Puppy Dose

The pups bring joy and make us laugh everyday. Sharing a few of those moments here.

Pink Nosed Reindeer

Pups in the snow.  Seeing them so happy warms my heart and gives me inspiration to make it through the week.  And look how pink Sammy's nose is looking!  Like a little pink nosed reindeer!

Happy mid-week and may your journey to the weekend be easy and quick!

Pure Unfiltered Bliss

Nothing like a walk/jog with the pups while it's snowing to clear my mind! I'm refreshed and ready to sew and they are pooped! Hello winter!

Someone had a 1/2 Birthday!

Here's what's going on...



::  Fall naps on or with a quilt is a must
::  Apples abound for homemade applesauce
::  Sammy never tires of playing fetch with her favorite toy of the day

::  The pups are getting more and more alike and same-sized.  Getting harder to tell them apart at first glance
::  I got my hairs cut and am loving my bangs
::  Puppy butts.  As in, taking lots and lots of fall weather walks

::  This is a tree in which I am nearly 99% sure that faeries live in
::  Good hard chewing bones are a must on those colder rainy days to entertain the pup
::  Sammy may be everyone's shadow, but 1st she is Katie's shadow.  It's more evident lately that Sammy wants to be exactly like Katie when she grows up.  We just hope that's sooner, than later. 

p.s. Sammy had her half birthday recently.  She's is officially 1 and 1/2 years old.  Aww!

Falling for Fall

 Hello, Fall!  My, oh my, have we been enjoying you... let me count the ways!

::  Got to spend some one-on-one time with Katie... even if it was taking her to the vet.
::  We've been staring at the trees, marvelling at the colors, and laughing at the falling leaves.

::  We have been enjoying naps and snuggling on the couch.  Especially when there is a fire is in the fireplace.
::  We have been totally enjoying every minute of football.  It almost doesn't even matter who is playing, as long as it's a good match up.  Bonus points if it's a Giants game and we Giants fans can live the game play by play.  It's not a quiet thing.

::  We have been enchanted by the deep blues of a clear fall day or the clever patterns of the clouds.
::  We have napped in other places.  The four legged babes are dropping off quick from all the time moving outdoors.

::  We've groomed trails for hiking.  Thing are a little tidier and blocked paths are more ready to recieve visitors.
::  I've sewn in preparation for the Pat Pauly art quilting class I am taking tomorrow.  More on that soon!

::  I've continued my hand sewing adventure on the healing cloth that I started earlier.
::  We stopped to play in the sand (at the lake beach).  It was a great reminder to slow down and enjoy the sunshine.

::  The pups were bathed.  It was a long time coming, but Ms. Sammy helped things along by rolling in and attaching poo to her head.  Smelly business.  They are so soft and fluffy now.  It won't last, but it was a nice reminder that they clean up alright!
::  I have packed a ton of my favorite fabrics for the art quilting workshop I mentioned above (the one with Pat Pauly).  It's called Slash and Burn.  I'm nervous... but it's that good kind of nervous.  The kind when you know something special is about to happen!  It's all about improv creating.  I promise I will share more on the experience.

...and as always, if you'd like to see more of what's Happy in the moment... I'm instagramming up a storm; @cwiltex gets you there!

Weekending {Welcome Fall!}

What a nice weekend.  Fall is really starting to settle into the area, the sun was plentiful, and we certainly got outside to take advantage of it!

::  Morning coffee was taken on the couch in the sun rays.
::  Finished off the drive-in movie season by taking Sammy to her first ever drive-in.  It wasn't as bad as we thought with two dogs in the back seat.  In fact, at one point they were both curled up and sleeping!
::  I cleaned up and organized my sewing desk a bit.  Loving the piece of white birch floating around until it finds just the right project.  Truth is, I really want to paint on it.
::  I got a bit of sewing in, although I still haven't quite figured out what to do with Prism's.  Which is turning into Shattered Prism's.
::  I realized I have a ton of lip chap tubes in my purse and around the house.  Found about 4 or 5 more since I took this snap.
::  We must have tired out the dogs well with a bunch of walks, playing in the yards, and doggie get togethers -- since they slept every chance they got.
::   And we went sneaker shopping.  I couldn't believe how pretty running shoes have gotten!  Too bad I wasn't in need of a new pair.  But I can drool, right?

Hope you also had a wonderful weekend!  Can't wait to visit and see what you've been up too!

Three Cheers!

I'm not really sure where to start, but things have been busy, stressful, tiring, and have needed my attention lately.  I am slowly stretching out my arms to feel what this space feels like again.  I was reminded over the weekend that it's a good place to cheer on that little happy thing in my life and embrace the positive. 

You see I have a bad habit of worrying... which simply put is spending energy on things you can't control.  I need to remember to spend my energy in better ways. 

::  So, let's cheer for fluffy puppies who know when to nuzzle you to make you feel amazing. 
::  Let's cheer for gardens with abundant harvests... even if you burned the salsa.
::  And cheer for spare sewing moments that calm every nerve and fiber of me.
What are you cheering today?

Happy Moment #54: The Goodnight Kiss

A Friday ritual with Soulemama.  A single (or a few) photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.  A simple, special, extraordinary, happy moment.  A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments too.

“Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.”

~Omar Khayyam

Dogs on Quilts & Dog Art Quilt

I've finally got my act together and am ready to enter the Pet's on Quilts Show hosted by the lovely Lily Pad Quilting! 

Girls are you ready?  Perk up and look lively!! 

Here we go!  If we are meeting for the first time I'd like to say welcome and I'm so glad you've come!  So are the girls!! 

Katie and Sammy are two high energy, quilt loving, golden retrievers.  Katie is on the left, she's a little over 5 years old.  And Sammy is just a pup coming in at a little over 1 year old.  They are posing for you today on my most recent finish, the Rainbow quilt, which I admit is getting a ton of use even in the summer. 

For the Dog Themed 'Art' Quilt category, I am also debuting my whole cloth painted quilt.  I think I am going to call this one "Puppy  Dreams," but don't say I didn't warn you that the name might change a million more times. 

Yes, you guessed it, that's Sammy in fabric and paint!!  I have to say that I am totally in love with this new process and the freedom of multimedia!  

It all started with the introduction to painting on fabric through an event that was hosted by my Art Quilt special interest group.  It was honestly one of those moments in a lifetime that you feel a spark ignite and all you want to live for is for painting on fabrics. 

Ok, so maybe it wasn't that strong, but I did pretty much order my own set of fabric paints within a week and then got to work.  I decided to start with a picture I took of Sammy for a challenge called "Darling" issued through the Creative Tuesday Co-op.  If you want to be inspired or to feed a need to continuously create, then I highly recommend the group!!  

Once I was satisfied with how Sammy looked, I heat set the paint and got to work on adding fur texture through quilting.  I admit the quilting was a bit nerve-wrecking, but I am so pleased with the results!

Even with the quilting progressing nicely, I still had to do something with the plain white background.  You see Sammy embodies puppy hood... never stopping, runs everywhere, she's loud, she adores toys, and I might even venture to say that hiking and swimming are her favorite things to do.  So, I needed a background to match her personality.

Here's a close up of raw edge appliqued green fabric to create a mossy ground.  The texture is finished off with more free motion quilting and a few dabs of paint for drama.

I also added bits of raw wool roving in blues and greens to create the effect of the wind swirling around her.  The last touch was to cut those flowers out of white lace, tack them on, put a pearl bead in the middle, and then a touch of orange to help them pop.

Yes, I really enjoyed bringing this quilt to life!  And I'm happy to be sharing it with you today too!

And because I couldn't resist just one more picture of our little ham.  Here is one more of Sammy from my instagram feed.  I'm @cwiltex if you want to follow along there.

It was a pleasure to have you over!  Wishing you sunshine and endless creativity!

CT: "Christmas in July" (#66) & IF: Carry

How about a mostly wordless Creative Tuesday and Illustration Friday, where I will let the pictures show the process?  The meme for Creative Tuesday's was Christmas in July... hence the 'sandman' and festiveness.  The meme for Illustration Friday was Carry... hence, Katie, the golden on the left, carrying the santa hat over to top the 'sandman.'

Felt so good to get out creative gear and let my stress flow out through my paints and markers.  Proves once again that creativity is very powerful!

Wishing you a lovely and absolutely creative week!

Instagram-y Goodness

I'm crushing pretty hard on my newly found love, Instagram.  Look me up, I'm cwiltex.  It seems like the perfect way to recognize a little (or big) happening in my day that makes me smile.  And it even gives me a way to capture it for sharing and reflecting! 

So, for those of you who don't partake, or even if you do, I thought it might be fun to see all the little happy snips together.

::  Illustration Friday doodle and reminder to myself to remain strong and present.
::  Proof that I finally picked the Sammy painting project back up.
::  Two adorable noses looking back at me and I get all gushy when they love on each other like that.
::  A huge pile of green beans, green and purple, freshly picked from the veggie garden.

::  Katie, upside down, smiling, with her leg up to get a belly scratch.  Can life get any better?  I think not.
::  Working through a multimedia paradise island for Creative Tuesdays.
::  Trying (and liking) a new flavor of hard cider.  Sour cherry is good!
::  A snap from the dogs playing in the baby pool.  Sammy is doing her best 'you don't see me' here.

::  Paradise island is born of fabric, paper, and string!  It's got some great textures.
::  The dogs help with the house work by pre-rinsing the dishing in the dishwasher.
::  Ate the last of the party cake ice cream straight from the container.  Great cool-me-down on a hot day.
::  The first tetris block all pieced and pressed and looking scrumptious!

So much fun!  What do you instagram?