cartoon fabric

ots of drawings of children with their pets is the idea for this week's spoonflower fabric of the week attempt! The theme was cartoons and over on their blog there are some great textile designs on view...

christmas in the Highlands

appy Holidays! A blissful week spent in snowbound Scotland, picture postcard scenes at every corner....Nairn beach covered in snow, cairngorms and frozen loch, christmas morning walk with the family on the beach, black isles in the distance....I want to go back!

Spoonflower

inally finished the dress pattern for the Spoonflower fabric of the week....have to admit that I am a bit obsessed with competitions and fabric printing...and this one was a challenge. The design is for a 4 year old girl's pinafore style dress with 6 patch pockets all around the bottom of the skirt...have to make it up out of calico yet so that I can see whether my measurements are correct!

mums

reat news that my mother in law is getting better. Maureen made this beautiful wreath for us last year and despite being a bit crumpled is definitely the most glamorous down our road! My mum knitted me this fab Mary, but poor thing needs Joseph now......and a donkey?

its snowing

annot believe it...it's snowing! The bookies will be going mad betting on a white Christmas! Unfortunately my garden is no Versailles so could not post a decent shot of the sprinkling of white flakes...some (more) angels instead! The lovely watercolour of the robin is what Finlay painted when he was only 7 and as yet is reluctant to repeat this masterpiece...polar bears, reindeers, and owls are begrudgingly painted every December but this is still my favorite!

angels and france

hese angels are already in transit.....the chocolate in the advent calendar is being consumed....my sewing room resembles war torn Beirut.....dinner tonight is crackers and cheese......and we are all looking pasty and drawn......roll on Christmas!
The delightful christmas illustrations are from a real gem of a comic picked up at that street market in France!

christmas angels

en and the art of paining dolls! Nick made the spag bol last night while I painted at the kitchen table with a glass of red wine (which I then knocked over all over the dolls, and the hoover which I had not managed to put away and was using as a foot rest!!!) It was bliss though....they will hopefully become angels today to fly off to loved ones tomorrow xxxxx

the maid

nusually hard work to finish these dolls....it's pouring with rain again outside, and these dolls just look so miserable!

advent

uletide greetings! Is it too soon to be panicking about the forthcoming event? Christmas talk is hotting up here in the Hanson Household...

great art

onderful paintings from my very talented sister in law Tracy who has recently moved out to far away Brunei with Richard my 'Top Gun' brother and the completely scrumptious Rafey! Tracy is so brilliant at meticulous beautiful work as you can see in the mermaid painting.....the loose chinese brushstrokes are rather fabulous too......

heavenly images

ome more textile art!

fashion drawing

o be fair I ought to dedicate this whole blog to my wonderful Francesca who manages so effortlessly to produce wonder with the sewing machine and a couple of spools of thread. while I struggle on in a vain attempt to produce anything that I might not be embarrassed to show a close friend!!
Here are some pics from 2 projects hat she has recently completed on her fashion and textiles foundation course.....

pumpkin

nbelievably beautiful and very large pumpkin that Nicky - my all on her own on the allotment partner brought round for me last night. I had a mixture of guilt for not having been down to the mudbound oasis we call our allotment for weeks and a feeling of wonder that something so lovely had grown when we were not looking!

erfection is not an ambition! Have finished 2 of the dolls but they are not quite what I wanted them to be....the faces came out so stern and middle aged looking! but there you go, the fun thing about making is not knowing how they will turn out!

papier mache dolls

olls waiting to be made into pretty girls! These poor armless bodies have been hiding in a box for about 3 years waiting to be made up....

toy museum

Another trip to the fabulous toy museum in Bethnal Green for inspiration....love all the strange and miserable faces on these dolls. Love also the beautiful little felt flowers on the little girl's dress.The sindy dolls are the ones that I had!!