Happy New Year - Welcome 2008

Dotee Doll From A Friend

My friend and neighbour, JR, had a surprise for me yesterday. I knew ahead of time that she had made something for me. Since JR is a mosaics artist, I thought whatever she had for me might involve bits of broken glass and china. JR makes the most incredibly intricate mosaic pictures which, in my view, must require an infinite amount of patience to create.

But JR has been reading my blog and with all my posts about Dotee dolls, it looks like the Dotee bug has bit her too. This doll has been cleverly recycled from an old wine bag. There is a lot of detail which I am unable to show you in the photo. It can only be appreciated upon close up, in person, inspection. The facial features are all hand embroidered on a satin type of fabric and because of the sheen, the photo just doesn't do it justice.

I love handmade things and the thoughtfulness and creativity that goes into them. Thank you so much, JR.

Green Man

A while ago my husband asked me to make him a Green Man ornament to hang in his office. The Green Man is supposed to be a pagan god who roams the woods of the British Isles and Europe and is often portrayed behind a mask of foliage.

This was great fun for me to do because I got to work with some beautiful "leafy" quilting cotton and I am mad about anything with a leaf print on it. I wasn't sure how I was going to make his face green so I just started playing around. First I drew the face on muslin with a Sharpie and then did a Forest Green acrylic wash over it. Once the paint dried, I used oil pastels for highlights. I probably should have sprayed a protective coating of something over it but I didn't have anything and I didn't know what I should be using anyway. I will have to ask my artist friend J, about what to use in future.

Since I had some success with the green face, I'm going to use the same technique, in blue, for a couple of Icicle Dolls that I'm making for a swap.

A Keepsake From 1959

When I was clearing out my late parents' house, I found a sweet little girl's cotton dress which had a lovely butterfly and insect motif on the circle skirt. The print was so captivating I just knew I had to keep it and that I would find some way to use it in a future sewing project. How fortunate too that the entire skirt was in excellent shape with no discolouration or stains.

To discover a dress once worn in childhood was exciting in itself but I later came across a photograph taken in 1959 of my younger sister actually wearing it.

Thanks to the photo, I knew the dress had belonged to my sister so I had to make something for her from this beautiful fabric. I decided to make a very special Dotee Doll for her to hang in her jewelry closet. Every time she opens the door, the little Dotee will be there to greet her and remind her of another time. And perhaps she will also know that her sister's loving hands made this especially for her.

Being Silly

My sometimes wise-guy husband was having a go at me by trying to imitate one of my doll faces. This is what he ended up with. After we had a good laugh about it, I decided to use it on a coaster I was making for my brother-in-law G.

So here it is; a joint effort by hubby and me. He did the drawing, I did the stitching and the colour is to be added by G at future dates with as many coffee, tea, red wine and beer stains as he can manage.

Happy Holidays

(Christmas card created by Inga. Click on image to enlarge).

Happy Holidays to our family and friends.

Love Inga and Ron

Planets and Stars

Here's what developed after I starting cutting and stitching. Sometimes I have no any idea what I will end up with.

I am currently working on four Christmas items that do require a plan. I am obsessively thinking about and planning these projects, so much so that the whole endeavour is messing up my circadian rhythm. Staying up until midnight working away in my studio, eating too much of that Christmas chocolate that seems to be everywhere, lying in bed thinking, wondering how everything is going to get done, getting up late in the mornings. Tsk-Tsk!

If nothing else, I do feel that I am getting good results for my efforts and hopefully the recipients will like what I am creating for them.