A Week of Wool and Winners

We have had a few days of cold, wet and wintry weather, so it seemed just right last week to create with wool. I have been making little free form pieces which I hope to transform into some of my altered bags for some individual orders amd for the Edelweiss gallery which wants more stock coming into the colder months.

And, just for me, I have started to knit a pair of socks from Kaffee Fassett wool – quite an extravagance, but I can’t wait to get the lovely wool socks on my feet.

My family, it seems, also love wearing and playing with wool.

I made Kellie this little shrug as the cardigan I made for her last year was too big. Jim's Aunty Maureen now has the cardigan,and loves it and Kellie is much happier with her warm woolly shrug. Kellie's little son , our outdoorsy grandson, William wouldn’t be without his woolly hat in this weather.

My blog friend from South Australia has been sending me lovely parcels of goodies, and in the last one, was a set of wool knitted finger puppets – Dylan, our middle grandson, is having a great time with them this week.

How lucky am I! This week I found out that I am the winner of the Blog giveaway by Dust of Enchantment . http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5338181
I chose some wearable origami – tiny paper cranes inserted into a tiny glass bottles made into earrings. Thank you very much, Tracy .

This is the second blog giveaway I’ve won this year. The first was the beautiful fabric from Thea and Sami in February. http://www.thea-sami.com.au/

And that’s not all, a couple of weeks ago, I was very embarrassed that I had double booked - a Rotary fundraising breakfast for Gemma Sisia's School in Tanzania and babysitting William in Maitland. So, I started the morning at the breakfast, gulped down some toast and mushrooms, bought some raffle tickets to support the cause and rushed off even before the guest speaker began and drove to Maitland. I didn’t think again about the raffle tickets, but I found out yesterday that I won a night for two in a hotel with breakfast! Thanks, Rotary Club of Newcastle Sunrise! There is also a different sort of winner in our family. Brandon our oldest grandson is also a winner, but he worked very hard to achieve his prize. He won an award at school for his outstanding literacy skills and mastery of phonics. He only started school this year, and is reading quite well. Congratulations, Brandon.

May I Present Mrs Chalumeau...

Finally Mrs Chalumeau takes a bow …She is a Pearly Queen … 695 buttons on the doll and 10 on the journal.(I think – could be more). I would like to thank Paula from Antiques and Collectables here in Hamilton, Newcastle and Raku Buttons ETSY seller for supplying me with about 500 of the vintage mother of pearl buttons, and the rest I had in my stash. I think they look great on my pearly queen, but I am truly tired of sewing on buttons. It made me think however, how many buttons must be on the elaborate clothes of the real pearly Kings and Queens! I drew my inspiration from the lovely lady pictured here, and the following description from Wikipedia. ... A Pearly King ( feminine form Pearly Queen) is a person dressed in a traditional Cockney costume covered in mother-of-pearl buttons. These costumes were treasured heirlooms, hand made and sometimes representing much of a family's wealth. .... This doll is all cloth – a little different from most of my other dolls which generally h

Fish and Sticks : Art Dolls

This week I've been working on fish and sticks .... The sticks are the message stick art dolls which were very popular, attracting some attention and a few orders at the Wise Women exhibition. Each of the message stick dolls are from the Wise Women series, each with her own personality and message of wisdom, handwritten on a handmade timber tag. I gather the sticks during my walks around my neighbourhood and the tags are made from special bits of timber, some collected by me or my husband or from off cuts gifted to us from another doll making friend whose husband makes bagpipes. These dolls start off very simply with a wrap around a stick, in the general shape of a body. 'Naked" message stick dolls - strips of wadding wrapped around found sticks. Then I usually wrap other layers of fabric, wool, and/or fibres, over which I do some simple embroidery. I sculpt or mould small face masks for these dolls. I really like using "sari ribbon" as wrapping str

Christmas - Family and Friends

A time of year To think of love and sharing A time of peace For the whole world to cherish A time to be with all your friends and family And wish them all A Merry Christmas This verse by Phillippe Brisebois sums up the festive season for me. The last week has been a frantic rush to finish handmade gifts and then enjoy the wonderful times at Christmas parties with friends and family. 2009 was the fifteenth Hello Dollies Christmas party and everyone still enjoys the time to share our favourite creations of the year, and to enjoy the company of both the Sydney and Newcastle Dollies. It was really hard to believe that it was the 25th Simmons Family Christmas get-together in its current format. There are now four generations of Simmons and their families attending this " not to be missed" annual party. Our grand daughter Amy is the latest addition , and was introduced to her wider family on Sunday. Our other grandchildren as younger members of the family certainly h

Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

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