The Army Wife

I have a soft spot for Armed Forces Wives.  Not just because my mother, grandmothers, friends and myself are/were ones, but because I totally get it.  We are not only a wife. We are cheerleaders. Travel agents. Mechanics. Repairmen. You name it. I found this definition the other day and it pretty much sums it up:

Wife of an soldier. An emotionally strong and independent woman who does what is necessary to care for her family. A very devoted wife who is proud of her husband. She is normally very modest and kind. She makes a million sacrifices for her family, and the Military Life yet wouldn't have it any other way. She waits out long, sleepless nights and experiences worry and fear. She also experiences incredible pride in her soldier and a true Military Wife will wait faithfully for him to return from the war. She is the most supportive, loving, strongest woman on the earth.

A few days ago I was contacted by a Valkyrie Facebook follower if I could make her family dog a SchnoodleFish collar using pink and ACU's (Army Combat Uniform).  I happen to have a few scraps left over and told her I would love too.

We soon began to chat over Facebook IM and I found out a few more things about her and discovered a true Kindred Spirit in Amy. I totally got it.  She needed a lanyard for work and so I told her I would also throw that into the box.

It turns out she also has a Canon DSLR, but was too shy to ask if my straps fit her gear (yes they do) so I "accidentally" made up with rest of the scraps a strap that I used and tossed that in as well.

I love being able to surprise people. Particularly good people.  The world needs more good people and Amy is one of them.  It's not a lot, but I do know that as a Military wife, even the little things can make your day.  I'm so glad I was able to make her smile!

P.S. Penelope Just ROCKS the SchnoodleFish!

SchnoodleFish Dog Collars: Or What a Valkyrie Does with Her Leftovers

I am a fabric hoarder. A bad one. I hang on to scraps of scraps becuase you just never know what is going to come out of this 2" x 2" square of Riley Blake....yeah, blah, blah,whatever.

So Warrior Husband challenged me to come up with something to do with all the tiny pieces and after much pondering and deliberation, and watching Bentley scratch at his collar and thinking I needed to get him a new one I decided to go online and look and see how much a fun one would cost me.

Then I had a heart attack.  And then I saw that they were just ribbons sewing (some what poorly) on nylon strapping that were far too girly for my boy dogs. Eww.  No thank you! So off to Pinterest I go, fining as many dog collar tutorials as I can find and viola!  I found one that made sense. Fabric on both sides, and I could totally adapt it to handle my patchwork. Oh, way cool fun fact 2: can't use the small scrap pieces, so I had to toss them. It was sad.

So, the first test run was for my Bentley and my love of orange and grey.

Then for Charlie with blue and grey and then later an all ACU.

Then let a little time go by, and start showing off the Boys. Apparently, I did good, within the week a few custom orders came in. Then a few more.  Now, starting in October 2014, Montana Murray Kennels will be selling my line of SchnoodleFish Collars. (Thank you Ron!!)

Ok, now for the whole what in the hell is a SchnoodleFish thing.  Charlie, Warrior Husband's service dog from K9s For Warriors, is a Giant Schnoodle (half standard poodle/half giant schnauzer)=Schnoodle. He does this thing with his muzzle when he's tired and being silly almost like fish lips (which is impressive if you can catch him doing that!) Hence his pet name of SchnoodleFish. That and it's just so darn cute. I can make x-small, small, medium, large, x-large and small horse (aka Neapolitan Mastiff).

Summer of Patchwork: Patchwork Dog Collar

A few weeks ago, it occurred to me that my service dog Bentley could use a different colored dog collar.  Not that his current one wasn't bad, I just decided that it might be kinda fun to have a new one to "match" each other. Because I'm weird that way! So out I went to out locally owned dog stores and found a lot of really cutesy, fluffy type collars, but nothing just fit his personality.  So, back to the drawing board aka-Pinterest. Sure, if I wanted to sew ribbon onto 1" webbing I could be like every other person and then, they aren't washable either.  Eeew.  OK think, think, think. I'm surrounded by fabric, I love to pull colors...patchwork...dog collar...patchwork dog collar!  I could use two main colors, pull scraps and just make color combos that work with his MOLLE bags as well as his personality! (And maybe my outfits too.)

So, I headed over to Etsy and found a pattern made by Fidos Fashion Collars. The main reason I chose this one was simple:  Theirs gave me the dimensions to wrap the fabric around the webbing.  I have seen this done two ways: either just fabric with interfacing folded into each other, or fabric sewing just on top of the webbing.  I wanted the fabric to be the one thing up against my dog's neck, not the webbing, and, as much as I have seen dogs pull, I wanted that webbing as the core to help take the stress of a pull if it was needed. They also have a a great sizing chart to fit just about every dog.

For my patchwork, I just used the typical 2.5" to show off a bit of the fabric design. I used a straight stitch for the edges and a sati stitch for the attachment points.  Again, not for any other reason but if a dog pulls I don't want the fabric to give.  So at this point, my hardware is my weakest link.  The supplier I use for my camera gear is Country Brook Designs. They maybe a bit more expensive, but their quality and their customer service is fantastic.

So, here are the three sets of collars I've made (out of the 4 thus far, 2 more to go) just this week alone! I do believe SchnoodleFish is alive and well! If you are interested in a collar for your Goggie, drop me a line, I'll get one made up for ya!