The incredible shrinking bean-bag

It's a bit weird how this beanbag has shrunk over the last year, don't you think?

An interesting dog walk.... kinda

On Saturday evening we decided we would see if we could get Ruby to Talkin Tarn, a local beauty spot where Dotty used to love to go.  It's only about 10 miles from home and we got there ok, but accompanied by big piles of puppy puke, still she had a lovely run about, even dipped her paws in the Tarn before coming home again accompanied by more puppy puke.

So, on Sunday we thought it best to stay closer to home and took her for a walk around Kingmoor Woods, another of Dotty's favourite haunts.

The plan was to walk her through the woods, which leads out onto the industrial estate that is home to Hobbycraft, were she would go and see hello to my old work buddies, have a coffee at MacDonalds  (as Hubster had some free coffee vouchers) then wander back home again.

We set of from home in nice bright sunshine. Hubster decided to turn back to get his sunglasses, I could still see my front door and him yelling from it, but couldn't hear what he was saying - then it struck me, it was pouring down where he was standing, and blazing sun where I was and we were only a few doors away from each other!   Of course the rain hit me, but we decided it was just a summer shower and we carried on.

A few minutes later it was persisting down, and we had to take shelter under a tree in someone's garden.  Ruby was steadfastly refusing to move.  Just look at those clouds!

Ten minutes on and the rain had dried up, so we continued on our way, we were only yards off the entrance to the woods at this point, and of course, it was nice and sheltered in there.

The rain stayed off as we walked through the industrial estate and reached Hobbycraft, where Ruby got a big fuss and a few cuddles, but then the rain started again so we decided to abandon our free coffee (as we would have had to sit outside) and try to get back to the shelter of the woods.

Ruby wasn't having it at all, 4 paws firmly planted on the floor and a cast iron will that stopped her moving an inch.  So Hubster had to carry her - all 12.7 kilos of solid puppy, all the way through the estate and back to the woods.  She was heavy.... apparently.....  I carried the lead  ;)

Again, under the canopy of the trees and sheltered from the big scary raindrops, she was happy to trot about on her own, but once we reached the exit of the woods that led into the housing estate, her feet were stuck like glue to the floor.  Would she move?  No, she would not!

The decision was made for Hubster to make a mad dash, through the rain, through the housing estate and back home to pick up the car, so he could drive to the woods car park and pick her up.  Even tugging her along the car park was an ordeal!

Note to self:  Puppy does not like rain...... or wind.... .or car journeys.

:)

Animals spreading themselves about.

My animals seem to like to spread themselves about all over the place.  

Just yesterday I went into the conservatory to see this....

Have a closer look.  What could it be?

A puddy qwat, sunbathing on the roof.  A nice safe place to be, away from puppy dogs.

Then there is this....  the lazy little monkey who actually sleeps hanging off her bed.

Often!

Squiddly Denim Dog Toy

I made another dog toy!   I must say I am having too much fun with these and making them is not getting me through my "to do" list very quickly!

Still, Ruby likes them.  This one is "Squiddly"  named so beacause he's a squid - clever huh?   :)

Anyway.... what I did was to take a piece of demin jeans leg left over from cutting off to make shorts.  A tennis ball and an empty crinkly bag of dog treats.

I turned the leg inside out and sewed a rough arch shape across the top.  Trimmed some of the excess of and turned it back the right way again.

Then I popped the ball into the bag - I wanted the shape of the ball and the crinkly noise of the packet.

Screwed it up a bit and added some sellotape to seal.

Then I placed it in the top of the arch and sewed it in place by stitching a rough line across.

Next, I puckered it all up as best I could and zig-zagged lots of rows to hold it in place.

Time to cut the Squid's tentacles now, I just cut it all up into 1" or so ribbons.

And cut one off  :)  Not accidentally, I really did need it for something.....

... for tying around the stitching in fact  :)   Tied extra tight in a double knot.

Then I put a knot at different heights in each of the ribbons.

And drew a face on him with a Sharpie pen  :)  (I drew an angry face on the back too).

SQUIDDLY!!!

"What on earth is this?"  Says Ruby.

(Captions please)    :)

Scrappy Denim Dog Toy

You remember I was cutting the legs off jeans this week to make shorts for my daughter?  Well Ruby the Puppy decided to keep running away with the bits of legs that I had removed, so I put down what I was busy with and decided to make her a toy.

Introducing 'Scrappy' - great name huh?   ;)

So, what did I do?   Well, first I took a plastic sauce bottle out of my recyling bin - washed it again to make sure it was spotlessly clean.

Then popped some dog treats inside to make it rattle.   I wanted something to make a noise within the toy, and used dog treats as at least I know they are digestible in the chance that she gets into it.

Screwed the lid on tight and gave it a shake to check it was noisy enough  :)

Then I took the piece that once was the bottom of a pair of jeans.

Decided that it would fit the bottle in this way, but if you are making one fit it in anyway it will go.

I TRIPLE sewed a line up the 1/3rd mark of the denim, so hopefully it will be a nice strong seam.

Then I slid the bottle in and triple sewed another line to keep in in place.

Next I sliced up the edges to make ribbons of denim.

Some of the ribbons I plaited and sewed the ends to make them hard to undo.  I left the little tag in place as Ruby seems to like chewing tags.

And other ribbons I knotted with very tight knots.

Yeah.... she likes it.  All the blooming toys we have bought her and this is now a firm favourite.  Maybe because it smells of her humans.

She even takes her naps with it beside her.

Would you like a little video of her playing with Scrappy?  Yeah, thought you might  ;)

Now, I must add a disclaimer.  I would never leave my dog alone with this, even though I don't expect anything is too harmful, I don't fancy paying a large Vet bill for bits of plastic that have got stuck in her little gut!