Last page

This is the final page. I love, love, love this poem but have never read it all, just seen quotes from it.

Definately good inspirational words to help you feel strong and what amazing handwriting Elke has!

This is what she did with the shell stamp, again in my favourite purple!

Thank you Elke, I shall treasure these words.

In a few weeks I will be able to show you what I did in their CJs.

Page 3.

Next page and coincidentally, more cosmic shimmers! Lovely butterfly made using the shell stamp and beads.

Then this beautiful tag created using a technique we saw at Ally Pally last year involving cling film! Again more lovely words. I can see me taking this CJ out for a read when I need a boost!

Thank you Gilly, another gorgeous page in my favourite colours!

Page 2

So here is page two. It really does not show up in the photo but it is beautiful cosmic shimmers with very subtle stamping on the BG.

Another lovely quote around the edge too.

Thank you Helly, I really love the colours of this.

CJ back home at last!

http://chickenlickenscreations.blogspot.com/2011/08/inside-my-cj.html ...remember this from way back in June last year? I managed to persuade my scrapbooking friends to have a go at a mini CJ. Well we didn't keep it going round very fast but I am glad to say that we have at last finished!

I am going to be in hospital next time we meet so they gave me mine now.

Today I shall show you my first page...

I asked for a DLO, to use the stamp and include some words/quote. Sharon did this amazing purple encaustic background and made the shell stamp into a pansy like flower....

..and then there was this lovely quote. I've not heard this before but I rather like it!

Thank you Sharon.

Di's Exploding Birthday Box!

Last time Linda and I went to Burnice's Cabin we made an exploding box. Well I should say we started one! It was all cut out and awaiting decoration. On Saturday I am going to my friend Di's "Fabulous and Forty" birthday party with a red and black theme. So I decided this could be her "card". Lots of red embossing on the outside and a subtle 40 on the top....

...exploding to a bunch of red roses with a message....

...lots of painty reds and whites and pinks with flowers stamped in white paint and glimmer mists and nice punchy outy corners! I don't even know if she knows I am crafty so I hope she is surprised and likes it! It was great fun so I might make some more!

My next quilt.

At least it would have been if my maths was any good! I have had the rather luscious Dogwood Trail Jelly Roll hiding in my stash , waiting for me to use it! Now my eldest is at Uni daughter No 3 is going to move into her bedroom and I am using this as an excuse to re-decorate the room and make a new quilt! Luckily she like this fabric so I carefully worked out that for this particular design I would only need 22 strips. I sorted them into two groups, darks (green and blue) and lights (pale pink and white) and off I went with this continuous corner log cabin pattern. All would have been fine except I calculated my strips as being 5" long and in fact they are 10"! So I made 16 of the 35 squares needed before I worked out what I had done wrong. However, there really were no more blues or greens that I could get out of the roll so I will just have to buy a second one! Such a shame I will have to go internet shopping! The good news is there will be enough left over to make a second top from all the pinks! I wonder if Jasper would like a pink quilt.....

Wedding Card

Just a very quick card. We are off to a wedding today; my FIL is getting re-married. I wasn't really sure what to do so I modified the valentine card from Craft Stamper.

Some more dolls....

I am convinced dolls must be like buses; none for ages then three come at once! Eliza walks a dog for an lady who lives near us and was telling her all about the previous doll, who is now called Isabelle. This lady then went and found two more dolls that she had as a child and had no-one to give them to so she gave them to us to love. This first one she got for her 5th or 6th birthday in 1945 or so and she came in a pink dress which has sadly been lost over the years.

She has a composite face, basically woodpulp and glue, and as you can see has been well-loved. I took all three to a doll hospital and she needs to have her head mended to prevent it cracking completely in half.

This second doll was rather a shock. She is in pieces as you can see and was made by British National Dolls in the 1950s. She was sold in Marks and Spencers along with a blonde version and is called a walker doll as her legs "walk" and move her head at the same time.

She too is rather pretty but needs a good wash and hair-do.

These are her original clothes too. Now here's for the shocker, she is quite valuable! In fact the most valuable of the three once mended so if you have any of your old dolls from your childhood DON'T just sling them out! I have some from the 70s that were mine as a child and in good condition they are worth £40 or so already.

I did take her back to the lady who gave her to us once I realised her value. She was amazed and delighted and is contemplating having her restored now.

A beautiful doll

Meet Isabelle, she belonged to my Mother in Law and as my FIL is moving house shortly she has come to live with me. Now I assumed that as MIL was born in 1940 the doll was from about 1945 but having taken her into a local auction house it would appear she is from 1910. Hmmm I am rather sceptical about this myself, knowing the family history, so this afternoon I am taking her to a doll hospital for more advice.

She has a rather beautiful face and I think that her hair is rather 1920's. When I do find out how old she is I shall make her some appropriate clothes as hers are not original in any way. She did come wearing a baby vest bearing the name Corah St Margaret. So I Googled it and it would appear that Corah were a company who broke away from the Wholesale Textiles Association to supply Marks and Spencers in the early 20's. By doing this they were thrown out of the Association and thereby could only trade with M&S. In order to cover up their links with M&S they traded under the name St Margarets which later became the well know St Michael brand that M&S used! How fascinating is that? I was unable to find out exactly when the name changed to St Michael but it would be in the 30's I think so the vest must pre-date that.

Art Journal Complete!!!!

Look at me go! Shall I polish my halo now? Another project finished. Week 51 was all about the tree. Real or artificial? Heirlooms or traditions; stamp some trees. BG was painty and then I stamped a fir tree in white paint before journalling in a Sharpie. Looks like I need a new one as it's a bit scratchy!

The final week....52! We had to say whether we had achieved our goals set in week 1 and use less than 10 words. Found this little trumpet and I felt I deserved a mini fanfare for sticking with it, although it was never a chore!

Then did two covers, painty, stampy and embossy! I wanted them to reflect what would be found inside.

And here it all is; a bit fat for the binder wires but I wanted it done so it had to do!

Now I have a rather exciting little project in mind.....will tell you about it tomorrow!

Valentine's Card

A very quick one, lifted straight from the Craft Stamper. But I am quite pleased with it, usually when I try to make something from a mag it ends up nothing like it!

Feeling Patriotic?

As I had been such a good girl I decided that I could treat myself to a new mini project! I had to take Katy to Lewes to the violin repair shop to have some work done on her violin so as we had to wait for it I thought I had better pop into The Patchwork Dog and Basket. Well it would be rude not to! Linda had given me a pattern for a Union Jack cushion (well if you can call it a pattern!) and I wanted to make it in reds for Jess's room in Bournemouth. So I chose some lovely fabric.

This was the pattern, somewhat brief for a novice like me; took me a lot of head scratching, rubbing out and cursing before I worked out how to duplicate it AND reverse it and then remember how to do foundation piecing!

Then I realised that the fabric I had chosen was very directional.....Ok so the checks weren't too bad to keep straight but the writing was another thing entirely! Oh it was soooo tricky to get it straight AND the correct way up and I wasted quite a lot of fabric by going wrong twice!

Still, eventually I got there! Here is the finished top. My problems didn't end there however because when I cut the back out I managed to measure it incorrectly and cut it about 1/2" too narrow! I shall just stuff it now as I doubt I will find a suitably sized pad for it. Note for next time; don't use fabric that has a right and wrong way up!

Two UFO's Finished!

I know I haven't posted for a while but I have been busy, honest! In the spirit of my New Year's Resolution I am trying to finish things so when I went to the Quilt Show at Ardingly I bought the wadding I needed for my three unfinished quilts. Well then I began to quilt but had problems with puckering so I lashed out on a walking foot and then it was easy peasy. This is the back of the little friendship quilt then.

Just a close up of the bit around the cat. I was rather chuffed with this as a newbie! Linda has also been assembling hers.

This is the quilt that I did first however, just stitching in the ditch. You can see the whole top if you click on Quilts at the bottom of this post, that I made at a class in the Summer with Janet from Sleeping Bear.

So now I have finished two things can I start some more? My huge Freebird Quilt is still waiting for borders and quilting but I think that might have to remain an ongoing project. Now I have a CJ to finish and just two more weeks of my Art Journal....