Esmerelda - or Esme to her friends!

Hello! I can now introduce to you my newest raggy doll, Esmerelda - a little witch who adores Hallowe'en and her little cat, BlackJack.

I always find that these raggy dolls never seem to turn out to plan, they seem to evolve so I never know what they're going to look like until they're finished but finished she is and I think she looks like a friendly little witch.

She is approximately 21 inches from the top of her hat to the tips of her toes. She's wearing black tights with orange stars and moons (wouldn't mind a real pair like that!) and her new skirt with matching top shows her favourite ghosts and bats! She has just completed Grade 3 in Witchcraft and proudly displays three gold stars on her hat.

She's been given a flat bottom (if only it was as simple in real life!) and has joints at her knees so she can sit happily on a shelf without falling about! Hope you like her x

'Witch' Craft this week?

Sorry about the title!!! Yep, I'm off on a tangent again - raggy dolls this time!

These legs were as far as I got with my Hallowe'en doll last year.

As she will be a good bit bigger than the others I will need to design a new pattern for her body and head and then the fun can begin! These are the fabrics I'll be using....

and I'll look for some buttons, trimmings, etc. tomorrow when I'm out.

I don't have a clue yet how my witchy raggy doll will turn out but I'll definitely enjoy bringing her to life. Back soon x

"Sisters! There were never such devoted sisters...."

Our wee craft group (and I mean wee - there's two of us!) recently started again and I was looking for something to take along. As I've been in a sewing mood recently, I brought out my unfinished raggy dolls to see what actually needed to be done to finish them. As usual with me, it was not a lot! So after some finishing touches may I introduce you, a little out of season, to 'Christmas Rosie'....

and her sister, 'Raggy Ruby' ...

There is still a pair of legs sticking out of my work-in-progress box wearing black cotton stockings festooned with orange stars - looks like that young lady will be a Hallowe'en witchlet! Although 'witch' Hallowe'en is anyone's guess x

Tiny doll and teddy..

After another night spent stitching away here's my little doll, she's 3" tall. I'm quite pleased with how she turned out but in all honesty I don't think I would attempt another one - think I'll stick to miniature teddies instead. The teddy in the picture was the first one I attempted and she was so much easier than the doll!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone!

Time to take stock...

OK - now that we've completed a number of projects I need to stand back and take stock of where to go next. On my workbench are a number of miniatures that I've still to finish, namely... numerous cross stitched cushions and rugs (the cross stitching isn't the problem but sewing up the cushions and backing the rugs is sooooo tedious!), a knitted dress that, when making it up, I managed to graft one shoulder seam so that it shows on the outside ..doh!.. so that needs unpicking (I hate unpicking!) and resewing, books (leftovers from Boxroom Books) to make up for another project, pull-a-long toy which needs wheels, beaded handbags kit - bought at a fair and not even opened yet!, and last, but by no means least, a kit to make a 3.25" rag doll - again bought with good intentions and not yet started. (The "skill will be required" bit on the packaging scares me...lol!)

I'm still sticking, well almost, to my resolution not to buy anymore bits and pieces for my hobby until we're a good way through what I have but I can feel myself drifting off course and looking at things I shouldn't be - like a dolls house shop on ebay that needs renovated..drool!

But enough, The Laurels is sitting forlornly by my side as I type having not had a thing done to it in months. I tend to put all those miniatures I acquire for The Laurels into one of the rooms (just to keep my craftroom tidy, you understand!) but my son says that it now looks like squatters have moved in....








so once I clear the aforementioned minis I will be back to introduce you properly to The Laurels!