Christmas Countdown Characters #8

watercolour and ink sketch - Wilma Simmons

How puzzling ... This is not a Christmas image? Perhaps those are Christmas baubles ?
H is for Holly Hobbie ... What in the world has Holly Hobbie got to do with Christmas?

We all probably know Holly Hobbie as the pinafore dressed girl with a large bonnet who appeared on so many cards and illustrated home ware items and as dolls and toys in the 1960s/1970s. Holly Hobbie was actually the creator of the iconic American Greetings darling and when her nameless character became so popular, the little girl appearing in the illustrations became known as "Holly Hobbie" , the namesake of her creator. This still doesn't answer the question ...

While Holly Hobbie became popular as an illustrator, she was also a writer of a successful series of children's books - the adventures of piglet pals , Toot and Puddle. Still confused about the Christmas connection? Well...

The most popular of the stories in the Toot and Puddle series is the heart warming tale " I'll be Home for Christmas" . Puddle anxiously waits for Toot to arrive home in Woodcock Pocket from a family reunion in Scotland. It is Christmas Eve and Toot is stranded in Scotland in a snow storm, How will Toot and Puddle be reunited in time for Christmas "The answer involves a little bit of magic and some unexpected help from another holiday traveller. This adorable, beautifully animated, award-winning story from Holly Hobbie is certain to become a holiday classic for the whole family!" ( from a review by Amazon)

So Holly Hobbie ( also known as Denise Holly Ulinskas) , American illustrator and writer does have a Christmas connection. Her Christmas story has delighted thousands of 3-6year olds! If you have a fan of Toot and Puddle, here is a video "Story time with Erin" which will amuse little ones for just long enough for you to wrap a Christmas present!

Comments

Bilby Infatuation

Wrapped wire and fabric bilby sculpture : Wilma Simmons 2016 Over the years I have been fascinated with the plight of the bilby and it has inspired quite a few of my cloth creations... With long pinkish-coloured ears and silky, blue-grey fur, the Bilby has become Australia’s version of the Easter Bunny. Unlike the rabbit, bilby numbers are falling rapidly. There were originally two species but the Greater Bilby is now commonly referred to simply as ‘the Bilby’ as the Lesser Bilby (Macrotis leucura) is thought to have become extinct in the early 1950s... Bilbies are nocturnal, emerging after dark to forage for food. Using their long snouts, they dig out bulbs, tubers, spiders, termites, witchetty grubs and fungi. They use their tongues to lick up grass seeds. Bilbies have poor sight and rely on good hearing and a keen sense of smell. To minimise threats from predators they’ll mostly stay within 250m of their burrows, but sometimes roam further afield depending on the food...

"Temari Or Not Temari?" Tutorial

Background Information: Temari (literally translated “hand ball”) is a Japanese folk craft that is alleged to have originated in China and was introduced to Japan five or six hundred years ago. Traditionally, the balls were constructed from wrapped kimono fabric remnants and silk threads. They were made by mothers and grandmothers for children to play with. Nowadays, decorative embroidered temari represent a highly valued and cherished gift symbolizing friendship and loyalty. Recently I've wondered if your don't use traditional techniques whether you should call what you create "temari". That is an ongoing debate but today I share what I do to make a "non-traditional temari".... 1.I start with a polystrene ball ( traditionally the balls were wound silk scraps or other organic materials) and begin to wrap with approx 4 ply wool, turning the ball as I wrap. 2. I then wrap another layer of wool in a similar fashion , this time a 3 or 2 ...

Non-Committal Collage Anything Goes

Have you heard of non-committal collage? I hadn't until one of the other participants of the 100 Day Project started doing this each day and showing the results.... Here are Peggy's rules : 1. S elect 9 scraps of paper from collage box/stash 2. Make three different compositions using each scrap at least once. (some pieces can be used more than once) 3. Do not alter the scraps of paper in any way. 4.Do not use glue. 5.Take photo, disassemble and return scraps to box. I thought this would be a fun and quick exercise to do for Tag Tuesday's theme , Anything Goes... so here are my "non-committal collage" tags.... Did you spot the nine pieces? Would you like to suggest some titles? And I repeated the exercise before putting back the 9 scraps of paper, so these are different items. Hope you will try this exercise - it is lots of...

Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

Search This Blog