is just waiting on the tissue box for me to embroider his nose. For what is a dog without his nose???  A lot like the rabbit, the dog has the long front arms. You would actually use the rabbit pattern with the dog ears if you wanted to. I did change the back feet and the head shape a bit to resemble a dog more than a rabbit. I also needed to add a tail to the dog. I am excited to start a new one. I am going back to a traditional teddy bear for the next one. I have some ideas in my head after straying from the teddy bear for a couple of animals. Who says it has to be a perfectly proportioned replica of the old time teddy bears, right??!! Watch this space for my next adventure!

School is finished for the day. The kids knuckled down and did the work, we were finished  with school and lunch before 2:00. NICE! We will be spending the day at Mayo Clinic tomorrow as my husband has his next six month visit including scans. We are nearly TWO years cancer free and intend to keep it that way, with the LORD's help, of course! The children have their school work to do, that will keep them busy. I will be grading and keeping them quiet. Also, I'm taking the newest design with me to work on while in down time.

Hope you are having a good day and you have time to do something you love. One of our friend's husband is re-purposing and up-cycling wood pieces. I have posted his Facebook page on ours, you should have a look, he does really good work....what an inspiration!

Thanks for stopping by,

Debi

Snips and Snails

Friday was profitable with school and bear making. We finished school by 2:00, so I had the rest of the day to "play". I had to take time out for cooking, cleaning, and laundry. Amongst the duties, I did finish the paw pads and started to fill this cute little fella. I started with the head...it is looking so cute. I know it may not look like much to you, but to me it is shaping up nicely to be a sweet little Rufus! (Ok, maybe you need to use a little bit of imagination!!) 

All name ideas for this guy are appreciated. Also, the bunny still doesn't have a name and Peter just sounds too redundant! I think this is the hardest part of making the bears and soft toys...my friend that usually names them is a bit distracted with a new baby! 

The children are doing well in school, the younger ones learning to read and the older ones learning new concepts every week. I love to watch the light bulbs in their brains and their faces light up when they finally "get it". I love the "aha" moments we get nearly everyday. I spent a lot of the afternoon yesterday organizing the school area (the dining room), it was fun to watch the kids as they put everything back in its place. I love having my island and kitchen back!

I am looking forward to the weekend, although we didn't do school Monday as Nana was a bit under the weather, we will make up our day today (Saturday). After school my weekend will be mine. I want to finish "Rufus" and maybe design another bear. It has been way to long since I designed a new one. Hope your weekend is as awesome as my dream of mine will be! Hoping you have time to do something you love. Please share your projects, I love the creativity you inspire.

Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate you.

enjoy your day,

Debi  

Busy-ness

YAY, I am finally finished with the dog parts. I have all the parts finished and ready to fill and joint. I got some time on Thursday afternoon to finish. I also thoroughly cleaned and reclaimed the island in my kitchen, it has been heaped with school books and supplies for three weeks! I organized my hutch so I could put the school books on the bottom shelf, and the supplies in the cabinet...I feel I got a lot accomplished, we even finished our school work early!!!!! The children are learning quickly. I am teaching five different grades to this crew, everything from counting and ABC's, tying shoes and poems to world history and long division! I LOVE it! I am not too sure the children enjoy it as much as I do!

 

Here is the rabbit! She is one cute girl if you ask me! Her pattern will be on patchworkposse.com FOR FREE very soon. Becky will be adding it to the pattern section, I will be contributing the tutorial as a gift to our followers. After it appears on her site, I will also make it available through her facebook page and mine. Looking forward to seeing what you can do with her. I will be giving you different ear and arm combinations for different animals, I have designed three so far!

Hope your day was as profitable as mine and you got a lot accomplished! Hoping some of what you accomplished was FUN! Looking forward to seeing what you're up to.

Thanks for stopping by, it was good to chat.

happy crafting,

Debi

Published!

I was published on Patchwork Posse Tuesday and will be published on the same site again Thursday. The pattern should be posted on Thursday as well.  So exciting!!!!

I also got a lot done on the dog. I am going to finish sewing it today after school, then it will be time to stuff and joint. Just need the paw-pads sewn in and we are ready to go! Here are the body, head, an arm, and a leg (waiting on the paw pads) ready to go. This is going to be one hairy dog! Can't wait to start seeing some "form" come to this one, been a long time coming.

I posted an adorable stitch project by Linda on our Crafter's Thread page, you should have a look and post your projects. If you don't have the capability to upload pics to the page, send them to me, I'll be happy to upload them for you. We love to see your projects and progress. I hope to be able to post a finished project tomorrow, let's see how many projects we can share!

Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate you. Hope your day is fantastic and you have some time to do something you love today. Can't wait to see what you're working on.

happy crafting,

Debi

Progress, Finally!

Finally making progress on this little fella. This is what I started with on Friday night...

I hope to FINISH this weekend. By Sunday evening, I hope to post a completed picture. I need to get the pattern and tutorial ready for the Patchwork Posse Blog post.




Monday afternoon....Amongst dogs eating the ears of my work of art, friends in accidents, and challenges of homeschooling, I am happy to say, I am nearly finished. I didn't get all the time I wanted to over the weekend to sew, but more than I usually do. We had a church emergency Sunday afternoon, and I dropped everything to go to the hospital. When I returned, I found one ear missing and the other one all dog slobbery and the corner eaten. I was sad, but had no one but myself to be upset with. I just left it laying on my night table for them to reach! I have re-cut and "glued" the new ears, ready to go again!!

 
 
I will be posting to the Patchwork Posse blog about once a month, each time I post, it will be for two days. This month it is the 25th for a tutorial and 27th for a tip or trick. If there is anything in particular you would like to see a tutorial on, or you are having issues with something and looking for a tip, just let me know and I'll see what I can come up with. More exposure for me and more fun for you!!

Thanks for stopping by, hope to see you again tomorrow. I am working hard on finishing this little guy! Let us know what you're working on, can't wait to see your progress.

happy crafting,

Debi

Phew!

Wow! Finally sitting down to sew on a bear, well dog really. The past two weeks have been full of homeschooling, writing lesson plans, grading papers, recording scores, library visits, and taking the children's dad to the airport so he can get to work in Alaska. It has been busy, but rewarding. The children are learning quickly and progressing well. It is easy to forget what sponges they are when they are young!

It is much easier to get around now, we purchased a bigger vehicle. We got pretty tired of driving two cars everywhere we needed to go! Now, all visitors can fit, the entire family in one vehicle! We were quite happy on our way home from the library, everyone quietly reading (except the younger two who were playing with their library receipts!). They ask everyday if we can go back and get more books.....blesses my heart!!






It has been two weeks since I have put needle and thread to fur or fabric and I think I may go through withdrawal soon. It is 7:00 on Friday evening, my lesson plans are done for next week, I think it's time to remedy the situation! I will have a free day tomorrow to sew since all my work is done today, YAY!!! Our 35th wedding anniversary is Sunday, we will go out for lunch tomorrow (and go to Costco) but the rest of the day is MINE to sew!!!!! Maybe I can finish up this poor doggie. I truly can't wait to show him to you. I will add the pattern for the bunny rabbit and include ears for a teddy bear and dog with it. Three animals in one, clever!! I need to get it scanned and ready for publishing, then it will be posted on the blog.

Hope you got more crafting accomplished this week than I did!! Please share, I know I need the inspiration! Can't wait to see what you're working on. Have a great weekend. Hope to see you again REAL SOON!

happy crafting,

Debi

That Sweet Wabbit

This is the sweet rabbit I completed while in Colorado.  Her (his??) eyes are now complete as well as the sculpting of the face and plucking. Even that black "tail" of perle cotton has been cut off now! It will be a free pattern for you soon.  You will be able to change the ears to make it any animal you want. Think of the possibilities...... dog, cat, bear, or just about anything you want.  I will also make different ears and faces available for you at a later date. How exciting is that?? One pattern, multiple animals!! I used the body and legs of this pattern and changed the shape of the face and ears to make a long, floppy-eared dog.  Can't wait to finish so I can show you. All in due time! (You know, after school and laundry for nine people!)

Why don't you go get yourself a quarter yard of fabric; whether mohair, acrylic fur, or cotton, and let's get started. You will need perle cotton, strong thread like fishing line, thread to match your fabric, 10mm eyes (I used glass), and some different fabric for your paws and inside the ears. For notions you will need a long (6") needle to sew the eyes in later, also a sewing needle, an embroidery needle would be helpful for the face, small sharp scissors to cut your fur with, and fibre-fill (I use poly-fil). You will need some joint sets as well, nothing bigger than about 30mm. If you don't have any handy, I can show you how to joint without them or how to use buttons. I'll share the pattern pieces tomorrow, once we have everything collected. Can't wait! Be thinking about how you will "dress" your rabbit up.  I might add a necklace or bow on her ear, the possibilities are endless! Collect what you might need for that too. It helps to have all your tools and supplies at the ready.

LET'S DO THIS!!!!!

see you soon,

Debi

A Bit of a Catch Up

It has been a very long time since I posted to the blog, I am sorry.  Life for us has changed a bit since I last posted. I let you know I was in Colorado with Rachel to help with her broken arm. From there, I was home for about 15 hours and headed to California to look after our son's children while he and his wife were deployed on TDYs with the Air Force.  I came home and haven't stopped since. We have our five grandchildren here with us from Alaska.  The family has been here for two months. Mommy and Papa are working through some issues and it is better if they work through them here with us. Since arriving home, we have started school and our days are uber busy with five children between 4 and 12 years old in school. We are learning everything from our ABCs to all those things that make us smarter than a fifth grader! I now know their favorite subject is Science! (my least favorite!) I am sure they will learn to appreciate all the sentences, words, and stories I am making them write!

I haven't sewn much and I am not happy with that. I need to remember what it was like when I schooled our children and get back to setting aside some time for myself. I have a new pattern cut out and not sewn. I am going to start with that. I also need to finish a couple of quilts.....too many projects, not enough time! I did get the rabbit done, still working on the pattern writing to get it on the blog. I am writing it in tutorial form to be better understood.  Can't wait to get it out there! It is so cute! It is time to do some sewing and sanity time!

Thanks for stopping by, that was our life in a nutshell for this week.  I will try to get organized to get back on here tomorrow and post some pics of the next sweet animal I am working on! Can't wait to finish so I can show you. Have a fantastic day! Please take some time for yourself, I learnt as a young mom that we all need that, but as a Nana, I appreciate those minutes more than ever! You will too!!!!!!!!! Don't forget to share!!!

happy crafting,

Debi