My nephew is due any minute but if not tonight, then he'll definately be here by lunchtime tomorrow, hurrah!
This Golly is for Ethan when he arrives, along with a box of goodies I've been making. Right now though I have an apple pudding in the oven that I have to attend to as I've never made an apple pudding before. It's certainly the weather for puddings though - and I can be a baking Aunty!!
Oh, and I got the job!! YEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAA!!!!!
It's cold! Two years ago I ended up in hospital with influenza developing into pneumonia, which was really not much fun at all. Last winter, I had the flu vaccination and luckily managed not to pick up any nasty bugs. This winter I've made up for last year! I should have had the flu shot again this year, although it doesn't cover all strains, as I ended up back in hospital with bronchitis, which then became a head cold and then an ear infection...it hasn't helped living in an old house with no heating, high ceilings, bare boards and lots of renovation cracks (not that I'm complaining! At least I don't have kids yet). Next winter I am hoping to travel to the Bahamas or somewhere much warmer - and it's not even that cold in Perth compared to other parts of the world!! ANYWAY, I didn't plan to share my ills with the world but I did want to explain my momentary absence from updating this blog. One good thing about being at home sick is that it gave me lots of time to dream up some crafty endeavours...
I LOVE gollywogs! I have a small collection that I've gathered over the years - they're all safely packed away though as I'm not really sure where to put them (it does look slightly obsessive when they're all grouped together). One day they will all come out to play and find a possie somewhere... This Golly was an experiment to test out a pattern before I made one for my niece. As teddies and gollies are good friends and I made Amelie a teddy, she had to have a golly too! I've just started drawing up my own patterns recently and I wanted to experiment with the Golly's head shape and the faux fur hair in particular. The fur hair actually turned out better than I thought - after a bit of a hair cut for Golly as the fur was much longer. If you're in Perth and you're after fur, The Teddy Tree has a wonderful selection of acrylics and mohairs and all the materials you need for bear - and Golly! - making and a good selection of quilting materials too. And they're lovely people! Golly's body is made from heavy-weight black cotton, his jacket and waistcoat are felt and his dotty pants are made of vintage polka dot fabric, an eBay find. I wouldn't recommend making a golly from heavy black fabric - black felt works better.
Gollywog, Golliwog, Golliwogg, Golly? Poor Golly has had some bad press in the past. His history, from Florence Upton to Robertson's jam and Enid Blyton, is interesting. I love him as a character from childhood and his happy face never fails to make me smile.
"As the Golliwogg has always seemed to me to be telling me his own biography, so in the same way he must have told me his own name….I picked him up from the table in my studio, and without intention of naming him, without the idea of a name passing through my mind, I called him 'Golliwogg'." - Florence Kate Upton (1873 - 1922)
Perth, Western Australia |