Update on fund raising

As you all may know that I have been fund raising for the British Red Cross. I am also going to be walking on the bridges of London for the Red Cross on the 17th of May along with some friends. We had pledged to raise £1000. We have raised to date £682.50. We would love to reach our target and hope we will. A big thank you to all of you who have contributed and for your support.
If you have not contributed and would like to do so please click on this link http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/thecrazyquintet
which will take you to the fundraising page or simply click on the Virgin Money Giving button on the left hand side column to take you to the page.
Thanking you all once again.

Funkins makes a new friend

One day Funkins was feeling very low and missing his friend Seraphina (read here http://sewingwithmoonbeams.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/funkins-little-pixie-was-trying-to.html about Seraphina)

When he suddenly felt a presence near him. He turned around and saw someone sitting next to him. At first he felt a bit annoyed to see a rather grand looking person sitting on his and Seraphina's favourite toad stool, being a good natured fellow his good spirits came to the surface quickly and he squeaked out hello are you a pixie like me?

The pixie looked down to see where this funny little voice was coming from and was rather surprised to find a tiny little pixie sitting near his feet.

Funkins soon found that this pixie was a bit shy so decided to put him at his ease immediately.

He started chatting to him and told him about Seraphina who had flown away to live in a far away land. He also told him how he was almost killed in an accident and that is why his face was a bit disfigured. An accident? The pixie asked. Yes he said ' I was almost trodden over by a giant foot!

Oh no said the pixie that is aweful and got up in shock. Funkins fell off his perch with surprise when he saw how big the pixie was.

Oh my what a big pixie you are cried Funkins. The pixie became a bit sad when he heard that. He said yes I am a bit big although that is not how I am supposed to be. Someone must have put a spell on me so I became big. 

Never mind said Funkins I like you as you are. Let's become friends and you can sit on Seraphina's stool, but you have not told me your name yet. What is it? The pixie said sadly I don't have a name. Can you give me a name please?  Hmmm.. said Funkins I will have to put my thinking cap on, you know even I cannot think of a name for you at present.

Can you think of a name for him? All suggestions are welcome. Then I will put them in a hat and pull out a name. 

I was inspired to make this doll while browsing through some old magazines, I came across a pattern by Jaque Utez. So I decided to make my own sculpted face since I did not have one of jacque's molded faces. I hand stitched the cloths while I was on holiday and utilised all those little bits of silks that were left over from other projects.

I look forward to hearing some suggestions for names.

Spring!

My garden is waking up! Rhododendrons are full of buds and some of the azalea have already finished blooming and we missed it since we were away.0

I cannot remember planting this so perhaps it got pollinated and created this plant. I would like to think that rather than that my memory is not as good as it used to be. :)

Gorgeous Camellias soon they will be gone. 

I love this shrub with its graceful branches 

The honeysuckle is a bit overgrown here but I don't want to cut it down yet as I saw a bird disappearing into it the other day. Perhaps it is nesting.

Every year the magpies come in great numbers and raid the nests of the little birds, so last year in the other end of our garden, we decided to surround  this nesting box with some garden net and twigs. I think there is a bird nesting this year. I tried to take a picture but dare not go too close. I get so excited when I see little birds nesting. Last year my neighbour and I saved 5 baby blue tits from being eaten by magpies. Felt so happy.

The gold fish are as fat as ever even though we did not feed them through winter :)

It is lovely to see the garden come alive isn't it?

Doll exhibition in Newbury

Do visit if you can

It's a pixie!

He is turning into a pixie!  I need to fill up his body a bit though.

And here his is painted. I think that is all I will be able to do here but I will see if I can find some more paint to finish the parts that need to be painted. I will do his costume when I get home.

A friend of mine who is returning to England tomorrow asked me if I could get her some fabrics today. Fabrics! Yippee! Of course I said and went shopping for fabrics. Once I am in a fabric shop in India I am lost:) my eyes go roving in a fabric shop and I could not resist picking up these lovely silks for myself. The picture does not do justice to these fabrics. They have a lovely sheen and some have a slight  shimmer. The ones on the top right hand are embedded with tiny sequins which glitter when the fabric moves

Waiting for me

This doll is all mummified and waiting for me to get to work on it . But at the moment my mum's health is giving me concerns so I am not able to put my mind on it. I brought this project along with me so that I could work on it in my spare time but that's not happening at the moment. Also I am a bit unsure whether it is going to be a he or she. I was thinking of making a he but looking at the face it is more girlish than boyish  :)

Red Shoe Walk on London's amazing bridges

On 17^th May, I’ll be getting up early in the morning, wearing a pair of Red Shoe and walking on the Bridges of London along with a group of others for The British Red Cross and I’m hoping to raise a total of £1000

I’ve chosen to support British Red Cross because British Red Cross work locally in the UK as well as internationally. They provide support at home and in local emergencies, as well as large scale disaster response and support for vulnerable communities. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you are, a crisis can happen to anyone at any time. This year people have needed help in the UK with the floods, the Red Cross has been there for them.

If you’d like to show your support, you can make a donation through my fundraising page http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/thecrazyquintet .Anything will help, no matter how big or small.  Make sure you put your company name on the donation message so all other donors can see you’re supporting me.

 I have also put a button in the left hand column of the blog. Just click it and it will take you to my fundraising page.

Thanks in advance for your generosity, and support.

Waiting

So here is my sculpt my mould and the final paper clay face. I am now waiting for it to dry.  Then sand it and hopefully a doll will be in the making soon. I think I will make another one a bit smaller. I thought this was small but it turned out bigger than I thought it would. Well I am learning :-)

Trying to sculpt

Haven't done much today. Have been so busy until now. So decided to try sculpting as I have an idea forming in my head. Also it is a way to unwind a bit before I go to pick up a friend.

Blue Doll

This is my Blue colour doll that I made for my doll club exhibition. The main theme of the display dolls is rainbow colour dolls. All the members were asked to make a doll from one of the colours of the rainbow. I got the blue colour so here she is. Her body is all cloth, decoupaged and soft sculpted. Since blue colour is associated with many moods I did tried to combine all the shades of blue. Blue is for bright skies, deep oceans, deep deep shades of night embedded with bright stars. Blue also is associated with sadness. I hope all that can be seen in her. She holds a rose in her hand. It could be, it was given to her by a dear friend or she could be just thinking of someone and wears her heart on her sleeve. You maybe able to see the heart on her sleeve if you look carefully. But her face tells me she is thinking of a happy moment or dreaming of something nice. Well I leave it to you to decide. To me she looks like an opera singer:)

PS. I do not know why there is so much colour variations in the pictures even though I took them all in the same setting. Maybe my camera is at fault. I would say the first and the last pictures are more the actual colour of the doll. Her skin tone is light blue.