DIY plush Corgis, oh my!

A fun project for all those experienced crafty Corgi owners out there, as if we don't have enough plush buddies to cuddle? But this time, you get the satisfaction that you did it yourself. Check it out here!

Now for some important business, although I have had the desire all along to eventually create a cut and sew plush design using SpoonFlower, what drove me to complete one so soon, they decided to make one of their "Fabric of the week contests" just for cut and sew plushies! So, yes naturally I will ask for some help with votes from my few readers, it is very simple, easy, quick, and fun. Just click here, go through each page till you find my design, click on it, keep clicking through each page till you reach the end and click the button "save my votes" and you're done! We really would love it if you could help us out this time, we really would!

Scrub a dub dub, hope you like this Corgi in a tub!

For those who like vintage, for those who like Corgi, for those who like clean, I have brought you the perfect day project! Inspired by old flour and grain sack designs, I decided to use my graphic art skills to create a combination of two of my favorite things, the Corgi and vintage design, and day dreamed up this perfect little "soap sack". Best part is, you can make one too and it is very simple, just go to this link to purchase a swatch or more of the "Corgi delight soap" design and follow the instructions in the description.

Happy crafting! And for those who complete this project don't forget to share your photos on SpoonFlower!

A new little felted Corgi friend

He is a bit late sadly, I started on him last winter around Christmas with the idea of creating a unique and adorable felted ornament, but unfortunately as with most my projects it had to get put aside for more important things. But I finally got to finish him up and am able to present him to you all! The Corgi is made all from wool, the wool used to created the usual red markings of a Corgi is extra special as it has shiny synthetic strands blended into it, that being one of my main inspirations for this project. I used some shiny gold ribbon to create a harness and bow in one piece, sewing in a string so he can be hung as a Christmas decoration!

Another week, another contest

Just thought I'd let my readers know, if you have a little spare time pop on down to SpoonFlower today for their weekly fabric design contest and there you will see, I have made an entry. Check it out:

~*!Click for SpoonFlower contest page!*~

I hope you will all come down and partake in this weeks contest! Enjoy and don't forget to vote! Voting ends on the 25th.

The joy of fleece, in the raw

An offer came up on CraigsList, and it was just to good to pass on. Several left over fleece from a shearing last year, $20 each, and although an original limit was placed in my head of just one, I couldn't help it and fell in love with two! Seeing as how this is my first experience working with unskirted and unwashed fleece I knew to expect some bumps in the road as I tried to figure out how to deal with it purely by the internet alone. Thankfully, the internet is a vast resource today of everything including video tutorials, of which I didn't find as many as I would have liked but just enough to get me started experimenting. First however, was to wait for the weather to change, and I unfortunately only managed a few good days to get a little done. The start of coarse was rolling out the, unwashed, sheep smelling, poopy carpet, to which the canine that has glued herself to my hip decided was the greatest thing in the world next to memory foam.

After playing in it for a while she soon settled down for a nap right in the middle.

I pulled out and picked through a small amount to start with and from the video's washed it in two small rubber buckets in the basement. After first washing it with a bit of laundry detergent and letting it soak, then rinsing, and more soaking and rinsing, the next day I set it outside to dry. Having some issues with the wind I've now found an easier way, with my second batch it dried just as well pinned to the cloths line in an airy garment bag. My first batch came out pretty good, I'm still picking through it for little bits if debris and carding it by hand. My second batch was a test run of trying to wash just the curls, they need to be washed and rinsed one more time as the ends are still a little dingy, it was a rather dirty sheep down the middle. And my third batch went a little wrong and felted slightly, enough to where I'm not even going to bother and will use it as base material for more wool ball toys! I'm now picking through some more of the raw wool and even starting on some of the colored fleece, but after a week long run of beautiful weather, the cold and rain has moved in. I'm actually quite pleased with how everything is going and am finding this to be a lot of fun outside of the annoying long wait for good weather to continue. Next step, our own flock! Well, one can dream.

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!