Painting of little boy

My daughter has just painted this in oils for her dad as a present. She copied it from a faded black & white photo of my hubs when he was about 6 years old. I think she has done a fab picture. Her email address is on my side bar.

Rag dolls

There are lots of lovely rag dolls out there either made up or in pattern form. I thought I would share with you the one my mum made over 55 years ago just for me. We were extremely poor so didnt have much of anything, but my mum, bless her, took the time to make me my very own doll. She is made from either 3 or 4 ply unravelled from something else., and stuffed with rags.My mum made her up as she went along. She originally had a stocking face and white hair, but as I played with her a lot she had to have plastic surgery and a hair graft! She is about 12" long and do you know she has never had a name, just called rag doll. She is certainly all the worse for wear and not the prettiest and has a broken leg, but, of all the things that I have made over the years she is the only thing that I would never part with. Due to her age she has retired and lives in a drawer!

 With her one and only dress on, that's a few sizes to big!

And this is one that I made for no reason at all, just to see if I could. She is also quite old and she is called Morag. Her baby is no-name! Morag shares the same drawer with rag-doll. Funny I don't have the same feelings for Morag at all.

And this photo shows her petticoat and breeches.

Well that was a trip down memory lane for me.....gotta go and primp meself up as the family are taking me and hubs out for our 41st wedding anniversary. Hmmm when you write it down it seems a lot of years :0D

Regatta Cards

I am popping these cards over onto my Etsy shop, they are blank inside for own message. Mixed media with tea bag tissue layered with paint and enbroidery. Part of the 'Regatta' series that I'm working on. Comes with envelope and in a clear cellophane bag.

They are all a nice, bright clear colour better than photos :0)

Patchwork Mark 2

This is the other quilt that is stored away. We used to have it on the bed in winter as it's quite heavy.  It hasnt got any wadding inside but I found a very thin double bedspread in blue to go on the back. I coudn't think what to do with an alphabet cross stitch, so it was cut up and used as the middle of the squares, and then random material arranged around them. My childrens names and birth dates are embroidered in various panels.

On two sides there are little, slightly padded hearts.

closer view. There are 26 cross stitch patches altogether which worked out right for a double bed,.

Some of the material is again the kiddies clothes and others are what had been given or cut up from something else. There are some random embroidery bits that I did as there are no rules on this quilt :0D

Patchwork

Although I have done patchwork in the past, I have never actually quilted them as they didn't really needed it (and I didn't know much about it then....not that I do now!) These were made during my 'Victorian' era. This one is a patchwork of my children's clothes and other bits. Hand sewn randomly and then yellow herringbone stitch. With a bright cerise backing. It was draped over a table which the tv was on  to hide the video and wires under the telly.

 close ups

                                                               SOLD

Not sure what to do with it now it resides with another patchwork on top of the wardrobe. It no longer fits in with the decor of our cottage. Will put the other one up tomorrow to show you.
The quilt I'm making now (not touched it for a while...hangs head in shame) will need to be quilted and I think that's why I'm procrastinating, cos it's unknown territory to me.

Monkee Time

I will have to start filling up my Etsy shop again as it's nearly empty and to start off I will be putting a few monkeys back on in the next few days.

So here is the troup!


My friend in US posted these key fobcovers to me knowing how much I'm a monkey addict! I don't think I have a key for them but thought if I got some BIG paper clips they could slip on the top and make a bookmarker or a clip attached to the back and hey presto a badge.

Somebody suggested putting the crochet blanket on Etsy so maybe I will do that  as well.

We had three days of lovely sun which got me itching to put seeds in, but back to gloomy weather now :0(  Still ,I have planted some pepper seeds and they are on the window sill so its a start.

Crochet Blanket

 I was always put off crocheting due to the long winded instructions, but when I found a mag that did diagrams found it much easier to follow. So made some fancy doilies and then made this. It looks lovely on the bed, but is no longer needed.

Have to say it took an absolute age as it's a fine cotton and small hook.

   Fringing

I have hung up my hooks now tho, sold most of my crochet mags and going onto pastures new! (and always preferred knitting)
So, if anyone is interested I'm selling this now as no longer needed. If you want more details please email the address in the side bar. Also have only 2 mags left for sale, both in excellent condition.
Magazines now sold.

Picture in situ

Heres the picture on the wall, but don't know if the fireplace or the white wall is best. I think the white wall myself which has got the red sofa underneath.
I think I haven't conquered my camera settings yet, it seems a bit blurry (or maybe I need new specs)!

Overload of Regatta Pictures!

Though I would do some more pictures of the Boat Regatta picture in a better light (or try to!) so be warned there's quite a few!

I have put a cola can to try and show the scale of the picture. I love the wonkiness of the houses, it's supposed to be a take on the American naive folkart. The little street lights and trees have come out quite well and add to the quirkiness of the picture.

I thought I would make some smaller pictures along the same line, have got a few ideas in mind.

Finished picture of 'The Regatta'

Here is the finished applique/embroidered/painted/felt tip/crayon/machine embroidered/watercolour and acrylic paint picture, so a proper mixed media article. It is very big measures   31" across and 26" down.     The colours are much clearer in real life (the light is quite poor here to take photos and I dont feel it shows it to full effect. Anyway I would like to live in the tall pink house on the left, shame they cant make them for real!!

The first picture is  the starting point of bright stripes and then machined embroidered over (I dont have a picture of that step) Mauve,green,yellow,pinky-red and blue.

As you can see from the top picture which is brighter the camera hasn't picked out the zingyness of the colours.