Cross Legged Pug Bunnies Part II

In my last entry we left off with having all the pieces cut out for the Cross Legged Pug Bunnies.

During the next process I got down and pinky.  Then greeny.  Then purpley.  Those were the colors on my hands as I handled the painting of the pieces.

Always by my side was MA-kytah.  Well in this case she stood beneath the table as I snapped away with my Canon.

Next step - painting the PUG sections of each piece.

My biggest challenge (and I am still practicing and practicing) are Pug Eyes.

I shall master this, I shall master this, I shall master this.

Next up the bunny ears and Tulip paint that serves as the 3D-ish replacement for the beads (because my household goods are still not here!!!  and all them beads I got in Hong Kong are on its way)

The last piece to go onto the Pug Bunny is its dress.

I'm doing the final final final touches today and I will share the

2012 Cross Legged Pug Bunny

on our Facebook page HERE

In the meantime - I share this pic of my senior son whom I sure do miss.  He is away for a week in England.  Wow England.

PUG HUGS TO ALL!!



Cross Legged Pug Bunnies

Isn't this an amazing pic?  It was taken by my granddaughter Tam while we were on ooVoo.  She caught me basking in the sun that flowed through the window.  I so needed this warmth to shine and get some energy back into me.

Whew did the sun rays do wonders.  I was able to list the Witches and Wizards in my Etsy shop.  Oh please check them out here.

I've yet to find a source for stuffing for my dolls.  I have to get this material by purchasing pillows at the Exchange.  The casing.......well you all know me too well to discard of it so I'm cutting away at them to begin the latest Easter inspired pug:

Two Pillow cases garnered:

6 bodies

24 legs

6 faces

6 snouts

Wow Wow Weee 42 pieces.

A 90 minute drive to Ramstein enabled me to hand sew most of the pieces.  This morning I stuffed them and sewed faces, snouts and legs onto the bodies.

I am so excited to see the little critters take on their own characteristics.  I shall share their makings in the days to come.  I also have to cut some patterns to hand sew on our trip to Paris this coming Saturday.  Oh I am so excited about that.

Until then my Blog Buddies - I leave you this photo of a shadow box my son brought home from school.  I love the colors and details.

Make it Fun with No Sun

I think I am feeling the winter blues.  No sun for two whole weeks has caused me to feel so down in the dumps.  I need to take some supplements or something.  My Guam skin color has faded.

Oh well - to battle the blues I put color in my life everyday in February and boldly created Halloween Pugs.

Witches and Wizards; Bats and Boots.  It was indeed grueling work but the work kicked the blues right out on the streets.

Let's take a closer look at Pug Wizard:

 Intense Reds, Purples, Greens, Yellows.  I just had to give this Pug Wizard a whimsical beard.

Watch out!!! He'll cast a spell on ya with his Pug Wizard Wand.

Got to have a Halloween Pug Witch.

 And she is a friendly Pug Witch I might add.

She doesn't fly on a broom but totes a cute little Pug Pumpkin.

Oh lookey!!! Pugs popping out of a witch Boot



 

I do admit that them there curves were not curving when I sewed it with the sewing machine.   Had to hand sew them myself to keep the integrity of a curvy witchy pug boot.

When Halloween comes this year I can't wait to hang all the Pug Bats..........upside down that is.

 Do keep in mind now that the redness dripping from the bat fangs is in fact ketchup tee hee hee.

Little Pug Bat paw claws wanting to cling onto something.

That's it for now on the Halloween Pugginess.  I'll be listing this collection in my Etsy shop later today.

PUG HUGS TO ALL!!!



It Was the Crib Set's Fault

You see this bundle?

It was a magnificent thrift shop find that kept me occupied with my latest creation in preparation for Easter.

Are you ready to take a peek?

Okay, here goes.  Creation #1

I designed and sewed, stuffed, painted, and stained 8 of these little bunny critters to spiff up a thrift shop find

A Pug Bunny Wreath

Creation #2

Isn't the "Welcome" sign cute?  We found it in a thrift shop in Kaiserslautern and it was the inspiration for this baby girl and baby boy pug bunnies.  BTW the background is actually a 100% cotton loop rug made in India.  Another thrift shop find in Landstuhl.

I am still practicing the art of painting pug faces.  I'm quite pleased with the characteristics of the bunnies:

Creation #3

I didn't stain this piece because the integrity of the springy colors of the wings and the ears..........well I just wanted the brightness of it all.  I think I will enhance the snout a bit more.

Creations #4

I certainly loved every inch of the crib set fabric that I couldn't bring myself to discard any of it............so I took strips of it and made a rag garland.

Okay - I'm off to situate the Easter Pugginess at our front door.  I'll post a pic on our Facebook Page

PUG HUGS TO ALL!!!



No Sooner

Gee!  No sooner did me and the boys get here to Germany.............we receive official word that my husband's unit is closing its doors come October 2012.

Gee!  No sooner will our household goods arrive in a couple of weeks and we are going to have to pack it up again for another move.

Gee! and because our household goods are not here yet I just couldn't go on with life without a sewing machine.

Sooooo WHALLA:

Yippee!!!  Boy oh boy was I a happy camper.  I was so deprived of operating a sewing maching I spent the next day after the purchase sewing and sewing.

I visited a little cute fabric store in town several weeks ago and I just choked at the price for fabric here.  So my love for recycling kicked in.  Guess what I attacked?  Okay here is the story.  We are from Guam.  Hot, tropical humid weather year around.  With regards to bed linen, well, we are pretty much a fitted sheet pillow cased light blanket fam bam.  We don't favor the flat sheet that comes when you purchase a bed linen set.  So I attacked all flat sheets I had in this big ol apartment. 

Now I know I am out of "season" but the Halloween bug is within me and I am working diligently on a witch and wizard set.

Aren't they gorgeous?

And because I'm such a "waste not what not" type of artist I certainly had a blast creating this little creature:

It's a Bat Pug.  OMG it is so real.  Now don't be alarmed my pug loving audience.  This critter was inspired by this gal:

Yep - Shady.  Once upon a time she got into one of the boys' cheeseburger and had a drop of ketchup on her puggy mouth.

So Bat Pug does not suck blood, it lurks the home for ketchup.

Okay I shall now return back to PUG HALLOW for more Halloweeny pug creatures and what nots.

In the meantime I leave you with this pic of MA-kytah bathing in the scarce rays of the sun.

PUG HUGS TO ALL!!

The Cuisine Was Spectacular

When I arrived in Germany I admit that I had to get used to wearing heavy clothing.  Layers of clothing at that.  The temperature was in the low 20's.  During our couples retreat we were exposed to below 0 degree temperatures and that in and of itself was an experience.  On our tour of the castle adventure I mentioned that we attended mass in a non-heated church.  I shared this with my sister Lorraine and she couldn't have said it better......"your faith in God made you warm."  SIGHING my sister certainly worded it on the dot.

After Mass we went across the street to a little cafe called "Burkhof" where it is a "sin" to not have a warm donut.  OMG it was warm and yummy - I just have to share a photo of our snack before we dove in.

It was indeed warm.

Ed is not much of a donut man but he was hungry for warmth ha ha ha

Moving on

I shared our hike up the mountain to see King Ludwig's castle and climbing and descending 184 steps in the castle.  That was enough to burn off the donuts we ate that morning and fire up an appetite.

We decided to have a full fledge German "warm" meal at the

I began with a warm bowl of

SCHWARZWURZELRAHM SUPPE MIT INGWER



TRANSLATION:  Black Salsify Sour With Ginger

 And Ed had a nice tall glass of King Ludwig Weissbier.

Main Course for me was:

BAYRISCHER SCHWEINEKRUSTENBRATEN IN KONIG LUDWIG DUNKELBIER SOBE



TRANSLATION:  Bavarian Pork Roast with Crackling in King Ludwig Darkkeer Sauce, Red Cabbage and Potato Dumpling..................ohhhh yummy.

Ed's Main Course was:

FILET STEAKWOM ALLGAUER RIND MIT ROSMARIN PFEFFEUSOBE, KARTOFFELTALEUN UND GRUNE BOHNEN

TRANSLATION:  Fillet Steak of Allgau Beef with Rosemary Peppersauce, Potatoes, and Green Beans

The Before and After shots speaks for itself with regards to how tasty this warm meal was.

The retreat ended yesterday.  The bus was somber as we entered Baumholder...........back to the rat race we go.  I'm eager to pick up my needle, thread, and paint brushes again.

So until next time Blog Buddies I leave you with this pic of me and the waitress who served us in Bavaria.

PUG HUGS TO ALL!!



Couples Retreat Part II

This is Part II to yesterday's blog about our trip to Garmisch-Partenkirchen for the Couples Retreat.  Our second day there was a free day and we took a day tour to Neuschwanstein Castle in southwest Bavaria.  The castle was commissioned by King Ludwig II.  It was intended for the personal usage of the King; however it was never completed.  King Ludwig only stayed in the castle for 172 days and then he died.  It was opened to the public shortly after his death since 1886.

During the bus ride to the castle we passed by a huge event in the King Ludwig's honor.  It was a cross country ski race.

The road was ever so winding but oh so wintery white.

And then we saw the castle from a distance.

We got our tickets and our group was tour #458 @ 12:50 p.m.

Now.......I was tempted to take the carriage ride up to the castle but I thought "How can I experience Bavaria if I don't engage with its nature"

So off on the trail we went.  Little did I know that it was going to be below 0 temperatures and the walk was going to be 25 minutes up the side of the mountain.  The castle looked like it was an arm's distance away.

Yep I am smiling here but I was literally pushing myself to get up that mountain.

Sweet Sweet Mercy I was so happy to see the castle.  Oh yeah.

Okay - my hood fell off because I was kind of warm and then found that during the tour of the castle we needed to climb 186 steps.  WHOAHHHHHHHH

Aren't these wonderful photos?  Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos of the inside.

Ohhhhhhhhh what a shot huh?

Okay here is the front side.  Yep I shared a shot of the carriage at the beginning of this blog and it was a sight for my sore feet ha ha ha.

We opted to ride the carriage down the mountain.

The sequence of this part of the tour is kind of backwards but yeah we posed at the carriage sign after the ride.

My next blog will about the yummy yummy meals we ate on this tour.

PUG HUGS TO ALL