Spring Fair Preparations

A Spring Fair will take place this Saturday, May 2nd at the Walpole Town Hall. I thought I would make a fresh new sign for my booth. I still need to add some details but this was a quick job...last minute idea. This old scrabble game that I found at a flea market last year yielded some nice tiles and game pieces which I turned into ....

This!

A new holder for my business cards.

Spring is in the Air

Here is Mrs. Bird finished in all her finery. It is so wonderful to be able to set her out of doors and photograph her among my new greening grass. Spring is finally here in New England. How appropriate to be able work on this dolly with her spring theme. She was done as part of a workshop by Katie Estvold and Joggles. I highly recommend taking a course with her. It was really fun and I picked up a few new techniques like painting and aging crepe paper in wonderful muted shades. Her costume is made totally from paper and she is sculpted from paper clay.

Here is a detail of her theatre with a little birdy perched on his swing.

And her crowning glory!

Happy Spring to you all.

Mrs. Bird... a work in progress

Thought I would share some WIP... This is Mrs. Bird from a workshop taught by Katie Estvold of Sparrows Cottage. The project really appealed to me because I have been wanting to make a "theatre" doll for some time and I figured this would get me moving. Nothing like the structure of a workshop to motivate. Here she is with her hair... I used some cameltop roving to produce a very nesty hair-do.

And Mrs. Bird's birdy swinging on his perch.....


And this is what you get when you stand still too long!



More to come later.....

Memory Houses

I was asked recently to contribute some art work to a local Library memory project. The theme was "Preserving your Memories through Art". The local artisan group to which I belong will be showing their pieces in their chosen mediums which include glass, fiber, metal, photography..etc. Of course, I have chosen fiber and was inspired by the beautiful fabric houses Charlotte Lyons posted about on her lovely blog.
This house features photos of my family and my husband's family. I thought it would be especially meaningful to my children since they come from this combined "house". This is such a fun project to use bits and pieces of special fabric, trims, buttons and other embellishments.

Below is a photo my grandmother in her twenties after she got her hair bobbed against her father's will. I love the way she looks and always loved it when she told that story about getting her hair cut and going to Johnny's Dance Palace during the roaring twenties!

The number 25 on the door is the current number of the house we live in today.

This house below is going to the dogs! I imagined a dog house that would feature all the wonderful canine friends I have had the privilege to live with over the years. Each has a featured place in the dog house. I always thought if there was a heaven, it would be a marvelous thing to be able to live with all my doggies at once... of course there would be no jealousy in heaven!

This is my once in a lifetime dog: Manfred. He was a special collie and one of a kind, also the ring bearer at our wedding!

Here is my first dog and the dog of my childhood, Lady. Right along side is my most current puppy, Flynn.

And here is the lovely Luna with another one of our goldens, Brady. I used a variety of techniques to create these houses including applique and needlefelting. The photos were printed on fabric using an ink jet printer.

Thoughts on Cinderella

There are some days when you feel like this Cinderella,

And some days when you feel like a princess

But there are some days when you feel like both!

This "topsy-turvy" doll was commissioned by a friend. She is made from linen and cotton. Her "rags" side dress is from a lovely homespun linen and her gown side a wonderful vintage damask. I made her hair from a soft felted cashmere sweater. It was sewn on and needlefelted for detail. Her crown was fashioned from vintage rick-rack woven with Lurex and adorned with a vintage pearl earring. I embroidered the faces and used colored pencil for shading.

This brings to mind a rhyme from one of my favorite authors:

O kind fairy

No more princes, no more money.

I have had my taste of honey.

I'm wishing for a decent man,

They're hard to find. D'you think you can?

Within a minute, Cinderella

was married to a lovely feller,

A simple jam maker by trade,

who sold good home-made marmalade.

Their house was filled with smiles and laughter

And they were happy ever after.

From "Revolting Rhymes" by Roald Dahl