Giupetto's 8th Birthday - June 2, 2012

Here's his birthday video:

Memorial Day Weekend

The flag went up and the sun came out for a bit.

We planted in our flower pots on the decks. John insisted on buying the plants and flowers this year. My preference are impatients as they bloom for such a long period and do so well in various conditions.  I know John's favorite color is yellow, but impatients do not come in yellow, so I told him to get something in the purple range. That should go nice with yellow.

He bought some hanging ivy type for the upstairs balcony shadow box, with these little purple flowers, and we chose Coleus for the bench seat.

Here's a video of the pictures I took of our 4 day weekend.

Here's a movie with some short clips of the making of the Rock Star design on the embroidery machine:

DaVinci's 2nd Birthday - May 2, 2012

We Got Prezzies in the Mail

I am on a pet lovers and artisan team. This team has become a big part of my life. I love these people on the team, and have made some real friends, some good friends, and I hope some long term friends. Many do not understand on-line friends, as if they are not real. How you can get close to someone you have never met, or that live clear across the country, or even in another country? But it is real, and true friendships do occur.
I hope someday to meet some of the people on my team. But in the meantime it feels good to chat with them, discuss our craft and our sales, share stories with them, pray with them, even cry with them.
Well the other day I received some prezzies (as the people on the team call them) and would like to share them with you, and the shops they came from:

Years ago I met Alice, from www.MakingStuffWithLove.etsy.com. She makes needles felted dogs. These are figurine replicas of your dogs. I had to have her make my 2, Giupetto and Gianna, and they came out adorable.
A while later she found the same team I am on, and our friendshp was rekindled.
Recently I put the needle felted Giupetto and Gianna into a shadow box, that I will make into a little room, and Alice just sent me this adorable rubber tree, floor plant to put in their room.

Then she sent me this great bird mobile. The head bops up and down. It is made of wood.
John and I both love it, and we put it under the gazebo.

Then I met another great lady, who recently joined the team, and has become a favorite to many. Her name is Sue Ann. She makes figurines out of clay, and her artistry is just terrific. Her shop name is www.SamsFurKids.etsy.com.
I asked her to make me figurines of Giupetto and Gianna and attach them to one of my favorite bowls, which you will see at the end.
The other day her little dog Baxter sent Gianna and Giupetto some little gifts. They came in these pretty sparkly little bags. (Gianna and her dog Baxter have a long distance budding romance going on. LOL)

Look at the adorable little charm for Gianna - a little lock and key.

Giupetto checks out the package. What is it?

It is 2 little figurines!! One looks just like Baxter, a Boston Terrier, for Gianna. He has a little red heart on his chest.
The other is for Giupetto and is an adorable frog! How cute!! 

First I put them by the shadow box. But I think they look really cute by the great bowl Sue Ann made us.

Thank you both so much for the wonderful gifts, and for being such good friends.

Please visit these shops - for a replica in either yarn or clay of your pet:
www.MakingStuffWithLove.etsy.com
www.SamsFurKids.etsy.com

Pretty Flower dog Bridal gown in the making

A customer asked me to make a bridal dress for her dog, who she is calling her Flower Dog.

She gave me a description of her own wedding dress, which included:

White lace, western style, rustic, layers of ruffles and lace, and some bling.

Her bridal colors are turquoise and brown, with a touch of yellow and white.

Her malti-poo is white, and she wants color and some lace.

I drew a few sketches and the decision was a turquoise satin skirt, with some white overlay. She did not want a train, but she liked my idea of the lace cascading down the back

The cutting and stitching begins:

Now to figure out how to get the lace to casade and still keep the pretty finished edge. I decided to piece it in levels:

And it looks like this:

Added some organza ruffles, and a nice big satin bow:

And now to get some of the other bridal party colors in there. I added some brown ribbon:

And some yellow flowers:

Finished dress with some matching hair bows.

Giupetto and Ganna get new hats

We got new sunvisor hats and bandanas in the mail. Mommy's team member Tammy made them. She has a store in the computer called HappyDapperDogs.etsy.com

Mommy took some pictures of us today, even though she says they are for walking around town and at the beach, and in the car. She lets us put our heads out the car window when the car is going real slow, and people point and smile and wave at us.

Here is our short little slide show:

My sewing room

Pictures of my sewing room.
This room used to be a utility closet and had the washer and dryer. After many requests from my husband who was tired of me taking my portable sewing machine out and sewing on the dining table, he finally convinced me that we take the washer and dryer out and make this my sewing room.
So it is now my cute little sewing room, and utility room. He built all the shelves, in put in under shelving lighting, and it is my little space and I love it.

This first picture is a panarama shot taken with my new camera. A little distorted as I had to take it too close, but a cool feature on the camera.
Note the framing I did of all the ACEOs.

I love my collection of ACEOs purchased from some of my PetsJubilee team members.
The one on the left is by Athena, from www.SassySashaDoxie.
The middle and right are from Patty from www.DogBarks.
Here is the other wall. The ACEO on the left is also from Patty, and so is the fabric dog pin up.
The ACEO on the right is also from Athena. She gave this one to me as a gift. It is of my Giupetto and Gianna on the couch.

This one is from Athena - Doxie on Skateboard; fabric cat and dogs from Patty.

You can also see my Giupetto and Gianna bobble heads, and a felted inchworm made by another team member Hilary.

Athena also made me this one of my parrot DaVinci, on his play gym. I have not framed this one yet, but it sits in my sewing room.

Might seem a bit cluttered - we try to fit as much storage of household items in this small space...

...but the area I see when I sit and sew is so pretty, cheerful in yellow with red accents and my friends art work all around me. I keep that area pretty clear.

I found these prints on etsy and just had to have them as well, and framed them all together.

My friend and team mate Pauline found this print on etsy. It reminded her of me and thought I would be interested, and I was. She knew I would love it. This door closes and this is the picture I see from inside the apartment.

Pictures to see the size of the space, and all my sewing storage on the first shelf.

The red and green striped fabric totes were a gift from another friend and team mate, Alice from www.MakingStuffWithLove. I keep ribbons in one and bows in the other.

I hope you enjoyed your visit to my sewing room.