Cloth doll giveaway .

I was so pleased when I reached 100 lovely followers.I had no idea it could happen .I love writing
and have been motivated to keep on being creative by the kind comments I have received and from seeing so many brilliant blogs.
I have never been  very confidante about the things I love to make but have been a compulsive maker since childhood.Since writing this blog I understand that for me its the making and kind comments have given me so much more confidence. Now I even run a workshop here in the village and tonight all our effors will be on show in an exibition in the school hall.So I am going to give away the cloth doll you see in the photograph,please leave a comment and I will give them a  number  as they come.Tony has already placed a number in an envelope and I will open it on tuesday the 7th of august and let the winner know. I forgot to say she is about 28inches tall.

The other day I promised myself I would put some shoes on my latest cloth doll,and I have at last.

I have spent two days   playing around with this .I first printed onto cloth a painting I did several weeks ago and then drew some little faces(something I love to do) and made the body in a similar shape to the comfort dolls I have made in the past .I stiched around te flowers added a few beads and thenassembled it. The bit that went wrong was the border,my machine didn't like the thickness so a leson learnt.I have begun another but she must wait for another day.                                                                  

A wonderful brocante in the grounds of a chateau

On friday we left here in the afternoon to stay the night in a lovely hotel in a small town where there was to be a  brocante the following morning. Tony had wanted to be at the brocante very early, hence the need to stay the previous night in a hotel.
It was set in the park of a pretty chateau ,you can just see it in the first photo.He bought so many amazing things so I have posted a photo that shows a few he will put on his auction site.

      I am hoping we can keep the Cherub, I know the perfect place to put it,there are several other things I covert like the lantern that must have come from a closed down church,and some of the tiny pretty items. I  arrived much later than Tony but found to my joy a  lady selling some lace,and other bits and pieces  I was pleased with. I have been busy making fabric cards this mornng using some of them already.
I finished this doll as well this week, except as ever her feet ,but I will give her some shoes befor the weekend.

                                                                              

My favourite possessions.

I've passed an enjoyable hour this morning looking at some of the blogs showing peoples workrooms.

So many were wonderful,full of beautiful things all arranged to see and want to touch. My workroom gets in an awful mess,and I need many more shelves  and long for a second table so I could have my paints etc on one and sew on another.Then because I couldn't share my workroom thought I could share some of my favourite things around the house.They came mostly  from French flea markets and the house overflows with irresistible bargains collected over many years.I know the photographs aren't very good  and one day I will buy myself a new and better camera.
The mirror is venetian and is from the Wiliam and mary period.I love the crown on the mirror and the blue glass

 

    We foung the grey and gold piece in bits  in a box at a flea market and bought it hoping it was something special. We both love it even without some of  the bits.
The second one is a very old piece of a stained glass window that most certainly came from a church somewhere.I like the expression of the man with the pot of money

Tony collects antique pieces of carved wood,bits that probably were once parts of somethings very beautiful. The carved panel behind the mortar is mid 15th century an must have come off an important piece of furniture.

   I have many things with angels and cherubs on them and wish I could find more blue glass a huge favourite of mine    

   I was given this little pastel for my birthday two years ago,the muted colours and the simplicity are    why I was drawn to it .I am making bread in between writing this  and think I better go and see  if it has finished cooking.
                                                                                                                                           

Nearly a nightmare!

This last saturday we had arranged to have our annual party in the wood and organised two wonderful
musicians to come and play so we could listen, dance or sing during the evening.Luckily we had put up the big tent the day befor when it was warm and sunny. But the  next day we woke up to torrential
rain AND to hear an ominous hissing coming from under the kitchen sink and quantities of water
swimming around the kitchen floor.Tony investigated and saw a pipe coming into the house had cracked,We were lucky that the village mayor arrived bringing us tables and chairs and was able to get through to an emergency number where we had failed.The rain continued to fall heavily so  we
decided to cram as many seats and tables into the tent as we could. Meanwhile the water board emergancy services arrived with the news they would have to cut off our water supply until after the weekend!!!!We were so glad the mayor was here,and the result that they linked a pipe along the road to our neighbours house where they had an exteriour tap. They were out so we couldn't ask permission it was just done. Luckily they were kind about it.

We contiued in the dreadful rain to get all ready. We didn't put up most of the pretty decorations we had made guessing what would happen if we did,just my chinese parasols hanging from the roof of the main tent.By 7:00 that evening we were almost hoping people would see the contiuing downfall and decide not to come. But everyone did,wearing macs and boots and warm clothes.How they all squeezed in is a miracle,even the two musicians decided it was too dangerous to use any electric equipment so fitted them selves into a corner.

    I don't know why, because normally I try to keep myself in the background ,but I wore an old silk indian dress I had had for years and   never worn.I had to wear my trainers  because the wood was a mud bath,extremly slippery and it was cold . This is july and hard to believe this weather contiues and continues. It was my 70th birthday and and it turned into an amazingly fun evening, the best birthday I've ever, ever had. The french friends brought me loads of watercolour pads,drawing pencils ,paint brushes  and more,the english friends bought me two wooden chairs for the garden and an envelope of money to spend as I wish .Others friends , my daughters  and brother and sister gave  me The David Hockney's exibition book plus 4 very extravagant  and beautiful pillows , more painting materials,clothes  a book   on imaginative painting, bunches and bunches of flowers and three huge garden plants. I felt quite over welmed by all that kindness plus can you believe it Tony bought me 70 presents !!!!

     I have to say seeing myself in the dress and apart from looking rounder than I hope I am I was somewhat over dressed but maybe its what happens when you reach 70. The party went on well into the night. At midnight it finally stopped raining  and by then   we were all singing and swaying, as we couldn't dance,to the music.