Closing Down.

It's hard to keep up the content to manage two blogs.  I thought I could do it, with so much that happens during the year with the activities of Greyhounds Rock.  I was wrong.  Pretty much immediately after the last post on this blog, I made the decision that it would be easier on me to merge the content that I would have directed into this blog into my main blog (Hartwood Roses).  This blog never picked up the readership I would have liked to see, and it was hard for me to separate my work with Greyhounds Rock from everything else I do.

In October, I posted some adorable photos from one of our Greyhounds Rock planning committee meetings.  We always had great food to share and lots of sleepy dogs in attendance.  (CLICK HERE to view post.)

Scrunchie and Denny don't care what we're discussing at the meeting.  They just want to hang out with their humans.

I chronicled our Halloween weekend gathering IN THIS POST, with the vendors, seminars, speakers, and the costume contest at our banquet.  It was a huge success, and we are excited about the plans we already have for this year's gathering.

In December, many of the Greyhounds Rock volunteers worked a couple of weekends with Santa at the Mall ... keeping the kiddies and their parents happy while they were waiting in line to visit with the jolly old Elf.  (CLICK HERE for more).  We have a dog event planned for the Mall this summer ... stay tuned for details.

We are in the early stages of planning this year's fall weekend event, being held November 11-13, 2011.  We have already secured a nationally recognized speaker that we are incredibly excited about.  Details will be forthcoming come VERY soon ... announced on the Greyhounds Rock web site, through our mailing list, and on the Hartwood Roses blog.

My latest portrait of TJ, taken last week.

For those of you who have been following the progress of TJ, our 'poster dog' who lost his left front leg to Osteosarcoma in July ... he completed his 6th round of chemotherapy last month.  He has had two chest x-rays during that time, and both were normal.  I saw him yesterday at Kim's house, and he greeted me with his usual enthusiasm ... running through the snow and jumping over branches.  It's good to see such a happy dog!

I will leave this blog up as an archive, what little of it there is.  Can it really be called an 'archive' when there are only nine posts? 

To keep up with all of the activities of the Greyhounds Rock gang, please visit our web site.  While you're there, consider joining our mailing list to be notified of whatever is going on, and donations are graciously accepted and greately appreciated ... hint, hint.

Making Martingale Collars for the Greyhounds Rock Booth at the Dog Fair.

We, the ladies of Greyhounds Rock, in addition to planning our own event and fundraising activities, are also on the planning committee for 'Fredericksburg's Gone to the Dogs' the Downtown Dog Fair.  We are in charge of soliciting all of the vendors and animal welfare organizations, and coordinating their booth space and locations.  All of this meshes perfectly with what we already do for our own annual gathering, and we are pleased to be making a contribution to such a fabulous event like the Dog Fair.

The Dog Fair is THIS SATURDAY, and I still haven't finished sewing enough collars to sell at our booth.  (I'm trying not to panic.)  The rainy weather this week has kept me out of the garden, and has made for perfect conditions for staying inside and sewing like crazy.  I'm getting a lot accomplished.

This was the fabric rack at the ReStore.

I already had a lot of fabric picked out to use, and I found even more at the Richmond Habitat ReStore.  I love making collars from discontinued designer decorator fabrics!  The fabric is usually of exceptional quality, and the colors are beautiful.

Most of these are linen or linen blends.

I cut the squares of fabric into strips ....

... and I sew on the lining.  To make the process go faster, I usually sew the strips one after another without cutting the thread.  I end up with a huge heap of strips behind the sewing machine, then I cut them apart and iron them.

When I'm sewing, I can count on having at least one of the cats sitting in the middle of what I'm doing.  This is Amy, taking a quick bath.

Dorothy was sitting behind the machine for a little while.

... and Alice would hop into my chair whenever I got up.

After ironing, the fabric blanks are ready to get their hardware and become collars.

We sell these collars at our booth (and on the web site soon) for $20.  Every cent of that $20 goes to Greyhounds Rock and will be donated to organizations who support canine cancer research and treatment.  I expect to be sewing myself to death for the next couple of days, to make as many collars as possible for the booth. 

Every collar we sell represents $20 more for the cause, and could bring us $20 closer to finding a more effective treatment for canine cancer.  It is this thought that keeps me motivated as I sew.

If you are local, be sure to bring your dog and come to the Downtown Dog Fair this Saturday, October 2. 

To find out more about Greyhounds Rock, to get details about our weekend gathering October 29 - 31, or to make a donation, please visit our web site.  Every donation helps us reach our goal of finding an effective treatment for canine cancer.