Making designer cushions home-ed style! 1

The last day of August is as rainy as ever .... So having spotted some expensive designer wildlife cushions on line we decide to make our own. Only better!

Using Flickr as inspiration each of us chose a different animal and despite the grey day, the window still worked as a light box ...

Mary has been in a meerkat phase for quite sometime now... Waxy coloured pencils are being used to trace the basic shapes. Topsy the cat can be seen clearly not helping ...

We are working on pieces of toile that have been washed and pressed, using acrylic paints. Most of us used them like watercolour but Matty has applied much of hers quite thickly ...

Mary doenst think she is good at painting! She is going to do the eyes in fabric pastel! That's the next step once these all dry.

I painted a familiar pet ...

Clean up time while the paint dries!

Bee-cause I wanted to!

I had a real urge to make some bees. I wanted them to be at least based on the

Anatomy of real honey-bees but based around a pair of cool black and yellow socks... 

Using the filled-width of the socks, I made a full sized drawing to help make the patterns. Those lovely knee socks bee-came the abdomen!

I chose a dense-quality fur from my stash. I can get 8 bee abdomens from a single pair of long socks. Amazingly I had exactly enough black fur to complete all of them! Some thing's are just meant to bee. 

A completed torso, with pipe cleaner legs, looks like a tic!

The 21mm solid black eyes are the right size, but needed the yellow border to keep the bee looking friendly!

Now the wings sent me digging in my bag of lace and mesh fabric. This mesh gave a good effect, but the wings were floppy. So I sewed all the mesh to pieces of acetate, and i had just enough sheets of acetate to complete all 8 insects!

but the acetate and mesh creation still bends, so i added three folds - problem solved! And the folds look like veins too!

Finally the wings are attached with buttons, so they can be moved a little too. The first bee admires my prize flowers ... 

The one where The Raggy Rat became Queen!!!

So there she stood, creatively dressed as a busy, creative Mum-of-four...

Why are you wearing that?, says Carl from Wessex FM. All that's missing is a chicken under my arm!

For evening dress I eventual decided against pyjamas. I bought a very simple swingy dress and took it in a little, to fit. Ever practical!

There was entertainment and the Pavilion was so beautifully done up. Like a wedding! 

Judges scribbled their choices without conferring. Excitement was building!

And I was happy to win Miss Charity! Esp since we get to support Julia's House!

This is me utterly shocked ... I actually won Miss Carnival Queen 2015!!! And even better I'm listening to some amazing cheers from a certain table!!

Didn't we do well? I'll see you at the carnival!

Thanks to Frances Underwood Photography for letting me share these pics with you XXX

A Turban too ....

This lovely lady asked me to make a turban for 'Murder at the Pantomime' so I did - in exchange for a donation to Julia's House ....