Nightmare before Christmas

I don't know why but for some reason this reminds me of the fantasy film Nightmare before Christmas LOL! But don't worry she will turn into a I think fairy. That is what she is telling me at the moment.

Colour in the garden

I thought I would show what is happening in my garden. We are trying to revamp the pond area and one of the things we were going to do was to remove the above little pebble pond and put the fountain shown below. But I decided that we would keep that little pond as it is home for a little froggie who keeps popping his head out when I come near it LOL! I too rather like that pond. So I persuaded J to put the new fountain close to it.

We had removed the old pond and put a rock garden in its place last year well some of it survived and it is not beginning to get established slowly although need to do more work there and put more big rocks in. Due to the hot weather and water control we lost some of the plants and had to plant them again.

This Clematis is in full bloom and the roses are beginning to bloom too. I think they should be in full bloom by the end of next week.

Rhododendrons and Roses bring such lovely colour to the garden.

Cookbook RR

Here we are at last Fran and Anita's cookbooks are done and they will be on their way tomorrow gathering more recipes on their way.

Couldn't resist

You know when I go to the town I can't resist coming back empty handed. So this is what I found for half price so I got it. Don't ask me what I will use it for. It is actually to burn tea lights but I know I won't do that. Mmmm perhaps a doll..... Ok I will shut up now. I will be away next week and this weekend being the Bank Holiday weekend in UK I wish all of you a lovely weekend who are going away or not going away have a great holiday. I am told that the temperatures are going to drop drastically to 12 degrees from the 20s we have been having. Goodness that is going to be a shock to the system.

Troublesome head

I was in a hurry to complete this doll so I drew the pattern cut it and stitched it. It is first time ever I have done the stitching on good fabric straight away without testing the pattern. The body turned out ok, but the head proved to be something else. After a long time I used Doe suede to make some of the parts because the doll is a slim small sized doll. So the head was going to be small hence I decided to use the synthetic fabric which I don't normally like using. Anyway the first head came out too small. The second one I thought was ok but when I stitched it on the doll eeeks!! where has the chin gone? So off came the head and back to the drawing board. Some doll artists I know like to have the fuzzy side of the fabric out but not me as I hate painting the fuzzy side. This is another thing I don't like about this fabric is I keep making the mistake of stitching the fuzzy side out. So even though the head looked ok I didn't want to use it because I had stitched it fuzzy side out hummmm... So out it went in the bin. Final head at last and completed doll. I am still not completely satisfied with her but she will have to do as she is going away soon to surprise someone. She is about 12 inches but a very slim doll. So I made her so that she can be hung instead of sitting or standing. Now I have to get on with my other projects which need urgent attention. Then I will be away for a week in Florence and Rome. Can't wait to get away. But I think I am going to be very disappointed as we are not able to get any tickets for Galleria Uffizi. Oh I so want to see that so much sigh. Going to Florence and not being able to see it will be aweful.

What I have been up to

I have been going for a textile art course. Here are some of the samples of my work. They are not great in any way. I am one of those people who can never get going in classes, but I did learn a lot and it has sent my mind into a spin for possible applications in my art. Sorry for the bad photography. Just thought it might interest some of you as to what I have been up to. This is fabric pleated and crushed. This one is fabric manipulated, heat treated, crushed and dyed.

This one is as you can see angelina fibres bonded between fabrics This is manipulated fabric, heat treated and foiled.

This is manipulated fabric heat treated crushed and foiled. In the picture it doesn't look that good but it is my favourite piece. The reverse of the same fabric foiled.

Manipulated fabric and heat treated.

Comments

Well looks like the blogger has a bug in their auto save feature. When I posted yesterday it autosaved my comments and turned my comments link off! I have been trying to sort it out with them. Couldn't find the post editor for awhile dugh! Shows how little I know about these things. Anyway I found it now and I have turned it back on now. So hope you all can post. Thank you for all your lovely comments for the previous post.

Winnings

If you all remember I had a little puzzle for you to solve in my post On My Way Back.

Well doll artist Linda was the winner and this is the pin she won as a surprise from me.

Now for my winnings. Doll artist Kerry was giving away her new pattern if she liked the names suggested for her new Troll pattern. How lucky can I be, she chose one of my names and this is the pattern I got from her today. Thank you Kerry for chosing my suggested name.

Busy lately

I have been rather busy lately with guests and my course so I am afraid I don't have much to show but just a head again. This is a doll still sitting around not completed. It is going to be rather a big doll from my standards. Usually my dolls are around 13-14 inches in height but this one is going be be quite big. It is all silk doll. Don't know when I am going to finish it. I am working on an entirely different doll though and trying to get the head to my liking but I can't show it yet as it is for a friend so in the meantime just this head will have to suffice.

Champagne bottle ATD swap

Today I received from Nita this beautiful ATD. Nita was my swap partner. She also included some yummy paper. Thank you so much Nita for being a lovely swap partner.

I have been a bit naughty today. I went to the post office in town and look what I ended up buying. Do I need them?? mmm welll yes ofcourse I do need them LOL!

Tagged!

I have been tagged by Chris. As I am not too good at these things I will take the easy one and just give the 7 random facts/habits about myself. So here goes :

1. I left my job 6 months ago and I still don’t miss going to work. In fact I am enjoying staying at home.

2. My favourite pass time is crafting while listening to music.

3. When crafting I get so engrossed in it that I don’t feel hungry thirsty or know where the time goes.

4. I don’t watch telly very much but if I do, I like to watch very old movies or I like to watch the antique road show.

5. I don’t like to spend too much time in the kitchen but I like to have fresh food everyday hence, I cook every day. Even if I have guests I like to be in and out of the kitchen in an hour. So my cooking skills are limited. However anyone who has tasted my food says it is very tasty. I have to take that with a pinch of salt LOL!

6. When I teach doll making it bothers me if my students do shoddy work just to try and complete the project.

7. When I first joined my doll groups I was paranoid about undesirable characters lurking in the background. I have now met so many of my on line friends in person and I think I am the luckiest person as all of them are very nice people.

The rules: Start with 7 random facts/habits about yourself. People who are tagged have to write their 7 things on their blog. Then choose another 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave them a comment to tell them they have been tagged and to read your blog ....

Drum Roooollll!!

I bet you thought I forgot about the puzzle. Oh no I haven't. So here we go the winner is...... Linda Flemming!!! Linda I think I have your address but I check that out with you privately. Congratulations!! The surprise packet will be on its way soon to you. Since I can't show any pictures of it till Linda gets it I thought I would show something else. So here is a little Paper doll/card I made for Isabelle's birthday. Isabelle had said not to send any gifts but I didn't want to send her just a card but at the same time I wanted to respect her wishes so I thought a paperdoll card would be great. So this is what I made for her. I am glad she liked it.

Thank you

First of all I want to wish my dear friend Isabelle A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! for today. Secondly I want to thank all of you for your lovely comments about my art work and thirdly as you can see I have a new banner. This was made especially for me by Linda and what a great job she did of it. Linda makes custom made banners. You can see some of her banners here http://customblogheadersandbanners.blogspot.com/ . Have a great weekend. It is a Bank Holiday weekend in UK so have a great Bank Holiday Weekend.

All Done

Here she is all done! Lucky the sun was shining so I could take a picture outside. Click on picture to view it better.

Friends Forever ATD

We are doing swaps in our ATD's group every month. My swap partner for April was Nita. She has got my doll so now I can show you what I sent her. We used a Champagne bottle template for April swap

New DIP

I am frantically trying to finish this doll. It is for a lady whom I met in one of the textile courses I attended. She just wouldn't take no for an answer and wanted me to make a doll for her. Now I have never done this sort of thing before simply because I am not happy making a doll for someone I don't know very well because I don't know what their tastes and it sort of limits my creativity. The moment someone wants to buy things my mind goes into a creative block LOL! So even though I had three months to complete her I am only making her now just when the deadline is approaching. I seem to do that always. LOL! I only hope she will like her as she didn't even tell me what colour or size doll she wanted. That is in a way good as I simply can't work to certain rules. So here she is half done and I have to complete her by next week!! I only hope she will like her. Anyway if she doesn't I will gladly keep her tee... hee.. as I find hard to part with my dolls.

I got some of the fabrics for her dress from India . The top skirt is silk organza in moss green solder burnt and the under skirt is some lovely fabric I got from Paris when I went there last year. It is a lovely lacey shimmery goldie brown colour the picture does not show the true beauty of it. I seem to be gravitating towards green and red colours lately. Wonder what colour the next one will be. I have made enough in green now I think.