Dolls and Frakira's Gveaway

Couldn't quite decide what thread to use for the tatted cat, do the bigger ones (with size 10 thread) look like a tiger?

Paper dolls are another fun and addicitive thing to do besides ATCs, I almost couldn't stop myself making more of these skeletal dolls. They are going for a Halloween party in their sexy transluant outfits! And Yellow Petal (on the left) is going to Cindy Whiddon's in the USA.

The last 2nd leave ATC came in from Corlis, a painted one on black fabric. And an early R is for Ribbon Rose from Sharon Scothern in UK. Can't help noticing the black and white contrast of the 2 pieces when I put them together for photographing!


And a very lovely first dotee doll trade from Lisa Hunter (USA) - see her pretty wink and mischievous grin :)


Frakira in Czech Republic has an autumn giveaway earlier and I won it!!!

This is a small collection of Czechoslovakia stamps (above photo) I have all these years, and I love them. I initially thought Frakira is in Czechoslovakia, but not so. Here's a bit of history lesson

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czechoslovakia

1918–1920: Republic of Czechoslovakia
1920–1938: Czechoslovak Republic
1938–1939: Czecho-Slovak Republic
1945–1960: Czechoslovak Republic
1960–1990: Czechoslovak Socialist Republic
April 1990: Czechoslovak Federative Republic (Czech version) and Czecho-Slovak Federative Republic (Slovak version).
The country subsequently became the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic

In gist, Czechoslovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992 with the dissolution of Czechoslovakia on 31 Dec 1992. On 1 Jan 1993, Czechoslovakia peacefully split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Back to Frakira's giveaway that came. First and foremost is a big ball of Madame Tricote's Maxi thread - 100% mercerized cotton, 565 m, made in Turkey. Although it's a crochet thread around size 10 (Frakira mentioned she don't quite like the thread, but some czech tatters love it), I must say I adore the variegated autumn-looking colours. Although I don't tat much with size 10 previously, I find it a good size to use for tatting motifs on ATCs, especially the animal alphabet series I doing now.

A heart pendant, an Inox faux tortoiseshell shutte, a packet of faux perals in different sizes and shades. As I requested, Frakira also included a handful of Ceska Republika and Slovensko cancelled stamps (I have already placed them nicely in the stamp holder!!). And a most beautiful snowflake Frakira tatted with Jan Stawasz's design using a czech thread Snehurka. Well, Frakira, your tatting is beautiful :)

My First Dotee Dolls

Since I received my first dotee doll from Lisa Ahmad a few months back, I have wanted to sew one too. For those who are unfamiliar with dotee dolls, these are the creation of Dorothy Christian (Dot), and are named after her. Dotees are small handmade dolls that usually measure between 4 to 6 inches tall and have a loop on the top of the head for hanging. They also have a tail hanging from the bottom of the doll. The tail is usually made of beads. These dolls are embellished with beads, embroidery floss, buttons or anything else the artist chooses to use. People make and swap these dolls like ATCs.

Well, I finally took the plunge and here's my first hand-stitched dotee dolls to the theme "Pretty in Pink", embellished with tatted rose. One is going to Lisa Hunter in USA.

Snail mail has been slow this past week, expected a few things to come in, but they didn't. Anyway, here's another leaf received from Maria Davis - leave sketched out of tyvek, painted & heated, then stitched to fabric. And "B is for Bee" ATC from Carolyn Mathis.

This CD doll just came in from Barb Glasier.

Thank you, gals!

Lots of Activities! Dotee Doll, Scrapbooking, Embroidery and Orchestra

Received my first ever Dotee Doll from Lisa Ahmad. The doll is such a beauty - I love her figure and blue hair. Sweet smile too, oh, thank you, Lisa! Love the way you sign your doll too :)

Brought my 2 girls for a scrapbooking class again last Friday. Each of them did 1 page. This first one was done by Kristine.

And this 2nd one done by Joey.

Cos' I chanced upon this book, The Art of Embroidered Flowers by Gilda Baron, I'm so inspired to sew. So I have been sewing, lots of surface embriodery on fabric ATCs. And I'm love water-soluable crayons, feel like a real artist painting on the fabric (cos' I never can paint)!

How do they look against the photos in the book?

These are all I managed so far, pretty time-consuming, but really satisfying! Some of them are works in the process :)

To wrap this blog entry up, I attended this Irish Chamber Orchestra (ICO) last night at the Esplanade Concert Hall. This was their debut visit to Singapore. The ICO is critically acclaimed by Ireland's Sunday Tribune as "the best orchestra in the country (Ireland) by far". The ICO was joined by leading Irish accordionist, Dermot Dunne - first time I saw and heard music played from an accordion. The orchestra was made by of string instruments - volin, viola, cello and double bass. Not that I know much about classical music and all these instruments, but I sure enjoyed the night with the mix of celebrated classics and virtuoso pieces from Vivaldi, Mozart and Astor Piazzolla. Personally, I felt that "The Shanghai Set - A Medley of Irish tunes" topped them all!