Bits and Pieces

Has it been a week already since I last posted here? Where did that go? I've been pottering about in blogland and pottering about at home, trying to sort my workroom out to make room for printing experiments and there's been a little sewing going on.

~

~

Over at MixedMediaATC_UK Yahoo group I have been hosting a Dotee doll trade and my own doll is now on its way to its new home. I cheated just a little bit as the fabric, face and beads came from a kit from my friend Dot in Australia who is the originator of these addictive little dolls. However, the design of the doll is mine and I have added some extra beads.

~



~

This little lady is known as a Ruby doll, which I have made previously and is now on her way to my stepmum in Devon as she is recuperating. The head and arms and legs are made with my own hand dyed fabric.

~



~

Finally for this part of the post I have been doing a little dyeing with blueberries which I saw on Carolyn's blog a couple of weeks ago. While Carolyns' fabric went a lovely purple mine have gone bluey colour. The fabrics I dyed were scrim, calico, net, a silky curtain fabric (the red stripe is already on the fabric), bamboo cloth and yarns. There is a hint of purple in the calico but the bias is towards the blue.

Dotees, bits and bobs

This has been a very busy week for me as I have my Mum staying in preparation for my DH's birthday bash tomorrow night. As a result I have been totally un-creative, apart from a short sewing workshop on Tuesday for which I have nothing to show.

Emma was asking about Dotee dolls so I thought I'd put a few up here to give you an idea of what they look like, if you aren't familiar with them. The originator of the pattern was the lovely Dot in Australia. You can make them any shape you wish, they don't have to be the same as mine. If you Google Dotee for images or search Flickr for them you will get lots of ideas. Spread a little Dotee love around the world!

~

~

~

As you will see from my sidebar I have recently joined StitchinFingers Ning. One of the groups within StitchinFingers has been set up so that we can all participate in a re-run of Sharon Boggon's TAST, or Take a Stitch Tuesday. The idea is to learn or revisit an embroidery stitch each week. I missed the first week but, by coincidence I had been working on herringbone stitch for a swap.

~

~

This is one of three ATCs I made for a swap at MixedMediaATCs_UK - a bit ragged but mine own! ( You may recognise the fabric as Kate's). I will have to revisit this stitch to explore its possibilities.

~

~

Week 2 was Buttonhole or blanket stitch which I really enjoy doing (one of the few stitches I know already). I cribbed a few ideas from other people in the group, for which thank you.

The third stitch is detached chain stitch but I have not started this yet. Thank goodness every fourth week is a catch up week.....I'm going to need it!

~

~

This final ATC is for the June Lottery at MixedMediaATCS_UK on the subject of.............? Wimbledon!! (Excuse the little damage which happened in the making). The dashing little figure is Great Uncle Bulgaria who is, of course, a Womble!

~

I probably won't get chance to blog again before next week so I hope you all have a lovely weekend. We have got a party, a wedding, a concert (open air and rain is forecast, no I mean really, heavy, rain!) and friends round for a chinese meal not to mention shopping and seeing Mum off back home so my feet are not going to touch the floor from tomorrow morning until Monday! Wish me luck!

Dotee again & 200!

Can you believe it! This is my 200th post! If everyone of those posts had shown art works just think how much work I would have by now! Instead of that I've burbled on and used displacement tactics to distract everybody and myself! ;)) It's been a blast so far so a big "Thank you" to everyone who's shared this journey with me thus far.

I have been very rude to Lesley, unintentionally and I hope she will forgive me. Quite a few days ago now Lesley awarded me the "You Make my Day Award" for the second time. Every time I have blogged since that day I have forgotten to acknowledge Lesley's kindness. So, thank you very much Lesley! As I've recently been given this award and passed it on to 10 others I'm going to chicken out this time but I have to say that all the people whose blogs I visit make my day. This blogging community is a wonderful thing and I am truly grateful for all the friendships I have made. Just a thought, if someone had told me when I was a child that I would be talking to people all round the world by typing on a keyboard I would never have believed them!

Yesterday I put the finishing touches to a Dotee doll which I am sending across the world to a lovely lady who is facing a very difficult time health wise. I won't say who she is but I don't think she looks in here too often so hopefully she won't see the Dotee till it arrives.

The front of this Dotee was made on the embellisher. The round charm that is hanging at the side says "peace".

The back fabric is the lovely dragonfly fabric that Kate sent me recently. I have to confess that when I made the body the dragonfly fabric was going to be the front but after I had sewn the face on I realised it was on the wrong side! Doh! Obviously Dotee had her own ideas of which was her front! I still want to make a dotee for myself from the dragonfly fabric cos it's yummy!

The ATCs are going fast at Cyberfyber as the word is getting round. Don't leave it too long if you fancy joining in.

Glimpses II

Do you remember last week I showed you these glimpses of some swaps I had sent to Dot in Australia? Well, this morning I had a lovely email from her telling me that my Dotee doll had arrived so now I can show you what I sent.

This is the Dotee doll that I made. The fabric for the body was made on the embellisher.

I also made Dot a small pouch on the embellisher and sent coals to Newcastle by lining it with aboriginal themed fabric!

Finally I sent Dot one of my Summer Garden ATCs. I am absolutely delighted that this very special lady is as pleased with our swap as am I ! :))

Arrivals

I meant to show you these two little tree decorations when I posted the pic of our tree. I have a couple of beaded ornaments, a tree and this lovely Santa that has a sweet face. I didn't bead them myself, I bought them locally last year. Most years I try and buy something new for the tree. This year, though, I have a gift from a friend -

As you can see Gina's angel is now in its rightful place on the Christmas tree instead of on the drinks cabinet! You can see her lovely golden wings now.

I think I am about ready for whatever the festive week is about to throw at me. DH has been delivered to the pub for his Friday night social with his mate and mate's daughter. She doesn't normally come out with them but I think she's come out tonight cos it's Christmas. I managed to make the house look vaguely presentable and at least everyone has a seat they can sit on without finding a pin or needle or getting covered in fibres! Having said that, both seats either side of me on the settee have stuff on them already!

My Mum has arrived to stay until New Year's Day when she will go to my brother's. She is a very light traveller (not) and is helping me fill the house to capacity. (She is currently snoozing in the armchair). Bless her, she's even brought a Christmas cake for us - home-made of course!

I think the Santa on the sleigh suffered a bit in the journey, either that or he's had a small sherry! The reindeer doesn't look too upright either! It will taste great though!

I've received some ATCs today from a swap at MixedMediaATC_UK Yahoo group. The theme was weaving.

This lovely card with woven yarns and button embellishments is from Linda.

Marina (what a lovely name!) has woven wool, thread and braid through sequin waste which catches the light beautifully.

Finally, Ula has woven recycled Sari silk through a plastic mesh. This must have taken ages to do! Unfortunately my photo is blurred and the colour is not accurate. I will take another pic tomorrow in daylight.

BTW do you remember me telling you that we couldn't open the patio door from the lounge to the conservatory because we had lost the key (and Mum pushed the bolt in on her last visit!)? I had made a feeble attempt at ordering another from the supplier but 'said' replacement hadn't arrived. Well, I tend to have this "laissez faire" attitude to some things and they seem to work out. Well..........you'll never guess...........DH went up into the loft and fetched down the Christmas Tree decs the other day and what did he find in the bottom of the box!!! Yes!!!! The key to the bolt on the patio door!!!!!! Clever DH! How on earth did that get in there anyway??!! I have a theory that DH was stripping the tree last year, which we have in the conservatory, and didn't notice that he'd knocked the key down into the storage box! Well, it has to be his fault doesn't it? That's what hubby's are for! *lol** Hehehe! Needless to say we have now put the key's onto separate key rings. (Oh yes, there are 2 of them. Why didn't we do that originally?!) Oh no, that would have been much too easy!!!

I expect that some of you will be going away this weekend or may be too busy to be blogging so may I wish everyone a warm and happy time with your friends, family or however you are spending this time. I look forward to sharing our creative experiences throughout the coming year. Thank you to everyone who takes the time to look in here at my inane ramblings and thank you too for taking the trouble to leave me your comments. I really do appreciate all the comments I receive and I hope I have not left anyone out when I have been replying. I have had a wonderful time since I joined this amazing community this summer! Oooh! And I must thank all the wonderful people whose blogs I have enjoyed so much and who have cheered me up with their amazing friends, whether sock creatures, monkeys or bears! Not forgetting all those expert ladies who have so generously shared their techniques and ideas - thank you ladies!

Whatever your beliefs or you God I wish you a peaceful and happy holiday. XxxXoooXxxX

Dotee again

I thought you might like to meet my new friend. Well actually she is going to be CCs new friend in New York. (CC is a cyber friend of my DH who he met through Toadgames, a free games site) This dotee is made with fabric which I needle felted on the embellisher. I then had the bright idea of attaching the yarn round the edge before I put the face and beads on . Take my advice, don't do it this way! All the while I was sewing on the face and beads I was getting hooked up in wispy fibres. It did not do my temper any good at all! I wonder why it is that every face I do turns out differently? This little dotee looks very serene.

I have been busy with something else too but I can't show it just yet.

After all the excitement of the bikers this morning we had a thrilling couple of hours writing Christmas cards (bah humbug, not my favourite job) and then decided to get a breath of fresh air and go for a walk, despite a bit of drizzle. Unfortunately, I had exhausted my trusty camera photographing said bikers so I have to direct you to my DH's blog for his version of events with pictures.

I can now show you this postcard which I made for a one to one swap with Kate North. As Kate works mostly with fabrics I decided to work in mixed media and paint. I started with texture paste, a little mulberry bark and metallic mesh and tyvek. I painted this all in white with a touch of blue and then attached some dried grasses and babies breath and a leaf which I had painted with copper acrylic paint. This was all dabbed with white paint again and some parts were highlighted with gold. When all was dry I decided the composition lacked something and added the rowan leaf which I had also painted in copper. The card is stuck onto a piece of blue-painted watercolour paper which I think just sets off the whiteness of the whole thing.

Dotee and Ted

Isn't it funny how, when you don't blog for a day you can't remember what you did? Yesterday is a complete blank at the moment, apart from the fact that I did get out into my studio for a play for a while.

We've finished our quota of hospital visits for this week. Today's little adventure with a camera, (the sort they encourage you to swallow - yuck!) went well for DH. We had an early start as he was first in at 9 o'clock and I don't like rushing, so I got up early to give me time to wake up slowly with a cuppa. The test went off well and there's nothing really horrible going on. They've upset DH tho as he's been told to avoid big meals and late night supper and worst of all..........avoid chocolate!!! OMG the world would be ending if they said that to me! *LOL* Still, now I've got an excuse not to give him any of mine...Mwaaahaahaaahaaa!

This is the dotee doll I've finished this week for the trade at Fibre Art Traders at Yahoo. I think I'm getting better at doing the faces. I can't stop making these little dolls, they're really addictive. At least if I build up a little stock I shall be able to have a giveaway at some point. By the way, Sharon, I haven't forgotten your 100th post pressy. I hope to get something to you in the next week. (That's torn it, I've made a commitment now! I'll have to get cracking).

I can't show you much art this week as I've been working on a few swaps that I can't show yet. Also, my builder is coming to fix some insulation in my studio on Monday so I now have to move everything off the floor (not the furniture, thank goodness) and clear all the cupboard tops so they can work freely. Guess what I'll be doing all weekend? It will be great to keep some of the expensive heat in the shed instead of having it all pouring out thro the roof. Then I won't have any excuses for not going out there will I?

One little resident of the studio is a bit perturbed by all the upheaval....

His fairy friend is trying to poke his eye out! I've promised him I won't close the lid of the box he's sitting in......by the look on his face I don't think he believes me!

Tah Dah!

And the winner is....................Sharon! Congratulations, Sharon. When I have exercised my creative talents (?) I promise I will send you a gift to celebrate my 100th post.. I'll try not to take too long about it *LOL* Unfortunately I am well known as the Queen of the Prevaricators! or, the Queen of Displacement Activity! Here are the pics of my DH drawing your name from my favourite jug

Does my arm look big in this?

I have got your address from your website so watch out for the postman soon-ish!

I really love the jug in the pics above. It was made at the Gwili Pottery in Carmarthen, Wales and it is signed Pru Grum (I think, I can't quite read the signature). I don't know how old it is - I bought it at an antiques fair at RAF Swinderby at least 7 years ago, probably more.

I've not had time for art today. Yesterday evening I had a phone call from an old friend who was going to be in the area today so she said she would call in. I've mentioned her on the blog before, she used to work with my mum years ago. Her name is Nancy and we had a lovely couple of hours chatting. When I knew Nancy was coming last night I set to and made her a dotee doll.

I can't believe I actually managed to make the whole thing in one evening. Maybe I should work to a deadline more often :o))