Monda Rocks

Gosh, it is busy around the Hoola household these days. I have been toing and froing over work and home, in my haste to cross errands off the never ending To Do list I quite overlooked a most important addition. You see, I ought to have told you already, that my very sweet blog friend Miss Monda is a most talented surface designer, oh yes.
Indeed, she is has partaken in the Spoonflower Project Selvage contest and made it right on into the semi finals with her delightful design titled "Flippers and Kippers", so cute!





Anyways, if as I do, you think that this is quite the most adorable little boys fabric, then do pop along and leave Monda your VOTE, and do hurry as voting is closing on Thursday!

You can see more of her beautiful designs over on her BLOG (where she also features crafty tales of stitchery and most recently, her perfect handmade English wedding).

As if that were not enough spectacularity from one woman (multi talented you see), she also makes super sweet bits and bobs like this....



Which you can find in her lovely Etsy store HERE, pink puss cats with polka dot bows, oh my.

Oh, and some more Monda patterns to tickle your fancy...







Anyhoo, you must excuse me, so much to do, to do, to do...

Write about Magnificent Monda on my blog

A Hoola Fairy for Katy

Katy has received her wee pressie, so I am able to share it here.



I first made one of these fairies a couple of years ago for a swap, this one is complete with ginger hair and twinkling butterfly polka dotted skirt (I want one!), her little wand is fashioned from a tiny branch of elder, and her shoes are in felt with dinky buttons.





Hopefully she will bring lots of good crafty vibes to Katy. I love the colours on this one, her body and skirt are both favourite fabrics from Kaffe Fassett.

I must dash, a second woven cloth awaits, I am oh so busy stitching, will share more in this space soon <3

One I made earlier

Ok, these aren't recent creations, but since I not yet been able to take photos of my recent work, here are a couple I made earlier.

The first is my first ever commission, a friend asked me to make a Russian style doll for her daughters birthday, her daughter is called Honey (isn't that the cutest?) hence the name on the front of the doll. I ended up doing it free of charge, it was so nice to make this and I really feel that this particular doll shows a huge improvement with my embroidery skills. This one is also quite a lot bigger than others I have made, around 10 inches tall.





The little baby is attached to the inside of the tummy pocket, so she doesn't get lost.



The second is, to my shame, a ridiculously late Russian Doll swap. Monda was so so very patient, it actually took a year for me to get this to her, which is um, quite pathetic really. These are Monda's photos, thank you Monda for letting me pinch them to show here.





I do not have photos of the sweet little Russian Doll Monda sent to me, as it is in France, but I will share as soon as I am able to take a few pics next time we head over there.

A few Creations....

Remember I told you I was working on a very special dotee? Well! Finally, her royal highness is complete, and I refer to her as such, because seriously, of all the Dotee's I have made, this one was the most demanding!
It all started when I received a book about Bead Embroidery, I have been positively chomping at the bit to have a try, but have so many Dotee Doll swaps to do that I simply could not start messing about with other crafts, my swaps had to be fulfilled,. Then I hit upon the apparently genius idea of combining the two, a beaded dotee! As this Dotee was Goddess themed, it seemed rather appropiate to bead her head to toe, but alas, as per usual, I bit off rather more than I could chew, and this little darling has been many an hour in the making, about 3 weeks to be precise!







So there she is, in all her sparkling, beaded glory. In making her, I have learned about bead embroidery, this..
You require an enormous amount of patience, which I clearly do not possess, and a strong back! That you really ought not to try and bead such a tiny design with such tiny beads (the Goddess inspired spirals kind of got lost as a result), and that you should really not embark on such a project when you are thoroughly behind with swaps, it WILL take longer than you expect!
Seriously, had this doll not been destined for a swap partner, I would have given up long ago, I have a new found respect for anyone who beads, and beads a lot. I now look upon those gloriously beaded Goddess dolls I see on Flickr with renewed awe, it truly is a most pain staking art form, and this doll, is only 4" tall! As pleased as I am with the result, which is far from perfect, but pleasing all the same, I will not be repeating a beading project like this again, it was just too long winded for my wavering patience! I hope Joan in Italy, whom she will be flying to tomorrow, will like her!

Next on my list was an Easter Dotee, I am rather shamed to admit this, since Easter has long since passed, and this gives you an idea of quite how late I am with this swap, still, I got there in the end! An easter theme called for a Bunny, and a Bunny Dotee I did make!





My sproglets were so delighted with this one that I have been ordered to make two larger versions for them, another thing to add to my ever growing craft to do list! This one is going to Robin in the USA, a super talented Dotee maker herself. I always get nervous sending my Dotee's out to talented crafters, I worry they might not like it or notice some of my wobbly stitches! I appliqued the tummy and ears on this one, something I have never tried before (aside from attaching dotee faces), but am pleased as punch with how it turned out.
On the subject of applique, I really have no clue what I am doing and have been marvelling at the various reverse applique projects I have seen here and there, I would LOVE a good book on the subject, sooOooO, if you know of any fun and easy to follow books about applique, please advise, I am determined to improve in this area!

The weather has been a little rainy and dull, though pretty warm. So, when yesterday, the sun came out, we all trooped outside to enjoy the fine weather.



Simon got out his rods and perched himself by the lake, and I got out my sewing box and parked my ever growing pregnant ass in the sun for a spot of stitching.
My sproglets are always interested when I whip out an embroidery hoop, and so I have been encouraging their little fingers to have a go. The Hoozel has started many a project, and never completes them, but is really quite good with a needle and thread, Ambear seems to have more staying power, and both girls have cobbled together a little sewing box each, using old biscuit tins and the various supplies myself and my Grandmother have donated.
It is lovely to see them so interested and inspired. Yesterday I indulged myself a little and started some embroidery using designs from a beautiful Japanese Embroidery book I have been sitting on for a while, the children were clearly as enchanted by the book as I was, as they both parked up alongside me, sewing boxes at the ready, and we whiled away the afternoon stitching away, here are the results....





One of these, not sure which yet, will be used to decorate a simple shopper I am making for a swap (another which I am late on!), and I am not sure what I will do with the other.
Below is Ambear's work, The Hoozel's is absent owing to the fact that she, predictably, was distracted after 10 minutes and went fishing instead!





Ambear was up this morning at 6:30am to finish beading a Dotee Doll she had promised to make for her friend, how sweet! I found her, ready for school, cereal bowl and spoon in one hand, dotee doll and needle in the other, sadly I missed that photo opportunity before she whipped the Dotee off to it's new home, I am just not that quick off the mark first thing in the morning! I am so pleased she is enjoying sewing so much anyway, hopefully her completed works will inspire The Hoozel!

Fabrics have been arriving by the truckload, much to Simon's dismay! Every time another package arrives, he asks in obvious surprise "What exactly are you going to do with them all?!", I have been trying in vain, to explain the concept that one does not need a planned project to purchase much fabric, projects come after the fabric has arrived, non? At least, that is my excuse!

Here are a few of my faves.....









Ahhhh, sweet sweet fabric, now where to put it all?

Baby it's STILL Cold Outside!

I Finally finished the second winter dotee and sent both little ladie's off to their new homes today. It was particularly hard to part with these two, I especially love the second one I did.

I found a little scrap of blue and cream linen in my fabric stash and so this one is more wintery in colours than the last, and I gave her sleepy "I need to hibernate" eyes, which I LOVE.



I also wanted her to wear a scarf so I gave her a skinny neck and I really like this shape.





I hope they will be happy and loved in their new homes, now I am all fired up to make some more and I certainly have plenty of Dotee swaps to keep my crafting hands busy.

Ambear did this lovely drawing today, I wanted to share it with you. She really loves arty things and clearly has talent. I love how she did the hair on this little girl, I might embroider this image on to something, I think it is really pretty. Children's drawings are so refreshingly simple.



The sproglets are just dying to have their own pony, and with Spring looming and one very large field that needs to be grazed, we are certainly considering getting one now. I love riding and would love to teach my girls, but money is tight right now, so we have come up with a little family project to help raise some funds for a pony, all will be revealed soon!

Also, I was asked in the comments on my previous post what that quilt was behind my dotee... It is actually a wall quilt I bought in a charity auction last year, I paid a small fortune for this, far more than I planned, but I knew I just had to have it, it is so vibrant and beautiful and the colours make my heart sing. Sadly, I never found out who made it. I am still waiting to get it framed.
Here are some photos, you can see bigger and better versions in my Flickr.





Thank you to all of you for coming to read my blog, I love reading your lovely comments and get a real thrill when I see how many of you have taken the time to come and visit and say such nice things.
I am so glad I joined the world of blogging, it has led me to meet some wonderful, inspiring people, and I never cease to be amazed by the incredible kindness I am shown and the talent I find in your own blogs and photos, fankoOOo fankOoOO fankOoOOo!

Baby it's cold outside

Finally I have finished this little girl, she was supposed to be sent today, so I am a day late, and I still have another to finish tonight. And yeah, it really IS cold outside, brrrrrr.

This winter theme really threw me, I mean, it should have been easy, but I had no wintery fabrics, and really wasn't sure how else to interpret this season without frost and snow, anyways, I got there in the end, it certainly took me a while...






I will be back tomorrow with some blog and etsy love, I must go and finish the other winter dotee, bonsoir!

Dotee Mania

In my newbie enthusiasm I have signed up for a ridiculous amount of Dotee swaps on Swap-bot, as well as a couple of private swaps.
In recent weeks I have become more and more disillusioned with the whole swapping business, I have been flaked on an awful lot, or I have felt disappointed with the parcels I did receive.

I put SO much time and effort into my swaps, I spend around 4-5 hours on each dotee (at least 6 now I am beading them) and the other swaps I have joined that have required I go shopping for specific things have ended up being verrry expensive, because I REALLY want my partner to be pleased with what I send. So, it is very disheartening when you don't receive such nice packages in return.

Just as I was about to jack it all in and concentrate on private swaps only, I started receiving some WONDERFUL packages, that brought a smile back to my face.

First up, huge round of applause to Sena from Kentucky, this is her first ever dotee, for the Valentines swap, and it is just the cutest!



I was SO SO SO excited to receive this beauty, it was hard to pick out the details with my camera, but there are some really lovely embellishments, and Sena also sent me a couple of items from my profile wish list which was just super thoughtful, THANK YOU SENA!

The next little beauty to arrive was this...



This dotee is from the Winter swap, and was made by Zoe in the UK. She included a charming note about her creative process, explaining how she chose the colours and the embellishments, I can see so much thought went into this lil girl and I am truly delighted with her.

Theres more, oh boy is there more, I have really been spoiled this week.
Michelle in Vermont sent me this little baby for the Creativity January swap...



This was her first Dotee also, I think she did an amazing job, I especially love the fabric and colours on this dotee, it is so cheerful!

Lastly, I also joined a Maytroshka swap, I haven't yet made mine but today I received from my swap partner and I nearly squealed like a starving piggy when I saw it.



Aren't they divine? These are from Mary in the US, I just love the colours and the HAIR! I must try hair on my dotee's some day.

Thank you Thank you wonderful swappers for restoring my faith, I am so happy to have received such lovely gifts from you all!
I have SO many dotee's to make now that I am starting to feel a little overwhelmed. Also, I have become hyper self-critical, I just can't help it, I will get half way through making one and I just don't like it, so I start all over, I HAVE to stop that because it is just becoming ridiculous now, I have more abandoned Dotee's than completed Dotee's and that's not good!

I completed one tonight for the Winter swap, just in the nick of time too, there are only two days till the send deadline and I still have one more to make for this swap, eeek! It was too dark to take pics but I will post some tomorrow, I am really pleased with how it turned out in the end!

Until tomorrow my pretties, sleep tight <3