It was my Mom's birthday yesterday, and after spending half a day trying to wet felt some soap for the first time (I blogged about that yesterday), I moved on to needle felting. I made this little dog.
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| Needle felted dog from photo |
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| Pippity and Annie |
Years ago, I found this dog as a puppy, half frozen in the snow waaay up north in Moosonee, Ontario (there are no roads to Moosonee; you have to fly or take the train, the Polar Bear Express, from Cochrane, where the highway ends).
I named her "Pupsicle" while I waited for her owners to claim her. They never did, so I kept her. She was a sweet little dog, half dachshund and half black lab, sleek as an otter, and so gentle and good.
The cold in Moosonee didn't kill her, but it almost killed me, so in May, my principal forced me to move home because she didn't want "another of her teachers to die from asthma". One had died the year before, but they forgot to ask if I had asthma in the interview. After me, they warned asthmatics that the cold in Moosonee might just kill them. I didn't want to go home early; it was my first year as a teacher, and i was concerned it would look bad on my resume, but I'd been sick for 10 months straight, had gone from size 9 to size 22 due to high doses of prednisone during that time, and was told by the doctor that if I stayed, I would die...but that's another story.
When I moved home to recover from pneumonia and severe asthma, my Mom was ready to kill me; possibly a bigger threat than Moosonee's climate. She had her reasons. I came home with Pupsicle, now almost a year old, and 6 of her pups (no vets in Moosonee at the time, and she wasn't fixed. A babysitter left her out unsupervised while I was in hospital). I also had an arctic hare I had rescued from a trapper, two birds, and a few rodents (hamsters or rats, I can't remember).
My Mom didn't like the dog at first, but by the time I was well enough to move to the Toronto area to teach, she had fallen in love, and wouldn't let me take her. She renamed her "Pippity Pop" or "Madame", depending on her mood, and I ended up buying an African Grey parrot and a miniature poodle (also another story, lol).
Pippity Pop lived a long and happy life. My parents took her out to camp (the cottage), fishing, on long walks, and treated her like a queen. Pip was always happy to see me, but I knew she was happy with my parents, happier than she would have been with me, in the big city.
My Mom was devastated when Pip died, even though she'd lived to a nice, old age. I was back in my hometown, and my Mom stopped off at my place after Pip died to "borrow" my dogs, so she wouldn't have to go home to a dog free house.
She basically stole Annie, and my other little dog, Sandy.
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| Me and my girls |
I kept stealing them back, but would only have them for a week or so before she and my Dad would come to take them again. We shared custody, but i missed having a dog all the time so I bought my Mac.
Here's a photo of all 3 of them taken the week before their grooming session. It was Christmas morning, and they were waiting to go to Grandma's house.
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| Annie, Sandy, and Mac |
Here's my little Benji. I adopted him about 6 years ago. He's getting old now, poor guy, but he's still happy and active.
I hope to make felt sculptures of all of my fur babies. I really hope I'll get better with experience. I think I'm improving, but i have a long way to go.
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| Benji in his crocheted sweater |
I did the Beagle over a year ago, and I think Pip is nicer; a bit more realistic. Pip used to have a beagle friend named Blue.
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| Needle felted dogs |
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