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Pandora part 347 …

May 2, 2012 By 1 Comment

at least it feels that way – but I thought it was time to show what her and I have been up to lately!

Because Pandora has arms now – and I find her so … gentle, kind, thoughtful, supportive and caring – and there is a “Go Forth my Child”-feeling about her … don’t you think?

Maybe I’m just projecting that onto her – because that is how I wanted to portray her – as a Mama to her Travellers, telling them that they should go, they should travel, learn, explore and that she will be right there behind them all the time, waiting at home for when they have stretched their wings a bit and need a rest – only to go right back to the airport once fed, rested and loved!

OK – I’m on a roll … let’s get to the pictures shall we …

Still lots more to do on her – a crown, a collar and some more embellishments … so by the time she’s done it’ll be post number 528 about Pandora – but I sure hope you are enjoying following her progress as much as I’m enjoying bringing her to life!

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Fabric Learnings

April 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Learning – Learning – Learning.

It never stops – which is a good thing I’m sure!

When I started quilting at the ripe old age of 30 (!) it was partly (mostly!) because I was madly in love with pretty fabrics.

I love fabrics.

I mean we all know I lurve trimmings right? But fabrics are pretty high on my list of favorite things to shop for – and as with any quilter I have a stash of fabric that could clothe a village – if someone would take on that job!

Anywho – my stash is all 100% cotton … well I guess 2% is now silk after doing Clara and getting hooked on those amazing silks – but really what you’ll find in my deep drawers filled with fabric is 100% cotton!

These days though, having left the quilts behind for now, I have got to venture into the bigger fabric world now – seriously – because when I had to clothe Gemini and Pandora there was no way I could do 100% cotton because there is no stretch in those fabrics. Also it is kind of boring because it is “flat” – for lack of a better expression I guess.

On my birthday weekend we met up with all Mr. Hubby’s cousins and they are all fantastically creative and one told me about this book she’d just gotten – which describes all the different kinds of fabric out there!

Well Hello – I had to have one of those – snazzy fast!

So I went to Chapters and this is what got

Looking good non?

(did you notice that background fabric? – one of my favorite quilting fabrics … bought because Kristyne made this stunning STUNNING quilt embroidering all these little different handbags on it – I have to ask her for a photo … )

Well at least it will tell me a little about the different kinds out there – because when I go to ETSY not a lot comes back when I type “a fabric with a bit of stretch”!

Have a lovely weekend!

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A Twirl if You Will!

April 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Today I’ll show you Pandora in her little skirt!

The first time I went to Ottawa’s Doll Club “All Dolled Up” the artist Liz Ciesluk was showing us some of her work and she was praising this product called “Paverpol”.

Now, I had never head of this before, but I managed to find a place here in Ottawa that sells it and finally yesterday I got to play.

Marilyn did tell me that it would be messy – oh boy, was she ever right … this stuff gets everywhere!

I have played a lot with papier-mache and I love it – this paverpol kind of does the same – though I have to say that personally I’d rather have wall paper paste on my hands than this paverpol stuff.

It is basically a really heavy white glue and it feels like that and it smells like that – and the result is a piece that sets very hard!

I managed to get a piece of paper that had french postcards all over it – and even better it had a bit of brown and green in it which is (obviously!) the colour scheme I’ve chosen for Pandora!

I didn’t particularly like the green but I knew that Marilyn would ask me to crackle and age it so I figured the green would be toned down a bit!

I put the skirt on her with the help of foil and I kept going back and forth – this morning it was set and rock hard … I must say – I think she’s ready for a twirl!

Here’s a picture of her with her skirt – before I “aged” it.

And then I crackled and I aged and I sponged it with some gold paint.

Once that was done the green had indeed toned down a bit – and then I put on some trim.

I have to say, I really REALLY like when trim is put on things. Anything. Because I hate rough edges, I am a very impatient girl and I struggle until I can see that it is actually going to be a beautiful piece. I am lucky because I have seen the whole lesson for this piece and I have a pretty good idea of what she’ll look like at the end, however, there are moments when I worry that I won’t like her as much as I should!

… and then I put on the trim … and then I feel like I should be the one twirling with joy!

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White Friday …

March 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I need some Quiet.

Peace & Quiet.

Quiet.

My head is tired.

I love creating and I have had a wonderful week playing with Pandora and her little friends.

But I have also had a week of less fun things.

Life.

Nothing major.

But golly gosh – I could really R E A L L Y do with a bit of quiet.

I guess quiet is different things for different people.

I have a friend who cannot get the walls and duvet colorful enough in her bedroom – spicy, warm, orange colours.

I want White only.

This is quiet to me

or this

or this

This is perfect …

I’m not fussed … either one of these are fine with me

Me, a book and a white quiet room.

Would be a lovely weekend.

Hope you have a good one!

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I Love my Buttons!!!

March 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment

… and I keep plodding along!

I have finally finished the inside of the gourd.

On “The Seven Sins” by Marilyn – she uses a lot of leaves but I just do not feel that it goes with my piece at all and while I was out shopping yesterday I decided to get some fancy wide lace with the world map on it.

I love it!

And look at those buttons – my mailbox gets a little bit of buttons every day from somewhere fancy in the world.

I love my worldly friends and family!

Here’s a full look of the inside … what do you think?

My little travellers will be snug as bugs in there – and dreaming of places they’d like to go to!

And then while I had all those lovely buttons out I finally decided on a pattern for my board because I wasn’t quite sure what to do …

I am loving all these buttons – and to be honest I wasn’t sure I would but knowing that they are from all over the world and some of them are from my dear Aunt Nancy whom we lost a year ago … I cannot tell you how special this piece is becoming to me!

Today I will put some feet on Pandora – so she can go places too!

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Gumboot Dancing …

March 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Today I’ll be working on “The Seven Sins”.

In between taking the dog to the vet for his yearly check up – and the kids having a Gumboot Dancing performance at school – at 11.20 am!!

How am I ever supposed to get anything done when I have to run to performances and vets and food shopping and walking the dog?

Yesterday I did manage to dress the inside of my gourd – and I’ll show you – just so you know I’m not sitting around doing nothing!

As you can see I tried (loosely!) to draw a line where I would have liked to cut the gourd … have you ever cut a gourd? It is not as easy as one might think – them gourds are tough things and I feel pretty good about the cut I did make – even if it wasn’t on the line!

Once cut (oh and cleaned!) it was time to “dress” the gourd on the inside for the Seven Travellers to have a lovely warm “nest” to enjoy!

Top

and bottom

It still need lots of TLC, trimmings and lace and stuff … but so far so good!

Today I think I’ll work on Pandora’s face – it’s been too long since I played with some nice polymer clay!

I’ve got exactly 2 hours till I have to be at the school!

Ruuuuuuun!

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A Gourdy Detour …

March 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment

So I went to Toronto to celebrate and I had a wonderful time!

Thank you all for your lovely messages here, there and everywhere – It was a lovely day!

While in Toronto I realized that I might be close to this one place (the only place!) that sells gourds in Ontario!

Remember “The Seven Sins”?

The Seven Sins – which in my case is “The Seven Travellers” – they live inside Pandora.

Pandora is a gourd!

I had to order her online at the Northern Dipper as there is no place here in Ottawa that sells gourds – which makes me sad as it is a lot easier to decide on a gourd when you can actually see it!

Anyways – I had to try to describe how big Pandora needed to be and that she had to have lots of little people inside her.

Last week my gourd arrived in the post ….

This mama was B I G!!!

I panicked a bit (read lots!) because not only does the gourd need to live on my board – the seven travellers need to live there too when they are not sleeping inside her tummy – and also … this is the board I was hoping to decorate with buttons from my lovely friends and family from all over the world!

I was sad – because as you can see – there wasn’t much room left for anything once Pandora arrived on there!

But then Marilyn told me how to sort it and then I was somewhat happy again.

Then while not being able to sleep at the hotel (am I the only one who just cannot sleep in hotels – crikey I lie awake what feels like all night long and I’m not coming home rested – instead I come home sleep deprived!) I had the idea that maybe – just maybe we weren’t so far away from the place where I had ordered the gourd.

I called – we weren’t that far and I arranged to come see them yesterday on our way home from Toronto!

Let me just say – the car was already packed to the rim with all our stuff – and all the fantastic fabric I was given by a super generous family member on Friday – and also Clara (who had to come along for the ride to be shown off to all the lovely family in Toronto !) … so there really wasn’t a ton of space in the back of the car.

Well – how was I supposed to walk into this Gourd Farm and only leave with one gourd (something a little smaller than what I had received in the post last week!)?

…

 

Whoopsie Daisies …

But they were so pretty …

Big Gourds …

Small Gourds ….

Funny Gourds …

…

Luckily Mr. Hubby didn’t mind that he couldn’t see out the rear window while driving all the way home  - gourds and all.

Filed Under: Chit Chat