Another blog another sausage dog. This one is called Gus. He is, I find, almost unbearably cute. See, I told you.

So when I got sent this favourite shot, as a possible starting point, I made the very sensible decision not to go browsing through his Instagram feed for any other photos. I knew that if I were once to step foot in there, I might never return – he’s too cute, too photogenic, and has an owner that knows too well how to take a shot. I could be there for days. Days ….

But for those Pandoras out there who can’t resist a temptation, it’s here.

You have been warned.

Meantime, for those readers still with me, Gus also turns out to be a dab hand at appliqué. There aren’t many dogs that look cool at this opening stage of patches, but Gus does.

It’s a bit like a Banksy – but more portable, and infinitely cheaper. Hmm, I sense a marketing campaign developing here.

And whilst I ponder that, here are some in the making shots, as Gus gets filled in.

I left the eyes till last – I guess I couldn’t trust myself to concentrate with that winsome expression staring up at me.

And finally, the background. A sweet Liberty print that had me drifting back in time to the first ball dress I ever made, a silver silk dupion skirt gathered onto a bodice made out of this print in silk. Sounds rather romantic, though the reality was far from it – the ball was only a disco, a leavers’ party from school, populated with boys shipped in from a neighbouring boys school (reluctantly, one presumes). Still, I remember that silk – the feel and look of it, so vividly. Mercifully, being of a certain generation and a certain ilk (there definitely were cameras around in the 1980s, we just didn’t seem to over-indulge in using them in our family), there are no photos of the dress with me in it, so I am free to dream unhampered by reality …..

But here is Gus. All done.Ah, sweet boy. I’d take him over a ball, any day.

… He might take the ball, of course – but that’s dogs for you.