A letter from Ziggy to Lily -- Re: Thanksgiving

I am taking a break from blogging today to allow our dog Ziggy to type out a quick note to The Niece, aka Lily who will be coming here for Thanksgiving this year. Lily is less than fond of dogs and Ziggy is a really sweet dog so we're hoping to help her get over this unnecessary fear. Ziggy doesn't want to spend his Thanksgiving in the basement, we really just want everyone to be happy. Rest assured that if Ziggy DID do something naughty or couldn't calm down, he'd be in the basement faster than you could say, "Please pass the turkey," but he is usually a very good dog and LOVES children. My sister will be sharing this post and pictures with Lily before she visits, we're hoping it helps a bit. So, without further adieu... here's Ziggy!


My dear Cousin Lily:
How are you today? I hear you just had a birthday... happy birthday! I wanted to come to your party but Mommy said, "no" because I tend to have "issues" in the car and it's kind of a long drive. I know you're four now, that means you're almost three years older than me! Wow! I knew I looked up to you for a reason! What a big girl you are!

Hey Lily, do you know that when you and your family come to my house, I get really excited? I love to have visitors and so I run around a little bit and want to sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff. As soon as I say hello to everyone and get all my sniffing in, I'm fine to just hang out and leave you guys alone. Just ask your cousin, he loves to hang out with me. I'm really excited to meet your little sister, I hear she's really cute and babies always have extra good (and bad) things to sniff. Did you know that doggies especially like what humans think are the "bad" smells. I know. We're kind of gross sometimes.


Sometimes I bark and I sound a little scary. I don't mean to, it's just that I'm a big guy so my voice is deep, kind of like your Daddy. When I bark it's because I love my people and I think that I'm a watch dog. I want to bark to warn anyone outside that I'm guarding the house and taking care of my family, I guess you could say, I think it's my job to keep any bad guys away and barking is how I do that.


Last but not least, when you start to cry about me being here, I feel bad Lily. I really like kids and when they cry, I get worried and have to investigate, it's just in my breed, we German Shorthair Pointers are what they like to call "family" dogs and we don't like it when kids are upset because we really want kids to be happy so if you don't want me coming around you, it's probably a good idea to try not to cry and make squeaky sounds when I'm around, it just makes me all the more curious and concerned. I would never hurt a kid. NEVER! I love kids.

Do you think you can handle all that Lil'? I do, Mommy tells me you're a really good girl and we're all so excited that you're coming to our house on Thursday. I can't wait to see you and get my sniff on! Remember that time you said I had "fancy legs?" That made me feel SO good because I like my fancy speckled legs and I know how you like fancy stuff (like Fancy Nancy) so I guess that means you like me! I'll be a good boy Lily. I promise!

See you soon! Woof!
Love, your Canine Cousin, Ziggy

edited to add... Be sure to check out the comments on this post as it's intended recipient has left her own comment. Thanks Lil!

A Tutu Tutorial!

I know I mentioned about a week back that I was going to give you a tutu tutorial. The Niece turned four at the beginning of this month and we celebrated on the same day that The Sister had her new baby's christening. I was SO excited to give The Niece her present because she requested "dress up stuff and Fancy Nancy stuff." My dad gave her a cute chest full of glittery, sparkly things just right for any little girl and I added a few more things that she could put in the chest as well. Three different tutus, a hula skirt and lei and a couple tiaras/veils to complete any well-dressed preschool young lady's wardrobe. (We also gave her a copy of "Fancy Nancy" because you know this former classroom teacher loves to give children's books as gifts.)

The tutu I'm featuring for you today is a filled tutu, I saw something similar on "The Martha Stewart Show" for Halloween and I made it work for The Niece. I am thrilled with the way it came out. It's very easy to do. The following directions make a tutu that would fit your average 2 to 6 year old but it would be very easy to do to make it smaller or bigger as you see fit.

Supplies:
Tulle
1.5 inch wide ribbon (I used grosgrain)
stuff to fill your tutu
thread, pins and other sewing paraphernalia.

You start with the standard tulle that you'll find at any fabric store, I am not sure of the width but it's all pretty much the same, You'll need 1.5 yards or more if you want it really puffy. You're going to fold it in half and then in half again. Sew up the shorter sides, keep the fold at the bottom and leave the top, open.

After you complete that you should have a two-layered pocket with a large opening at the top. Use that opening to fill your tutu with any kind of cute, glittery, girly stuff you want. I used white flowers and multi-colored sequins.


Cut yourself a length of ribbon about 22 inches long. This will be the inside of your waistband. I folded in the edges on the side before I pinned the tulle to the ribbon band. Find the middle of your tulle, leaving the opening at the top. Pin the middle of the tulle to the middle of the waistband and pin the edges of the tulle to the edges of the ribbon. Pleat/gather the tulle and pin it evenly along the ribbon waist band.


It should look something like this:


Stitch the tulle to the ribbon. Remember, this is going to be the inside of the waist band so don't worry if it's not totally neat. Next, cut yourself a length of ribbon approximately 65" long. Find the center and pin the center of that ribbon to the center of the portion you already sewed, sandwiching the tulle between the two ribbons. Pin and stitch these together, you'll want this to be neater since this will be the side that shows. I did a seam along the top and bottom of the ribbon. It wasn't perfectly neat but it's a dress-up tutu so I didn't freak about non-neatness.


That pretty much sums it up... Here is the finished product, modeled prettily by a beautiful four-year-old girl.

I also made this one with the same method but didn't fill it with anything, it already has metallic, rainbow colored stars on it and any one who knows fashion knows that metallic, rainbow stars stand on their own just fine.

Pretty huh? Yeah, the skirts are cute too!


Have a great day everyone!