Newest Pincushion Mannequins

I thought I would show you my latest works. I have been busy working on having some of my dolls in shops in town here and fortunately I have been well received by three so far. Now I don't intend to outfit the whole town with dolls, well that might be kind of exciting to...but...the beauty of a small town is that each store has it's own theme. These pincushions are going to the quilt/fabric store. We're going to trial run them and see how it goes. I am considering making a pattern for these, so if you are interested, drop me a line in the comments section and let me know what the interest level is... Must go and get back to my dragon. He's close to being finished so I can breath again. Never again will I give myself such a short time span to get something done, at least not until I quit my full time job.... I'll post a picture of Boris the 2nd when he's ready to go to his new cave...

Beaded Trim

I've often found some great tutorials online either in blogs or websites and thought sometime I would like to be able to offer something as well. The opportunity presented itself this week. I got an order for a dragon like one I sold recently. I agreed to get it made by September 6th....(what WAS I thinking !!) I needed some beaded trim and just simply don't have any that will work with the fabric I'm using and not enough time to go searching in my usual places or have anything mailed to me.... What to do, what to do...
Ahhh, make your own. So that's what I did and as I worked away on it thought, hmmm bet there are others out there who could use this. I don't claim to be any kind of expert but this is the method I used and it seems to be just fine. Here is a picture of the final results and how it looks next to the fabric. If you would like to make some trim or just have a tutorial available to make your own, just CLICK HERE and download the PDF file to your computer. I hope you can use the information and if you do make some trim, send me a picture. I would love to see what you can do to...

A Footnote

Just a clarification on Bea's wings. Although Colleen designed the cutest wings that would be perfect for her, I did different wings. My Bea ended up being quite woodsey because of the batik fabrics I used, so I used a wing design by Dawn Schiller. They were offered as a mini class on Doll Street and I knew at the time they would be perfect for some little sprite or other woodland inhabitant... So thank you Dawn for the great wing design... Here's a little closer view of one side...

Bea in her Bonnet

My little Bea is finished finally. Poor thing has been on my work table for so long it seems I decided I better get cracking and finish her. I think she turned out great, although she's a fair bit different than the teachers. Bea's designer is Colleen Babcock and she's a lot of fun, and a great teacher/designer. Poor Bea meant to sample a bit of honey and tumbled backwards into the jar. Now she's stuck and a swirl of bees around her head make it pretty clear she's in a bit of a mess...lol....If you would like to make a Bea in her Bonnet of your own, just follow this link... Cloth Doll Connection. Bea will be off to a tea shop here in Sidney at the beginning of the week. She's going to be on display amongst bottles of honey, tea cups and tea cozies made from fabric covered in bumble bees, so she will fit in perfectly.....

I've been tagged for being nice!!!

I have been tagged with a 'Nice Matters' award from my friend Connie McBride of Clothmatters. I am to nominate five people who qualify for being nice. Talk about pressure, I can name all kinds of people who are nice, but I will do my best to keep the numbers down to those who have blogs or websites, but I will compelled to spill over to a couple who don't have either of those.

My nominees are:

Ladybug Jan McCraw of Ladybug Creations for her work for kids

Leila Desborough of Wayward Wombat for her work with animals

Gwen Crichton of Crichtons Craft for her efforts to inspire creativity in her students

Serena Lewis of Searen Art and Design who is just simply nice and a fantastic artist

Colleen Babcock of The Magic Bean who is also nice and a wonderfully creative doll maker

Ladybug, Leila, Gwen, Serena and Colleen, you need to copy the banner above and nominate your 5 friends now...Have at it ladies.!!!!!!!

My 6th nomination goes to Lorene Sherpinskas who doesn't have a blog or website but is just a very nice person who deserves to be mentioned.

And my 7th nomination to Pat Atkinson who keeps me and everyone else around her in stitches with her stories but who I couldn't convince to put together a blog and share her wit with the world. There are many many nice people that I can mention but I have tried to keep it to the short list.

July Block

Well here is the flower of the month block for July. This month it's Waterlilies. I just love these bright bold colours. Don't forget if you like the patterns and fabrics, to check out Norcott Fabrics The patterns are available for download on their site and there is a search option to find dealers that carry the fabrics. And, don't just think quilting, I think these fabrics are also great for dollmaking, journaling or whatever your pleasure...don't limit your vision...

Lilies

Mother Nature didn't let me down this year. I thought I wasn't going to see my lilies this year, but lo and behold look what I discovered this morning. Aren't they lovely. I only have one stem of each, and this is the first year for the white one.
The fuschia one is most recognizable as a Stargazer Lily. I just love this one, but if you ever bring one into the house, make sure to snip off the ends of the stamens. The pollen that comes off them and onto your clothes will stain like crazy, so be careful. The other lily is called Casablanca. It's the first year for it, so hopefully next year it will grace the garden with many more blooms than the two it has. It's so pretty and delicate looking. It's tucked away below my clematis and when the sun was on it, the petals looked almost transparent...

The Gazebo is Reborn

Well, with just a good coat of paint the gazebo is like new again. It always looks so fresh when something has a new coat of paint on it. The "honey do" list just got way smaller. The fence is done, the gazebo and today the back steps and a small wooden stand that stands next to the gazebo and it's finished. Guess who's going to enjoy supper out there tonight....!!!!

Now if only the corn were bearing. See that lush green bunch of corn plants off to the right, well it's looking good, but not an ear showing. I don't know if it's just going to be reallllly late corn because of the cold spring, but right now it's just looking like a nice green wall. I have some wonderful sunflowers to cut though, they are about the middle of the picture, far side of the gazebo. They are about 7' to 8' tall at the highest point and so pretty. Not the yellow sunflowers, but those great bronze and red tones. When I cut them for the table, I'll be sure to post a picture.

Veggie Time

I love it when I can start harvesting from our little garden. We don't have a huge garden, but I plant a little bit of a lot of things. While hubby was out working on the "honeydo" list, (you know...honey do this and honey do that) I went foraging. When we first bought our home, there was a terrible excuse for a shed in the backyard, talk about an eyesore. We promised our neighbour directly next to us, that we would get rid of it and replace it with a nice gazebo and garden...and that's what we did. When she saw the workman here that summer she came over and gave him fresh baked cinnamon buns and coffee. When we got home he praised our neighbours to the hilt...lol Since then a tradition was born and we started exchanging goodies. It used to be a phone call telling each other that there was a bag hanging on the fence at the back and off we'd go and see what we got. Our neighbour doesn't get around so easily now, and I don't risk her trying to make it around to back without a cane, so today I made up a basket of goodies and took them over. She was so pleased and I was happy to be able to do it. It was such a cold spring here I was worried we wouldn't even get much of a garden this year...but we have had some successes....Doesn't this look yummy!!!