Elsie Cabbage

Whirligig, chatterbox, top rung of the fence balancer.

Scraped knees, muddy dress, my turn, rough–houser

Singer, squealer, hanging upside downer

Elsie Cabbage, scared of NOTHING and NO ONE.

Your fancy ?

After an impromptu "staff meeting' with Annie today, I got fired up and back into the sewing room.
I fiddled with a few frocks in between Finn-play and took some photos.

and dreamt undersea dreams .

doing the bum dance...

I am making progress.

I bought a shelving unit to use at the show,

which I promptly managed to almost fill with junk from the floor

I have made a zipper mouth monster from the new pattern that I have written (just not had tested yet)
and I did some painting....This will all get a second coat tomorrow.

and in a feat only possible by the most uncoordinated crafter on the planet, I managed to mangle my own bum while taking a photo in the sewing room.
My not-at-all- small-or-pointy butt collided with a small pointy edge of cupboard...... The cupboard won.

and I thought Edna caused pain....I knew nothing!

Is it genetic?

So there has been enough naval gazing and kitten gazing here on the blog lately and although I have been doing some crafting , I have also been wondering about the correlation between crafting and generosity.

Do generous people become crafters by nature? or does being a crafter make you generous?

Its a big question...

The delightful Michele from calicodaisy sent me this sweet machine-embroidered chicken along with some selvedges. He is super cute and I have plans afoot for this one already. Michele has a zillion designs that she makes and she also does some great collaborative stuff with her designs on other people's work.

The totally unbelievably generous and talented Holly from Two Cheese Please sent me this present last week. Can you believe she hand carved that stamp for me ...why???

"Just because" is what she said. How long would all those teeny tiny letters have taken? I must admit to a little squeal when I saw this and look at those little dots - they are for me to print my very own selvedge !!!! eeeeekkkkk

And then Sherrin from Starashan popped this in the post for me. Sherrin makes me green with envy every time she post some of her screen printed stuff. I would love to be able to get involved in screen printing. One of my usual drooly comments about her stuff and hey presto she sends me one of my very own - on delicious red linen- I'm thinking a bag maybe???

and just to prove how talented she is......even the card is cool!

Now, I am not going to rant on here about the generosity of bloggers or how crazy in love I am with just about every single bit of blogging. I'm just going to say thank you to you all and promise to pass on some of this "just because" generosity as soon as possible.

I am working on dollies and finishing up all their little bits and pieces in time for Christmas. I do love making dollies, but as I sew little cardi's and frocks my mind is racing onto new things , the selvedges are haunting me (as always) I am thinking of the Christmas to-do list and I was hoping that if you guys grabbed your side and I grabbed mine we could stretch December out for another week or so.......

Miss Polly had a Dolly

One of the little girls will be having an operation a bit later in the year...................

She is being very very brave about it.

and I haven't the heart to tell her everyone will be able to see her undies.

Everythings finished - almost

There are two kinds finished around here when it comes to craft work.

There is totally finished, as in the project could be wrapped and given away type finished, but more often than not, things around here just get "blog finished".

Blog finished is when something is almost finished, it just has a few details (usually unnoticeable) left to go. Or it could mean finished enough to take a photo that won't show the pins still tucked in the back.

So this week I blog finished a few things.

Craft-at-work embroidery is blog finished, I ran out of cotton on that last little spot.

Craft -at-work carry bag is blog finished, stills need a magnetic closure and maybe a firm base.

Mirabel dolly quilt is blog finished -

Binding needs hand sewing on at the back.

Mirabel dolly clothes are blog finished - they just need press studs, elastic, buttons etc.

This week I intend to get all those blog finished things , actually finished.

I have been auditioning fabrics this afternoon, for a new scarf.

Isn't it frustrating when you know what you want to achieve but you don't have the fabric and can't seem to find it anywhere. Maybe it doesn't exist?

I want grey, I want bleak, I want sharp lines and slightly spooky. I want Johnny Depp in a frock coat(who doesn't?), strolling through mist. I want longing and darkness and cold poetry and maybe some branches.....I want texture and dirty shine..........

Anyone got a piece of that in their stash?

It's a ghost blog

Can you see the tumbleweed blowing through this blog? Do you here the coyote howling at the moon? - well maybe not quite, but I have had a bit of an unscheduled blog break.

No big dramas just the minutiae of life and work getting on top of me there for a bit and whilst I am normally a "not drowning, waving" type person , this week past I was definitely drowning.

The crafting has been in fits and starts but I am back on track with a list of jobs to finish / start this week.

I managed a dolly dressing gown for the Mirabel doll (she is cut out but not sewn yet.)

My mum scored me a huge pile of cottons

and right now a strong cup of tea and a block of chocolate are calling me plaintively from the kitchen.....

That and a hand sewn zippered bag lining ......... hmmmm