Graduation day...

Today was such a busy day. So many people, waiting for photos, lunch, a big day.............

I had to add this behind the scenes photo.

Noone seemed to want to sit in the mock Library

I can't imagine why?.......

Countdown to Christmas

Well, here we are just days away from Christmas, and time is just flying by. I am struggling to keep up with all the social engagements and dining out. This has been a strange year, I can only hope next year is better than this one. There have been many highs, our trip to Europe, Nathan's new house, Brad's engagement...........and tomorrow.........Brad graduates from University. He has said very little about it, he tends to take things in his stride, it is sometimes hard to get information out of him. Tonight I pressed his robe, I raced out and got him a present this afternoon - we got him a car ages ago, so he just gets a keepsake gift, I'll show that tomorrow, don't want to spoil the surprise.

I started working on a Santa a couple of weeks ago, but he has had to be put aside, because I decided to give little Santa gifts to my little nieces and nephews - of course I actually had to make them.........I had all the stuff in my stash, I just had to find the time.

So here I am madly sewing - I haven't even decorated the house for Christmas yet! All my Nutcracker men are waiting to be positioned.
So much to do, so little time.............

The girls are finished!

So finally I have completed a FEW dolls. I didn't really show a good pic of the Mother Goose.  She was originally going to be

the Fairy Godmother, but I could never work out how she wanted to be dressed.  So, I guess she didn't want to be a fairy she was a  Mother - and she sat so easily on my hand felted Goose, dolls really do tell you who they want to be................

And so to my little 'Glorex' dolls.................

I have managed to finish them both.  They are just little girl dolls, I made them jackets and blanket stitched the raw edges.  I enjoyed adding little felt flowers to one jacket, and the other I finally added little wool flowers that  my mother gave me a few years ago!

The little teddy I made a few years ago from some reject fluffy bunny ears!

I don't have any names for the girls.  Any suggestions?  I am totally blank as far as their names......

Who would have thought it!

You won't believe this............I have just made 2 dolls in 48 hours!!!!
We have our annual quilt show this weekend and the doll club has a display area allocated to promote our craft. Well, it is necessary to have an interesting display of new and different dolls and we had a theme display of a doll "riding something". A week ago, I decided to try needle felting a duck, just to try it. Well, the duck seemed to became a Goose, which then required a "Mother Goose" to be riding the Goose - hence the doll 'riding something'!
A while ago I started to make a fairy godmother with a paperclay face. She didn't get made because I got stuck on her clothing, and I didn't like her heavy shoes. She seemed to have a nice 'motherly' face sooooo.......Also, I tend to keep items of clothing I have previously made for dolls which either didn't fit or the doll was deconstructed.
So I had a body with arms attached, I didn't like the legs so I added reject legs from another project, and dressed her in the recycled clothes. I made her a black woolen vest and a hat which I glued together in 20 minutes.


I did run out of time, so I just slapped on a pair of boots I had in my stash.

















The other doll is my Susie McMahon doll 'Moxie' which I had the wonderful experience of taking her class last November! Moxie had a body & head, but her arms and legs were not even stuffed and she needed gessoeing and painting, and her face on and her clothing!! I was up to the wee hours last night and spent about 4 hours this morning putting her together. I ran out of time to make shoes for her too and so I found some painted sneakers and gave her a clown doll to look after.







Now, I suspect she may need a complete makeover after the weekend, but for now she made it to the show and is there with a whole lot of other wonderful cloth dolls keeping her company. Amazing how I can work under pressure. My studio is a mess, but I have made 2 dolls that had been waiting to be created!

Progress report

Today I had some time to review my photos of the work I had completed on my Glorex dolls

I have not had time to work on them for the last few weeks, I did get to the dressing stage but my hair choice sort of stopped me in my tracks.











The doll with the mit hands is from the kit I purchased earlier this year. The doll with the fingered hand is the one I have created by forming my own mask face. I am very happy with the result, but I neglected to add to the top lip to give it more fullness when I laid the paperclay over the form. I added to the nose, but not to the lips, I will remember to do this next time as she looks like she needs dentures!








I love the look of the Mimi Kirchener dolls, they have messy hair and unusual clothing and very expressive faces. She makes Softies type dolls now - check out her blog here
In this last pic, I have plonked a piece of tibetan lambswool skin on each dolls head. I purchased the hair from Fabric Addictions in Western Australia. It is fantastic hair, and a good sized piece, particularly as these dolls have big heads!
Of course, they can't look like this, the hair needs to be shaped to the skull and attached properly - but I like this type of wild haired look.
To finish the dolls, I would like to knit a cardigan or vest for each doll to complete the look, but I actually don't have any wool because I gave it away to charity! So it looks like it will be some time yet before these girls are finished.

Life's ups and downs.......

Well, today my husband went into hospital for the 6th or is it 7th time this year!
I have lost count. As you can see from the clinical diagram.........his problem is his heart. There are some wonderful specialists on the job, working to fix it. So I am keeping upbeat and trusting he will be back to his old self once the doctors are finished their job.

On a happier note, this weekend my 2nd son Brad, celebrated his engagement to his sweetheart Natali. They had a great party and are clearly devoted to each other. That is all you really want for your kids, for them to find love and happiness - and leave the nest...........















It has been such a busy time with running the business, doctor and hospital visits, family commitments, and just running a household. It is no wonder I am having such a hard time trying to make dolls.
To top it all off, we have decided to get a puppy - Malcolm has so wanted a dog ever since we lost Sheba quite a few years ago.
She was such a wonderful dog, and it was impossible to replace her when she went to dog heaven. But after all these years, it feels like we could do with a little companion.








The only problem we have with that is someone in the house is not going to be too happy with news of a new border. A companion this cat does not need. Take a look at the fur all over the couch!

So, my apologies to doll lovers, I just cannot find the time to make a doll - not for a while ...........let's see what happens when the fur stops flying!

Strathalbyn visit

Today I vistedLorell Lehman at her Studio in Strathalbyn. She is so talented and her Studio is a magical place. Lorell is so willing to share her knowledge and methods, and just talking to her and being surrounded by her beautiful (not all!) fantasy creatures is so inspiring. I really enjoyed visiting, even though it was brief, my dream is to have a little studio/shop to work in one day............




Lorell's Halloween fairy.

Work in Progress

I was a little nervous about this white cotton jersey, but doll making is all about problem solving. So I just boiled some water, added 4 teabags, bunged in some coffee and stirred. After rinsing the fabric to remove the sizing I threw it into the pot and crossed my fingers.

To my surprise, it worked! The fabric came out a warm skin colour. It wasn't blotchy and I rinsed thouroughly to make sure. The only disadvantage is I think the fabric SHRUNK! So I had a little less sized piece than I thought, but nevertheless, I was quite happy with the result.

You can see the difference in the colour.


The next step was to create the back of the head and this is such a simple solution, however I must give credit to Leslie Molen - her Gossips pattern included this method and it is the best way to create a good shaped(seperate) head for a mask doll. You just cut off a length of a ribbed sock and gather both ends after stuffing to the size you want. Then glue it into the mask.





The 'Glorex' doll kits come with a hand armature. I can't work out if it is a plastic or metal, but you can bend the fingers and wrist to pose the hand. I stitched a hand with individual fingers and inserted and stuffed the arm. It makes for quite a nice hand and is so much easier than creating pipe cleaner armatures!