Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

The "Dolls in the Attic" Retreat is now over, but what an amazing creative experience it was - five days and five nights with the five most renowned and talented divas of cloth doll making - elinor peace bailey,  Patti Culea, Barbara Willis, Betts Vidal and Sally Lampi.  The retreat was the 20th birthday celebration of "Hello Dollies" the group I belong to... and the main night of celebrating was the Pink Banquet.  Everyone dressed in pink, and five Hello Dollies members, including me,who were hosts for the night created a "table" doll which was won by someone sitting at our tables. Janice Laurent from Canberra won my doll ( pictured above) Pink Banquet  Beautiful table doll created by Shannon  The Winners of the five table dolls and their creators.  Even the gifts were pink! Pink temari   Doll Divas  Hello Dollies gift to Gloria  best pink costumes - epb and Jandee  Keep watchin...

Fish Brooches Fish, mermaids,  fishermen, water goddesses, ocean creatures and a couple of majestic frogs were all there. The doll making group I belong to, Hello Dollies, was a featured artist at the Dobell Art and Crafts festival  last weekend. The little colourful fish which were made at one Saturday meeting were the most popular amongst the crowd, with most of them  being sold  on the first day of the festival.  Here are a few images of the dolls on display... no wonder there were lots of oohs and aahs.... Fishermen and  Siren of the Sea   Water maiden, mermaid and frog prince  Chubby mermaids  Water doll, mermaid and sea urchin  Mermaid  Sea Goddess  Frog Prince  Water Maiden Mermaid, Venetian fisherman and "compass" doll  "Taking a friend for a walk " - hard to see but the friend is a fish!  Ocean maiden and beaded face mermaid  Part of the...

Newcastle  Entertainment Centre became an 'arty place' when the Craft and Sewing Show came to town a fortnight ago. I heard some visitors say that there wasn't much there, but I found lots of fun things to do.... and enjoyed at least two different  new arty techniques to try.  I did a workshop on paper quilting with Michaela Laurie  .  I have made a few gift tags, but nothing quite as  complex as this example of Michaela's lovely work  (image jewelled elephant from the website ).  I also  purchased a kit for this little container made by weaving strips of Japanese fabric and I amazed myself when I  completed it in one night. One of my favourite stalls was Wabi- Sabi Designs manned by Shuji Yamazaki from whom I bought a beautiful silk  kimono style jacket.  Wabi- Sabi Designs is based in Canberra and has a regular stall at the Old Bus Depot Markets in Kingston as well as online shopping...

To herald the beginning of Winter, the weather has been cold, rainy and stormy this week, so like most people who live in Newcastle ( NSW, Australia), I have been thinking of that memorable June weekend in 2007, now known as the Pasha Bulker weekend when this huge ship ran aground on the beach during a winter storm ... but I have bigger challenges related to Seasons to contend with. My doll makers' group, Hello Dollies, has a challenge to create a cloth doll, using the theme " Seasons" as inspiration and with only one rule that the fabric used must be of our own creation. As usual, I have left it to the last few weeks and although I have been thinking about the project for months, it is only in the last week or so that I have been propelled into action. I chose the stump doll pattern from the choice of two patterns provided. Idea No.1 was to paint fabric and then machine embroider it and use it as the body for the doll and I was going to use the tree template to create t...

I recently had my big birthday party - becoming a "senior" is something to celebrate. I think I did get a bit carried away, but wanted to have a special time with family and friends. And it was a special time with my family - my mother, my aunts and uncle, my sister and her family, cousins, nieces, nephews, my own children and grandchildren.... that was only part of the crowd . Old friends and new friends made the day even more special by just coming together and having a good time.     Sisters and daughters Granddaughter wearing my own baby dress (60 years old) with her other grandfather Oldest grandson enjoying the party Friends and family Scene BEFORE the downpour of rain and panic! The sun did shine eventually. FOOD? This was just the dessert, supplied by friends and my daughter-in-law with the fabulous birthday cake made by my aunt. Members of my Rotary Club ( Rotary Club of Wallsend-Maryland) cooked and prepared the main course - delicious roasted meats with accom...