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Meg and Tilli

Meg and Tilli having kisses and cuddles.

Painting the Space Hopper

The final layer of the Space Hopper is usually, well originally orange. But i did not have orange paint, i had green. I love this colour, it reminds me of avocado. Using the glue i already had i added poster paint to the mixture. I have painted almost half of it and now it is in the sun, but away from the wind to dry.
I will check it periodically through the day and turn it around to hopefully get dry.
The glue has made the paint look plastic/rubbery I hope it dries like that.
I have also painted the feelers, handles. Tubes of fabric stuffed and pipe cleaners added inside too. The paint in the jar has got a piece of plastic film over the top of the paint. I hope that this will help stop a skin from forming so that later i can finish painting it.

Hands and Feet

The hands and feet are being made separately from the main body. Drawn ready to sew. The shoe is going to be appliqued in wool blend fabric before sewing up. The foot made with the cotton fabric including the sole. Then it will be stuffed and ladder stitched in place at the end of the leg. The sole will be copied slightly larger in leather and glued in place. Lastly a heel will be glues in too. (this is half a sole shape).

The hand is a mitten type hand that will have fingers sewn on the dotted lines. Pipe cleaners added to be able to curve the fingers down.

Bushfire quilt help needed

Dear friends,
Many people across Australia have been deeply moved by the plight of Victorian towns affected by the bushfires in February.

We are among the lucky ones: our towns and homes were not directly impacted and our lives have moved on. For people in towns like Marysville, there are months and years of hard work and recovery ahead before life gets back to normal.

Yet out of the devastation and heartbreak, visions of hope have emerged. The reviving of the bush seems symbolic of the strength and tenacity of bush-loving residents.

If you've been wondering what you could do to help, this might be just the thing.
We are making a commemorative quilt to give to the community of Marysville.
We invite you to participate in this project. If you've never quilted before, don't worry - neither have I! It's easy! With the guidance of our technical support expert, Julie Warren, even us non-quilters can have a go.

Step 1: Choose fabric of your choice, 100% cotton is best. Cut out an 8 by 8 inch square.

Step 2: Measuring in 1 inch from the edge, trace a 6 by 6 inch square

Step 3: Decorate your block any way you like - as long as you stay within the clearly marked 6 inch square, leaving the margin clear for hemming.

You could use embroidery, applique, fabric paint or fabric pens such a 'Pigma' pens.
Julie Warren is available for idea and practical guidance.

The Marysville Quilt Project website is up and running. Check there for for inspiration and practical suggestions, including photos that might prompt ideas for your block design.
Your local quilting store will also be a useful resource.

Step 4: Complete the quilt block and post it to:

The Marysville Quilt Project
P.O. Box 378
Warburton
Victoria 3799
by no later than 30 September 2009!!!

Feel free to forward this email to friends you think might like to join the project.
Thank you for being part of this project.
Kind regards,
Julie Bell
Julie Warren

The Marysville 'Beauty for Ashes' Quilt Project
http://marysvillequilt.blogspot.com/

Face

This is her face close up. Oh my God! She looks scared! It is so not what i wanted! I wanted it to look like she was laughing. Apart from starting again, next time, any artists out there to give me advice?

Hair continued

The channel for this loom is wider than the foot. Very important because you want the yarn to squish down and be sewn close.
Make sure that the loom has the open end facing the back of the machine or you won't be able to slide the yarn off!.
The hair is pinned around the head and tied into a ponytail and ready to sew onto the head. You can if you wish cut the yarn loops, but i will be keeping them as is to make the hair look curly.

Hair

This is a cardboard loom. The cardboard is cut to the depth i want the hair to be. Now i am going to prepare the yarn to make the hair.
You wrap the yarn round and round, pushing the yarn close together.
Keep going until you have most of the cardboard covered. Do not cut the yarn, take the whole thing to the sewing machine and stitch in the blank space using a wide zig zag to hold them all together. When you almost reach the end, stop. slide the now sewn yarn off the end and wind some more yarn around the loom. When you have the length required stop, back stitch and cut the yarn.
Hair is ready to use.
For this particular doll i will be sewing it onto the head all the way around because i am going to make a pony tail.

Doll Continued

Parts of the pinafore dress. There is the skirt part, pleated onto a waist band. Next you have the bib front to be sewn on doubled fabric and then sewn onto the waist band. then you have the ruffle on the straps, sewn on doubled fabric, tuned right sides out, added into the shoulder straps then sewn onto the back cross over style. then sewn onto the front top of the bub and a button sewn on top of that. Not shown is the ruffle on the bottom of the dress, I have not decided if i am going to use the same fabric or if i will add gathered lace yet. I will try it on the doll first.

Doll Continued

The body is now ready for some clothes. I will be adding the hands and feet separately.
Dressed, almost. She will be having a pinafore dress on top which will be wired on the hem to simulate the wind, then i will be making the feet and hands.

The hair too will be made like a wig and added last, well alomost last. the last thing i will be doing is her face.

Cats of the Day

Cats Don't you just love them?
cuddles!

Doll Continued

Take 2. I was quite happily pinning and draping when it occurred to me, Straighten out those limbs!! It is wire after all. I can bend it after and add tucks in for the folds. So i unwrapped it, and re did the fabric skin!
Legs and body pinned. Stretched out and straightened the arms.
I cut 2 circles for the head.

Cat of the Day

This is my book case, Yes i know it is a mess! but i cannot fit them any other way It is the silly cat walking on top that is the star!
The cats are allowed anywhere they can get too, and this time Tilli wants to be on top! I know she is going to knock some things down, but it makes me tidy up that is for sure.
The doll did fall down too and landed on the sewing machine. Tilli is Ok!! she is in her exploring mood.

Give Away

Jodi is having a give-away over at This That and The Other...she is giving us a chance to win a lovely Table Topper or a Table Runner and Cushion Cover...what a great prize. So drop over and get a chance of winning.

Space Hopper girl continued

From the pictures you can see that i am using the drape, cut and sew method (i am in Awe of the show Project Runway on Foxtel at the moment) which is why i am making this doll in this way,


I will continue like this until the doll is covered, making sure that the face is smooth on the front! The hands will be made separately (cos of wired fingers), but they will be mitten type. Toes will be needle sculpted. All the time with my tape measure measuring each part of the limb before sewing up, smoothing out the skin and adding a little stuffing here and there. I want them to be similar sized at least!

Wired Wrapped

Wire wrapped in wadding off cuts. It looks a little dumpy, lumpy and bumpy. this is before it has muscle definition. The wadding will compact a lot by the time it is finished. The skin of the doll is going to be made by using the drape, cut and sew method.

Her outfit is going to be tights so her legs will be covered completely. She will be wearing a long sleeve jumper with an overdress (popular in the 70s) that is going to be wired in the hem to simulate the wind and her hair will be wool that i will glue over a form (more on that later).

Cat of the Day

Meggy is the Cat of the Day , Playing Feathers, one of our favorite games.

Space Hopper Girl

This may look odd but it is the skeleton of my Space Hopper Girl. Some minor adjustments to be made but the dimensions are correct. This ballon is not the one i am making the Space Hopper from, just one that is the same size.

This doll is much different to the one before, This is the basic pose. Again this is just an idea developing as you see it. I had so much fun the last time! Basic shapes will be formed as before the body starting from the inside out. This time however i will be wrapping the wire with off cuts of quilters batting from The Pillow Factory and tying it to the wire to get muscle definition. This is a first for me . From this i will be tracing around on to cardboard the individual pieces, soles of the feet, feet, lower legs, upper legs, bottom to waist, waist to neck, hands to wrist, wrist to elbow, elbow to shoulder and then the head.

I Made This!

My sons boots. I think it is called refashioning. They were a pair of Swede trousers from the opp shop and i cut them up and turned them up side down, chopped the top off and sewed them wrong sides to right sides for the turn down flap. All for a pirate costume.

Cat of the Day

Tilli is my Cat of the Day Picture. I think she is showing off her markings in a particularly nice way today.

Space Hopper

The next doll i am going to make is a child riding a Space Hopper. This is going to be made out of papier mache. The paste is 3 parts white glue to 1 part water, mixed until smooth and runny.
I have a balloon blown up to the size i want (actually i put one balloon inside another before blowing it up. I figure it will be twice as strong, It was definitely twice as hard to blow up!) and have strips of newspaper ready to paste.

This is the first layer all covered. I will have to leave it to dry. It will dry outside on the line until i am ready to do the next layer.

It is now dry and ready for the next step.
I will repeat this at least 3 more times.

Next Project

At our Cloth Doll Club A.C.D.A we have monthly meetings, and very enjoyable they are too. They keep me going and i feel energized every time i go there. Well, we have a challenge coming up and i only have a couple of weeks to get it done and the challenge is about something to do with your childhood. Well my most vivid memory of being a child is running around the edge of the playground in slow motion being the Six Million Dollar man. with Steve Austin. Thinking back, i did not realize it then but i think he was my first crush. What was your first crush?
A little off topic, but It keeps popping in my head. I will have to make something about that time soon.


Back to the challenge, One of the favorite toys in the children's home was a thing called a Space Hopper, remember them? You maybe too young to remember either of these things, but to me they were great. So my challenge doll i am going to make is a mixed media. I am starting with the space hopper and go from there.
Tomorrow i am going to buy a balloon and papier mache it and make a Space hopper.

Shopping

New Shoes! Why the exclamation mark? Well i am not a shoe person and the last time i bought a pair of winter shoes was 6 years ago. (not including the dainty pair my daughter bought for me last time she was visiting). I have spent the day walking them in.




The old pair of shoes with the teddy bear safety eye holding the strap in place. One last goodbye before i throw them out. They have done me well.

Thumb Pincushion Giveaway Closed

The Thumb Pincushion giveaway is now closed. All 5 people to respond to the post have been contacted and should be recieving their pincushions soon.

Cats of the Day

Tilli and Meg were doing the same thing today whilst we were playing with one of their favourite toys. A feather attached to some golden cord.
I could not pick just one of them 'cos they were both too cute.

Doll Finished

This is the dolls legs. I have attached it to the broom using a coat hanger wire that is in a U shape. Poked up through the boot heels and legs. This is for when i have her suspended in the air to show her standing on her broom.
A close up detail of her dress, cat and hands.
Her face close up.
Here she is completed. I had fun making her i hope you enjoyed her journey into being.
The next job is to clean up my mess, get back to doing some more Christmas dolls and dream about the next project.

Thumb Pincushion

I have added how to make a thumb pincushion to the list of tutorials. Please read the story that goes with it. This is for personal use only. You can make them for yourself and to give away only.

I designed this pincushion 5 years ago in memory of a friend who fought and lost her battle with cancer. She was a courageous woman whom i am honoured to have known. She maybe gone, but not forgotten.
She loved her family and her friends and was generous in spirit. I wanted to celebrate her and spread her love.

When i am sad, i sew. When i am happy , i sew. This was a little of both.
I wanted to share her story with others in a simple way and spread her love.

I made these Thumb Pincushions.
I made 150 of them all the while thinking of my friend and what she meant to me. It was almost Christmas and i thought, How can i share my feelings about her? So i went to Spotlight in Mill Park with the now large bag of Thumb Pincushions and gave them out to the staff, telling the story of my friend as i went. The manager was very kind and generous in spirit too and allowed me to give them freely to people in the fabric department all day long telling my friends story as i went.
I wanted to share with other fellow crafters my feelings and her story.
At the end of the day all 150 of the Thumb Pincushions were gone, I felt i had celebrated her life with complete strangers. I am not a loud or flamboyant person, I am a shy quiet person and have been making them ever since.

Please feel free to make and give away to friends. Please don't copy and sell.
This is just to share with those you love.

Doll Continued

This is the doll so far. the rest is just finishing off by hand. adding hands, sewing on embellishments, adding the cat and lastly the face.

Giveaway

Who would like a thumb pincushion?
The first 5 people to respond to this post will get a couple sent to them, one to keep for themselves and another to give to a friend. Sounds Cool?

All 5 have been responded too and this post is now closed. Do not worry, I have written up a tutorial if you still would like one anyway.

Cat Pattern

I have now added the cat pattern to my free pattern and tutorials list. If you make one or have an idea on how to make the instructions clearer, let me know!

Doll Continued

This is the hair i am going to use on the doll.
I have to brush and clean it out first and then having drawn a hat line on the doll i will use a felting needle to poke the hair in just on that line i drew and above it on the head to hold it in. I am looking for a messy fly away look so styling is not so important. This brush is actually a pet brush, exactly the same as they type of brush you get in teddy bear stores but much cheaper.
All witches need a broom and this is what i had.
Some lavender from my niece. I tied it up and here it is.