Red and Blue....

I managed to finish Master 9's dressing gown last Thursday!

Yes, I actually finished it in one go; no leaving hems or hand sewing to be finished at a later date!

Whilst cutting it out, from the stash of polar fleece, I realised that I wouldn't quite have enough red so I added navy blue into the mix for the pockets, cuffs and belt.

As soon as Master 7 saw it, he said he had to have one too. Only problem is, the stash only has purple now......

And more red's and blue's for a custom order for 3 dolls, yet to be finished.

We had a hectic ,but wonderful, weekend; friends for dinner Friday, parents stayed over Saturday and a beautiful "Slow Food Harvest lunch" in the local botanic gardens on Sunday. Bliss.

Kathryn. XX

A Champion Doll...

For the last 10 years, or so, my Mum has put an entry into the Dookie* show in the "Best Dressed Doll" category. For the past 10 years she has won first prize. For the past 7 years she has won "Champion of Needlework" in the needlework section with her doll entry and this year was no exception!

I know, how amazing is that!!!

Every year she has picked a theme ie. last year, her entry was a traditional Norwegian "Bunard" dressed doll. She has also done Victorian, Chinese and next year she thinks she may do Marie Antoinette!

Anyway, this year she did "Mary, Queen of Scots"

*(a little country town near Shepparton where she grew up - my Grandmother still lives there)

You can read more about Mary, Queen of scots here.

Mum made entirely everything for the doll, including underwear, stockings, petticoat, shoes, hat, the ruff around her neck, jewellery, the rosary and the needlefelted dog! Legend has it, that when she was executed, her little dog was found hidden in the folds of her dress.

I gave Mum a needlefelting kit last year so it has come in very handy!
Clever or what! Look at all of that intricate pin tucking on her dress too.

The detail she puts into her dolls is incomparable.

And, remeber my "scrappy stacked coins' quilt that I finished off at Sewjourn a few months ago?

Well, I entered it in the show too, in the "Article made from scraps" section and it won first prize too! There were 4 other entries so I was pretty chuffed.

More painting to be done today.

I absolutely HATE painting and it is driving me insane.

I hope you are not driven insane today.

Kathryn.. XX

Finished Yesterday!!!

What a dreary old weekend. Stuck indoors with two boys going crazy with cabin fever! No outings to the park to play "footy", no Auskick - only pretend "footy" inside with a balloon (that's the only thing I let them kick, handball, mark, bounce, and tackle with, inside. Can you pick up the fact that my boys love "footy"? Yep, crazy about it....

Anyway, suprisingly enough, I had a very productive day yesterday. We bribed the boys to watch "Harry Potter" once again so I was able to finish off some priojects.

I have this pile of stuff - either cut out ready to sew, half sewn and just about finished but never seem to get around to it - I call it "My can't be bothered pile". You can see the pile in the last photo on the front of the table. It has decreased in size a bit since my crazy whirl wind sewing bonanza yesterday but I still have loads to finish off.

Does anyone else have this problem???

I managed to finish off the girls. I have called them "Katiya".

Mischief in a bag!!! Finished yesterday.... Find them in my website shop

Barkcloth Roses Tote bag - finished yesterday! Find it on Ebay soon..

Ballet bag - finished yesterday!! Find it in my Website shop

"The Princess Cushion - Emma" finished yesterday! Find it in my website shop

Not wanting to brag, but I finished another "Princess Cushion" ("Isabelle") too, along with two girls aprons and a wristlet! Bear in mind that these had been started and then neglected! So, I'm not the whizz you may think. :)

The mess where I "work"

See the big pile of unfinished business??? Mmm, can't be bothered...

Kathryn

Barkcloth and lavender

Well, I thought I had better do some "Shabby" stuff today.

I have all this lavender so I have made a beautiful barkcloth lavender pillow which I shall put on ebay soon...

Here it is finished and it smells divine! I wish you were here to smell it. I used nearly two cups of lavender so it is very smelly - in a good way!

And this is how far I have come with the girls. I have hand painted their faces and hair so far.. I'm not very happy with the bottom girls with the brown hair. What do you think? I think I prefer them blonde.

Maybe over the weekend I shall get them finished or change them again....

This darling little creature turned up in my letter box this morning. Isn't she just the sweetest thing you have seen. And she is in my favourite colours - pink and green.

Thanks to Rosemary4Rememberance on Etsy. Check her out - she makes the greatest needle felt items.

Are you sick of cat hair/fur everywhere? Well one of these might just be the ticket. I have made a little quilt for my cat.
My parcel post lady, who I always love the sight of, suggested that "Coco" might be a little spoilt! "No" I said. Well, thinking about it now, I think she might be...



I think she likes it....



Woh, I'd better go and pick the "kids" up from school.
Anyone else looking forward to the holidays? This term has been way too long I say...
Kathryn

Mum and Dad

Today was spent with my Mum and Dad. They have been away on their "last trip" overseas and had been gone for 6 weeks. They are world travellers and have just about conquered every continent. This time they went to Croatia, Hungry, Austria, Belgium, England and the USA. They have only been home a few days and only just recovering from jet lag. it was great to see them and they brought some lovely goodies with them. I shall show you tomorrow....

Here is Mai. She is my lateset Kimono Kokeshi doll. She will be added to my Etsy shop soon...

Lovely KIKI is packaged and ready to fly off to California in a few days time. I hope she enjoys

her new home...

Here are some more girls for my Etsy shop.

Kathryn.