Warmest Winter Wishes

All the Christmas orders are made and posted and I am winding down for a cosy family Christmas. Just wanting to say thank you for all your support in 2021. Wishing everyone a lovely Christmas and my warmest winter wishes xx

Eudo, A Gentleman Mouse

 

A little gentleman mouse dressed in a French linen waistcoat and Japanese tweedy cotton plus fours. He is finished with tiny buttons, little leather shoes and a sampler sachet. His scarf is silk and he has lavender in his stuffing with a piece of turquoise at his heart.

There are a couple of little gentleman on my shop at the moment at https://folksy.com/shops/PooksStudio
I just loved making them, they are the smallest little chaps I have made so far. their shoes are so tiny that they just fit on my thumb. Eudo is between seven and eight inches tall and has a brass ring to his back in case you want to put him on the wall.

Roswitha, A Late Summer Harvest Mouse

 

Some little details of the embroidery to Roswitha's dress. A late summer meadow in a variety of threads and stitches. Her sachet is stuffed with red clover from the local fields and she has a rose quartz to her heart. 

All her features are hand embroidered and she has a little leather tail with leather ears also. Her dress is complemented with petticoats and broderie anglais drawers. Finished with tiny buttons, organza ribbon and little leather shoes. 

The Parish Council planted our verges in the village with wild flowers for the insects and the benefits where huge . We had so many new insects in our garden including blood bees and a variety of memetic hover flies. 

Lilliwin, A Harvest Mouse with an Autumnal Meadow Dress

 

Lilliwin, a pretty little harvest mouse with a wild autumn dress. All hand embroidered with a variety of cottons in a dark cream 22 count hardanger evenweave cloth. 

She has details from the skirt to her neckline and she is finished with organza ribbon, coordinating petticoats and leather leather shoes. Her sachet is hand embroidered silk picking up the design of the skirt. 

She has carnelian to her heart for courage and rose petals in her stuffing with a touch of rose absolute for a gentle scent. 

I absolutely love making these little embroidered dresses, they are a natural extension of my sampler work and a joy to make. They take time  and the dresses are hard to stich together but I love the effect.

Nora and New Witches in the Shop

 

Nora is one of the new witches listed in the shop. I am embrassing the embroidered faces and starting to love making them. I am working on autumn witches at the moment and will shortly move onto my Christmas collection. 

Enjoying autumn too much at the moment to be thinking about Christmas but I have made my Christmas fabric choices and am looking forward to the run up to Christmas. 

There are some beautiful autumn fabric choices at the moment and I love this one. Fairy Clocks by Lewis and Irene. Autumn seed heads and dandelion clocks dance across a rich purple ground in this colourway. Simply gorgeous.

Rose in Vintage Liberty Lawn

New dolls have been added to the shop, little harvest mice with embroidered dresses or dressed in Liberty Lawn. I will be making more mice, rabbits and birds over the next few months, hand embroidered details to faces and sometimes dresses. 

This vintage Liberty print has been a joy to use and I am slowly running out but have just enough left for a little wren later this month. 
 

Caria, A Little Mushroom Mouse

 

As I have said, I have developed a quite pronounced shake to my right hand and although I can embroider forever I now struggle to paint tiny face so my work must change. 

These little mice represent the start of something new and different for me and I am loving all the fiddly stitching and their overall look. 

I am working here, on 22 count hardanger and each piece of the dress must be overlocked before commencing to stitch or the evenweave unravels. Also each piece of the bodice must but slightly larger than the pattern to accommodate the embroidery as this pulls in the bodice. 

I thought long and hard about how I would work the embroidery on the dresses and settled, quite happily, for the counted thread work style that I had developed over the years. It will be interesting to see how the work develops. 

Meadow, A Harvest Mouse

Meadow is my first attempt at an embroidered dress for my dolls. This is the direction I want to go in. More work on each doll, making them totally unique. I will still make dolls in lovely Liberty fabric but I want to embroider as much as I can. 

I want to work on evenweave fabric so that I can incorporate counted thread work as well as free style embroidery. I must admit to liking the order an evenweave imposes. This little girl has french knots, bullion knots, lazy daisy and lots of straight stitches with couching as well as fern stitch. I wanted to create a meadow.

I used a Liberty lawn as her underskirt and this has proven a mistake. It distracts from the embroidery, competing with it not complimenting the stitches. Similarly I stitched a small sampler for her sachet and that was too much of  a similar look. Instead I have gone for a tonal silk with a bullion rose.

Since last year I have noticed a tremour in my right hand that has started to make painting tiny faces very difficult but I can embroider forever. So more mice, rabbits and birds and less of everything else. I will still do commissions but only one or two a month not the number I have been doing.  I love making this little mouse, she was a joy xx

Rosalie and Auriel, Little Songbird Dolls

 Little embroidered bird dolls to share, a goldfinch and a robin. All dressed in Liberty tana lawn, fabrics picked to compliment the hand embroidered plumage of the the songbird. Over the next few months I will be working on embroidered dresses as well and I am looking forward to see how the emerge. I have some definite ideas but how will they translate - I will have to do my best. xx

 

Medea, A Mermaid Doll

 

 Medea, a little mermaid doll new for 2021, designed and made to my own pattern. I have been asked for mermaids for a while and always demurred but recently I took two weeks to design and make three little sirens and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Only three for now but I will make more. It is lovely hunting down the sea themed fabric and the right colour scrim. 

They have embroidered tatoos to their breast, hand and back with shell detailing to their hair and scrim. As are all my girls, they are chunky and ready for anything the waves can throw at them. I hope you like them xx

Rhedyn, A Little Lancashire Fern Witch

 Rhedyn is a little witch dressed in a fern fabric from Lewis and Irene called The Botanist. Pen and ink styled ferns on a cream ground.

She has a little fern green hat with an acorn charm and is finished with organza ribbon, tiny buttons and leather shoes.

She has hand styled wool tops for her hair in  a warm brunettewith a hand painted, hand embroidered face.

This is an old range of fabrics from Lewis and Irene but one of my favourites. If I see it anywhere I snap it up. I love ferns both in the garden and in the house, we even have a Wardian cabinet full of tiny ferns!

Little Lancashire witch Lellie, dressed in pretty Lewis and Irene Jardin de Lys fabric with dragonfly higlights and water lillies abounding. 

She has soft pink wool tops for hair and pretty crochet flowers to add texture on her sachet. She stands ten inches with and extra inch and a half for her hat. The little lilac witches hat is decorated with felt leaves, organza ribbon and a little dragonfly.

Metallic elements and copper highlights give her a warm tone. Accented are brown lily pads and pink flowers on a warm lilac ground.

 

Bird Dolls Added to the Shop

 A few little birds have been added to the shop, just loved making them. I find the stitching very calming and enjoy the feel of them in my hand. They are heavily embroidered both front and back, with coordinating fabrics from Lewis and Irene. Each is finished with a sampler sachet, organza ribbon and tiny buttons.