Less Wordy Wed.: Pups in Their New Homes

Remember ages ago when we had (wool) puppies for sale on the blog? [As as aside... those adorable little corgis were the only ones that didn't sell. So if anyone needs a felted tail-less (sorry Taryn) corgi....]

Today for Wordless (or as I like to call it "Slightly Less-Wordy") Wednesday, I thought I'd show you pics of a couple of them in their furever homes. Er... wait - their woolever homes?? Hmm. That doesn't work. Okay, in their new homes!

Remember our little Muttly?

Follow-Up Fri.: A Fair Follow-Up + Puppies for Sale!

A Fair Follow-Up
Remember when were a little bummed that we didn't win the blue ribbon this year (awarded for first place in the needle felting "class") at the fair? BUT, on the plus side, we won the Big Green Ribbon for a "special award" for the Best Theme entry??

Gotta  love a big, shiny ribbon!

Follow Up Friday: Fair is Fair...

I haven't done a Follow-up Friday post in a while, but there's "Fair is fair" news to catch up on, starting with our entries for this year's "Fab Fair"-themed county fair! 

Unfortunately, our fair visit this year was a mix of good news/bad news, so overall it was just, eh, fair.

If we're friends on Facebook, you already know that instead of doing the Dance of Joy, we were doing the Trudge of Dejection around the exhibition hall... 

So, let's start with the bad news... We really had high hopes for another blue ribbon this year, but it wasn't to be. 

We got 3rd place in the Needle Felting division for our Meet the Beagles:

Third place?! But look at ALL that ADORABLENESS?!

How To Needle Felt a Dog: There Will Be Blood

If you've been following the blog, you know my sister and I entered some needle felted dogs in the county fair last year (and won 2 blue ribbons!) and we've entered some this year as well. Some folks mentioned they'd like to know how to felt their own dogs... so here goes:

How To Needle Felt a Dog

Subtitled: There Will Be Blood. (Yes, you will stab yourself, at least the first 1 or 2 times you try felting.)

Wee Background
I come from a family of crafty folks. When my sis and I first saw Domenica More Gordon's dogs on TV, we knew we had to find out how she made those adorable dogs. (...since we couldn't afford the £500+ price tag!) That's how we discovered "needle felting." 

Since our dogs are not as fine-tuned as Domenica's, we like to call them "caricatures" and we've custom made many pups over the last couple of years. 

My sister's Husky-mix and my bro's angel Golden

What Do The Beatles Have To Do with Wooly Dogs?

Remember our blue-ribbon winning entry from last year's Fair??

Pups at the Park

Well, we're hoping for another blue ribbon (or two...) this year!

Follow-Up Friday: Pixie and Pics Edition

It's another Follow-Up Friday - a chance to answer those questions and follow up on the news!

Fixin' Pixie's Mischief
On Monday's post, I showed you the mischief my friend's pup, Pixie, had gotten up to, tearing mini angel Rio limb from limb.

Mischief Maker, Pixie

Monday Mischief: Out-of-State Mischief

If you've been around the blog a while, you might remember back in November when this little minx:

Sweet little Pixie, our wee friend in Washington

Monday Mischief: Were Our Bunnies Robbed??

Remember when I posted about how my sis and I had entered two items in the "Home & Hobby" competition for our county fair? And then I posted that our dogs had won first place in the "Needle Felting" class:

Our wee 1st place ribbon

Wordless Wednesday: Are You Going to Our County Fair...

Okay, sing along with me, to the tune of Simon & Garfunkle's Scarborough Fair: 

Are you going to our County Fair? Bunnies, dogs, a hydrant of wool....

 

Yep, my sis and I are not only going to the fair, but we entered lovingly hand-crafted bunnies and dogs for the Home & Hobby competitive exhibits. Specifically, we entered "sets" in the needle-felting division. (Oh, no wait - technically it's the needle-felting class, which is within the overarching "Felting" division, which is within the "Needle & Textile Arts" category.) Whatever it is - we want to win.

I've been wanting to enter something for years, and this year we are finally doing it. They wouldn't let us enter together - except for quilts, only one person's name can be on an entry - so we decided to each enter an item (even though we made both of them together). My sis entered our tableau of bunnies: (click on any pics if you want to see them bigger)

Monday Mischief: Pixie Sticks Her Nose Where She Shouldn't

Today, we have a guest mischief-maker that we're featuring - the delightful Pixie. (Rita's just been such an angel, we had to go hunting for mischief.) Doesn't she look sweet?

Pixie at the beach

Catching Up: Winnings, Hedgehogs & Mini Cover Models

So much to catch up on in this post! But it's mostly pictures...

More Goodies for Rita

Last time, I posted about the winner for my giveaway (Baba HooHoo!) but Rita's winnings also continue to come in! Remember all the stuff we won during K9 Kamp? Well, this week we got two more items. First, Rita got some stuffed squeaky bones from Flint & Lars: 

"I love mail!"

Not just one; not just two...

...but THREE squeaky bones. So spoiled!

Then she got her Dog Cookies book from Hubble and Hattie

The hub's reaction was "wow, some of these look really good!"

These we didn't win (I actually paid for something for Rita for once!) but to celebrate Abby's third birthday, Rita got a bag of hedgehogs:

"It says here these are wheat and gluten free. Interesting..."

"I'm goin' in!"

He's a little dirty - she ran outside with him, afraid I'd steal him!

Looks like she's checking out his (nonexistent) hedgehog naughty-bits in this photo.

In addition to her new toys and treats, Rita has a new friend. The hubs has (luckily) been getting home at a more reasonable time all week, so we've been going on a 20 minute walk most nights to a little park by the ocean where pups and their humans gather. The pups meet to play, the humans to watch the sunset. Rita's new little friend is named Bee. Rita loves Bee! 

Teeth, claws, and blurry-quick movements to the contrary, Rita does actually play really nicely with Bee:

Bee is a tiny thing & she often hides between anyone's legs.

And they both share their water nicely - even with other random pups:

"No, no, after you!"

A Mini Cover Model

In needle-felting news, my sis and I felted a Charley - the cover model from my book! I was worried we wouldn't do him justice since Charley is so handsome, but I think he came out cute. 

Real Charley & Mini Charley

Mini Charley & Mini Abby, Charley's Angel

Book-related News

I've had several reviews, interviews, posts, etc. lately. Here's a list if you want to check any of them out (most of you have already seen these since I posted them on Facebook/Twitter):

1. A wonderful review on My Tail Hurts from Wagging So Much. (I made her stay up too late.) :)
2. I was the featured "Writer of the Week" on PetPR.com
3. I got to answer fun questions on Coffee with a Canine (have a look if you want to know the one thing I would ask Rita if she could answer a single question in English).
4. I got my first blurb! A "blurb" is when a published author gives a lovely little sound-bite for your book. The wonderful Elsa Watson, author of Dog Days, called my book a "a cheer-me-up read, the story of a smart woman putting her life back together. Maggie is the character women have been waiting for - she's clever, funny, and REAL." So, that immediately went up on my Amazon page for the book! Hooray, and thanks again to Elsa!

You'd think with all this good book news, sales would be a little better, but - not gonna lie - they haven't been great. They've been just OK. Nothing you could live on... unless, maybe you were a pet hamster. A pet hamster could probably live pretty comfortably on the proceeds - could maybe even be like the Kardashians of hamsterdom - but that's about it. Anyway, hoping for some momentum to build, but in the meantime, it's nice to hear from folks that they've enjoyed the book. 

If you want to make an author's day - send them an email telling them how much you liked their book!