Lady Dances with Dragonflies.

Well my 100 post passed without me even noticing. I had been keeping track and then didn't keep track anyway whatever.
I have finished the challenge doll for my "No Limits" group or as my friend says "No Instructions". We each took in a fabric which was cut into I think 14 or so and then we all got a piece of each fabric back. I have had the fabrics for quite some time and I have done several plans of what I could do. They all got tossed out the window and I decided to do a doll. I have had Ray Slater's book "Cloth Dolls for Textile Artists" for quite a while and I did make one of the wire dolls for the pincushion challenge at the beginning of the year. I don't like the face on pincushion girl and I have made a new one.
Well actually I made a head for the challenge doll and it was too big for the body so I made another head. Serendipitously the big head is the right size for the pincushion doll. Anyway back to Ray Slater's book. I used the stump doll pattern straight from the book. It is supposed to be enlarged to 115% but I didn't worry about that. I didn't use her head pattern as I wanted to have another go at the head technique from Barbara Willis's book "Cloth Doll Artistry".
I really like this way of doing a head. You start with an oval of stretch fabric, stuff it, stitch it while manipulating the stuffing with your needle to make the features and then stitch it some more then color it. You'll have to ge the book for more details than that. It looks quite hard but trust me it isn't. I made my first one in a class with Barbara which may have given me an edge but I think I could have done it from the book.
The other photo is of some of the fabrics we had to use. I forgot to take a photo before I started. I also set myself the challenge that I would not buy anything for the doll.
The body and arms of the doll is a flour bag that I had in my stash. A friend gave it too me.
The head is white two way stretch lycra also from the body fabric drawer in my studio. After the sculpting I painted it with flesh coloured So-Soft fabric paint from the fabric paint bin in my studio.
One of the challenge fabric you can see in the photo above is a piece of cross stitch fabric. I painted it gold with Lumiere paint. I used that for her crown.
Her hair is the multicolored blue/pink/purple fabric. I unravelled it and then stitched it all over. Linda Misa did that with wool in the last Dolls, Bears and Collectables.
Her sleeves and the gold areas on the bottom of her skirt are gold lame that was in the fabrics I received.
The patterned fabric at the bottom of her dress is the whole piece that I got. I painted it and the crinkle muslins and the feathery piece with blue fabric paint. The feathery piece was orange and white. It is on the back of her dress. I vliesofixed it to a piece of the green with white leaves. The brown piece of fabric I used on the back of the dolls head and you can't see it at all.
I used a little strip of the red dragon fabric to make the red dragon fly. I had great plans to use the blue lineny fabric for part of the skirt but changed my mind. The color wasn't right and I couldn't be bothered painting it. So I used some of the threads I had pulled off the fringe to make the blue dragon fly. I cut a thin strip of fabric off the white and made the white dragon fly. I couldn't get a good photo of them. They are just over 4 cm's long and my camera doesn't want to cooperate. The wings are made of the left over white ruffled fabric I used for the cuffs and collar on the doll. It was another of the challenge fabrics. So I have used all the fabrics. The rules of the challenge were that they had to be used not how much. The Studio Assistant(Husband Greg) cut me a piece of wood to use in the base. I added this on later because I couldn't get her to stand up. I should have put a sand bag in the bottom. I am taking her to Adelaide on Thursday our No LImits group is doing the display in the Studio at the Embroiderers Guild This month and she'll probably be back on show there for the fringe festival. Now I jsut have to finish my bit on the group project and I am up to date. I also have to make a small hand made gift for Doll Club on Sunday.

Good thoughts

I was reading the bloggers who responded to India's post (see previous post)this is my favorite.
Shadowland
This is part of what he writes about himself.
‘Strong Old Age”, in preparation for that time. It is never to early to start. I have worked out a five point plan: 1 Good work (meaning the work has to have a creative component) 2 Good Diet (as much fresh food as possible, less packaged food stuff) 3 Good exercise (walking is still a great exercise, walk till you sweat) 4 Good friends (self explanatory) 5 Good thoughts (Keep your mind in a happy place) Enjoy my blog And many SummerSmiles Petrus

There are also lovely photos and interesting things to read I shall add it to the blogs I follow because it made me smile.

Allotment Garden Blogging Bee

I love to read other people's blogs. India Flint's is one I follow (link on the right side of my blog page. she recently wrote a blog post called Allotment Garden Blogging Bee. In that blog post she challenged all her followers to write about write a post on your blog about an allotment garden real or imagined what would you plant in yours? What will you wear whilst tending it? When you pause for elevenses, what will you have?
Well I wondered what exactly is an allotment? I took some inspiration from in her own words on India's original post.
In the UK, allotments are small parcels of land rented to individuals usually for the purpose of growing food crops. There is no set standard size but the most common plot is 10 rods, an ancient measurement equivalent to 302 square yards or 253 square metres. go here to se more.
http://www.allotment.org.uk/articles/Allotment-History.php

There is a photo above of our real veggie/fruit garden. We have planted other fruit trees, citrus etc and lilacs elsewhere in the garden. There are lots of roses, lavender and other flowering plants and herbs in the front garden.
But if I could wish myself somewhere else where would I go? Somewhere cooler would be my first point of reference. Where it rains more. I love rainy days even if they are cold rainy days even better if the rain is really snow. If my children would agree to come with me it would be Tasmania here we come.
What would I grow? Lots of herbs I love herbs, lots of fragrant plants, Honeysuckle, roses, lavender, lilacs and bulbs lots of bulbs. Fruit and nut trees. Every type of berry bush and plant that I could find. I would mix them together into a fairy garden of the edible and the beautiful.
Trees anything and everything deciduous and/or flowering. I love to see trees change with the seasons. The sculptural leafless beauty of a winter tree, the shimmer of new growth in spring. The full canopies of summer to lay under and watch the sun through. The palette of autumn color that turns the hills into a patchwork of beautiful richness as the leaves change and then blanket the ground with a layer of leaves that look like a crazy cloth.
I would like my garden most of all to be a feast for the senses. Sight, taste, smell, touch.
I would wear my most comfortable clothes. Old jeans and a cotton shirt for summer. Winter wear for the winter cause it would be cold.
Elevenses would have to be taken under the fruit trees on a seat made of recycled wooden branches that looks like the fairies and elves left it there just for me.
One day perhaps but for now my children and grandchildren are close and as always they come first. But if ever they want to join me in Tasmania they only have to say so.

A blog a day

I like to look at other peoples blogs Runo's is one I am going to follow. Lots of free dolls, animals and all sorts of interesting things. I am madly trying to finish the newsletter for my cloth doll group. I was going to make something easy for the SA Embroiderers Guild Challenge that I am involved with. Yeah right. Photos next time.
We are also planning a trip to Tasmania. Planning has just begun.

Hot

It is hot, not as hot as yesterday. Murray Bridge was 41 degrees yesterday. Today Nairne is 38 degrees Celsius. I am going to work tonight so I have to gather some stuff to take with me. I might finish off the Cloth Doll Newsletter before I go. I am sitting in the cool after nearly going nuts trying to work out how to hook up wireless internet and found out I had a faulty USB thingy so I have sworn and muttered under my breath and ended up talking to a nice young man in Australia who I could understand and I now have a direct line to the Aussie web help place. Yay for me.

Of Fairies and Frogs

Well no 97. I made the fairy riding a frog for the Presidents challenge at our display for the Adelaide Craft and Quilt Fair,which was on here last week. I used Susie Mcmahon's frog pattern enlarged by soemthing or other can't remember how much exactly and my own little fairy pattern. Which I haven't made for a couple of years and had to scratch my head on how to do her but got there in the end.
Once again I spent big. I looked at quite a few things last year and didn't buy them but I bought them this time. I got a jewelery hammer and some toys for jewelery making. I bought 2 fabric pleaters from Punch with Judy. I have been eying them off for the last few years and after trying to get up the iniative to pleat the silk for the skirt for the doll I sculpted with Susie Last year i finally caved and bought two of them in different sizes. I bought Prudence Mapstones new book and two of Alison Holts machine embroidery books as well. I bought some more velvet flowers and leaves and a bit of lovely reproduction lace.

No. 96

Well 96 blog posts.
I finished the frog and fairy for our Cloth Doll Club display at the Adelaide Craft and Quilt Fair which starts tomorrow. I also finished the piece of stitching I am adding to our group project for the Embroiderers Guild group I belong too. I did the piece of open work in the top corner. I haven't done much of this sort of thing. I wanted it to look like a carved screen. I think once I have stitched it on it will look more the thing. Twelve of us have stitched on this piece of work and it will be going into the Embroiderers Guild Collection when it is done. We each added whatever we felt like. It started with the copperry head dress and progressed from there. I hand dyed the thread I used on the open work a couple of years ago and as luck would have it the thread was perfect for the piece. Lucky me. Now just to stitch it on and fiddle a bit. If you come to the Craft and Quilt Show come say hello.