Christmas for Stars

Well, once again, Stars made out like a bandit this Christmas--but he's so sweet, that it's fun to give him things.  He got lots of tasty treats from my brother including his favorite salmon bites from Zukes and a can of Taste of the Wild (the prairie one) canned food (has bison and venison and lamb in it) because my brother thought it was too cool to think of Stars eating on a buffalo.  Stars, the dire wolf baby, scarfed that stuff down like it was cheese.  Watch out Montana!

Stars likes to unwrap his own presents!  Some help from a sister is needed at times though.

From one sister he got a pile of beanie babies which he will lovingly rip out the eyes on at some future date.  (He's very particular about taking out all hard safety eyes on every toy.) From the other sister he got a really brightly colored pillow pal bear (right bottom corner in above photo) which he has happily dragged around the house to shake furiously at random moments (usually near my head).  He also likes to lay his head on it.  Mom and Dad gave him lots of treats too.

Grandma sent him a polar fleece blanket.  She makes "quilts" from polar fleece using her serger and they're quite wonderful to wrap in while reading a book.

All cuddled up in a blanket from Grandma, well, until the rather bright flash went off!

I made Stars a new bed pad for by the front door where he likes to take up watch.  You can see part of it in the above photo--its the green stripe fabric thing folded up funny on the right.  I also made him his traditional Christmas blanket and a new coat.

The blanket is made from upcycled denim and corduroy on the front and one of those plush cuddle minky throws you find in the stores.  The corduroys include a dark navy, plum, lilac, bright pink, a couple of reds and a dark teal color.  There's even three rectangles with a puffy scottie dog applique on them.  Needless to say this baby is soft and squishy, perfect to cuddle my Stars in.

Thanks sis for holding that up while I tried not to trip over Christmas presents!

 I wanted something modern and free form but not wobbly curvy.  So I stuck with strips, squares and rectangles, some of which I cut at angles.  It turned out pretty much like what I was envisioning, so I'm happy with it.

Here you can see a bit closer how the pieces are not wobbly but are skewed and and wonky sometimes to add to the overall mod art look that I was going for.

Stars adores his new quilt which he has slept under for the past few nights and guards from any who might think they're going to borrow it!

Finally a few minutes of sunshine.  Stars happily went out for photos... well, he went out happily, but he didn't want to cooperate for photos.

His new coat is from a lovely raspberry corduroy (not so pink as the photos show, more purple in it) and lined with a baby blue sweatshirt fleece sewn fuzzy side out.

Look fast!  Here's the blue lining used.  Stars was busy chasing anything he saw, so I was busy chasing him!

I used my typical Butterick 4226, this time with the collar which is rather oversized but gives a classy touch to this basic coat.  I did skip the whole add binding hassle and just sewed each piece up wrong sides together and then turned right sides out.  I attached the belly band straps and collars to the exterior body piece before sewing it to the lining body piece so that the ends would all be neatly concealed in the seams. 

See the top stitching around all the edges and the stitching for the velcro strips.

I again used the 12 inch strips of wide velcro which is something I will continue to do--it makes it easier to adjust for size changes and gives a more secure attachment.  (The last thing I need is a strap coming undone while he's tearing through the yard at top speed!)  I simply zigzag around the edges.  Also, I put the soft side on the straps that will face Stars so that he won't be irritated by the prickly side or get his hair caught in it.


A bit fuzzy because cooperating was not on the menu, but you can see the side of the coat where the straps open at.

And after being told to settle down so I could get decently focused pictures....

Little mopey face!  He really is a good little guy.  He just has a bit of a cold and was finally getting some sunshine.

So, all is forgiven and I'll just make do with chasing down a happy border collie for out of focus pictures.

There's my smile!  And a great view of the other side of the coat.

So, Stars loved his Christmas presents along with the beautiful lights on the tree and constant Christmas music, but the photo shoot was definitely over!

Enough is enough!