Hoping I have motivated myself.

I haven't made a proper cloth doll for a long time,I have thought about it but somehow couldn't get down to it. Today I decided to make this little one to get myself motivated to make a bigger doll. Her clothes are wrapped ribbons and trims, her face made months ago and the bag a fridge magnet so she only took a few hours to complete. I have told myself to morrow I will start a bigger more demanding one.She is at least a step more difficult than the comfort dolls so hopefully I am getting back on track again!!
I have completed two more pages of the fabric journal but its becoming a slower and slower process , still! not many more to do.

Friends and the wood.

For some time now a lot of worrying has been happening about how we were going to sort out our little wood. It's just an acre ,the whole being surrounded by a small stream.Its a place to sit,watch dream and think, though lately it had become a place to worry.We had a very tall poplar tree felled at the end of the summer and it has lain there since. Since Tony was so unwellin the autumn he has come to realise he can't do all the things he used to do with ease and cutting a huge tree into managable logs was beyond him and it certainly was for me. Then earlier this week two lovely neighbours called by and offered to help. The sun shone for most of the day , logs were cut and put away to dry out,and a huge bonfire got rid of all the unwanted rubbish.We enjoyed a pic-nic break and all agreed it had been an enjoyable and productive day.
At this moment, as I write, the chimney sweep is here as we had a chimney fire the other day,undoubtedly he told us because we had been burning green wood. It was quite frightening so a lesson has been learnt.

last comfort dolls and working on my fabric journal

I made myself finish all the little dolls . Then tried some watercolours. They were dreadful I am very out of practise but did enjoy myself trying. Will try to keep it up. This afternoon I worked on my fabric journal. I'm worried its going to be very thick and putting it together will be a problem maybe?.I loved making the first one but this one is different as it is for one of my daughters and it has proved difficult chosing the content from all the many photos I have of my family. Its strange to think my grandmother is my 18 year old grand daughter's great great grandmother. I have a wonderful photograph of her on a motor bike, I remember her well and she was quite a formidable lady.When I have finished the next one for my other daughter I will make another one for myself, with stories from my life, alot more written content I think. So I can only show the last of the dolls, I hope to post them to morrow.

Brenda Hutchings Comfort Doll Project

I have finished these two dolls for the project. The dolls are to be sent to Domestic Abuse Shelters .The address of Brenda's blog is : Comfort Doll Project.blogspot.com/. My aim is to make 6 before I post them. Being me I didn't check out the actual requirements for the dolls. Its quite simple ,they should be no more than 6 inches and should be made to carry comfortably if the recipient so wishes. Looking at these two I see that their hair is going to be a problem so I shall fix a loop at the back so they can be hung up rather than carried . I have another one nearly finished also with unsuitable hair!!!!!!!!!!!!. Maybe I should keep these and start again?

Comfort doll project ,fabric journals

Since I have found myself unable to decide which photos I should use from the hundreds and hundreds I have for the two fabric journals I am making for my twin girls, decided to stop for a while .Hours have drifted by when I have been taken back in time sifting through so many. Some times I have felt great sadness seeing friends and family I so loved and now just memories, othertimes I have smiled at photos of my children and myself taken many years ago, of the houses and places we lived in, the different countries I have worked in and the extraordinary people I have met and adventures I had.I am going to make some dolls for the Comfort doll project. I have done so before and sent them off but the last ones were too tall,I don't know what happened but they must be 6 inches ,no bigger. The photos are of the two I couldn't send.This time my brain is in gear.

Happy Valentines Day

We are going out shortly to a Valentines day lunch.We have been asked to bring a photo or momento of who we were in 1976,it was fun and interesting looking through the dozens of photo albums I have filled over the years . Surprisingly there were very few taken around then ,I think because with 4 children and teaching in the UK at that time life was very busy. I found just one, a school photo, I think, of me with the four children.What a long time ago it was.

I have made some of the hearts into cards ,the one with the houses at the bottom is for Tony, the other for our hosts today. I also made lots and lots of fudge to share.

Hearts for Valentine day gifts

It has taken me a couple of days to make these hearts, I couldn't seem to get them right what ever I did. But this morning I added the final bits and pieces and decided they were finished. Now I am going to make them into a collages or cards .We are invited out twice for Valentine's day so I made a large batch of fudge and will give a box of that as well.On the 14th we are asked to take a momento or a photo of what we were doing in 1976 as that is the date of the marriage of our friends. It was difficult to remember,I had to trawl through hundeds of old photographs . I found one of me with my children when they came with me to the school where I was teaching .

I have only made one journal page this week, the photo isn't very good and I feel it is too like another one I made for my first journal. But I do love to sew dragonflies and I do love those colours.

Journal pages, flowers and cats

Making my journal pages caused me to stop often and think of the many people I have known and loved in my life. I was happy when I realised that I had kept boxes and boxes of photographs and they contained photos I had forgotten exsisted. It is going to be a struggle to know which ones to use. I have made several pages this last week but some need perhaps one small thing added before I will be satisfied with them.Before I make any more with the pictures on them I have to make pages where I can write.
I have been so pleased to find some new people reading my blog. I love to look at other peoples and do so often as I find it helps in many ways. Sometimes when I am at a loss as to what to do next and something said or lovely work I look at triggers something and off I go again. Often it's the colour combination someone has used, a beautiful piece of crazy patch work, wonderful pictures of gardens or period houses or the animals people have and love.
WRiting of which our cat problems have continued. We took Daisy, the most gentle and sweet cat to the vet, because suddenly large bare patches have appeared in her coat,at first we thought she was moulting but concerned as it got worse we took her to the vet. Its stress!!we think its due to all the wild cats that we are surrounded by,she is very afraid to go outside nowerdays unlike the other two. She stands by the door and only ventures out if one of us goes with her. Several have started to come into the house through the cat flap. Its all difficult because we know they are hungry but changes will have to be made.

Yesterday we went to Bayeux, it was market day and I was delighted to find stall after stall selling flowers, just what I needed right now to brighten up these endless grey days.