Graffiti Piece Finished!

In my last post (here) I showed the photograph inspiration for this piece, commemorating my first Future Dog Guide puppy, Dime. Thanks to some very tired puppies, I found more studio time and managed to get this piece in my Graffiti series done!

I free motion stitched the bricks using a cream thread before adding the letters to make up Dime's name.

As with the first in the series, I carried some of the brick and paint elements over the side so they would add interest to the sides of the canvas.  You can see that in the next two images.

And finally...the puppy wall...I can't wait to foster more puppies and keep adding to this commemorative wall!

Dime Graffiti Has Been Started...

Another busy weekend has just passed, but I did manage to fit in a bit of time in the studio to start my Dime piece in my graffiti series. I did the first piece (see post here) with Yoshi, my current Future Dog Guide puppy, as the subject and I liked it so much that I've decided to make a keepsake piece for each of the puppies I foster.  That of course meant I had to go back and do one for Dime, my first foster puppy.

This is one of my favourite pictures of Dime, so I had to incorporate it in the piece.  I imported it into Photoshop and started having fun! 

Once digitally altered, printed and transferred onto fabric, I pulled out some of the new acrylic paints from the DecoArt Media samples that were recently sent to me, and I started adding elements with various found objects, stencils, and a small paint brush to add to the digitally altered image I had created.

Hopefully I'll find time in the next few days to get to the sewing machine to add some stitch.

And for those interested...puppy update...

(L - R) Shamus, Gracie and Yoshi, all Future Dog Guides

This weekend Yoshi and I babysat Gracie for another foster family.  While she was staying with us, we participated in two more Santa Claus parades, one Saturday afternoon, and the other on Sunday evening.  

Fortunately the parade in the afternoon and a long evening walk tired the girls out enough to give me some studio time Saturday night.

Yoshi (7 mths) in back, with Gracie (5 mths)

It sure is fun having a puppy friend for a sleep over! Yoshi and Gracie had some wonderful 'bitey face' sessions and really enjoyed running around the yard together.

Opposites...

I needed a quick little diversion from some of my ongoing fibre art pieces and I wanted to sew and thread doodle, so I decided to pull out some of my hand dyed fabric and play around with complimentary colours and the concept of opposites.  Here's what I've got started so far - a half square triangle and a circle with some fun curves and swirls.

               

  

I'm thinking of some fun stitching, both machine and hand stitch to further the idea of opposites.  Hopefully I'll be able to show you the finished piece soon.


Until then, Dime and I wish you a wonderful Easter weekend!

A Few More Threads and a Puppy Update...

For those of you that have been following me for a while, you'll know that I am a foster 'mom' to a future dog guide puppy through the Lions Foundation of Canada Dog Guides. Well, Dime turned 6 months old a couple of weeks ago, so I thought I'd share this with you so you can see how he's growing.  He's such a smart little fellow and is so very well behaved! I'm so proud of the little guy*!
(*I weighed Dime on Saturday and 'little guy' is 25kg/55lbs)

I've also got a few more hand dyed threads that we're still drying when I did  Monday's post so I thought I'd show you those too.  These are a slightly thicker thread, but I love the colours I've achieved, especially that last one.

Have a fabulous weekend!

Happy New Year!!!

We hope you're recovering from your New Year's Eve festivities...

And we wish you a very Happy New Year full of wonder and joy!

Have a safe and 

happy 2014!

Merry Christmas...

Those flashing Christmas lights are especially meaningful today.  As a result of the big ice storm, we were without power for over 70 hours, so we're thrilled to have it back in time for Christmas!  It came back on yesterday evening, so we did have to postpone our family Christmas Eve (we always host my whole family for Christmas on Christmas Eve...a German tradition...which will now take place this weekend instead), but Christmas Day festivities with our immediate family are back on for today!

I hope you and yours are having a great, warm day too!

Playtime...

Yup, I just had to play with captions this week.  Needless to say, Casey and Dime are really enjoying one another!  And when the play is done they catch a few zzz's together too!

Festive and Fashion Forward...

Are these two not the most adorable (although quite serious looking) little puppies you've ever seen?  

That's Dime on the left, with his sister Darla.  They were all dressed up in their festive gear, as well as their official 'Future Dog Guide' jackets, ready to participate in the Fergus Santa Claus Parade on Saturday.  

This was only the second time they've seen each other since being separated from their litter mates, yet they seem to be drawn to each other more so than to the other puppies that were there that day.

Casey and Dime...

The day I took the above shot, I thought it was so funny.  Dime had discovered he could sit inside the ring at the bottom of the kitchen stool, and he sat there for the longest time.  If I had put him there I'm sure he would have jumped right out...but since it was his idea he just sat there like that for about 10 minutes!  Too funny!!!

Some days Dime seems like he's getting so big, and other times he still seems like a little puppy, but when I look back over the weeks, I can see him maturing so fast! It seems especially evident in his adorable little face!

And he and Casey are never far apart.  When Dime and I go out, Bill tells me Casey looks around the house for him, and when we return the two of them always have a wonderful reunion!

Here they are...both 13...Dime at 13 wks. and Casey at 13 yrs.!