Having New Eyes

Let Me Introduce... uummm...

Well, he doesn't have a name yet.  JJ, Lyn and I went to the pound this morning looking for a 2nd dog for JJ to play with, and of course, for me to love.  I've thought for a long time that 2 kids in a family are better than 1in the sense that life values like sharing, compromise, generosity, patience, tolerance, communication etc are much more easily taught when 2 (or more) children are raised together.  I've also thought that 2 dogs are better than one, for some of the same reasons, though in the 'animal world' sense and not human morality sense. 

For some time now, as I've used my time working on the house and exercising my creative muscles, JJ will eventually empty out her entire toy basket, dropping each toy on my feet (if I'm sitting at the craft table or sewing machine) hoping to get some playtime.  That's usually my cue to get the leash and go for a walk in the woods, letting her enjoy some off leash run time.  We then come home and I naively think that I can get back to 'work'.  bwaahhaaahhaaahhaaa.  JJ's just getting started!  I either have to play some more or be really mean and ignore her, which results in her going and laying on her bed and taking a nap, which results in her having more energy in the evening, about the time when I'm starting to stretch and yawn.  It's time to get her a playmate.

So meet....uummm...

He has to go to the vet and get neutered, but tomorrow afternoon I'll go pick him up and we'll have a new addition to the family!  This fellow came from a situation where the other boxer in the family was a bully, but he hasn't been physically abused by humans and retains all of the people (and FOOD) loving characteristics of a boxer.  He has absolutely NO MANNERS, doesn't even know what I mean when I say "sit", but he maintains great eye contact, is nearly the same size as JJ, and gets along with her great.  Why doesn't he have a name?  I don't think dogs at the pound come with names normally, and I've decided that this fellow is going to have an AFRICAN name.  I sent his picture to Mark and Mady (my son and granddaughter) with the assignment "Think of a 2 syllable African boy dog name by tomorrow afternoon."  Obviously, more later...

I think that a quilt series on BOXERS has happened!

Laura Wasilowski recently said something about doing a series.  She was particularly talking about the blue chair that keeps popping up in her work.  I realized that of the several portraits I've done, I already have multiple dog portraits, and most of those are Boxers.  Of course I have my own Boxer - who would I be if I didn't have a Boxer in my life?

JJ, aka Jada Jarhead, is 6 yrs old and inspirational when it comes to portraits.  

Above is the digital photo made into a quilt from a picture I took last summer.

Above is the first portrait I did of JJ, using snippets of fabric and literally "Painting" with fabric pieces, some as small as a few threads, then securing all with tulle and quilting.

 To the left is a portrait I did based on a photograph I discovered on Red Bubble.com.  I contacted the photographer, and he was happy to let me use the image.  This is actually incorporated in a purse I made for a friend of mine who also happens to be a dog lover.

 

My most recent boxer portrait is of JJ's Texas cousin, Henry, when he was still a pup...

I edited this photo in Photoshop:

I printed out a black and white image of the photo onto fabric:

Which I then painted with acrylic paint and quilted with colored thread.

Is there a better way to celebrate spring?

Than to welcome a new addition to the animal world, born prematurely and needing to be bottle fed every 3 hours.  My friend, Lisa, is a head over heels kind of animal lover.  She already has a miniature donkey, a pony, a bunch of hens and of course a rooster to keep them in line, and a basset hound named Chloe.  (this picture is of my own JJ with her best doggie friend, Chloe)

Earlier this year she began to foster baby animals, specifically lambs, who needed some tlc to survive premature birth or some other kind of complication.  Elijah is the current baby lamb she is fostering, and he's absolutely lovable.  Last Friday, after our weekly sewing/quilting time was ended, when Lisa came over to pick up her daughter, our youngest quilter, she also brought Elijah.  I called up Cheryl, my neighborhood photographer (the professional in the 'hood) to come on over for an impromptu photo shoot, and I must say that Elijah (otherwise known as Lambie) was a perfect subject!

Let me encourage you to go to Cheryl's Smugmug gallery to enjoy more of Elijah, who was 10 days old at the time of the 'shoot.  I guarantee oohs and aahs and warm fuzzy feelings!  LOL.

OHNO - another JJ quilt!?

I can't resist.  My boxer, JJ (aka Jada Jarhead), is an available and free, and dare I say beautiful?, model for my photos and quilts.  LOL.  I've just finished this small wall quilt.

I've actually had the picture of JJ printed out on cotton fabric and pieced together for nearly 6 months, and pinned to my design wall, but...  You know how it is don't you?  An idea comes along, perhaps in a magazine article, or a Quilting Arts episode, that really catches your fancy, but partway into the process some voice inside you says, no, I don't like the direction I'm going with this.  So it sits.  In my studio, I pin things like this on the design wall so that I think about it whenever I happen to glance that was.  Originally I was going to make a collage style quilt, with other dogs and summer pics/colors, but it wasn't coming together in my mind.  Only 2 weeks ago I asked that wonderful question "what if...?"  Within days, she was finished.

 

 

This quilt is for sale for 185.00

 

When dogs fall asleep on your shoulder...

you become quiet, and peaceful.  When a dog that weighs 60 pounds falls asleep on your shoulder, you become quiet, peaceful, and your lap joins her in falling asleep.

 

There are dogs, and then there are DOGS!

Found a picture of a dalmatian in a magazine, and just had to try a doggy paintover!  (did you know that my very first dog was a Dalmatian named Louis XVIII?)

My son, Mark, with Louis XVIII:

 

 

The digitally enhanced paintover:

Louis XVIII is long gone, having been replaced by 2 successive Boxers, but what a pretty dog he was!