A Special Angel Doll for "Bob" . . . & A Happy New Year !!!

Happy New Year to you all dear friends & readers !

Welcome to a bright shiny New Year . . . . a New Year always reminds me of a fresh clean sheet of paper & a newly sharpened pencil . . . . maybe a chance to do some things a little differently this time around - perhaps make some subtle changes ?

My lovely neighbour Jenny came to my Cottage just after the craft fair in early November.

She had seen a primitive doll that had caught her eye & had an idea brewing around in her head.
(This is the doll in the photo below with the arrow pointing to her)

The pattern is by Sun Valley Primitives & is called "Raggedy Angel."

Jenny's stepdaughter Emily lives in Australia & owns a vintage caravan which she has fitted out as a mobile hair & beauty salon

Emily has named her caravan Bob ... which stands for "Beauty On Board"
Jenny wanted me to make a Primitive Angel doll that Emily could hang in Bob

She emailed me a couple of photos so I could get a feel for the style of the caravan & thanks to the wonders of facebook .... I was able to do some research on the interior aesthetics of it all.

 

Jenny had put a great deal of thought into this gift for Emily & was quite specific in her ideas.
Her requests were for a doll the same size as Raggedy Angel, not painted striped legs but more stocking style with perhaps some painted flowers, a shorter dress not with a felt christmas tree stitched on but possibly flowers again, the same colour hair but tight curls (to match Emilys hair) & definately a raggedy style face
She wanted the doll to have some things in her arms that could be interchanged for different seasons ... for example some berries/greenery at christmas time.

After much research on the caravans interior, Jenny & I decided on a pale-ish green fabric to compliment the many plants that Emily has, & the fresh, clean, natural palette.

I began by cutting out some wool felt flowers & blanket stitching them to the lower part of the dress

I sewed some legs in a stripey fabric & then handpainted black boots onto the foot area

Miss Pippi oversaw this part of the construction !!!

Rather than paint flowers on (as Jenny had suggested) I felt more confident hand sewing tiny lazy daisies around the stocking part of the legs

After I had hemmed the dress I added a gathered black tulle petticoat to give it some extra dimension ......

...... & left the bottom of the petticoat just peeping out.


Next came the challenge of the curly hair - thankfully I had some hand dyed Jute left over from the previous Prim Angel that I could use
I found a great tutorial *here* about curling dolls hair, but instead of using just water as suggested ... I used a PVA/water mixture as I was concerned about the curls dropping

Winding the strands around knitting needles & waiting to dry was a labour intensive project but gave me exactly the look I was after  -  tight bouncy curls, just like Emily's hair

Next came the issue of what to sit in her arms?
I was able to click/save the image of her logo & print it off onto some calico with freezer paper ironed to the back

I cut out a raw linen heart & blanket stitched the Bob logo to my heart shape
After I stuffed the heart I found (online) some miniature comb & scissor charms which I stitched to the top, then attached the heart to the dolls hands

Thankfully I had one set left of the corrugated iron wings I use for this Angel - although these are detachable, I think they definately finish her off - anything smaller would look quite lost

This is how she looked without any embellishments

I had fun playing around with some bits & bobs to tuck into her arms behind the heart ... chalkboard signs, small silver nail scissors, some christmas berries & greenery, rusty stars etc ... all removable

This is how she looked with all her added bits &pieces

I must confess I felt quite nervous about Emily receiving her .... dolls are such a personal thing & you tend to either love or hate them, there is seldom any real middle ground.
So I was relieved on Christmas Day to receive a gorgeous text photo from Jenny of Emily holding her doll, smiling & giving the thumbs up, & a message to say "she adored her & can't wait to get her home to hang her up in Bob" 


May the year ahead be a good & kind one to all of you dear friends & may you find some time in all the busy-ness of your days to take care of yourselves

Thanks So Very Much for your visits here today,
With much love & friendship to you All,
Julie & the furry ones x0x0x0

Merry Christmas EveryOne !!

Greetings dearest friends & readers,

 

I would like to take this opportunity to wish each & every one of you the most wonderful festive season ... however you may choose to celebrate it.

I appreciate Every One that stops by to read my ramblings & the wonderful friendships I have made through my blog ... allbeit cyber ones. 

I have met some truly lovely like minded people & it has made me believe there is so much good out there ... & if the internet connects us to that, then surely that can't be a bad thing! 

 Wednesday was a baking day in my household

I like to make my old favourite recipes each year, cellophane up little parcels, & give to friends & family members.

The recipes I use are at the bottom of this old post here

Once I put the final stitch in my very last Order last weekend, I set to work & made a stocking for Sid, my youngest grandson, who is having his very first Christmas.

I had some lovely vintage looking childrens christmas fabric which I wanted to use & found some fur for across the top - I like to make the stocking quite tactile for the littlies

 

 In amongst my Jar of charms & oddments, I was lucky enough to find the silver letters "S i d" to stitch across the top braid

You can just see it in the photo below, along with other christmas charms.

Though it is not really showing up, the gold fabric I used for his name has little silver stars dotted over it.

Sid's stocking is now filled with his Christmas gifts & sitting under the tree ... only 3 more sleeps !!

Each month when I do my big grocery shop, I always buy an extra bag of cat biscuits & drop into our local Animal Care Shop on my way home.

I try really hard to just drop the biscuits off & not look at any stock as the Shop is also an Op Shop !

This week my willpower failed me as I spotted at the door, a box of silver oddments - all $4 each.

This little silver bucket dish above came home with me ... a rag, some Silvo & some elbow grease 

... & it came out sparkling

Filled up with some dried rose buds, I LoVe it !!

My daughter in law Nicole is one Very Talented person.

Everything she creates is made to perfection with such detail.

She decided she would like some artwork for Sid's room so she set about stitching the lyrics from a song she loved

The Song is Agostina by Pucifer

Each individual felt letter handstitched on to calico, & then framed

As you can see .... Sid was rather delighted with his new artwork !!

Well friends it is hot & humid here today ... 

Miss Pippi has found solace in a cardboard box of paper bags that arrived in todays post ...

 & Blackie is outside on the cool of the deck ... leg downwards today Willie !

This will be my last post for the year so I hope you have a safe & joyous Christmas & New Year

Be kind to yourselves & to each other,

with much love & friendship to you All,

Julie & the furry ones x0x0x0

Christine's Christmas Orders (x 2)

Weekend Greetings dearest friends & readers,

I have finished the last of my Christmas Orders (phew!!) & just have some grandson sewing left to complete.

This Pincushion Angel flew all the way to Northland to a customer  -  "Christine 1".

 She had seen one I had made for her cousin & requested exactly the same please.

The pattern is called Pincushion Angel by Kerryanne English of Shabby Art boutique 
 Christine requested linen & a "very neutral palette"

When my lovely local friend "Christine 2" saw the photos of the Christmas bears I made in this post she asked if there was any chance I could make her a boy Santa bear?

As luck would have it, I had one body left .... Christine wanted it as near as possible to the previous one so thankfully, I had enough of the dark red fleece left over

My favourite part of making these little guys .... making & filling the Santa sacks !!! 😊💛

I enjoy fossicking through my crafty bits & bobs to find an assortment of stocking fillers

I have made so many Christmas decorations for Chris now that I always feel confident she will love what I come up with.

Her 2nd request was for some miniature Santa hats in particular colourways (white/black trim .... cream/fawn trim) to adorn a collection of miniature teddies AND .  .  .  .
an assortment of candy canes & Santa sacks to tuck into the hands of a bear collection that she uses in her christmas decorating

Chris has tried using other "themes" in her christmas decor but always seems to come back to the country style.

It is interesting that I took the above photo because when Chris came to collect her order there was One white Hat Missing !!!  To this date, it has NoT been found & I sewed up another one yesterday ..... but I think it fair to add that a certain ginger 4-legged being was looking decidedly guilty !!!!!
And I imagine when Christmas is Over ... I just might find it tucked away somewhere !!!

I spent a pleasant evening painting calico candy canes at my dining table - I like to mask the stripes first as I seem to make a right mess of them if I don't !!

I think these turned out so sweet, I am hoping to make more of them next Christmas to sell as tree decorations.


Maureen asked me if I could make her a pair of oven mitts in Kiwiana fabrics, preferably blues & greens please.
I knew I had some pukeko fabric left & luckily had just enough to make her a set - I used heat resistent wadding on the insides.

Maureen was delighted when she collected them ...... but I think it would be fair to say - with the hours they took me to make - I never wish to make another set again !!!

There has been a bit of Christmas decorating going on here at Threadbear

The Mr & I put the tree up last weekend & I decorated it
This year - instead of putting the fairy up on top of the tree .... we decided to leave her underneath !!!!

Each Christmas I buy myself one new special decoration - just something small & inexpensive to add to my collection.
This sweet little tin Angel came home with me from The Hummingbird last week when I went there for coffee with 
a dear friend who was staying. 
She sits on my egg box in the kitchen, watches over me & makes me smile !!

Lastly dear friends, I just wanted to share these 2 photos of my delightful grandsons ......
I LoVe 💝 this one of Alec decorating the Christmas tree & think it would look perfect on a card . . . .

 Last week I looked after beautiful Sid while his parents attended a funeral .... he loves to sit in my kitchen enjoying a gingernut biscuit .... I call him the gingernut kid !!

Thanks So very much for staying with me through this lengthy post.
I hope the lead up to Christmas is going well for you all.
Remember to be kind to yourselves & to each other,
With much love & friendship,
Julie & the furry ones x0x0x0

A Catch-Up Post

Friday Greetings dear friends & readers,

 

The Mr asks me every morning what are my plans for the day .... this morning was no different.

"I hope to finish up a couple of orders & then I am going to do a blog post before the month ends" I said

"Well I hate to burst your bubble" he replied "but today IS the 1st of December"

No!!  Surely Not!! Where on earth did November disappear to ?? 

 

The past almost-three-weeks have gone in the blink of an eye !!

Mum came up for her sister's funeral along with my brother & his wife - Mum stayed on a few extra days to catch up with grandsons & great grandsons .  .  .  .

Mum with her great-grandson Alec

 

Mum with her great grandson Sid

.  .  .  .  & then I took her home again & stayed on for a few days.

 Although we were only 10 days out from the official first week of summer - there was snow on Mt Taranaki & I was glad I tossed in a pair of sweatpants to take with me.

My sister-in-law bought a chair squab up with her & asked me to cover it in anything blue please

Miss Pippi very kindly assisted me by falling asleep on it to give it a good press & save me the bother of having to iron the fabric !!

There have been several Orders crossed off on my list but still more are appearing .... 

My sister in law has 2 young friends having babies & asked me for a pink & a blue wool blanket softie to gift to them

 I embroider their faces so there is nothing chewable on them & they are fully machine washable

 These felt mice in stockings were for an order to be sent to the U.K. before the overseas post closed at the end of November.

I took them to Mums & managed to finish them - they are 100% handstitched, & I am now working on another 6 for the Cottage.

 My friend Pru was cleaning out a cupboard & found this piece of raw silk that she had done some silk ribbon embroidery on many years ago ... she asked if I could make it into something to gift to her daughters in law

 I was able to stitch up a decent size lavender bag for each girl & fill it with my homegrown lavender.

Last December Carol inquired whether I could make her a Santa the same as her niece had bought from me.

 The pattern is called Prim Olde Santa & is a design by Kerry Daly of Primitive Country Treasures

 Unfortunately, as it was mid December, I simply ran out of time but I remembered about her request & rang recently to inquire if she would still like one?

He is a beautiful Santa & one of my all-time favourites - I just love every single thing about him & even though he is alot of work, next year I hope to actually make one for myself !!

 I was pleased to be able to give it to Carol early so she could enjoy him for the whole of the festive season.

When my neighbour Leah gifted me all the junk treasures left over from her Garage Sale a plastic bag of candles was in amongst it all.

I wanted to do something with the candles as they were still in new condition.

 I found some old music pages in my sleepout & wrapped this around them, then added some cotton lace to each set.

 I tucked a vintage image into each candle bundle, then tied them up securely with some cream tulle, lace & pearl trim

I had a customer yesterday say to me "these are just gorgeous .... what do you do with them ??!!  

So I told her .................... you sit them there & they look pretty & you enjoy them! 😉 

Or you can burn them ...... or you could gift them !!

Lastly dear friends, I have recently joined Instagram.

A couple of  local makers & myself are having a little giveaway which will be drawn this Sunday evening

The prize consists of a Christmas top, a NZ print & my felt mice - all handmade by local artists.

This is entirely free to enter so just pop along to the link *here* if you would like a chance to go in the draw.

Thanks So Much for staying with me through this lengthy catch up post.

I wish you all a great weekend ahead & hope it is filled with special moments,

With much love & friendship to you all,

Julie & the furry ones x0x0x0