She’s had a rough time. She was bred for puppies, starved and dumped on a highway. She ended up at the kill shelter who kindly called the collie rescue to come and save her. She had dermatitis, was severely malnourished and had kennel cough and pneumonia to boot! Poor girl. But now she’s on the road to full recovery thanks to these great folks! And today she comes to live at our house.

She will never take the place of my last dog. She will carve her own spot like my other dogs before her. If there is anything I can encourage you to do, it’s think of the many poor animals who are not in control of their own lives and destinies, and either contribute or help out the wonderful folks at the many dog rescues out there! Please! Consider it!

Tomorrow – I’ll post a pic, and let the sewing begin anew! I miss my girl, but I have room in my heart for another one.

I have a dog. Today I still “have her”. Tomorrow she will be mine, but in memories. She’s been a good dog. We rescued her when she was about 8 or 9 years old. Her family dumped her at a kill shelter when they decided to divorce – and both thought she was “too much responsibility”. She had impeccable manners, and was so quiet and tentative when we brought her home. Since she’s a herding breed type, she loved to herd Kitty and Kitty loved to entice her to do it by stroooolling past her, oh so slowly with a swish to her tail.

She’s a beautiful dog, with a thick, glossy blue merle coat, and deep soulful eyes. Even now that she has grown thinner, she’s still an amazing looking dog that people stop to comment on. She became such a calm and happy presence in our house, watching the street to make sure that everyone passing by knew that our house belonged to HER. We took long walks at her slow and steady pace over to the park and back each day. She kept me company. She warmed my soul the way only a good dog can do. She loved me, even if I wasn’t especially lovable that day. And she was so grateful to be with us.

But time marched on all too quickly – as it’s prone to do. And one year turned into four, and she began to fail. The doctors feel she has a brain lesion – at 13 we did not feel we wanted to subject her to further testing. And it has progressed slowly but insidiously over this last year, making her stumble and lose her balance, robbing her of her hearing. But all in all, she remained healthy and continued to have happy days. Our walks in the park fell by the wayside as her hind legs continued to fail her, but her daily vigils continued from our windows.

Since Christmas she has become a quiet shadow of her former self; and I made a vow to let her tell me when it was time to go — and not to subject her to more that what she could bear so that I could keep her with me for one more hour. My last act of love for her is to let her go while she has the strength to go with dignity. A good quote I found sums it up. “Better to let them go one week too early rather than one day too late”. And I so agree with that.

She has always feared trips to the vet, drawing blood, any process that pokes or prods at her. I refuse to keep her until she collapses and feels fear and confusion at the end. And so our vet will come tomorrow to help her on her way. The sewing machine will be idle.

She is a great dog. I love her. I will hug her today, and touch her soft fur, even if she doesn’t know I’m there as she sleeps her troubled sleep. And tomorrow night she will be always in my memories.

She is a great dog. I love her.

1/2 cup butter (Don’t use margarine)
1 cup creamy peanut butter (Use a brand name)
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/3 cup cream

Beat the first 2 ingredients until fluffy – then add the sugar a half cup at a time – add the cream slowly. You can add 1/2 tsp of vanilla if you like. This is great frosting for cupcakes also.

PS Wash your hands thoroughly after making so your fabric doesn’t stick to your fingers

B3 Brownies (Blogger’s Best Brownies)

2 cups white sugar
1 cup (stick) of butter
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs (slightly beaten)
1 (rounded) cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp (scant) salt

Melt the butter in a large microwave bowl. Add the other ingredients, in the order written. I do not sift my flour, but I do whisk it with the baking powder and salt. Stir just until fully mixed. Pour into a greased and floured pan (I used 11 x 7 pyrex) and baked at 350 for 30 minutes. Check (since ovens vary so much). Edges should be firming up, and middle should be SLIGHTLY soft looking.

I frosted them with Peanut Butter Icing (using JIF, my personal favorite). These were truly a cut above the normal brownie and every bit as easy as a mix.

YUM.

B3 Brownies

There is just SO much to learn. Proper use of needles has been SUCH an improvement and I still have lots to try out (sewing with a double needle – haven’t done it yet!). Maybe that’s on my list for an upcoming project…..

“I saw her today…I saw her face…”…uh sorry….it’s late – gotta’ go.

The project I’m going to show here is for a Butterick Handbag (4271 Click here to see it) that I picked up on sale on one of my favorite pattern sites (Click here to check it out). In fact today, ALL the patterns were $3.99 each (shhhhh I did not resist ). But they were ones I really needed. Seriously. For real.

My bag was made out of Home Decor remnants (in fact, DH picked them out for me at our local Joann’s – I’ve found he has a great eye for color and texture, and really enjoy’s giving his opinion on choices. He can riffle through the remnant bins with the best of them!). The main fabric is a warm ruby red jacquard; the contrast is a silky twill in black – and the lining is a satin stripe, black on black. I made a few changes – the instructions for the pocket were simply wrong – and they used a “long way ’round” method. I opted for a simpler strip pocket, broken up into three sections, using the black lining fabric turned horizontal and edged with the red jacquard. I like how the whole thing came together. In fact I wrote a review on the PatternReview.com site (Click here to read my review). If you don’t belong to this site, you might want to join. The tips are nearly limitless, and it’s just a fascinating wealth of information right there at your fingertips! I love it!

If you’d like to see my finished project – well, here it is:

My version of Butterick 4271 - Ruby Red/Black - Unique!

So, back on the subject at hand, another site….I’ve come to really like Vogue patterns and I’ve found a really decent place to buy them (click HERE to check them out). It’s a “club” that you join – I’ve gotten tons of discounts (and as a result have bought TONS of patterns lol – they have me all figured out!). I’ve learned that looking at patterns on this site is like “window shopping” – love, love, love it. In the evenings I sit with DH in our family room from time to time as he watches movies and tv (I’m not a huge watcher) – and I surf the sewing sites on my laptop. Wow. What a lot of trouble I can get in right from the safety of my comfy chair! How easy it is to get caught up in planning new things to make – and with the click of a few buttons they are on their way to me…patterns, threads, notions, fabric, tutorials….who needs tv?

I wonder if any of you all do the same??? (or am I some hopelessly addicted internet sewing junkie all on my own?)

This week I embarked on a new project – a light jacket to wear out and about to do errands, to let the dog out, to get the mail. It’s a cross between a poncho and a jacket. I decided that I would make it out of fleece. I have never sewn a fleece project – and to be quite honest, I don’t even like fleece all that well. The bright colors, the spongy feel, the vaguely chemical smell when it’s pressed…. wasn’t my thing maybe. But seems lots of people LOVE fleece for it’s unforgiving nature, it’s light weight, and it’s ease of sewing – not to mention it doesn’t ravel. Ok, so what’s not to like.

I visited one of my favorite “I want to find a bargain” online shops (click here if you’d like to visit it!). Seriously this place ROCKS! I love the fabric I’ve gotten there – and they make it so easy. When you buy repeatedly you get good “discount codes” – and their customer service is awesome (no, I don’t work for them!) Sure enough, a deep blue (between navy and royal) was waiting there for me. And less than $4 per yard. Within minutes it was on it’s way to my house!

Next the pattern, the notions, and let the journey begin!

Makes me think of the pleasure it brings me when I find a great piece of fabric – and then combine it with another, and another, and yet another (this must be the way “stashes” get their start!).

So after a loooooooong break – here we go again.  I am only an advanced beginner, dusting off long forgotten skills.  What an amazing tool the internet is to help with this!  Blogs, and websites abound that cater to the sewists of today – whether it is to supply fabric, notions, patterns or just good old advice, they have really shown me the entrance to the online community of the sewing world!

I hope to document and to share the many resources I uncover, and a bit of what I learn along the way.  I plan to share a few tutorials I have put together, in an effort to give back.  If you are an experienced sewist (or a novice with some newly found tricks of the trade) I hope you will  help me out – advice is welcome.  If you have been thinking of jumping back in (or starting) the world of sewing and crafts — just do it.  Get started and don’t look back.

I think sewists MUST have a sense of humor – whether it is directed at rolling one’s eyes at oneself over yet another piece of fabric that you bought today (after swearing that you WILL NOT buy even one more before you get a few more projects going) – or if it’s the cute little blouse that you finished with great pride – but then two weeks later as you look in the mirror you think “WHAT was I thinking with that ruffle??”….well it’s all a part of the lifestyle.

And can someone please tell me why, even though my patterns are relatively organized and stored, WHY I can NEVER lay my hands on the one I want?? PLEASE!? Grrrr….