Crazy Dog Lady for Sure

I finished my entry for the Crazy Dog Lady Challenge, and I must say I'm pretty pleased with the results.

As a reminder, my inspiration dog is my Great Pyrenees, Zoe.

And this is a close-up of my fabric, a very soft and well-behaved cotton from Cotton and Steel. I'm suspecting this might really be a coyote rather than a dog, but the resemblance is remarkable, don't you think?

We adopted Zoe three years ago from Great Pyrenees Rescue of Northern California. When we got her they thought she was about 3 years old, so we figure she's about 6 now. She's just the sweetest dog you would ever want to know. To her, a stranger is just a friend she hasn't met yet. She works with me doing pet assisted therapy. Twice a month we visit a nursing home with Furry Friends. Zoe also heads to the public library once a month, so that kids can practice their reading with her. She's a totally non-critical audience. That's a program called Tales to Tails. This weekend we'll be visiting the library up at the Santa Cruz campus of the University of California, so that stressed-out students studying for their finals can mellow out by cuddling a big, white fur ball. That program is called Pause for Paws.

The blue isn't really as dark as it looks here

I decided to use one of my favorite patterns for this challenge - the Edith blouse from Maria Denmark. I thought the vintage style of the blouse would be a good match for the slightly retro-style fabric, and it's certainly an easy top to wear.

Front view

The blouse has darts front and back to give it a nice shape.

Back view

And the cut-on sleeves just cover your shoulders.

Better idea of the color

Here's a picture on Mini Me, to give you a better idea of the color. The background is a very soft blue-grey, livened up by green cacti, pink jack rabbits and, of course, Great Pyrenees.

I had what I thought were the perfect buttons. I got them at an antique mall in Illinois when we did our road trip to Chicago last summer. I think they look like little full moons, just the thing for a while dog (or coyote) to be howling to on a Spring night.

She's very good at giving kisses

Crazy Dog Lady

I know I said I was going to limit myself to three sewing challenges this year, but that was before Sophie Lee of Two Random Words* announced the Crazy Dog Lady Challenge.

How could I say no? As a dog-lover and the owner of a Great Pyrenees, I feel obligated to participate.

Let me introduce you to Zoe:

My inspiration dog

Here are the "rules," copied from Sophie Lee's blog:

"You can interpret the challenge however you like – whether you make a garment from dog-themed fabric, make yourself a dog costume, make an outfit for your dog, or ALL THREE, is up to you. Even a dog quilt would be awesome!"

I stepped out on my Stashbusting Challenge to attend the Superbowl Sunday fabric sale at Hart's, where my friend Lisa (and a bunch of other friendly fabric lovers) helped me go through every bolt of dog-themed fabric in the store.

There were a surprising number of options to choose from. Some were cute, but bad colors for me, some were a bit too youthful (read "pre-school") in style, but there were several that were very tempting. I ended up going with a nice, soft cotton from Cotton and Steel.

I'm willing to stipulate that these guys are probably coyotes, or possible wolves.  The cacti point in the coyote direction. Still, they're clearly members of the genus canis, so I figure this fabric counts as dog-themed.

Don't you think there's a clear resemblance to my inspiration dog?

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

I have until March 15 to turn 1.5 yards of this fabric into (probably) a blouse. Game on!

Bonus adorable picture of Zoe (at 75 lbs) with her friend Hermes (at 2.5 lbs)

* Coincidentally, The Man is an expert in the mathematics of Random Walks. Eerie, huh?