A thank you card

Just a quick blog post to show you what the postman bought today:

........... this very beautiful handmade card from the very talented Gail over at Lacey Lassy. Gail was the first to buy one of my 6 Tilda rag dolls last week and she was so pleased (even though said doll is still on route!) that she sent me a 'thank you' card. These photographs simply do not do it justice, though I tried my best with the camera (sorry Gail!)! The little lady on the front is really cute ......

...... and here's a close up of the flower arrangement on the front:

the glass bead leaves, paper flowers, lace and charms are so pretty. I tell you, there's so much detail in this card, that there's some weight to it!!

The inside is also very pretty - I love the 'Secret Garden' background paper; it's really sweet:

Thanks again Gail - I really love it

Autumn & Pumpkins

Having been to Spain recently and found myself melting somewhat in the heat, I'm even more in the mood for Autumn this year. I'm not trying to say it was 40 degrees or anything, but I am a wimp and found walking around doing the touristy stuff in Barcelona in 28 - 30 degrees too much!! I just love the autumnal glow of reds, gold, rust etc. a true beauty of nature ........ heck, I'm getting a bit poetic here I think ha ha! Anyway, I was so much in the mood for autumn (and being very relieved to have finished 6 ... yes 6 rag dolls) that I simply had to stitch something new. So out came some of the wool I have (don't have much these days) and lovely chocolate brown stripe fabric, I drew a few pumpkin shapes and, hey presto, here's a little pumpkin cushion to add to my diddy autumn display:

here's a close up

...... and here's one showing it amongst my other autumn bits and bobs - most of which are my fabric pumpkins made for me by my luverley friend Wendy a few years ago ..... she's brill (and very prolific) at making pumpkins, let me tell you!!

do you like the 3 tiny pumpkins in the top left-hand corner? They are buttons from 'Just Another Button Company' - I've had them for years and have been itching to use them ever since I bought them ...... so now I have. Hope you like my little cushion!

And now I must get off to bed as I am working in the morning (Saturday overtime can you believe!) .... but needs must, and if I want to buy more woolly, yummy fabric, I need money!!

Happy Autumn everyone

INSPIRED BY TILDA!

A BIG THANK YOU TO ILANA - THE REMAINING 5 DOLLS ARE NOW ALL SOLD!!

She is back by popular demand – well, by a couple of admirers at least!! But only for this short limited time.

I did say a couple of years ago I wasn’t going to make any more of these dolls (and I meant it at the time!) and that’s because they simply take so long to make. Like so many others, I work full time. However, recently I received two requests from a couple of very kind ladies. My gut reaction at the time was “NO more”, but then I gave it a bit of thought and decided I would, just on this occasion, make a couple of dolls – then I thought, well hey, why not make several. The first time I made the dolls was in 2009, and then I made another couple in 2011; I also refused quite a few other requests at the time, however, this DEFINITELY is it – I won’t be making anymore after these. Once they’re gone, they’re gone!! I imagine the two ladies who recently enquired about them have by now given up on me as I said it may take a few weeks or so ........ well, it’s been more like a few months!!

So, here we have not just two, but six ‘Tilda’ inspired rag dolls for sale. The cost is £50.00 (UK Sterling) per doll, plus postage as follows:-

• UK standard - £5.50
• UK tracked - £6.50
• Europe standard - £7.00
• Europe tracked - £12.00
• Rest of the world (USA, Canada, Brazil etc) - £10.00
• Rest of the world (USA, Canada, Brazil etc) tracked - £15.50
• Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand standard - £11.00
• Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand tracked - £16.50

 Payment by PAYPAL only please

The price of the dolls reflects the time each one takes (which is forever!!!), plus the cost of the materials – believe me, I don’t make much on them. And unfortunately, postage, particularly abroad, is rather pricey and we’ve had some big postal price increases lately in the UK.

 

So here goes:-

 

No. 1 – Country Girl

She is wearing a red blouse over which is a scalloped edge pinafore dress made from a lovely country floral stripe fabric, with pretty red shell buttons on the straps: her lace trimmed bloomers are made from the same fabric. The ribbon in her brown hair and her shoes are both a burgundy colour and she has white laced trimmed socks. She carries her own little teddy bear. She is approximately 47 cms (18½ inches) in length, top to toe!

No. 2 – Pretty in Pink

SOLD - thank you Gail

She is wearing a sweet pink dress, which is made up of a polka dot top with a floral fabric for the skirt. Her lace trimmed bloomers are made from the same floral fabric, and she too has a burgundy colour ribbon in her brown hair and burgundy shoes - she has white lace trimmed socks. She must be on her way out somewhere special as she also has her little pearl necklace on. She too carries her own little teddy bear. She is approximately 47 cms (18½ inches) in length, top to toe!

 

 

 

No. 3 – Sleepy Time

This little lady is ready for her bed and so is dressed in a peach floral pair of pyjamas, trimmed with contrasting lace, ribbon and buttons. She has a peachy, orange colour ribbon in her hair and sweet little green shoes over her white socks. In order to make sure she is snugly warm in bed, she has remembered her hot water bottle and to make sure she gets up on time in the morning, has her very own orange alarm clock. She is approximately 47 cms (18½ inches) in length, top to toe!

 

 

 

 

No. 4 – Garden Girl

This pretty little lady has been picking roses from her garden, which she is carrying. She is wearing her pretty pink rosy, ribbon trimmed dungarees over a burgundy colour blouse, which has a nice big bow. Her hair is burgundy colour too, tied with a lovely lime green ribbon. Her shoes are burgundy in colour and she has white lace trimmed socks. She is approximately 47 cms (18½ inches) in length, top to toe!

 

No. 5 – English Lavender

This sweet girl is all in lilac. Her dress has a cream top with a lovely lilac floral skirt, which has a pretty lace trimmed scallop edge: the top is decorated with 3 purple shell buttons and purple spotty ribbon around the waist. Her bloomers are also in the same lilac floral fabric and are lace trimmed. She has lilac colour shoes and white lace trimmed socks on. Her light brown hair has a lovely fleck of lilac running through it and is topped with a cream ribbon. She carries her own lavender fairy bag. She is approximately 47 cms (18½ inches) in length, top to toe

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

And last but not least 

No. 6 – Lady in Red

This young lady is a little bit posh and is all dressed up for an evening out. She has on a beautiful red with black heart spot dress, trimmed with black lace and a big bow at the front at her waist. Underneath the dress, her lace trimmed bloomers match her dress, but most special of all is the red netting underskirt, which makes her dress stand right out. Her black shoes have a red shiny button on the top and she has a red bead bracelet around her wrist. Her hair is black, which shows off her lovely red ribbon and she has been given a little bunch of red roses – somebody must think she’s rather special, which of course she is. She is approximately 47 cms (18½ inches) in length, top to toe!

Each doll has a 'Handmade at Bilberry Grove' label sewn into the leg and also a pretty tag made by me, using some lovely country style papers, with a pearl button on each one.

 

Please email me if you’re interested to discuss 

Thanks for stopping by

‘Hatched and Patched’ stitchery and a Pincushion

I recently spent a weekend with my luverley cousin, Gwyneth (no blog) who lives in South Wales (as mentioned in my last post). As also mentioned, we went to Cross Patch in Llandysul where Gwyneth spent rather a lot of money – it was her first visit to a fabric store as she’s just getting into sewing. A ‘Hatched and Patched’ stitchery took Gwyneth’s fancy, but being a complete beginner, she needed some help from me (happy to oblige of course) and the easiest way to help was to do a stitchery myself ……… this is my long-winded route to justifying why I also bought a stitchery and as I liked one in the same range, I bought this one – ‘Flower Basket Sampler’:

 

It was very pleasant sitting in Gwyneth’s garden in the sunshine stitching together and I made a good start that weekend (it was that wonderful weekend when our Andy won Wimbledon …. Yay!!). Anyway, I finished it off last week and after some indecision, decided to make it into a wall hanging

 

I’m sure the real deciding factor rather than make it into a cushion, which I’d thought about, was so that I could use this gorgeous wire hanger I’ve had in my stores for ??? years!!! The fabric matches beautifully, although I think it’s a Lynette Anderson one (not Hatched and Patched) – honestly, I spent so long choosing, I couldn’t remember afterwards who’s fabric it was – no matter though, as it matches nicely. I also couldn’t resist the bird and heart buttons I’ve put at the top – these too are Lynette Anderson. So thanks Gwyneth for giving me an excuse to make something other than a rag doll!!

Next is something I should have shown before. I’d taken photos, but then forgot to blog about it. Another new (ish) sewing fan is my lovely Auntie Iris (more like my mom really since my mom passed away when I was a child). Since her son and daughter-in-law bought her a sewing machine a little while ago, there’s been no stopping her; children’s aprons, pillows and plans to soon make some bunting …… and this is all in between all the knitting she does!! Anyway, Auntie Iris mentioned she could do with a pin cushion, “IDEA” says I and set about making one for her birthday earlier in July and this is it:

I cross-stitched a design pinching a bit from here and bit from there! And then stitched ‘Iris’ down the side. I found some co-ordinating fabric for the sides, some pretty ribbon to trim and used a nice rose colour silk (no photo) for the back. And then finished off with a ‘rose’ decorated pin from ‘Just Another Button Company’
 

 

One pleased Aunt!

 

That’s it for now – back to rag dolls next time. For anyone who remembers the ‘Tilda’ inspired dolls I made (about 4 years ago), I’m making another batch, having had more requests recently.

 

See you soon!

 

 

A weekend in Wales, stitching, a rag doll and ANDY!!

And my latest offering is ..... yes you’ve guessed it, another rag doll. To be fair to myself though, I should have had a small cross-stitch pocket to show you too (just to prove I do make other things too sometimes), but, flippin’ heck, I seem to have forgotten to take any photos of it – what a plonker!! And as it was a gift, it has already been despatched! The doll and the cross-stitch pocket were both for my lovely cousin, Gwyneth who lives in South Wales, which is where I went last weekend for a 3-day visit .......... and what a lovely relaxing weekend it was too. Breakfast on the decking, in the sunshine and a view, blah, blah, blah – jealous? yup!!

Anyway, back to the rag doll for now. Doll doesn’t have a name yet, as that’s for Gwyneth to do, but I made her a Gardening Angel owing to the fact Gwyneth is a bit (or a lot of) a gardener – loves her garden she does! So here goes with a few piccies (taken in my back garden for better effect):-

Isn’t she cute and quirky!?

I bought a little wooden birdhouse and added a label, but this is my favourite part – a garden basket containing packets of seeds and a ball of twine!

Apart from a hoarder of fabric, I also hoard (on my computer) all sorts of images that take my fancy ....... lots of crafty/quilting pics, art, cottages, shabby chic stuff and vintage and these are vintage images of old seed packets which I nicked from somewhere or other ages ago. So I reduced them down to size, printed them out and cut an area around them, which I then folded up into little envelopes! And then, just for added reality, before sealing them down, I put a few grains of rice into each seed packet, so when you give them a little shake, they sound like seeds .......... “how old” I hear you say LOL - don’t care though:0)

I do hope you like her – I was very pleased with how she turned out.

A lovely part of our weekend however, was realising that I have been a bit of an inspiration to my cousin in that she has started to take quite an interest in sewing. Up to now, Gwyneth has done quite a lot of card and jewellery making, but no sewing – sew much sew (get it LOL), she is all but giving up the card making. And to really throw her in at the deep end, we went along to a gorgeous fabric shop only 30 minutes or so from her house (wish it was so close to mine!!) called Cross Patch. There’s actually two shops together – Cross-Patch is for patchwork/quilting supplies and the other shop is called Polstitches, which is all cross-stitching/embroidery supplies – both tucked away on farmland in the depths of South Wales ....... lovely!! WELL, Gwyneth was like a child in a sweet shop!! She wanted to buy just about everything – we all understand that though don’t we? And I nearly had to call the paramedics when the nice lady totted up her ‘few’ purchases – her face was a picture ....... perhaps that’s what they call a baptism of fire!!! Te he he.

Of course, I made a few purchases too (couldn’t not could I?). One of them being a ‘Hatched and Patched’ stitchery, particularly as Gwyneth was buying one. So on Saturday evening we sat (outside again on the decking with a view!) having a little workshop of our own – thankfully my cousin is a quick learner and she soon started to produce some lovely stitches – must keep tabs on her though to make sure she finishes it. Must finish mine too of course, then I can show something other than a rag doll ................ oh go on, you know you love them LOL

The whole weekend was then topped off when I got back home (more than topped off really) ...... completely made my day, week, month etc ........... and that was our Andy winning Wimbledon on Sunday. Oh boy did I shout, scream, dance and weep – thankfully I had forewarned my new neighbours that they may hear what sounds like a crazy woman later on, otherwise they’d have moved right out again! I am just a little bit of a tennis fan you see:0)

Anyway ladies, that’s the lot for now

A stitchery next time – promise!