Dog Toys

Our puppy Nora is a very strange dog. She drags all my brother Callum's car parts he has stacked up at the bottom of the garden and sorts them into piles. She has chewed up her bed with stuffing, and her stretcher bed, and pulls all the washing off the line. (She likes pyjamas and tights best.) It is clear she is bored.

"What if I sew her some toys?" I suggested to Mum.

"She will chew them up too," Mum warned.

"Hopefully it will stop her chewing everything else up," I replied.

I found an old tea-towel and cut it into a dog bone shape. I sewed it up together and stuffed it before taking outside for Nora. Two minutes later stuffing was all over the garden and the tea-towel nowhere to be seen. Next I twisted some socks up and sewed them in place. Nora didn't manage to eat this one so quickly. I decided that I probably should not make toys with stuffing because when Nora rips them apart, it goes everywhere,

I hope the toys stop Nora from chewing everything up (not that there is much left in the garden that she hasn't already eaten!)

Dog Bed Drama

When we were making preparations for our puppy Nora to come to live with us, we bought her a kennel and a dog bed. A few weeks ago we found the dog bed outside, all chewed up. The stuffing was everywhere.

"Don't worry, Mum," I said. "I will fix it."

Armed with thread and a needle, I put all the stuffing back in the bed and sewed up the hole. Soon the problem was fixed or so I thought. A week later the bed was chewed up again. I once again sewed it up. But however many times I sewed up the bed, Nora kept eating it. Charlotte helped me sew a sheet over the bed but Nora just chewed right through it. One day when I found her bed chewed up I took it inside and found that there was not enough fabric left on the bottom of the bed for me to fix it.

"Why don't you make it a new bottom?" Sophie suggested.

"What could I make it out of?" I asked.

"How about those old sheets we put in the garage?" Sophie asked.

So I went to the garage and found my old purple sheet with all the holes in it. I was not really sure how to make a new bottom for the bed. I had never done something like this before. I roughly cut the sheet in half and folded it till it was the right size then I sewed the fabric onto the bed. It took a long time but when it was done I was rather proud. Then all that was left to do was sew the pink sheet back over the top of the bed.

The whole procedure took a few hours. I took it back outside confident that this time the dog would not be able to chew through it. I was dreadfully wrong.

The next day the bed was all over the garden. I spent a good five minutes cleaning it up and a good few hours stitching. There was no denying it, we needed a new solution to the bed problem. Dad suggested that we buy Nora a rubber mat but we all thought she would chew through it like she does with her fabric one. For now it looks like I will just have to keep mending it till there is no fabric left.

Do you have problems like these? Do you have any ideas on what we can get the dog instead of her old bed?   

My Mermaid

"Mum, I think the parcel man is at the front door," Sophie cried.

"It is probably a parcel for Callum," Mum said, getting up and heading towards the door. In a few minutes she was back with a package in her hand.

I rushed over to Mum. "Who is it for?" I asked eagerly.

"It is the sewing book I ordered for you and the other girls," beamed Mum.

"Can I open it?" I asked impatiently.

"If you want to," Mum smiled.

I tore off the wrappings and inside was a sewing book called Fleecie Dolls. I started flicking through the book.

"That mermaid is so pretty," Imogen exclaimed.

"Look at her tail," sighed Mum. "It's covered in pretty sequins."

I found a needle, some thread and a piece of fleece and set to work making that pretty mermaid. I really enjoyed sewing the doll and soon the body and tail were finished.

"Mum, you marked the white fleece with a dark pen to show me where to sew the dart..." I started to say.

"Yes, what is wrong? Did the pen show through the fabric?" Mum asked. I nodded. "You had better give your doll a bath to get rid of the pen marks."

I grinned. I was about to give a mermaid a bath. Soon I was scrubbing the doll with a bar of soap. "Imogen, look! I am giving my doll a bath," I squealed.

A few days later I was ready to start putting sequins on my mermaid's tail. Mum showed me how to sew the sequins on and I was soon sewing them on all by myself. But then disaster! "Mum, I have lost the needle."

"What do you mean?" Mum asked getting up.

"When I was sewing my sequin on I lost the needle inside the mermaid," I spluttered, close to tears. Mum and Imogen searched the mermaid and the seat, and even Jenny the cat who a few minutes ago had been perched on my lap.

"I can't find it," announced Imogen.

"You can use my needle to finish sewing the sequins on," Charlotte offered.

"You will all have to watch your feet," Mum warned, "in case the missing needle is still on the floor."

"Mum, I am ready to sew my mermaid's hair on," I grinned. Mum handed me some wool and some orange fleece.

"Do you want me to help you with the hair?" Mum asked.

"Yes please," I thanked. Sewing the hair on was not as easy as I had anticipated and our fingers got frequently pricked.

On Sunday Charlotte drew the face on the doll with a fading pen so I knew where to sew it with a needle and some thread. After lunch I headed to the table all ready to sew the face on. "Mum, the face has faded and now I can't see it," I wailed.

"It has faded  all ready?" Mum asked in surprise.

Charlotte patiently drew the face back on and I started to sew the eyes. After one eye I was already having trouble seeing the face. After both eyes I could not see the mouth at all. The pen marks were fading again. "Charlotte, can you please draw the mouth on one last time?" I asked. Finally the mouth was done and the only thing left to do was the bikini top.

Mum carefully measured out some ribbon to make a top, and then tried to fit it round my mermaid's waist. "She is too fat," Mum declared. "We will need to cut a bigger piece of ribbon."

"Mum, I have finished sewing the top," I announced happily. "Could I please have a button to sew on the ribbon?"

Mum opened up her button box and found a button that looked like a pearl. "Will this do?" she asked.

"Oh yes," I breathed. I sewed the button on. I'd finished the doll.

For the rest of the evening I went around showing everybody my wonderful doll. I love my mermaid.

Next I am going to make this doll called Florence.