Tilda with a Twist

Tilda "bugs" /Christmas beetles from Spring Ideas book

Many of you know that I spent some time in Finland in 2001 and recently returned for a visit and also renewed my love of Scandinavian fabric design. I have always loved Marimekko, so it didn' t take much for me to develop a liking for Tilda - the clean, crisp, softer and appealing designs by Tone Finnanger from Norway. My local doll supply shop, Anne's Glory Box, has recently stocked the delightful Tilda fabrics. books and accessories, so of course I really couldn't resist... And the laces have been hand dyed at Anne's Glory Box to match the Tilda fabrics.
The bugs from the Spring Ideas book are my favourites ( image above) and they will be great gifts for my daughter and daughter-in-law, as I give them a handmade ornament for their Christmas trees each year . Tilda has also become a bit of a craze with some of the cloth doll makers in my Hello Dollies group. Here are a couple of gorgeous Tilda dolls made by a friend, Vicki Leeke of Victori Dolls.

Tilda dolls by Vicki Leeke

If you are not familiar with Tilda dolls and characters, here is a description from the Tilda website
"Tilda is most known for the whimsical, comical and naive characters in the form of animals and dolls. Tilda's world is without a doubt a feminine one, and the most recognisable features are the faces, with two dots for eyes and rosy cheeks."
I certainly did not or would not change the Tilda style, but I added an Australian twist to the gingerbread men I made from the Crafting Christmas Gifts book. The fabric for these little gingerbread men was hand dyed with brown onion skins and syzygium leaves. The syzygium is better known here as Lilly Pilly - an evergreen Australian tree which has glossy dark green leaves and small edible berries or fruits, mostly used to make jam. I thought the dye recipe of onion skins and syzygium turned the calico into a good gingerbread fabric.

Gingerbread Men, pattern from Tilda Crafting Christmas Gifts Book

And for a bit of fun... here is my Chinese bug - Tilda style if that's possible? certainly Tilda with a twist?

In the Pink

At Tag Tuesday . Pinky O' Hagan is hosting a tag challenge which asks for 'a bit of pink".... not so difficult if you like pink. I don't use a lot of pink in my work, so it was quite a bit of a challenge when I thought only of pink - my thoughts went to pink roses, pink hearts, pink confectionery !!! Then I referred to this week's colour prompts, #coloricombo by artists Este MacLeod.... pink with sap green, dark tea, and sea green. I'm not sure I got the colours in this palette exactly, but here is my tag, a stylised landscape - The collaged background of the tag has torn pieces of watercolour art rejects, painted magazine pages and a little bit of gift paper. The tree silhouette is decorated with paper dots, cut with a hole puncher.

Wednesday's Children and Others.

STITCHED UP is now in its third week of exhibition and breaking all records of visitors - such an overwhelming response - so it is inevitable that a few people have had their photos taken with Wednesday's children, the stick doll installation.... First of all, Ben, a member of the amazing installation team at The Lock-Up. Thanks for taking such care installing 'the girls' - the digital laser level worked wonders and did I hear you talking to a few them? Ben from the installation team The Lock-Up Wednesday's children up on the wall. Then, of course , my own family - not all positive critiques, but you can't win them all! Many of my friends have been really supportive.... they have even visited a few times. Here are some of my Rotary friends on the opening night. Members of the Rotary Club of Wallsend-Maryland - Clarice, Cia, Sandy, Wilma, Christine Unexpected visitors even dropped by las...

The Sea - for Tag Tuesday

For the current challenge "The Sea" at Tag Tuesday, I made a couple of painted/ hand drawn tags . These were created from a piece of watercolour paper which had been sprayed with acrylic paint - blue, yellow and quinacridone gold. I then sketched over the top , trying to follow some pattern created by the splatter and then add some felt tip pen lines watercolour pencil to highlight the shapes. The tags represent the fantasies of the hidden city of Atlantis and a mermaid. With this theme in mind, I also add a free motion stitched tag I made earlier this year for 29 Faces -

Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

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