Halloween Brooch

This is the brooch I made for the goul costume I wore to the Halloween dress up party we went to last Saturday. I will be getting dressed up again tonight when the kids come by for treats.

Please leave a comment here for a chance to win the Icicle Doll giveaway.

Don't eat too much chocolate and candy today.

Cheers.

200th Post Giveaway

This is it - the 200th post to this blog. To mark the occasion, I made the above Icicle Doll to give away. To enter the draw, just leave a comment. For my readers who don't have a blogger account, you can send me an Email to: mandolin50 at hotmail dot com - with the title "Blog Giveaway" in the subject line. I will draw the winning name on November 5th.

Thank you for visiting my blog and thank you for all the nice comments. I really appreciate them.

Good luck!

Post #199 - More Craft Show Items

I have about 30 ornaments and dolls and 100 cards ready for the craft show. Here are the last of the finished dolls and ornaments.

This is my 199th post. The next one, number 200, will be sometime next week and I will have a little something to give away.

Another Ornament For The Craft Show

I managed to take some photos of more items I made for Saturday's craft show before the camera batteries needed re-charging. This is the only picture that turned out well enough so that's all you get to see today. Check tomorrow for a whole bunch more pictures including some neat Icicle Dolls.

This ornament is hanging on the inside door frame of my studio. To the left is our living room window and to the right is the wonderful lime green colour of my studio walls.

Tomorrow I will do the final touches for the craft show and I will finish up our Halloween costumes for the dress party hubby and I are going to on Saturday night.

Doll #8 For The Craft Show (Butterfly)

Doll #7 For The Craft Show

This will be the last one of this type for a while. I have some new fabrics and interesting shapes to play around with.

Doll #6 For The Craft Show

Doll #5 For The Craft Show

Doll #4 (Purple)

This doll ornament won't make it to the craft show. My friend and glass artist, Julia, who is visiting me for a few days requested a purple doll. It's for an elderly lady friend of hers who is just mad about the colour purple. As a bonus, the old lady also gets a box of purple Kleenex tissues which I inherited from my late mother.

Mum used to stock up Kleenex whenever there was a sale. She had more than a lifetime's supply which is how I ended up with all these weird coloured tissues. They haven't made coloured tissues in years. Now I have my own lifetime supply which I hope I will outlive.

Doll #3 For The Craft Show

Most of my dolls have raw edges. Although I fuse the fabrics to interfacing to prevent unravelling, I still wanted a cleaner finish so I thought I'd attempt a blanket stitch around the edges. I was very careful to make the stitches as even and neat as possible and I used cotton embroidery floss vs regular thread.

You know what? I really like the result. I'm going to be doing this all the time now. Makes for an extra step, but it's well worth it. There's something very relaxing about hand stitching.

"Gib mir den Kopf des Jochanaan" & I Am Not Amused

"Gib mir den Kopf des Jochanaan" "Give me the head of John the Baptist".

Another season of the Metropolitan Opera HD broadcasts into movie theatres is underway. What a wonderful thing this is for those of us who can't afford (or don't wish to) fork out big bucks for a ticket to live theatre and opera. I have no idea what a cheap seat at the Met costs but today's live performance of Richard Strauss' Salome at my local movie theatre (to which I had to travel 45 minutes) cost me $25.25 Canadian dollars.

This is up a couple of dollars from the previous season. Well I guess we're all resigned to the fact that the price of stuff keeps going up but a quick glance at my ticket revealed an Amusement Tax of $2.20 - 10% of the ticket cost. Huh?

The opera Salome is based on the biblical verses Matthew 14:3-11 (NIV)although there's more in the opera than in these biblical passages:

3 Now Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife,

4 for John had been saying to him: "It is not lawful for you to have her."

5 Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people, because they considered him a prophet.

6 On Herod's birthday the daughter of Herodias (SALOME) danced for them and pleased Herod so much

7 that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked.

8 Prompted by her mother, she (SALOME) said, "Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist."

9 The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that her request be granted

10 and had John beheaded in the prison.

11 His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl (SALOME), who carried it to her mother.

In the opera, the bored Princess Salome tries to seduce John the Baptist and when he spurns her advances and rebukes her, she can't get over it. Later when her step-father (Herod) asks her to dance for him, she refuses. He is persistent and promises her anything if only she will dance for him. She agrees. The idiot should have asked her what she wanted BEFORE the dance commenced as it's only afterwards that she requests the head of John the Baptist on a silver platter. Herod tries to talk her out of it but Salome won't budge. Since he swore an oath to give her whatever she desired, he couldn't refuse and gives the executioner the order to behead John.

So there she is, holding the head of John the Baptist and singing to it in a wild frenzy. Herod is so disgusted that he commands the executioner to kill Salome.

This makes for great opera. The powerful and dramatic music of Richard Strauss together with the exemplary performance of Finnish soprano, Karita Mattila kept us capitvated for two hours (without intermission).

Doll #2 For The Craft Show

Doll #1 For The Craft Show

For the next couple of weeks I will be busy making little hanging doll ornaments for the craft show I signed up for on October 25th. I will be posting pictures as I complete each doll.

I have some ideas for future craft show items which include fridge magnets and plant stakes. For these items, I won't want to take the time to hand draw individual faces. I have found a carver on Etsy who is willing to carve me a rubber stamp based on one of my drawings. Carving my own stamps is something I've had in the back of my mind to do for some time. I think that would be a good thing to tackle this winter.

Dotee Doll For A Friend & Anniversaries

I made this Dotee Doll today for my very good friend, Karin. Yellow is her favourite colour. Karin and her hubby have lived in an RV (motor home) for the last two years, travelling all over the United States and Canada. They both love the nomadic life. I often wonder what it would be like to experience life like that and could I do it? I think I could.

Today (October 3rd) is the 20th anniversary of the date we took possession of our house. Back then, it was a little cottage. Over the years, we built an addition and did extensive renovations. The place looks totally different now. At first the house was our weekend getaway from the city and then in 1994, we decided to move up to the country permanently. In spite of having lived in a big city all my life, I discovered that I'm a country gal at heart.

Tomorrow (October 4th) is our 23rd wedding anniversary. I remember feeling really special on our wedding day and being so happy to have found a man as wonderful as my husband. And now, 20 plus years down the road, I am only beginning to realize what a gem I married. It makes me wonder how much more I will appreciate and love my husband in another 20 years (God willing).