cloth doll finished....

Oooops! I pressed the wrong button, so any one quick off the mark will have seen this post with no text!!

However, here she is - finished. It has been a while since I have completed a cloth doll and I have so enjoyed making her, that I think some more may well follow.

I spent a very late night painting her, waiting for youngest son to return from a party until I remembered he said he was stopping over! Still, settled with my paint things and iplayer on my lappie catching up with The Killing was a pleasant evening indeed. Is anyone else following The killing on BBC 4. It is Scandinavian crime drama with subtitles, which can be tricky when you are painting at the same time, but I am absolutely gripped.

Back to the doll, she is a simple cloth doll painted with acrylics with a little scene on her back, she has not got a name as yet, but I am toying with 'home' as that is what seems to be in her heart.

She stands about 22cm tall, with a slight list to the right, I think that is down to my cutting and hand sewing but I hope that it adds to her charm.

She will also be looking for a new home, as I have put her in my Etsy shop, so hopefully someone will love her as much as I do.

Happy weekend! x

wip's

A small Jenny Wren bird box waiting to be decorated, made from wire and papier mache .

A new cloth doll that just requires a little more painting before I can be satisfied that she is finished.

Hope to post photos of completed work soon!!

meeting Henry and other bits and bobs

Meet Henry, Henry has been made from a bear kit that I bought from The Old Pin Cushion on Etsy. You buy the pattern (Chopper Bear) and the kit separately, so if you wish you could make your bear in something other than bear fur material.

The pattern comes with very clear instructions and useful tips on how to distress your bear - in the nicest possible way!

Before I move on, I forgot to say in my last post that I had added to my felt stash recently from the wonderful Felt Fairy, great range of colours and fast delivery.

Spring feels like it is on its way today, we have a beautiful clear blue sky which is very welcome after the bitterly easterly winds that we have experienced the last couple of days. There are even a few touches of colour around the garden, although I have to admit the primroses were bought in from the local garden centre and so are a little earlier than normal.
It is always a joy to see the nodding heads of the snowdrop appearing and bulbs are pushing up all over the place. I made a big effort last autumn to plant loads, and I think it may have paid off. First crocus well on their way too, and yesterday the hens did me proud, with two eggs being laid including Edith's first egg. Looks like scrambled egg is on for lunch today! added later: The scrambled eggs were delicious and the most golden yellow I think I have ever seen!

the felt stash

Recently, whilst delving into the far corners of my bedroom/workroom/sanctuary, I came across a box of rainbow colours just begging me to stop whatever it was that I had been intending to do, and hold the colours in my hand, colour against colour, they were like jewels, ideas floated into my mind, and a seed was sown/sewn.... I had rediscovered my felt stash.
It was not as tidy as this when I found it, it was all higgerly piggerly, but a happy time was spent pulling out each piece and carefully unfolding and rolling into little sausages all placed together so that I could admire their colours next to one another. I wanted to make something there and then, something I had been toying with for a while and now it was quite clear to me what it was - a pin cushion. That most simple domestic tool of the needlewoman, but something that can be as plain as you wish or as decorative. I wanted mine to be like a spring posy, an early summer garden.

All pretty colours jostling together with little leaves poking through and buds half open.

This was my first, in a tiny round cardboard box, this is the one I will keep. Then more began to appear, like seedlings.

I filled tiny plant pots with felt and wadding and flowers blossomed.

Hope you like them as much as I enjoyed making them, there are some now in my Etsy shop.

refound

While I have been sorting through boxes of old stuff, I came across this drawing, havn't seen it for years and it was lovely to rediscover it, memories of college days come floating back. It seems I loved hares back then too.