Off to the show

You may not hear anything from me for the next few days because this weekend, we will be at the Lakeshore Pembroke Welsh Corgi Club Annual Specialty Show. This is a regional show just for Corgis that we go to every year! This year we will only be competing in one class, Rally Advanced B, but it's worth the trip to see all of our Corgi friends like Sully's foster mom and the wonderful woman who drove him from WI to his foster home.

And then after the show, we're driving up to see Mike's family! I love Wisconsin, everyone is so friendly and it's such a laid-back pace up there. I hope to get some yard sales and thrifting in and I also want to get some serious knitting and crocheting done in my downtime this weekend. I have a doll dress for a swap and as many hats as I can whip up for Warm-a-Kid!

Wish us luck! And when I get back, Halloween preparations begin in earnest! I am so excited, I have signed up for several Halloween blog events! First up, a wreath for Hallo-Wreath Challenge!

Yummy giveaway!

Lisa's having a yummy giveaway over at her blog! Go check it out!

Tagged and Awarded

Quirky was nice enough to tag me over at SwapDex and I hope she doesn't mind me posting my response here. (I like to keep the SwapDex mainly "business" if you can call swaps business.) I chose my random things by choosing 5 random photos!

1-In the past, I was quite involved in the model horse hobby. What's the model horse hobby? It's making tiny tack and props for model horses like Breyers. It's an extension of my interest in miniatures and isn't every girl obsessed with horses? I actually competed and won at the national level and the best part is, I made EVERYthing mysels, unlike most competitors at that level who buy $1000 saddle sets and invest in several of each model so they can pick the one with the best paint job. My horses are now in boxes in my closet.

2- I need a haircut! This is a picture of me when my hair looked nice, about 3 haircuts ago, before my wonderful stylist left town forever. I just can't find another that agrees with me!! I will not be showing you a picture of my hair now, we'll just say it's in a ponytail. This picture also serves as my contribution to Randi's suggestion for blogger to show themselves. I'm usually not terribly shy about posting photos so you only get one in this post. I'll have a couple more after the dog show this weekend!

3- I dress Sully in crazy outfits but only because his grandma makes them! This is one of his birthday outfits from last year. If I had a girl dog, I would probably dress her up WAY more often.

4- Before the dog and the cat, we had guinea pigs. And I still find myself wishing we could get another one or two. I love the noises they make and their little soft lips! This is Skippy, our second guinea pig, who was always VERY spastic and a bit of a nipper.

5- Wow, I'm at 5 already? I guess I had more than 5 pictures picked out. Oh well. My grandma's family lived in Canada. This is a picture of her riding a hog on their farm in Canada.


And Wendi of The Freebie Blogger awarded me the Brillante Weblog Award. They're like Emmys, right? I can just pretend I'm Tina Fey and line them up on my blog mantel? Ok! Thanks to both ladies for validating my blogging!

Laundry day diversion

Saturday is laundry day around here and I'm at the computer, occupying myself. This week, I made a peach pie! Can you see the corgi decoration?

Sadly, the sugar ants got to it over night (I thought the plastic wrap was tight enough!). Darn ants. I am in the process of getting rid of them by poisoning them (I know, I feel bad but I can't have ants in everything!) and then I will caulk up the window sill where they are getting in. Gross! Enough of that topic!

The cat was being silly the other night, doesn't his belly look cute enough to tickle?

But don't try it! Red is honestly the meanest cat I've ever known. We've had feral barn cats, scaredy cats, aloof cats that weren't terribly friendly. But he's not just touchy or unfriendly, he is downright mean at times, going after your ankles and arms when he can get to them and biting down HARD. He'll sit on your lap when he wants, but don't move your leg or pet him the wrong way or he'll give you what-for! All that being said, I do love him, he's got great character and he's actually very gentle with the dog, who wants nothing more in the world that to curl up with him and be best pals. Poor Sully.

What a pigsty!

This is the messy state I have left my work table in tonight. I'm not done and it would just be a pain to clean it all up and then drag it all out again. Plus, what good is having my own studio/crafting space if I don't just let things sit once in a while? I do tend to like to clean up after myself but I'm just too busy and I have TOO MUCH stuff out! I've been working on these:

I'm calling them yo-settes. They're genuine rosette ribbons from my 4-H days, embellished with a yo-yo, all sorts of new and vintage trims and made into wearable brooch, albeit a little ostentatious. I will be adding them to the shop along with Christmas-themed and customizable monogrammed ones.

You might see some polymer clay on that table too. That's for a big secret and not one I'm sharing right now. It's for my project for Club Little House. I am attempting to create something to win one of the 12 jurried slots. I'm a little nervous but I am so, SO excited about finally realizing my idea! I've had this idea since the last round of Club Little House, but couldn't decide between this one and the chairs I showed you a couple weeks ago. I chose chairs because it was summer and the chairs are just so beachy and fun! But this time, I'm letting loose on this idea that has been in my head for over a YEAR! And I already had the supplies stored away!

Dot-to-Dot Stitch Cards

In honor of National Sewing Month, I have a project for you! Is it a sewing project? Of course! But it's also a paper crafts project! When I think fall, I think grade school and what's more grade school than a good old dot-to-dot?

There are two sets of two cards each to print out and stitch with your sewing machine. One set includes two popular designs, a cupcake and mushroom, the other is just right for fall and includes a pumpkin and a leaf.

Download card template here.

Fall cards PDF

Trendy cards PDF

Print the PDF on your choice of colored cardstock. Cut the cardstock in half so that you have two cards. (It's much easier to sew if you cut the cards first, then sew.) Don't print this following diagram, it's only for your reference.

Using your sewing machine and thread in your choice of color, sew from dot to dot following the numbers! The numbers are placed so that each is right side up when you are sewing towards it. Stitch with an average stitch length (too long and the detail will be lost, too short and you'll tear the paper) and if your machine has the "needle down" option, turn it on so that you can stop stitching on each dot and rotate the paper to find the next number.

Using a pin, pull your thread ends to the back and tie them loosely to secure.

If you don't like seeing the stitches on the back, cut a piece of matching paper to 5.5" x 4.25" and adhere inside to cover up back of the stitches.

For variety, I've made one card from each set a little more elaborate by sewing the motif, cutting it out and adding other paper and embellishments. Try it out, have fun! And I'd love to see your cards when they're finished!

Etsy news

On a whim, I visited the Treasury today and I happened to see that there were going to be open spots in just a few minutes and what do you know, I got one! (For those who don't Etsy, treasuries are like themed favorites lists but they only allow so many to exist at one time so it's kind of hard to get a spot to create one.) Mine is all aprons!

Check it out here.

And here's a screenshot for posterity since it expires in 2 days.

I added some new things to the shop, including a few Christmas items (Vintage window flocking stencils, fabulous eighties Shirt Tales fabric!) and here's a sneak peak at what will be there in just a few days, my new fall pattern!

Wee Oui Oui

Chef's outfit
Originally uploaded by Corgipants

How cute is this? Does that sound conceited? Well, I don't mean it to because it wasn't my idea. If a customer hadn't ordered this chef's outfit, I never would have thought of it but it's just so darling!

I got my invite to Spoonflower and now I feel this pressure to not only order some custom fabric but to produce something really stupendous! I've gotta get my brain working on this, I'm thinking something with corgis of course!

Quilting

Here is a Project Linus quilt top I am just finishing up. Thanks to the awesome free-motion quilting tutorial on Anyone Can Quilt, I hope this will be my first squiggly-quilted quilt with the help of my new sewing machine!

Don't anyone look too closely at the piecing. I am not a precise quilter and none of my quilts would win any prizes but I hope they are loved by the children that receive them.

Usually we don't know who gets our quilts, they are donated to various hospitals and programs in the area and given out as the need arises. But this one is for a specific little boy who's mom is incarcerated and has signed up for our Here's a Hug program. We are making quilts for the mothers to give to their children for Christmas, a hug through the mail. This quilt is for a 7 year old boy who likes the color blue and vehicles of ANY kind especially cars, motorcycles, and trains.

And now for a VERY big, long overdue public thank you to Kate from Kate's Quilting. I won these blocks in her giveaway and that was a BIG help in getting this top done! I unstitched a few to insert cars and trains but the green and blue main fabric were just perfect for this project and she had done so much of the work already! Thank you, Kate!

Awarded!

I am so honored, Sharon of Creative Origins has awarded me the Brillante Weblog award as a blog she enjoys reading. Thanks so much! I know I say this frequently, but I am so glad to have people reading and getting something out of CorgiPants!

I have decided I just can't decide on 7 recipients. Too much of my brain power is going towards work during the day and new projects (like the new pattern in the works, the fall issue of the Make-Do Mail and some custom My Friend Doll outfits I'm working on for a customer) in the evening! So, I'm taking a cue from Fresh Blog Tips and saying "This is my blog, dangit!" and bucking the rules! If you feel in the mood to receive and/or give an award and would like this one, check out that list of links over at the lower left and if you're on it, great! You win! If not, leave a comment, I'd love the check out your blog and then ta-da, you win! It's like a really PC school in the 90's, everybody gets a trophy!