Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

 Socksillies return to the Simmons" household! A couple of weeks ago, my daughter-in-law asked me to make a socksillie, one of my silly sock toys for her to give as a baby gift. I hadn't made any for awhile and I had forgotten how much fun they are to create. I made this one pictured as I watched a detective show on TV last night, so what an easy relaxed process it is. Socksillies are made by stuffing a sock, and creating a character with embroidered facial features or by adding accessories. This one is for a baby, so it has no bits which could find their way into mouths, noses or other orifices. Its two ears or long haripieces are made by cutting the centre of the top part of a sock, and sewing up the middle and curving the ends. By the way, the baby who will be the recipient of this socksillie is a girl, if that wasn't obvious. This socksillie is named Hettie, making her the eighth in the series - I can keep track of the number because I am going through the alphabet ...

 DUST is the ETSY "Down Under Street Team" - a group of Australian Artists, Craftspeople and Artisans who support ETSY and wish to promote independent handcrafted goods here is Australia and workwide. I am a proud member of DUST . Each month DUST has a sale with a theme. This month, the theme is "Something Blue".  I had very few things in my shop which are "blue", so started to get out all the blue stuff I have.This Blue Beadie is one of the little pieces I created once I saw how many blue beads I actually had in my stash. I could probably make hundreds of blue beaded things with what I have collected over the years .  Do I have Bower Bird syndrome? I also made another little blue Angel of Hope. This one is number 21, but will be sent as a gift to a friend Do you believe in Pay It Forward ... doing a good deed with nothing asked in return except that the hope that the recipient would go and do another good deed for someone else to keep the cycle going. Th...

Congratulations Del, from DELiciousDesignz whose name was drawn from my polymer clay covered gourd - just the perfect container for such an occasion. My husband Jim was very happy to do the honours. There are jobs he can do even with a broken leg! Del said "I love that babushka bag .... ( and favourite colours?) red, pink and black.." Sorry, Del, I'm keeping the bag, but a red, pink and black button and felt brooch will be made especially for you. Please send me your address, so I can post it - hopefully by the end of the week. I'm sorry that not everyone could win. Many thanks for participating and sharing your favourite colour combinations. Here are two brooches which I have put on sale this month for the DUST ( Down Under Street Team) Etsy Sale which has a theme of "August - Leo, the Lion". How do my brooches fit the theme? I chose them because of their colour. The orange/yellow/red tones are those that I associate with the astrological sign, Leo. It doe...