EASTER BONNETS

 New outfits for the dolls for Easter and small eggs for their tree have kept me busy here are the bonnets I made for their Easter outfits.

Joan had given me a large piece of fuchsia silk so I had plenty of fabric to work with,  Rosie has a dress to match her bonnet.

For Poppy I made a bonnet that matched the blue trim of her birthday dress……

St Patrick's day

When suggested that Rosie and Poppy have new dresses for St Patrick's day, the idea would fit well in the Year Book theme but there was nothing suitable in my fabric stash. the next week Fiona came in with two green fabrics and the result was these two dresses.  Next up will be April and Easter and that stitching is well under way but now I must pick up my much neglected embroidery.

Happy St Patrick's day to all 

Back grounds

 I have been playing with backgrounds, having found an app that can remove the background from a photo I can then add my own to create the scene I want, there becomes a problem when I have too many ideas and can’t decide which one to use.

 Here is an example, please help me which one do you like best.......

 I also had fun creating this one I wanted to include in the latest photo book the story of Poppy looking for a leprechaun    the photo I used was one taken when the family were in Ireland last year and is in County Clare.  it had the perfect spot for the leprechaun  to stand.

St Patrick's day is not far away and the dolls will be back then to show off their new dresses... green ones of course

Happy Stitching

 Caitlin has asked me to make some fobs for her, here is the first one, I used a Margaret
 Sherry design, I love her designs and its always happy stitching when using them.

Valentine’s Day

Who do you think sent it ? 

Poppy and Rosie receive Valentine's day cards.

Rosie received a bunch of Red Roses  and Poppy was given a box of candy.

Happy Valentines day everyone.

Partridge in a pear tree ....part 1

 I have a small tree on the table beside my chair at present it has the Alice in Wonderland collection on it , I have a collection of fabric eggs to decorate the tree at Easter time to add a new collection I have decided to make small embroidered felt pears and display them with a partridge at the top of the tree. Aim is to stitch one a month , the first one is stitched but have yet to decide if to have a stem and a leaf at  the top, will make a couple before I decide. My felt pear has five sections.

 

JANUARY - POPPY'S BIRTHDAY

 Poppy arrived a year ago on January 21st, and I decided she should have a birthday party.

First up a new party dress was needed. Thanks to the lovely supplies of laces from Ann and Fiona I had everything needed to create the special dress and was thrilled when it turned out just as I had planned 

A birthday needs gifts and Rosie  had a special one for her.......a Teddy bear so they would not need to share Rosie's bear anymore.

The girls had pretty party hats tp wear....

and of course there was a birthday cake.

and a piñata to add to the fun.

This year my plan is to make another photo book, I want it to be a year book with a special photo story for each month so it will be a year long project. Sharing them on my blog will give me a chance to see how the photos look  together and if need be make changes before they go in the book. I hope you will enjoy these  with me.  Of course when I set up to take photos the other "Star" member of the family just has to join  in!!

I wanted a photo for the front piece for the" Year of the Rabbit"  Its still work in progress  I'm ready to take photos  this weekend of the February story then will need to get busy with needle and thread and create some more outfits. Yes there is lots of fun ahead this year.

HOLIDAY PHOTOS

 

Ronan and I taking in the view of Ocean Beach on the recent  travels 

It was a lovely time away and great to have time with my sister Joan

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A trip away for family time

 Jan has brought me across country to Hastings so I could visit my sister, Caitlin and Ronan have come along too and we are making it a four day trip with lots of meandering round the countryside,  one of the delightful sights and one I had never seen before was a whole paddock of sunflowers.

 

 

Family Time

  I spent Christmas Day  with Jan and family and then a few days later Barryn, Jackie and family arrived to stay and were here till after new year. New Year’s Eve we all gathered at Jan’s, very special to have all my family together at one time. My two children, ( their partners) four grandchildren and one great grandchild. These are my littlest ones Great grand son Ronan (in the red top )  is three and a half  Finn is six and half and Eve turned 5 on the 5th January, we did get a photo with the two older grandchildren Caitlin and Rachel ( both in their 20's)  but taken later and the light was poor and has not come out clear enough to share. \

 My computer is back up and running again thanks to Rachel. and so I can get a longer post done. 

I had two tree up  for Christmas and Jan 

and I packed the big one away this morning, getting a 7 foot tree was a great idea but I did not allow for the fact that it is too heavy for me to manage. Still it was worth is I really enjoyed the tree and all the memories the decorations brought.

The second tree was the little one that I have on the table by my chair all the time  It had small white birds as the main decoration for Christmas time  and now has the Alice and Wonderland collection on it. I plan to add more Characters to this set, but as always I have more plans of what I want to stitch then time to get everything planned done!!

My one a month challenge to myself this year is to stitch some felt pears so that in the future a theme for the little tree could be a Partridge in a pear tree. I have completed the first one but no photos yet. 12 pears would make a nice set if I can manage to do one a month for this year. 

I have another tree planned for the dolls, thought it would be fun to do an Easter egg tree, for when I decorate my little tree for Easter. Ordered a small tree and its expected arrival should have been the end of January but surprise it arrived last week.  And inspiration hit me and I  have started making items to do a valentine theme with the dolls and have a heart tree in the photos. Don't think their will be new dresses for this project as their Christmas dress look lovely with the things I have put together so far. 

Last photo from 2022 here are Rosie and Poppy with their Christmas stockings  the stockings have cross stitch designs on 40 count linen.

I hope you have had a good start to the new year and may 2023 bring many blessings.

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CHRISTMAS GREETINGS

  May the joy,  goodwill and blessings of Christmas be yours today  and in the coming year.

Day 9 & 10

 The challenge was Santa  Claus nothing relating to that in my photo file and no suitable props I had some fun with the photo collage app. Then for day 10 the subject was picnic,  I decided that rain had prevented a picnic and showed the dolls sitting and chatting on the back deck.

I hope to get both photos posted here, my computer I’d down, crashed and the iPad is a little limiting when it comes to adding photos.