Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

What a wonderful workshop by renowned Dollmaker, Barbara Willis, this weekend at Anne's Glory Box here in Newcastle! Barbara's new book, Cloth Doll Artistry , is full of beautiful and inspiring photos of her exquisite work http://www.barbarawillisdesigns.com/ To see all the samples in real life - up close and personal - was very special. We learnt so much about the finer points of choosing colours, costuming, stuffing doll body parts, tracing patterns and sewing them, as well as a different method for needle sculpting a head. The doll we were attempting is a doll from the new book - Danielle, dressed in dupioni silk, velvet and silk organza. We all had a great time matching fabrics, trims and embellishments. What really made the workshop so special is Barbara's obvious joy in making beautiful dolls, and her positive encouragement of every individual's efforts. I really loved the flat dolls, which I must admit I hadn't shown much interest in before. I bought the p...

We have had a few days of cold, wet and wintry weather, so it seemed just right last week to create with wool. I have been making little free form pieces which I hope to transform into some of my altered bags for some individual orders amd for the Edelweiss gallery which wants more stock coming into the colder months. And, just for me, I have started to knit a pair of socks from Kaffee Fassett wool – quite an extravagance, but I can’t wait to get the lovely wool socks on my feet. My family, it seems, also love wearing and playing with wool. I made Kellie this little shrug as the cardigan I made for her last year was too big. Jim's Aunty Maureen now has the cardigan,and loves it and Kellie is much happier with her warm woolly shrug. Kellie's little son , our outdoorsy grandson, William wouldn’t be without his woolly hat in this weather. My blog friend from South Australia has been sending me lovely parcels of goodies, and in the last one, was a set of wool knitted finger puppe...

Last Friday night, I made a pair of shoes ... we had a "fairy shoes" day at Hello Dollies on Saturday. There is a fantastic article in Stitch Magazine, no 50, Dec 2007-Jan 2008 entitled "Fairy Slippers" by Annette Emms. http://www.embroiderersguild.com/ Annette provides beautiful photos, a pattern and advice " Before you begin , spend a little time thinking about who will wear the shoes you're going to make. " The first pairs Annette made were for the fairies in Shakespeare's A MidSummer Night's Dream. I didn't think about the owner of the shoes , so am still wondering who might wear this pair of shoes ? Do you have any suggestions? They are about 9cm long . My shoes were rather understated compared with the gorgeous shoes created by Doris Dubois, who showed us a wonderful technique of layering felt, vilisoefix , angelina fibres, glitter, assorted bling and organza/chiffon to create a spectacular fabric for the fairy shoes. You can tel...

This week I finished knitting a shawl from recycled silk. I just had to have this yarn and the circular pattern which were at the Craft and Quilt Fair in Newcastle last February in Prudence Mapstone's stall http://www.knotjustknitting.com . The pattern is called Tapestry Shawl by Jill Vosburg , Just One More Row. http://www.justonemorerow.com . It is a very easy pattern, knitted in short rows with very large gauge needles. As I seem to wear mostly black especially in winter, I thought I needed a bit of colour in my life this year. Jim made me a beautiful Huon Pine button and I sewed it on as a clasp with a piece of carnelian. Carnelian is said to promote peace and harmony, dispel depression, strengthen self confidence, and confer eloquence to a speaker. With this mind, I wore the new shawl with the wood and carnelian button to the Model United Nations Assembly this weekend. I needed all the colour of the recycled silk and the powers of the carnelian as I was the Secretary Ge...

Each month, the younger women in the Simmons family enjoy a Sunday afternoon get-together, usually without children, husbands and partners. My daughter-in-law Kellie, my daughter Naomi and her cousins Lisa, Melanie and Natalie share their creative skills, produce beauitful handmade things and generally chat, advise and support one another. Last Sunday, they all came to my place and asked me to to get them started on " something different", a creative challenge. Occasionally, the "mothers" are invited to share in the group, but generally, we do not interfere! This time, while Kellie did some scrapbooking, some made beaded art dolls with forms I prepared, and the others went through my button stash and made funky bracelets and necklaces. Naomi also finished another baby blanket, after learning to crochet late last year. It is so wonderfully comforting and reassuring to see such talented strong young women in our family enjoying each other's company. They all le...

Mushrooms in the garden .... we have had some rain in the last week, but these mushrooms are the beautiful hand printed Thea and Sami Fabric. http://www.thea-sami.com.au/ I was fortunate enough to win some of this hand printed linen from Thea's blog giveaway in February, and this is what I made with it. This woodland elf is an adaptation of Jacquie Lecuyer's pattern, Uma . This was a pattern of the month in January at Hello Dollies http://www.agbhellodollies.blogspot.com/ - my doll group at Anne's Glory Box . My version of Uma not only features the prize fabric, but some my embellished felt and one of my husband's wooden buttons. It is a cloth doll, with a needle sculpted face. I am still very much a beginner as far as needle sculpted faces go, as I tend to make most doll heads from clay, but I like the idea of "soft sculpture" so am determined to keep practising. Mother's Day is coming up , so with the remnants of the mushroom fabric, I made some very ...

We all need some silliness in our lives. I have become an ardent fan of "stray sock sewing". I think it is or was a fad in Japan. Years ago, I made funny little toys from socks for our children, but recently I discovered a person called Daniel who has taken creative sock sewing to a new dimension. His little sock dolls aren't just dolls . As he says, they are more like little pets with unique personailies. I am completely "hooked" - I just love making these. I have called my creations - SOCKSILLIES. What is a socksillie? A "socksillie" is a fantastic soft creature made from a single sock or a pair of socks. Any resemblance to a real person or animal is purely coincidental. Each has been named and their names indicate the number in the series. For example, the twins in the first photo above, are Abbie and Bertie and they were the first two socksillies I made. Then there is Clarrie, who now has a new home in Sydney. The "contented cat" chara...