Three Adventures: Three "Never Say Nevers" !

Lily's back: I padded thie wings with some white fleece fabric and
free-motioned quilted them and attached them to the body with simple cross-stitches

Here are several new projects that I have been working on. Two of them - the doll & the cable knitting - I never thought I would try - or care to try for that matter! Now that I have, though, I think that there will be more of both things in my future. I have always been fond of saying that everything is easy when you know how - and I have, once again, proven that adage to myself.

Lily's face is hand painted with acrylics

So - let me introduce Lily. My first angel doll. Years ago - when I was still in the job that stultified my mind every day - I bought a pattern from Gail Wilson Designs hoping that someday I would enjoy making the angel doll. I have a fondness for primitive folk art & for angels - so this was a perfect combination. Somehow I managed to unearth the pattern & decided I would finally give it a go. I enjoyed making her - so will be making more angle dolls in a series I think. I tea dyed the fabric for her body & filled her with beautiful ,fluffy, clean wool...what a nice base this is! The face is painted with acrylics & her hair is wool that I braided into a bun (my grandmother wore her hair like this - and her aunt's name was Lily). I wasn't overly fond of the directions for the clothing - and I think that if a person had no knowledge of how to make a dress they might find the directions just a bit difficult to follow - I mean rather reading them was a bit difficult to follow. Then again - I am not the best at reading directions anyway- so it could quite easily just be me ! In general though I love this pattern and am happy that I found Gail's fine website ! She offers some really wonderful dolls and doll making supplies - and her custom made dolls are amazing.

Such a demure over dress required some rockin' stockings
and a fanciful petticoat - with just a touch of required lace trim!

Next on the "never say Never" list is cable knitting. I had always shied away from knitting cables but always knew that I might,one day, be forced to try it. I found a pattern for a hooded scarf online ( I would add the address here but I keep getting malware warnings when I try to open the site "d-made" - so I thought that I better not add the link here). It's a hood - old fashioned style - with an attached scarf - that has a cable. So here it is in it's infancy. I LOVE doing cables now and want to learn more about them. They are totally fun to do - why was I ever wary of them ??!!

Here is the beginning of one side of the scarf.....glorious simple cable and all !

Beautiful wool from Knit Picks.
What great wools they offer! What great prices too !

Last, but not least of my recent adventures is a pen roll. I had wanted one for some time - and had actually thought of making them to sell ... another odd, stray thought. I used a piece of silk with a thin layer of batting between the silk & a cotton batik. The "the pen holder piece" is silk backed with wool felt. A simple rat tail tie with a heart bead completes this happy home for 6-7 pens. I had fun making this - and will make them if any of my cyber pen friends wants one!

Silk piece from Ah!Kimono -
my favorite place for vintage kimono silk!

Some Photos That Just Had To Be Taken

Reflections on the window sill in my office

The mystical heart of a beautiful flower

The incredible clouds that fly by my window at home.

These are some of my favorite things.
The awesome beauty that surrounds us all every day
- if we just take the time to notice !
Hope you will still consider signing my guest book (see yesterday's post !)

An Angelic Touch

I have never been much of a doll aficionado (at least since I gave up on Barbie) & I have never had much of a yen to make dolls. I have, however, been enchanted by the dolls that Gail Wilson designs & makes. I collect angels and when I saw that she has a line of angel patterns, I decided to give one a try! Gail's style is decidedly folk art & I know that I will make the pattern somehow "my own", but her work is really something special. The presentation of the pattern is lovely & the instructions are very thorough & well done. There is a little bag of included goodies for completing the doll: a felting needle for felting the provided hair into place ,a pencil for rouging, and a tiny tin of of antiquing wax- something I have never heard of but am anxious to try. If you have ever thought about making a doll - or just like folk art - click on the highlighted link to enjoy a some eye candy!

Angels Among Us or Happy Birthday James Odell Aloysius Ellery

Today would have been my beloved maternal uncle's birthday - He's the stylin' dude on the upper left in the photo (the others are also my uncles). I honor him here for "his" day. He passed on about 7 years ago. I still miss him. My grandmother - his mother- had heard somewhere that people born on February 15th were prone to being a bit fey. Family gossip always said that grandmother tended to treat him a bit more cautiously because of that superstition. Grandmother, however, was also convinced that I had the seem wacky familial fey gene. Maybe that's why I was extraordinarily close to my mother's family while I seldom saw (or thought of) my father's rather bland, conservative side of the family! I digress.

My uncle was my "champion" - never thinking that I was looney - always supporting me and my crazy life adventures - both artistic & otherwise. He was always there for me with unquestioned love & approval - or sometimes maybe not approval - but with positive suggestions. James was eccentric to be sure. I loved that quality about him! Maybe that's why we got along. He tended to fly in the face of modern conventions & he eschewed keeping up with any sort of Jones' lifestyle. He always signed his letters with "illegitimi non carborundum"- it was a saying that kept me going once or twice! I never heard it anywhere else.

On the day that I got the call about my uncle's death I was at work & became (duh!) rather upset. My friend , Lauren, took me out for a bit of fresh air. We walked to the store down the street and entered through the back door. When we left the store, we went out through the front door. Right in front of me -scrawled in large letters with fat chalk - on the sidewalk were the words "illigitimi non corobundum "! I knew that my uncle had managed to find a way to come to see me after all. His love will always sustain me - on his birthday and every day. Happy Birthday Uncle Jim ! There really are angels among us !