Piggy Picture Mug

One of my favorite tea mugs got a big chip on the rim.  Sadness.  I had checked out a few guinea pig mugs online to replace it, but hadn't found one I liked.  Then, a couple of weeks ago tinyprints offered a terrific deal on mugs (free small mug or $4 big one).  I decided to design my own.

It arrived late last week.  Isn't it cute?  I'm really pleased with the color and quality.  I wanted to stuff photos of all of my guinea pigs on it, but there wasn't enough room.  So I opted for the best pictures of my most recent sows.  

Ah.  Tea and pigs.  It makes me smile.  

Marimekko Cozy Giveaway

I recently received a pair of cozy sacks from CavyMadness.  Pinniped and Cannoli already have a large supply, so I thought I would share these with my readers.  Just in time for the cooler weather.

I am giving away a pair of CavyMadness Marimekko print cozies.  These are wider than most of my cozies - 12.5" and 13.5" wide, and each is 12" deep.  So if your pigs are willing to share, there's room for two.  Since there are two cozies, there's two chances to win!

To enter:  leave a comment here (be sure you are not a no-reply blogger, or include your email address in the comment) or on the CavyMadness Facebook page.  Indicate which of your pigs would love these cozies, and if they would prefer the striped or polka-dot cozy (or no preference).  I will be pulling one winner from the blog, the other from Facebook - so comment in both places and increase your chances to win.  This drawing closes on Friday, October 10th at 12pm EDT.  Congrats to Jack, Little Pig and Truffle - the winners of the two cozies!

I have had difficulty contacting winners on Facebook.  Please leave your email in the comments or check back after 12pm on October 10th - I will reply to the winner's comments.  If I cannot successfully contact the winner within 24 hours, I will randomly draw another name.

Scrappy String Pillow

Yay!  Finally it's done.  I hope the next pillow I make goes a lot quicker than this one.  I simply stitched the edges together, without cord or other trim.  I wasn't sure how the two patterns would look when it was all put together.  The edges match up nicely, though.  The points on the front and the back lined up and the colors all went together.

It's like having two pillows in one.  It certainly brightens up my sofa!

Freemotion Practice

Look!  Look!  Many mistakes and a few puckers later, I've successfully freemotion quilted my pillow tops.  I practiced several different patterns on the first one, which was the roughest.  I've never tried anything but stippling before.  The shadowed lines weren't too bad.  Pebbles were a lot harder than the video I watched.  I'm not thrilled with them, but they actually don't look bad.  Stitching on patterned fabric with a similar colored thread was hard to see.  I learned so much!  The back looked really cool (but I forgot to take a photo of it).

It was much easier to stitch the white on white on the second piece - I could see what I was sewing.  I'm really happy with the whole effect on this side of the pillow.  I was much more comfortable with the quilting; the stitching was even and I didn't pull the bobbin thread too tight.  I felt like a little kid that successfully colored inside the lines.

Sneaky Probiotics

Banana-and-Probiotic Sandwich

Giving medications to a guinea pig can be difficult, especially if they're pills or powders.  It's been a while since I've tried to give Pinniped powdered probiotic and I had forgotten how I normally gave it to her.  I tried sprinkling it on some green pepper.  That was a mistake!  She ate around the edges and kept pawing at it, clearly unhappy with it.  I'm sure she'd have made faces if she could.  I eventually washed off the probiotic, and she wolfed down what was left of the pepper.

Rob reminded me that I usually hid the probiotic in a bit of banana.  Banana should only be fed sparingly to guinea pigs, but it is a wonderful medium for hiding pills and powders.  It worked great for Willow's shilintong... until she realized that banana shouldn't be crunchy.  She was very deft at eating all the banana and spitting out the shilintong.  Bad pig!

However, Pinni isn't so discerning.  Probiotic powder wedged between two thin slices of banana quickly disappears.  I'm not sure if the banana flavor overwhelms the probiotic, or if it's because she eats it too quickly to notice.  Doesn't matter - it works for me!

Zoinks!

Silly me - I waited until my sewing machine was back from the shop before I started work on my sculpey projects.  I feel like I'm behind on everything.  So, instead of switching back to quilting, I've found myself making more earrings.

I made some sets of ginger piggies.  To give them their typical floppy ears, I attach them inside-out and straight-up.  Usually I'm so intent on the work, I don't stop and look at the progress.  But I did with this one and it made me laugh.  Doesn't he look ridiculous?!  Or maybe he's excited.  Ooh!  Veggies!

I had hoped to test drive the sewing machine this weekend - but was distracted by Coastal Cleanup (my sister and I picked up close to 10 lbs of trash in two hours) on Saturday, and sidetracked by the Patriots game on Sunday.  Hmmm... maybe I'll find some time during the week?

They're Back!

I put up the small window feeders this week.  The birds must have been watching and waiting.  Chickadees, titmice and woodpeckers arrived within a day.  Huzzah!  Such a difference from last year.  It makes me so happy to see them return.

And goodness!  this is my 500th post.  I started this blog to share guinea pig goofiness and whatever projects I was working on.  I hope it has entertained you, at least a little.  Thanks for reading!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Cannoli

Cannoli has become such a round little rodent over the last year.  Just look at how she fills that basket!  She occasionally tries to throw her weight at Pinniped, but Pinni still rules the roost.  Noli doesn't have a problem with that.  She loves being near Pinni; they are so very compatible together.  We discovered earlier this year how bonded they were when I separated Pinni to go to the vet.  We returned with an unhappy Pinni to a freaked out Cannoli.

Cannoli learned to be a good traveler in the last year.  Such a difference from our move, when she and Pinni bickered throughout the 30 minute trip.  She has accompanied Pinni on multiple vet visits as well as trips to the Cape and pignics.  The lack of fussing makes a less stressful trip for everyone.