Spicing up an old pillow

I have on my bed a small throw pillow, great for resting my arm over or placing under my neck. But, a bit of a dryer mishap had turned the once luxurious soft faux fur cover into a bunched up and scratchy mess. I was very upset about it, but decided to use the opportunity to make something a little more fitting with the rest of my room. I decided that at some point I'd like to buy a little of someone else fabric I loved on Spoon Flower for a project, and I knew just the one! So I purchased a swatch on organic cotton knit of Hauteidea's "Pembroke Welsh Corgi Puppy", it was just to adorable!

Unfortunately, Spoon Flower soon after my order had some issues with printing delays. Finally however, it did arrive! The first chance I got I rushed over to my local Joann's outlet and sniffed out the cotton knit. I was disappointed in the selection of colors, and ended up deciding on just some plain unbleached yardage. The next time I make a case for a small pillow, I think I'll get an entire fat quarter or yard from Spoon Flower, their knit is also much thicker and softer than most commercial knits anyway, I love it! A couple sewing glitches as usually, including getting the fabric and stitches jammed in the bobbin hole, but at least I made it through this one without having to seem-rip anything out and resew. It didn't take very long and soon enough I have my new pillow case, and I'm more pleased with it!

*Note-small stuffed Corgi is made by the Douglas cuddle toy company*

I guess I know how to get people buzzing

This year I decided on planning to do something good for my local Kennel club. The idea, to create a simple small needle felted figure for their annual silent auction. But, what breed of dog would draw the most attention? Yes, lots of people love my little Corgwn, especially the Corgi owners, but there aren't many Corgi folks at my club. I made some observations and came to the only reasonable conclusion, it had to be a Chinese crested! They are everywhere, an entire pack attends the clubs handling classes, I knew this would draw some attention. After a lot of on and off working for 3 months, this little one was created!

Wire armature was used to make the body shape, unlike the little Corgi figures that felt up easy out of just wool this one was giving me a hard time so I ended up having to put away my poorly misshapen first attempt and grabbed up some wire. The roving is a combination of wools, of which I'm not quite sure what all of them are or can remember, but the brown/tan used to create the hair is from Alpaca, and the black of the eyes nose and mouth is Llama. For size reference, I placed this little one next to some of my others.

A sliver chain collar and little charm was added as a finishing touch. The little charm reads "Made with love".

To make this even more worth while I then decided I still had some time left and created a few wet felted dog toys to go with the little figure, including several mini and small items, not just because it was easier but I also knew the winner of this lot would end up being a Crested owner, and sure enough the winner was! I did also include one of my traditional "Baaball's" of roving over a racquetball with needle felted design.

And here they are, all presented at the auction table, by the time I had left midday, it was up to $40 and still going, I haven't gotten a chance to ask how much it went for in the end though, sorry. 

But it was a lot of fun, from putting it all together, to seeing people almost fighting over them. I created quite the stir apparently. I guess my next stop, after I can get my wool supply stocked back up, is etsy!

Crafting a Corgi, from paper!

While browsing a random search on Google last night, I came across something that really perked the crafter in me. It was the image of a little folded paper Corgi on someones desk, it was posed in a classic Corgi fashion and had me wondering "how hard is this one?" I had in the past attempted an origami design, and although managed to finish it in a few hours I don't know as I'll try it again unless I can ever find the right kind of paper. This one was by far much easier, especially since the supposed "instruction" document was practically blank. Although I'm good at doing a lot without instructions, it really wasn't hard at all. The only hang up was the ears but in only took me a minute to figure out that after you cut it out in a square, and with the little tabs, you are to glue it together then trim the white area off the back, that way it has a seamless look! Anyway, I'd also advise to use double stick tape for those, like me, are limited in the glue department, although fragile the old school glue stick stuff does seem to be working well enough for my first ever attempt at one of these. Of coarse, my Corgi is left a little less than impressed, as it isn't food nor does it dispense any. 

 

Oh well, for the rest of us with working thumbs, why not give it a try yourself? You can find the project here where I found it:

http://paperkraft.blogspot.com/2006/04/dog-days-of-summer.html

Enjoy!

Finally, the monent you have all been waiting for...

"Dancing for Corgi Crunch cereal" is finally for sale!

And along with that, 4 other new Corgi themed designs:

And look out Border Collie owners! I have one just for you too now!

So, that is my round up of new fabric designs. Even with the delays in printing at Spoon Flower they are finally up and ready! Have fun crafters, we hope you enjoy them.