A Large Tilda Doll

Greetings dear friends & readers,

During the chaos of the last several months while we struggled through our renovation, I would frequently pull out my Tilda Books & read them .  .  .
. . . try to breathe deeply & remain calm . . .
I dream't of making a soft pastel Tilda doll for my new lounge room - a really large Tilda doll - perhaps an Angel ??

In my Tilda's Studio book, I settled on the Pink Angel below but I still wasn't sure of what size to make her

One day while browsing a new Variety Store in our town, I came across some child's angel wings for the princely sum of $7  .  .  .   & so they came home with me

Off  I trotted to my local photocopying shop with my angel wings & my Tilda book in hand
The man in there is used to me by now - with my odd ideas & my grand schemes - he enlarged the pattern for me by 200%
When I made the body, it fit the wing size perfectly . . . I was on my way !!!

I came unstuck a little when it came to making the clothing
You see when I was at school learning maths, I was usually the one to be found down the back of the class with my fingers in my ears & my eyes shut tight
Lets just say "I am mathematically challenged"
Trying to work out (& enlarge) all those tiers in the skirt gave me a headache ... it didn't help that I had some unwanted assistance along the way !!!

I couldn't afford to just cut randomly into my precious Tilda fabrics, & then get it wrong . . .
 But we I got there in the end

Click on the picture to enlarge it if you wish

I so love my Tilda Angel . . . she is exactly like I pictured her in my mind's eye .  .  .  soft, serene & peaceful

I must confess I was not a huge fan of the Tilda dolls hairstyle, but decided to stay with this very Norwegian look to keep her a true Tilda creation.

The skirt - when finished, would easily fit a small child

I had difficult understanding the instructions in the book for making the fabric roses - so I found this youtube video 
most helpful 
However, let me just ask you one tiny question ... have you ever tried making fabric roses, following a video whilst you have a small furry being on your lap trying to help you ???!!!
It brings new meaning to the word patience !!

I embellished her neck with a vintage brooch gifted to me by my youngest son a few years back.

My Tilda Angel hangs on a wall in my lounge room beside some pretty things

Early last year when my friend Gail closed her Gift Shop I purchased this cushion from her at half the marked price

It had been locally made & I loved it
But I didn't love the purple crochet "basket" holding the flowers.
I stashed it in a bag & threw it in the top of my wardrobe & promptly forgot about it ...
... until last week when it fell down & hit me on the head & reminded me it was time to do something with it.
I unpicked the purple crochet "basket" & replaced it with a cream crochet doiley .... & while I was there, I replaced some of the brighter, gaudier flowers with softer colours

I love it all the more now & found the perfect spot for it on my couch.

I have had another birthday go by dear readers - 56 years around the clock of life
Goodness me !!!
I received some really lovely gifts from family & friends . . .

Oh how I adore my patchwork mini quilt (made by my dear friend Leeanne) bottom left

. . . & enjoyed my day spending time with my precious grandson.
But I think the thing that excited me the most ... something I have coveted for quite sometime now ... gifted from my eldest son & his family 

Yes - a worm farm !!!! Great excitement indeed !!!!
(& hard to photograph on this rainy dull day)

Thanks SO much for stopping by to visit me today dear readers
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend & find some time to do something special for yourselves
with much love & friendship to you ALL
Julie & the furry ones
x0x0x0x0

Painted Book Bundles ............. A Simple Tutorial

Greetings dear friends & readers,

As promised two posts back, I thought I would share today a simple tutorial for making painted book bundles.

The books I used were 50c each from the Op Shop .... I like to use graduating sizes but you could use all the same size if you wished.
Similarly I like to use 3 books, but you may choose to use more.
I glue the stack of books together & then glue inside the outer covers also ... this stops them slip-sliding around when painting.
Also I glue any rough or torn corners of the books cover or spine down - this creates a smoother finish after painting.

I just used my cream wall paint but any water based paint will do ... testpots are wonderful for this.

A little tip .... when I am painting anything during the winter months, I sit it by the fire for awhile before hand ... this warms the article up & allows it to absorb the paint easier ... if you don't have a fire, sit it by the heater, or even in your hot water cupboard for an hour or two.
My stack of books took 3 good coats as I wanted to cover the red really well & kept seeing a slight pink tinge coming through.
I painted mine over the course of a couple of days - be patient & let them dry thoroughly between each coat.

When you are happy with the coverage, its time to lightly sand the edges to give it a timeworn appearance

I just use a medium grit sandpaper & lightly go over all the edges & the spine of the books.

Now the fun part begins   ......   embellishing !!!!

Firstly I glued a doiley to the top of my bundle

Then I found a length of wire edged ribbon just enough to tie a big bow

In my craft stash I found a small birds nest & a bird ... so I hot glued these to the top

The $2 shops sell packets of small (fake) birds eggs ... so I added some of these to my nest

.... then some ribbon roses to my bow ...

I decided this was enough embellishment for my shabby chic book bundle 
 This got me thinking about all those prim lovers out there . . .
you could easily tea dye your doiley quite strongly, cut a length of hessian, fray the edges & use this to tie a bow, then embellish this with some rusty stars or hearts & a key perhaps ???
The possibilities are endless .  .  . 

Here is the pink shabby book bundle I made two posts back

A couple of weeks ago I taught this simple tutorial to my friend Gails, craft group.  This is what the ladies had produced when they next met up . . .
Liz painted 2 book bundles & used ribbon & buckles to create a "belt effect" to secure them

  
Gail also made 2 bundles - hers were more of a shabby chic style

I loved Joyce's one although my photos don't do it justice ... she embellished hers with a vintage card featuring lily of the valley, then crocheted a lace binding & a butterfly - simple & effective

Sharlaine had missed the meeting so made up her own version of "altered book art"

All really lovely & diverse ideas

My friend Sally writes a blog that I love to visit over here at Covet & Co
For those of you living in, or planning a visit to the Waikato area, she has listed her favourite vintage shopping haunts ... if you wanted to pop over & have a read - Sally has a wonderful blog.

Finally dear readers, Blackie has a "revolving door" attitude to this life & this "home of his"
Though he has baskets & various vintage blankets dotted all over the house for him to curl up on ... he has taken to pulling the cover off my sewing machine & curling up right behind it on my desk (even tho' he can barely fit his rather ample derrier in the small space !!!)

As you can well imagine - this makes sewing somewhat difficult ... & I have yet to find a way around the problem!!
I hope you are managing some creativity dearest readers ?
We are in the depths of winter here now in my little part of the world & it is nice to have some creativity to help keep me sane.
I hope you will be encouraged to perhaps give the book bundles a whirl.
cheerio for now . . . with love & friendship to you all
Julie & the furry ones 
x0x0x0x0