A Little Snowflake

No words required!

It's getting to be that time..........

Trying to engender a bit of Christmassy feeling (bit over a month to go!). This is the first of a few.

Also completed this 13" doll......keeping busy trying to get pre-Christmas orders done in time.

Little Cloth Animals

Here is a little cloth deer that I have just completed - I absolutely love making things like this.....don't know why......it's just FUN! Here are the steps in deermaking 101:

Cloth parts sewn, turned and ready for stuffing and assembly

All assembled, needle-sculpted, paperclay eyes added and sized with a mixture of acrylic gel medium and modelling paste, which seals the fabric, preserves it and gives a great surface for painting.

Partly-painted and sitting in my hand to give you an idea of the size.

I also made another of these frogs.....see the fairy wings sticking out of his mouth?

And if you go to www.marijkevanooijen.blogspot.com the lovely Marijke has written a post about my work. her blog is beautiful - a real work of art in itself. I'm going to write a post about her work in coming days, when I can free up a bit of time to do it properly.

A Special Visitor

Look who came visiting today............

At first he tried to pretend he wasn't there, but once he decided that I wasn't too much of a threat, he went on his waddling little way in search of ants to eat.

This is of course, an echidna, a primitive mammal of the monotreme class. The only other monotreme I know of is the platypus. What makes them so special is that, although they are mammals, they lay eggs. Echidnas are only occasional visitors to our garden, so it is always a great thrill to see one passing through. This little fellow was obliging enough to hang around long enough so that I could fetch my camera. We love to encourage native wildlife in our garden, and with five fairly unkempt acres, we do see quite a few different species. Apart from echidnas we also have visits from: wallabies, bandicoots, brushtail possums, ringtail possums, blue tongue lizards, green-and-gold bell frogs, black cockatoos, white cockatoos, a sea eagle, masked lapwings, native hens, mountain ducks, magpies, superb blue wrens, scarlet robins, Eastern rosellas, swallows and a few snakes. I'm pretty sure I've missed a few.

For those of you who have never encountered an echidna, they are about the size of a football and the spines are very sharp!

New Work

First, a new wall piece - "Winterlude" - mixed media (cloth, clay, sticks, string)

....And a cloth child doll, Matilda

Missing Zappa.........

Every time I have left my studio this week, I have, out of habit, opened the door very carefully, because our dear departed Zappa liked to sleep on the doormat just outside. I can't get used to her not being there any more. At least we have the very amusing Violin Case Kitten to distract us somewhat.......he is so funny and entertaining! I've never known a cat to like water so much. As soon as I fill the sink to wash some dishes, he's up on the windowsill above, keenly interested in every drip and gurgle.

Here are "Lisbeth" and "Lucinda" - sister dolls that I have just completed.

Vale Zappa

We had to have our dear old Zappa put to sleep today. I'm writing this through tears - she was a wonderful old dog and we'll miss her greatly, but it had got to the stage where her life was no longer enjoyable, so we chose the only option we really had. She was seventeen. Vale, Zappa.