Esther, a tubby little rag doll for grown ups

This is Esther, she is a lovely tubby lady who stands 14 inches tall and who uses the last of my V&A fabric and the last of Aunty Irene's blouse!  She has a hand painted face and hand embroidered details and I love her blue hair, which is hand stitched and styled wool tops.  I am finding these tubby ladies very popular and thoroughly enjoy making them, from their curly hair to their little leather shoes.  I think they offer something other than pencil slim  and that is welcome. A little round lady ousing hearth and home.  I hope that all my girls are warm and companiable and that they bring a smile to your face.

Maud, a rag doll for grown ups

Maud is a tall girl, she is 16 inches tall and is dressed in new fabric from the V&A collection and from a blouse belonging to my Aunty Irene!  She carries a little heart and as always has little leather shoes.  I tried something different with her hair, she has plaits and a little head scarf, it gives her a country girl look.  I like the idea of a rag doll for grown ups, I mean that is what they are, but I had never thought to put so succinctly. I very happily sold my first doll on Folksy and that is how the lady who bought her, described her.  So here is Maud, a rag doll for grown ups.    

New Stitches Sampler

Having made the new little russian dolls and using different stitches I have been trying to think of different ways to make a sampler.  This was one solution I have found.  I sponge printed little blocks of colour onto quaker cloth and then using tonal threads I tried out some stitches that I wouldn't normally use on a sampler. Some of the stitches I tried included Velvet Stitch, Bullion Knots, Picots and Buttonhole Bars.  I particularly liked the Buttonhole Bars and the Brick Stitch, all the stitches could be used in many ways and thinking about how to use them is a challenge. I want to use more stitches in my work, I want to use the interesting textures that they make in a creative way. I don't think a sampler has to be just a band sampler or a victorian style sampler I think it can be different and I would like to find new ways to do this.   

Velvet Stitch

Bullion Knots

    

Buttonhole Bars

Woven Picots