Snow on Friday the 13th!

My friend Liz who lives in Victoria West sent these pictures.  Liz is a third generation doll maker and restorer.  She has been working with dolls all her life.  These days she is semi-retired, but still loves to show her work and pass on her knowledge, and she runs a B&B with her lovely husband, Pat.  Victoria West is a tiny town situated in a semi-arid part of South Africa.  Annual rain fall is very low, and it becomes intolerably hot in summer.  In winter, it becomes very cold, with night time temperatures usually well below freezing.  Snow is a very rare occurence though, and a good snow fall like this might happen only once or twice in a lifetime.

This is Liz' front garden covered in snow in Victoria West.  In the background you can see the guard rail of the road that leads to Kimberley.  

View over the garden from the front porch.   Difficult to imagine that I was sitting at that table when temperatures were over 40 degrees Centigrade one December!  This stoep is where I took my first baby steps constructing a cloth body for an antique porcelain doll with Liz guiding every stitch.  The story of our unlikely meeting is like a fairy tale.  I believe that it was fated that Liz should come across my path to lead me to doll making.  Some people are angels in this life.

New patterns by Nerina - Cloth Characters

Here are some new patterns from Nerina at Cloth Characters.  You can see all of Nerina's designs HERE.

Rose is a simple 25 cm cloth doll with knitting wool hair and painted facial detail.  She is made from calico, and the clothes from cotton print fabric and felt.  Included in the pattern is instructions for her clothing, and a cute pair of felt shoes to make.  You will also learn how to paint the eyes using a combination of fabric paint and watercolour pencils, and to embroider the nose and mouth.  This is a good pattern for beginner doll makers, and for experienced doll makers who want a quick and simple doll for gifts or bazaar selling.

Lucinda the Witch and  Cosmic the Cat. 
Lucinda is a 50cm calico doll with wool for hair.  Facial details are added with fabric paint, and she has an impressive nose, just the thing for adventurous doll makers.  Included in the pattern is instructions to make the dress, panties and hat.  The shoes are part of the doll design, details are added with black fabric paint and beads.
Cosmic the Cat is 25cm tall, and made from felt.  Paint or sew on facial details and additional fur markings. 

Squark the Bird and Cosmic the Cat.
Already have a witch, but need a familiar?  Squark is a 25cm bird made from a combination of felt, wire and polymer clay (optional). 
Cosmic is a 25cm cat.  Make him from felt, then add details with paint and embroidery thread, or use plastic eyes.

Monsters.  This is a fun pattern to make 5 quick and different felt toys.  The monsters are sewn on the right side, no turning out small pieces, and easy enough for children to do.  Copy Nerina's pattern templates, or use the instructions to design your own monsters.  You will need only oddments of felt,  and if you happen to have embellishments such as plastic eyes, buttons and sequins available, you can make something really scary and glam in a jiffy.

If you would like to order these patterns, EMAIL MEGAN

Studio Update

I have been sorting through some boxes of 'stuff' in my store room, and came upon this miniature painting.  It measures only 5 x 6cm, and was made by my cousin Marjorie from a photograph. My mother commisioned it for my birthday a number of years ago (I'm not telling how many!) and as you might guess, the subject is me, with an old bear in my lap. Eventually it will be displayed in the library of a 1/12 scale dolls house that I am restoring.

I'm catching my breath after two weeks of  daily teddy bear making workshops at Tin Soldiers.  Sharing knowledge and teaching techniques to bear makers is one of my great joys.  After doing it for so many years I have also learned the importance of creating time for quiet in between,  to write, work on new designs, to savour creative life in its many forms.  I am truly blessed.
So,  let me tell you what is in store for the next few days.
A post about new patterns from Nerina.
The teddy bear crochet dungarees instructions that I promised.
Schnozzle's pattern, and Sabine the pin cushion elf, as soon as I finish the instructions.
An update on Bearathon 2012 progress.
Whatever else I manage to get done.  My to-do list grows daily!

Crochet success, and sighs about technology

Today there is a gremlin in my office.  None of three printers are working, the technician can’t come till Wednesday and the suppliers inform me that they are out of toner and will only be able to deliver in three weeks… who ever heard of such inefficiency?   To top it all my new Windows 7 computer crashes whenever I try to access any Google pages.   I am writing this post from a borrowed laptop running on XP.  Apparently there is a technology war going between Google and Microsoft… I wish they would make it up so the rest of us can get on with making bears.  Enough grumbling.

Over the last few days I managed to complete the little dungaree for Schnozzel.  Here are some cheerful pictures.

I took stacks of photos as I was making the dungarees.  After overcoming my mental block about working without a pattern it was fun. 

Next week I will be offering the Schnozzel pattern on Etsy, and I will post a free tutorial on this blog to crochet the dungarees.

Till next time, wishing you a creative week.

The start of a week

And so it goes.  The start of a new week and it seems that all the fun is over.  T's visit was much too short, but we crammed in an incredible amount of jaw-wagging, sitting on the floor reading books, and activities that involve needles, crochet hooks and scissors.  We also ate and slept, of course.
Here are T's early morning impressions of Irish Cottage, where she was staying.

And a leisurely breakfast in Cape Cottage.

This week I am working on three things.  One involves an umbrella, another uses a tomato paste tin, and the third is a project that I abandoned last year.

No, it's not a skirt.  This was meant to be a dungaree but I battled with it so, I gave up.  I think sometimes I try to re-invent the wheel.  I could have found a pattern a long time ago to help me figure it out.  Today I am going to do just that.  The little bear is Schnozzel from CAZ bears.  I am busy updating and rewriting the pattern instructions.  It will be available as a kit and pattern again soon.  I will let you know how it all comes together.