Mother's Day in France......

It's Mother's Day in France today....so I made this little owl for my Mum.    We also celebrated Baby Girls 17th Birthday which is tomorrow.....big treat had both my girls with me..... eldest daughter home for two weeks....

It's also Sunday Sketches day.... 

Cherry Tree. . . and Mr Toast's theme this Tuesday is TREE. . .

Boogie Bedhead and Toggle climbed up the Cherry Tree...to get to the best Cherries..... oops, they're stuck... How on earth are they going to get down?......

Had lots of giggles with my before school care kids...suggestions such as... a sparrow goes and tells Mum...
A flock of sheep come along and stand underneath...Boogie and Toggle leap down onto them....
Old farmer spots them way off in the distance and tells the Firemen.....
Aliens......

 I love children's minds....they are on my wave length..... everything and anything is possible!!!!!

Pop over to Mr Toast's Creative Tuesday and see what tree'ts.... are on offer..... :)

Just blowing bubbles. . .

This is just a little sketch that I did for school...we plan to paint this on the school wall in the playground to brighten up the place.... have started with painting out Twister and Hop-Scotch...will post photos when finished...  I will probably just paint one girl on the wall...we'll see how well it turns out....

I'll be sharing this post with Sunday Sketches....pop over and see what everyone else has been upto...

Fleur Emile Picotie . . .

I met Fleur Emile Picotie recently in a little Bistro at the back of the Moulin Rouge in Paris...she told me that she had just popped out for a break... (hence the thick woolly cardi..).  I bought her a strong black coffee and shot of cognac..."medicinal purposes only, of course". ......As we chatted propped up at the bar, we discovered that she grew up not far from where I'm living now near Bordeaux. She grew up in a transport town...one of those towns between Paris and Spain, the ones where the town is very shabby and grey and spread out along the route for about half a mile... her father ran the local cafe and her mother cooked meals for the lorry drivers that stopped en route. "Eet voz a dreary life" she told me, slurring slightly.....  Apparently at the tender age of 17yrs she begged one of the lorry drivers to take her to Paris...he dropped her outside the Moulin Rouge, where she as been dancing the French Can Can ever since.......

I would like to share Fleur Emile Picotie with all the wonderful artists at Paint Party Friday....pop along and see what's going on.....

Art Dolls . . . and Sunday....

Bonjour everyone, just a quick note from me in France...I've been delving into the world of art dolls... I downloaded Art Dolls Quarterly and Prims last week and tahda here are my efforts.... As you can see I had... still haven't any idea how to go about making mixed media dolls...(in the past have made traditional cloth dolls for my girls)...

I've been mulling the idea over for months on how to make one of these dolls, in the end I just dived in... feet hands and head first....I used what I had... modelling clay for heads arms and legs....acrylic paints, bits of string and material and stuffing for the body and the hair is a wooping great flower I crocheted last summer and didn't know what to do with it... So of course I plonked it on her head....amazing never seen before hair...well it's working for me...

.... obviously as these dolls are taking shape a little story is unfolding.... which I will tell you when these Mademoiselles are properly dressed....    

I know it's late but do pop over to Sunday Sketches.....

 

Creative Tuesday's Purple. . .

I'm in a purple haze.... this didn't turn out quite like I wanted.  I wanted my lanterns to be purple too but as you can see....they are anything but...must have zoned out at the crucial moment... my little lady is however purple from head to toe.... and obviously keeping all her lanterns in the air...I'm sure with a little magic and concentration those lanterns will turn purple... Pop over to Mr Toast's and see what purple magic is going on over there.....

Iron Lady . . .

 I recently bought this old lady in a boot sale....She didn't come with a manual, so am working thing out for myself with a little help from the net.... Mr Hollywood fitted a new belt that makes the treadle work... I've given her a bit of a clean and oiled her. (Not sure what to clean her with...don't want to damage her)...I fiddled and faddled with her yesterday..... I got all emotional when I managed to get the bobbin to wind on... tears of happiness...yes daft I know.... It's quite difficult to get the hang of treadling in the right direction. I was sewing backwards and forwards on the same stitch.... ugg.... but now with practice I can make it sew in one direction with a little bip to do a back stitch...I've worked out how to make the stitches long or short... only problem now is the tension on the bobbin just can't get it right.... I've adjusted the screw on the shuttle... so if any of you have any tips....I would be really grateful....

I looked on the Singer site and from her serial number she was made in Scotland in 1912... she has probably spent all her life in a farm house in France.....the stories she could tell...the iron lady was obviously used and loved (she's a bit battered and worn in places) but then aren't we all the older we get.  She has been idle for a long time.... but now she is springing into action again... I have a project in mind for her... so she needs to sort that loose stitching out...pronto... Will reveal my new project in a few days...... for now I'm popping over to Sunday Sketches to see what everyone has been upto....

The Girls. . .

All of these girlies have gone overseas, Canada, England, Australia and Scotland... they have found good homes where, I'm sure they will be treasured...

Mr Hollywood's 40th party was a great success and everyone loved there named place setting... they all got to keep them.... thank you so much for all your kind comments.... Have a good week everyone....

Am popping over to Paint Party Friday.....