Angels of Hope - Rotary Club Project

What a great Rotary Club I belong to! We have just started a new project to assist a local community support program for young women in crisis. It is a program which offers residential accommodation as well as a skills program. Its aims are to bring hope, build faith, reveal love and restore value. Yesterday, eight of us, including our Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, made some little dolls as gifts for the women. They are called Angels of Hope, adapted from a pattern from Rosalie Quinlan's book, Gift.
While we are aware of the Comfort Doll Project, we wanted to make these dolls ourselves, and enjoy doing it together as a club project.

We were all very keen and started the afternoon reviewing the pattern, gathering fabrics and then allocated jobs. Even the non-sewers had plenty to do.

It was soon very clear that we were a very focussed, determined and industrious group, with sewing machines whirring, scissors snipping, stuffing tools filling dolls' bodies, irons pressing fabric, and pens drawing faces....

We were given a boost of energy and enthusaism, when our Rotary Assistant Governor just happened to visit . He politely declined to do some sewing, but was very encouraging.

When the first two little angels were completed , we were all really happy and congratulated ourselves. What better way to celebrate the first couple off the production line than with a beautiful afternoon tea.

By the end of the afternoon, we had completed fifteen dolls, with three just needing some finishing off. Two dolls were needed immediately for two new residents and we packaged them up to be given with our gift bag of toiletries. The bags are made by members of our Rotary club or members of their familes and the contents are kindly donated by local shops. The attached card reads "Angel of Hope... Handmade and donated by the Rotary Club of Wallsend-Maryland . District 9670"

Many thanks to fellow Rotarians and friends who came to help yesterday afternoon, especially for giving up a Saturday afterrnon when the weather was perfect for enjoying the outdoors. You did a great job making the dolls and I think you should be very proud and happy with the results. I really enjoyed making these little dolls with you , and hopefully, they will bring some hope and joy to the recipients.

Too Precious to Waste

Stitched tea bags/ old doily "tea lights" - Wilma Simmons More than a year ago, a decision was made. The annual exhibition of NCEATA ( Newcastle Creative Embroiderers and Textile Artists) 2015-2016 will have the theme "Mottainai". Mottainai in Japanese refers to more than just physical waste (resources). It is even used to refer to thought patterns that give rise to wasteful action. Grammatically, it can be used in Japanese as an exclamation ("mottainai!") or as an adjective phrase ("it feels mottainai"). There is no plural form. The collection of mottainai things could be called mottainai koto ( もったいない事 ? ). As an exclamation ("mottainai!") it means roughly "what a waste!" or "Don't waste." [2] A simple English equivalent is the saying "waste not, want not." A more elaborate meaning conveys a sense of value and worthiness and may be translated as "do not destroy (or lay waste to) that

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

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

Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

Search This Blog