Russian Dolls Everywhere!

 

Hello to all my lovely Readers.  I do hope you are all well and happy and have had a wonderful day or night, depending on where you all are in the world.  I am absolutely amazed at how far the blogs reach and send out warm wishes to everyone who is far afield from us in the many different countries over the world.  You are all so welcome, do come in and make yourself at home, shall I put the kettle on?

 

When I visited Much Wenlock yesterday I hadn't realised that the lovely Jo from Three Stories High lives nearby - it is such a small world!  If you haven't had a look at Jo's blog please do so as she is so interesting and creative, and very, very clever.  I have learned such a lot from her.  I meant to mention yesterday that I had popped into the thrift shop in Much Wenlock which is in a lovely old building.  There were lots of things on offer and I couldn't get over how little they were asking for everything.  I picked up these two necklaces for £1 each - I got them to make more necklaces with the Liberty fabric I have - however I am having second thoughts about the one with the ribbon as it is so pretty, what do you think Everyone?

 

 

 

Today was our wedding anniversary but unfortunately I had to go to a very special meeting in Liverpool for most of the day.  I knew that it was going to be a difficult day and one which needed my full attention.  I went by train as I find this less stressful than trying to park in the city.  I got there quite early, as I always do, so had a little time to spare.  I had wanted to get a gift for my lovely husband but hadn't found anything suitable.  I popped into John Lewis on my way to the meeting and heard a little cuckoo clock singing very sweetly.  I had to find it and there it was sitting on the wall, a nice white and red one with a red cuckoo popping out for a little sing.  I loved it and phoned my husband but he did seem unimpressed, especially when I told him the price.  Have a look Folks and see if you can guess the price - I shall tell you later - no peeking now!

 



 

 

Do you like it?  I loved it but............

 

I also had to pop into the Haberdashery Department - couldn't miss this out could I now?  There was a sale on and yes I was very tempted but I had to save money to buy a gift for my lovely husband so had to resist all these gorgeous fabrics.

 

 

 

 

 

Gorgeous aren't they?  I really did resist lovely Readers, hope you are impressed with my will power.

 

I also had to pop into Marks and Spencer to pick up a card for my friend and I spied these wonderful tea towels.  I have written before about my love for tea towels as they are usually good quality fabrics and some have very interesting designs on them. 

 

I loved this pack of three which had been reduced in the sale and thought I would make one of Helen Philipp's little bunnies. (helenphilipps.blogspot.com - sorry Folks but the link doesn't seem to be working so here is Helen's blog address, it is also on my side bar.  Do have a look at her work, it is fabulous).  I adore these and she always makes each bunny look so individual.  I hope she approves of the fabric, I thought it might make them a little different but we will see what they come out like in the end - watch this space.

 

 

 

 

Then wonderful Readers I spotted some tea towels which look as if they are new stock.  The ones which caught my eye were the Russian Dolls and they seemed to be everywhere.  I do love Russian dolls as they are such fun and so glamorous - just as our Russian cousins are.  There were also tea towels with butterflies and owls on them but I was drawn to my red dolls.  I had an idea of how I could use them so bought two towels.  See if you like them.

 



 

They were £4 each but, as you can see there are lots of dolls of different sizes on each one.  When I got home I thought about what I could do with them - couldn't wait to get tea over and start. I took out the seams and pressed them which gave me a little extra fabric on each of the four sides.

 

 

 

I decided to cut two out very carefully - both the same size doll and stitched around them to see what they looked like.

 

 

This is only my first attempt as I would like to embellish them a little more with some beads but I think they would look quite sweet on a bed or dresser.  I have shown a photograph of both sides of the doll - you need to be careful to match them up carefully as they are not exact copies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So Folks what do you think?  You could get up to 6 dolls from the two tea towels if you were careful plus two doll's heads which you could use as a patches on jeans or a bag.  This would have cost £8 for the two tea towels and of course you have to add the thread and the stuffing as well, but not bad really. 

 

I also managed to line another drawer of my box tonight which looks quite good, I have used decopatch which gives a nice sheen to the paper and makes it look as if it is fabric.  I think the glue is used for a lot of crafts now and I am sure a lot of your clever people are there know about it and have used it before. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well Lovely Readers nearly time for bed.  Did you guess the price of the cuckoo clock?  Yes, no?  It was £172.00 so a little pricey for me I am afraid and whilst I loved it I didn't feel it was worth this much, let's know what you all think.

 

I did find my husband a little gift - sorry but the photograph is not that good so if you want to see a better one do let me know and I will post a better one.

 

 

 

I found my gift in a little studio called Landbaby (www.landbaby.co.uk) which is near the Bluecoat Chamber in the centre of Liverpool.  The products in there are just fantastic and all from really talented designers.  Landbaby also runs very interesting classes which I hope to attend in the autumn so try and check these out if you are near to the area - difficult to travel sometimes I know.

 

The designer is called Rosy Hammersley (WWW.THEYFOLDEDPAGE.CO.UK is her website, do check it out for some original gifts).  My gift spells out 'LOVE' which I thought was so special and my husband just loves it as it is an original piece of artwork.  If you are looking for something unique and different I think this would be a fabulous gift. 

 

It has been an exhausting day but I do feel that I have achieved a little tonight and had the chance to catch up with you all.  Thank you for having a read of my blog, I love having you all here, makes such a difference to my day.  Have a great day tomorrow - or a good night's rest depending on where you all are in the world.  Enjoy peace, happiness and much laughter.  Hopefully I will be speaking with you all very soon.  Lots of hugs, Dorothy, :-)xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

Apologies lovely Readers but my links do not seem to be working tonight so I have had to type in the links for you to check out.