I think I need to put a warning label on my website. 

Warning: Collars by Sew Crazy Dog Lady may cause addiction to style, form and function and fervent fabric shopping.

Whadya Think?

Thanks to Basja’s Mom for sending this fun fabric and this pic!

Are you noticing that there are quite a few martingales showing up here?  Yeah, that’s because people keep asking me for them.  I’ve actually decided “official like” to start offering them.

This weekend, I’ll be working on a pattern so that I can make sure they are consistent in size and quality.  Then Poof! In the store they go.

So I started adding in some premade collars to the store… you know for instant gratification. (there are more to come.. I just haven’t posted them yet)

When I look at the pics at home, they look great! When I look at them at work, well they are kinda.. well.. meh.

I think it’s partly because I had to get new bulbs for my lightbox (don’t ask.. I’m a klutz). And partly because of the grey background. and partly because things look different on my laptop monitor.

What do you think?

I bought a nice sheet of white muslin to try for the background. We’ll see how it goes..

Oh and have you entered yet?

This morning, Shel and I took the girls to Petsmart.  We don’t usually buy anything.  We just go for the social interaction.

The girls were wearing my collars (0f course).  Qor was wearing her Zig Zag collar and Qay was wearing her Charlotte’s Hearts collar.  The little voice in the back of my head said “make sure you grab some business cards”.

But… well… I didn’t think I should be handing out my business cards in PetsMart.  It just didn’t seem right.  Besides, never have I had occasion to hand one out.

Until today.

Sheesh!  We were in the aisle with the collars (because I like to see what is out there and for how much) and I hear someone say to Shel, “wow! that’s a nice collar! where did you get that?”  And Shel says “Oh she made it!” and pointing at me, continues “we had a bigger boy and we couldn’t find collars to fit and so she started making them.”

The woman wanders over and says “you MADE these?” and I said “oh yes.  It’s fun!” (I am not the best salesperson when confronted with a human.  There is a reason I have an internet store!)  She asked to feel them and after Qay had a minor meltdown she was able to get her hand in her collar and really feel it.

“Wow!” she says.. “that is really nice! and it feels so sturdy.”

what do I say?

“Thank you. I enjoyed making it”

Doh!  if I had a business card I could have handed it over and started my schpeel.. but noooo..  I’m out there hanging in the breeze….

When we got home, I put a stash in every pocket of every coat and in my bag.

A few weeks ago, I think I wrote about making custom leashes for Lindsay at RunThatMutt.com.  They are coming along.

All I have left to do is wait for the labels to dry and then I can sew them up.

Check them out.

You can see the edges are still drying. They are wet from being dipped in Fray Check.

I got an email the other day from Kara who bought collars from me when I first started making them over three years ago. At that time Kara’s dogs were still learning leash manners and were pretty tough on collars. She asked me to make a few for her.

Kara just sent me pictures of the collars now.. sure they are a little faded but I think they look pretty good for three year old collars!

Literally.

Sunday, I foolishly did (ahem) housework.  Yes, housework. 

Evidently my body, being unfamiliar with this exercise decided to protest… vehemently.

Since Sunday afternoon, I have been in horrible horrible debilitating pain. Can’t turn my head.. can’t think straight.. and certainly can’t sew! It was all I could do to get through a day at work.

I’ve been remiss in blogging.. I meant to blog about Lindsay over at RunThatMutt.com who has ordered some custom leashes from me. And she wrote all about her custom leashes and even put up pictures and I havent’ yet blogged about her amazing knowledge of dog behavior or her ingenious dog running business

I haven’t posted new pics of Basja yet… and they came the other day.

I haven’t written at all about a local charity that I intend to donate some proceeds to.

And most importantly, I haven’t sewn a THING!  All I want to do is sit on the couch with an ice pack and cry.

Thank the Gods for Chiropractors..  I’m just sayin’.

So, I upgraded WordPress and I forgot how to make my gallery work with it.. there is some wierd setting that should fix it but I can’t remember what it is!

So, until my brain comes back, the gallery is down

I’m sooo tired of losing my scissors… I have three pairs (plus the rotary cutter). One for thread, one for webbing and one for fabric.  I’m not ruining my nice Fiskars on webbing.. no way.. no how.

Part of the problem is that I need these scissors at three different “stations” in my sewing room. Cutting, Ironing and Sewing.  (yes, at my ironing board, I trim edges and cut to length)

So I whipped this together tonight.. It’s not pretty.. I didn’t bother with pretty.. I wanted it to work.

It has four small pockets in front and the whole thing is one big pocket. I can stick my seam ripper in there..

since it took me 15 minutes to FIND my seamripper.. after I sewed the ties on inside out… so silly.. I guess it’s like sewing sleeves.. I always have to do one wrong!