Heartfelt flowers

Inspired by things I have seen on Pinterest I've been having fun with felt; I made the heart as a Christmas gift for a friend, the same one as appreciated the crazy patch heart I made in 2008. That link shows a photo taken before it was finished off, but you will get the idea. The large flower shapes on this year's heart were cut using the Cuttlebug and a Sissix die, the smaller ones by hand after I tried without success to punch them with an ordinary paper punch. The leaves were made by cutting a Cuttlebug flower into sections. The beauty of working with felt is that the flowers can be attached with simple large stitches, and there is no need to worry about fraying edges. I used scraps of floss that hadn't made it into my filing system for one reason or another, but enjoyed the wild and tangled lifestyle of the plastic container of odds and sods on my cluttered work table. A little subtle bling of pearls and bronze beads, a few flower sequins and a black ribbon with a picot edge softened the bright colours, and I was happy with it.

Another Dotee...

This time staying closer to the original concept.

Here she is...

My first attempt at a Dottee Doll, except that as usual, I can't stick to the instructions and she is a different shape and has a different face altogether from Dot's original design! I want to make Winter dolls, so I cut out three bodies, each slightly different in shape, from a piece of very soft white needlecord that had once been a shirt. I ironed a piece of bond-a-web to the back of the face area and marked the face oval and cut it out. I made three faces yesterday, two on Vilene and one on a scrap of cotton. This is Vilene, and the features are drawn with coloured pencil and permanent pen. The pencil colour has disappeared into the fabric overnight, so I think I shall have to add a little more colour with a fabric pen. I had intended to put some red fabric behind the Vilene to give it a more fleshy tint, but only remembered after I had stuffed and sewn up her bottom, so she is very much an Ice Maiden. Her head has been decorated in the prescribed manner with beads, sequins and embroidery, and the embroidery continues around her body to add a little interest. I found it an enjoyable little project that only took a couple of hours while catching up on my downloaded podcasts from the Beeb. If you would like to have a go, there are instruction videos galore on Youtube to help you.