Promise - I will be back soon LOL

Things have taken a bit of time to settle down after the visit and with heaps going on at work at the moment, we are full on. I have been playing a bit today to try and get back into the sewing groove again and will have a small needlecase tutorial to put up as soon as I can get it to a decent standard.

Anyone interested in a needlecase tutorial albiet a small one, but a good size to pop into a handbag etc

Biggest Surprise Ever

Its been a week of big things happening for us, had the MIL’s 80th and knew all the family were coming from overseas and all over New Zealand to catch up with her (further pictures in the post below)

BUT……… last Monday evening just as we were going to have an early night (phew lucky we didn't) we had a knock on our door and nearly had a heart attack there and then – these two below were at our door and had come all the way from Australia to surprise their Dad…… who had not seen them in years…….. to say he's the happiest Dad in the world would be the biggest understatement of the year LOL……  Its been the best time and we have another week yet so expect a few photos to go up on the blog, I think there might be many tears when they head out on their plane next weekend (me included) its been awesome…….

Daniel and Amy with their Nana who cried buckets when she saw them for the first time in a very long time, was the perfect birthday present for her.

I call this picture The Happiest Dad in the world……….

Pictures of MIL’s 80th Birthday

Sorry to be away from the blog for so long, but the quilt I was making was for my MIL’s 80th birthday and I needed to spend every bit of time after work to get it finished in time.  Below are some pictures of the finished quilt and of her opening the parcel at her birthday bash… not a great pic of the quilt as it was a very sunny day when I took it and it got washed out, will take some more of it on her bed when I go up and see her at the home.

Quilt finished and washed and dried in the dryer

This was a classic she opened the parcel and opened her mouth then closed the parcel up again LOL….in shock

Parcel opened and quilt being held up to show everyone

 

Me with MIL and the quilt, was bending way down here for the photo LOL as she was sitting in a wheelchair

Nearly an update to come LOL

Sorry everyone, been so busy at work the past few weeks and needing to work on the quilt in any spare time there has been little time to update the blog.

I have been to my monthly doll club meeting today though so look for some pictures tomorrow, also am nearly finished the quilt just need to do the hand sewing on the binding and all good to go. THEN.......... I shall continue with the faces and get those up for you and back into doll making...........

What got started last weekend

Well sorry girls, no doll face updates so far, have a sewing job I need to concentrate on for the next wee bit, a bit of pressure to get this done as a gift so am winging another quilt LOL.... nearly got the top finished just need to get the final borders on this weekend and then backing and wadding - phew...........fingers crossed I can get it to that stage so I can start the quilting as that takes me a bit of time indeed. Above is the progress so far.

Update on faces will be coming soon LOL

I am hoping to get some more pics of the faces nearly done over the weekend, I have sealed two of them so can continue on - just have to do some housework tomorrow...........ewwwwwwwwww nasty I know but then I have a couple of days to myself to craft (fingers crossed)....... I went to town today to get my mug shot taken for a passport as I am heading to Australia for a retreat in September so its all go from here on in. (Well in my head its a go, my body is still frozen in fear of those planes I kid you not, I shall be a blithering jelly boarding the plane)

Pay it Forward

 

I was visiting my friend Pams  blog  today and noticed she had a "pay it forward"  going on there.  So in I went to make my comment LOL and now I am in the "game" so to speak.

 

Sooooooo  heres the rules girls and boys..........

 

PAY IT FORWARD CHALLENGE
is an act of kindness done with no expectation of anything in return but the hope that the recipient of the gift will continue the challenge.....
I start by promising to make and send (3) gifts for the first(3) FRIENDS who post a comment to this post....I hope you will promise to post the challenge announcement on your blogs and carry forth the promise to gift (3) friends with a gift each!

MY PROMISE
I will send out the (3) gifts within 365 days! You will not know when....please don't forget to leave your email so that I can answer your post! lol..

 

 

Update on drawing faces

Ok so here we go again, hope I am not boring you lot with all this as I have taken a heap of photos today, below is the other two faces pencilled in and just the start of colouring them

Below is the face I started in the previous posts, as you can see I have done a bit on both eyes now and also started shading the nose area, amazing what a bit of white dabbed here and there does to the dimension, starts to take it from flat to a 3D look, pencil used for that is a white pastel pencil very soft and easy to blend with. Also used an off flesh toned one on either side of the nose. The eyes on this one are a bit murky as I have played with them too much, but I will be spraying this later on with a fixative and then redoing some of the colours over the top again.

A bit more colour on this face and the one further below

Starting to put some colour on the lips

Now on one of the faces I am not happy with the iris placement so am going to attempt to fix it, in the below pictures the iris on the left is places way to far inside the outline of the eye so I am using a white gel pen to try and blot it out and then once its dry (this will take a few applications) I will try and get some more green over the top and then make the iris line further out – fingers crossed it works

the below pictures the iris on the left is places way to far inside the outline of the eye so I am using a white gel pen to try and blot it out and then once its dry (this will take a few applications) I will try and get some more green over the top and then make the iris line further out – fingers crossed it works

First layer laid down and its very see through, just let it dry and then in the next picture pop a bit more over to start to make it disappear.

Smal Update no pics

Just sending this by email, so convenient to be able to do this on the fly, well lets hope so when this hits the blog.

Just finished stuffing the other two faces which I will take to my doll club tomorrow and carry on with the faces, so there should be quite a lot of pictures to go up on Sunday ( all going well)

Now just another tip I thought of to tell you all as I was stuffing these flat heads. The trick to getting a nice smooth finish on the edges is to spritz them with water as you stuff them - (because I had drawn the face on already I just spritzed the back of the head and not the front) you can even run an iron (hot of course) over the seam line to help dry it if you want and this then contracts the cotton back on the stuffing. Before doing that take your sewing needle and pop it into the face just a wee bit from the seam and then pull the stuffing forward with your needle until its all nicely sitting in the chin or face edge. - you can do this from the back, although if you make little holes in the cotton with your needle doing this, just run your fingernail over the wee hole and it will disapear- Last tip, DONT over stuff these flat heads they just need enough to fill them out not make them hard as rocks........I roll them with my hand as well once stuffed to distrubute the stuffing about and get them all nicely shaped.

Hope these tips help someone............

Next installment of face pictures

Hello again, well I managed to get a wee bit more done of the doll face, I have just started one eye so you can see the difference adding a bit here and there makes. Now in showing this process - things happen and this face may not work out yet - as often happens, of course this will be just my luck to happen when I decide to show how I do them......... of course LOL..... I have two more which I will stuff and start as well so fingers crossed one of em will work out. This one has very oversize eyes but with hair etc and a small body this can make a bit of a statement, (well that's just my opinion and of course I am covering my bum in case it goes wrong he he)

Anyways this next picture shows the start of putting a bit of extra oomph on to the eye area, I am never finished until its finished I can change things all the time and colours until I am happier with it, although a lot of times I am not happy with the finished product as most doll makers would attest, we are all our own worst critics.

In this picture below you can see more black has been added to the eye and the iris and some shading under the eye

Next one below, I have added some wispy eyelashes (I hate doing eyelashes and most times don't do them on dolls, certainly not on the upper eye, usually just do a very dark thick eyeliner effect, but every now and again I attempt bottom lashes)

And just a closer look at the eye, my gosh really putting myself out here Eeek LOL anyways gives a good look at the penciled in eyes and mouth as well, I also struggle with mouths so we shall see how this one goes. This face also has to have shading done as well and of course both eyes need to be done so as soon as I have more time I will continue on and take more pictures, hopefully with the other two faces as well.

On a roll today

After finishing the quilt today I thought I had better get going and do some doll faces again, use it or lose it as the saying goes and its the same with drawing the faces. So I thought seeing as I am practicing I would give you all a glimpse into the process I do when doing a flat face.

You will notice at the top of the faces there is a sort of "onion top" LOL..... sorry just looked at it and thought my gosh .......hehe....... basically I always do a tab instead of just leaving an opening for stuffing then as you stuff that tab folds inside and you have a nice edge to sew up plus no fraying as you stuff. The hair of course will hide this once its on and having this at the top of the head means you get a really nice finish at the chin area.

I also like to draw my faces on lightly with pencil prior to stuffing, I find it easier to get the face right by doing this. (just my preference)

This is only the start of the layering process just getting some colour on there and will build it up as I go, well hopefully, as its been a while since Ive done any faces.

FINALLY the quilt is finished

I finally found some time this weekend and sat up late last night and hand sewed all the binding onto the quilt. Pheww what a learning experience this has been – but I have enjoyed it and am quite proud of my first quilt mistakes and all LOL……. I stippled it all over as well which took me a lot of time as I learnt as I went, cant wait to wash it now and get it all soft and ready to use for the winter to cuddle under.

I had a heck of a time getting these pictures so excuse the rough piccies, my clothes line isn't high enough so had to peg it over a couple of lines and its too dark inside to take any of it, but anyways you get the idea.

Its not wavy at all in the border and binding just the way its hanging on the line – promise LOL

Second test from email

Ok am going to try and send a picture this time from the email..........fingers crossed it comes through onto the blog ok...

Edit: yep as long as its attached in it comes yipeeeeeeeee very cool

A Test

Hmm I saw a new way to send quick blog updates by email so thought what the heck will test this and see what happens, dont have any pictures with me at the moment as am at work so will need to test that out as well................

So here goes sending this from email - whoooooooooooosh

Edit:

Well what do you know it works fine nearly instant - now to find a picture to send and see how that works....... wow I might actually be updating a bit more often hehe............

Doll Club day out

 

Today was our monthly day out, none of us had much show and tell this time things have been a bit slow on the crafting front but we still had a good day – lots of talking and eating and drinking of coffee and tea LOL..  I took my crochet along, one of the ladies brought some knitting and the other ladies were making teddy bears so a real mixture this time.

This is the bottom of my bag, nearly there to start going up to make the sides so can hardly wait to see how its going to look

Here are some bears Elaina (sorry not sure how to spell this) has made, she is a fantastic bear maker and honestly they feel real in your hand when you pick them up, they are just weighted beautifully

 

Here's one that was being made on the day and Rose nearly got it finished but didn't have the right size eyes with her to do the face.

Saturday and I have some pictures to post

Well its Saturday evening here now, cleaned up my house this morning and then felt a bit “off” for the rest of the afternoon so just lolled about reading some of the wonderful blogs out there.  Just made myself a lovely pumpkin quiche and had it with scotch fillet steak – so needless to say I am feeling a whole lot better hehe…..

Yum isn't this so yummy….tastes sooo good

 

I went to the Spotlight sale last week as well and picked up some nice material (must take a piccie of that) and also got some nice upholstery fabric which was reduced from 26.00 a metre to 6.40….. how could I go past it – IT WAS GREEN AND PURPLE……….it called to me and called to me so home it came and I made a couple of couch covers out of it – well just couch throws LOL covers sounds a bit fancy dancy, and also a matching fabric which I made some pillow cases from .

I have been following a blog recently called Attic24 it is the most colourful and cheerful blog and I try and visit it every day, I fell in love with her gorgeous crocheted blankets and bags so decided to give it a whirl and teach myself to crochet.

Here is the first effort, pretty sad as I couldn't get my tension correct, but now I have taken my hook (whoops nearly said needle) size down a tad or two and things are shaping up much better.  The wee round one is my better effort and is the one I will be continuing with, sorry the pic is a bit blurry but will take a better one tomorrow to show progress on it, I love the colours so bright and cheerful……The middle of that wee circle is lime green and its awesome then bright pink then purple and then orange hehe doesn't show up so good in this pic but I promise its bright.

 

Rainbow Quiz

Your rainbow is strongly shaded violet.

What is says about you: You are a creative person. You appreciate beauty and craftsmanship. You are patient and will keep trying to understand something until you've mastered it.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

Things I've made this weekend

I've had a couple of days off this week so did a massive tidy up of the bedrooms and moved a bit of furniture about, which of course showed all the nasty bits in behind which was unfortunate cause then I had to clean the mess. This also created a bit of washing as I removed covers etc from couches due to a doggie using them for a sleeping arrangement, (washed doggie as well LOL) While I was in this house cleaning mode I decided to make some new covers for the pillows and do a spot of painting. So below are some pictures of two wee side tables I painted up to spruce em up a wee bit, and then made a couple of wee coaster type things for putting drinks on so as not to muck up my nice painting and some cushion covers….

ALSO…… a picture of my new toy (on lend to me from a friend down the road who had brought it but never taken it out of its box) Its a Pfaff Grandquilter with a 9 inch throat on it, so am having fun using it to stipple the quilt with. This beastie is heavy and doesn't move at all when stippling.

She's a big beastie but works a treat

Cushions for the two seater in the dining room

Wee table and cover for the dining room (we don't have a table LOL)

Another wee table painted for the lounge

Wee coaster to stop it getting marked

Pillow case for lounge pillows (two of them done)

And this got a coat of paint as I had some left so decided to use it LOL…

Hi Hello I am back

Hello here I am again, sorry have had so much going on in the “real” world that my poor crafting has taken a back seat a wee bit. BUT had doll club yesterday so managed to take the quilt with me and did some stitching. I stitched in the ditch all around and then had a go at stippling it……….EEEKKK. I sat there with it all ready to go for quite a while as the fear of mucking it up was very real LOL….then I just thought what the heck lets just go for it…….

Well it was fun and although I am not finished I am reasonably happy with my effort so far for a first go so below are some pictures from doll club and of the quilt.

My lovely friend from down the road having her picture taken LOL

Some of the girls getting sorted

Me just finishing of the ditch stitching

Me saying take the camera away LOL…

Stippling……………….

First Border on Mystery Quilt

I have got the first border on the quilt today, so now just waiting for the next bit, this has been a lot of fun and I think my quilt is looking quite nice so far.  I have Doll Club tomorrow so will take it along for “show and tell”… hope the girls like it.  Will be interesting to see what the girls have been up to over xmas as we have not met for two months now, will be taking the camera so fingers crossed will have a heap of pictures to share with you all tomorrow evening.  (by the way it really is not wavy its hanging of the design wall again, was the easiest way to take a picture)