Wednesday 31 December 2008

Another Year

After the weeks of work and preparation Christmas seemed to come and go in a flash as usual. A wonderful time was had by all made interesting by my newly repaired oven exploding in the middle of cooking Christmas dinner. Fortunately the turkey was cooked so we plied everyone with more wine while we pan fried the potatoes and parsnips. No one seemed to mind. On Saturday Stewart and I abandoned the boys to a house full of cold leftovers, and while they had parties in our absence we drove to Scotland to visit his parents.

On Sunday we had a lovely day out at Glamis castle which was beautifully decorated for Christmas... unfortunately no photos allowed inside so here's one of the imposing exterior.

And on Saturday we had a drive around the beautiful coastal towns of the East Neuk of Fife in glorious sunshine but bitter cold - stopping briefly for the obligatory photo - Stewart with his Mum and Dad.

Before Christmas I showed a few sneaky peeks of things I'd been working on and now I can show the finished items. First of all the Klimt book for Jude...

Like I said it involved eating a lot of chocolate to get all those foils... especially as I made two (the first one didn't quite fit!)



And in return Jude made me this beautiful Klimt book too...

Exquisitely stitched of course.


Even inside, the attention to detail was beautiful. Thank you Jude... I love it!

The second sneaky peek was this doll... Angela had commissioned me to make a doll of her husband Neil. I've never had to model a doll on a real person before so it was quite a challenge, but one that I really enjoyed.

And this is the end result...




But what is really exciting is that you can read what Angela and Neil thought about the doll themselves because Angela has got a blog at last! I've been nagging her for a long time so please go and visit, leave her lots of comments and encourage her to keep blogging because she produces beautiful work that needs to be shared.

I've now got a house to clean, food to restock and work to finish for mid January so I might be gone a while. Meanwhile I would like to wish you all...

A Very Happy New Year!

34 comments:

  1. So glad you had a great Christmas, despite the oven!
    That doll you have made Gina is incredible, you are a truly talented artist.
    Wishing you a very happy new year.

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  2. Gina I can't believe the luck (I know it's bad for you) you have had with your oven, mine just keeps on going!
    The book you made is lovely, will you be running a class on it? Jude's book is equally as lovely. Was it a real struggle eating all those chocolates ? :-)
    The doll is fantastic Neil is so pleased with it, well done it is an excellent creation.
    Thankyou for all your kind comments.
    Happy New Year.

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  3. fantastic doll Gina - how do you fit it all in??

    how is Opus going? my module with the essay was really really horrible!!! hope your stuff is going better

    Happy New Year!

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  5. Happy New Year Gina.
    Your doll is amazing!
    It must have taken you ages.
    Your embroidered books are works of art.

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  6. The klimt books are just stunning.

    Happy new year to all at your place!

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  7. Golly Gina - is the oven fixed again now, or are you back to cooking only 'on top'?

    I love your makes - the Klimt book is just gorgeous. As for the doll - how? Just how?!

    I hope you and yours have a wonderful New Year. (I've just been to Waitrose to try to restock, but there is a car broken down in the middle of the car park - havoc! I decided to leave it until later!

    Take care :-) x

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  8. HAPPY NEW YEAR, GINA!
    I don't envy you being in Scotland- Newcastle is quite cold enough, I dread to think how many layers you must need up there! The Klimt book is absolutely beautiful- you really are the queen of textiles :)

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  9. Gina-ius! The 'husband' is just amazing.
    I love your Klimt book..its stunning in its simplicity, but still evokes Klimtness.
    Happy New Year to you and yours.
    x

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  10. Ooooh Gina! You lucky devil going to scotland. I grew up there and keep trying to plan a trip ... every year it's on my 'must do' list ... and those books are AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!! Really really amazing... and the doll is just superb!! Here's to 2009, and hope you have a good one!! xx

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  11. Oh,those Klimt books are perfect. I want one too!

    What a disappointment about the oven, at least you seemed to cope without too much ado, well done.

    And happy New Year to you and yours.

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  12. The doll is amazing Gina! have a wonderful 2009 with no more exploding ovens1

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  13. Happy New Year Gina. It has been such a pleasure sharing all your wonderful art in 2008 that I am really looking forward to seeing your 2009 creations.

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  14. Wow Gina! Those Klimt books and the doll are just incredible!!!! I love the fact that you had to eat lots of chocolates "just" for the wrappers!!!

    Happy New Year! Lucy xxxx

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  15. Happy New Year. Good luck with the Jersey exhibition and workshops.

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  16. Your oven exploding mid-holiday lunch trumps my potentially exploding car - from the other side of the world and the New Year festivities Happy 2009 to you all.

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  17. That bloomin oven! What amazing work you've been doing.

    A very Happy New Year to you.

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  18. Lovely family photo, beautiful books and that amazing portrait doll - what an achievement. I love Klimt designs, especially spirals. Hope you soon get your oven sorted. Happy New Year, Heather.

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  19. Wow you are an amazing woman - your 'doll' is incredible!

    so sorry to hear about your oven - i reckon its been jinxed!

    Happy new year to you and yours - hope to see you in 2009

    xxxxxxxxxxxx

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  20. The cooker incident sounds dramatic! But knowing you, I'm sure you coped and served up a splendid feast.

    All the very best for 2009!

    Celia
    x

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  21. His face is amazing...great job.
    Terisa

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  22. I agree - I do have an amazing face..........

    I am quite flattered by the tummy too.

    I have given Angela a photo to post on her blog to show the real me!

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  23. Y'know - you amaze me woman!! The Klimt book is absolutely gorgeous and the doll you made for Angela's husband is fantastic!!

    Well done on rising to the 'no oven' challenge on Christmas day. My microwave died...and I was thrilled 'cos I rarely use it and had wanted to get rid of it for ages but M-I-L gave it to me so I couldn't...now I can!!

    I hope you had a great time in beautiful Scotland.

    Happy New Year!

    xxxx

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  24. I hope you weren't near the oven when it exploded! Glad it didn't spoil your Christmas.

    Your "Neil" doll is fantastic! Why am I not surprised? And the Klimt piece is gorgeous too.

    Happy New Year to you and Stewart. I hope it's healthy and happy and doesn't include exploding ovens. Hope to see you on the 24th.

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  25. Hi Gina. thanks so much for the lovely comment and your doll is fantastic, clever you!

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  26. Oh I am drooling over those book covers. Just my thing! Lovely!!!

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  27. Love the doll of Angela's husband Gina, its brilliant! Was equally impressed with what I thought was your in-laws' house - then realised you were visiting a castle! I've posted this morning, and now its time for homework. Honest.

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  28. Happy New Year!

    I just accidently tumled over your blog...happy me ;)

    Must say, I love your work! Myself I'm working mostly with felting, but do some sewing and embroidery as well ;)

    Greetings from Norway!

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  29. Happy New Year!

    I just accidently tumled over your blog...happy me ;)

    Must say, I love your work! Myself I'm working mostly with felting, but do some sewing and embroidery as well ;)

    Greetings from Norway!

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  30. Gosh, look at all the lovely creations! Quite amazing.

    I can hardly believe your oven exploded - what terribly bad luck. Still, fried potatoes *are* yummy ...

    Happy New Year!

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  31. ooh I love Mr Nellybigbelly! I just popped over to Angela's blog and I noticed that it really does look like her hubby - a brilliant job you did there Gina! Sounds like Christmas day and exploding ovens were good fun - at least it sounded like you coped very well in the circumstances.

    Monda
    x

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  32. Oh wow!! That doll is just amazing! The books are beautiful too (such a shame you had to eat all that chocolate ....) but your friend's hubby takes the biscuit .... well, his doll does ....

    I can see a whole new business venture opening up for you when we all want dolls of our other half's made .... not for sticking pins in - honest ....

    ;)

    ps. Happy New(ish) Year!

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  33. Sounds like you had a great Christmas Gina. Love the photo of Stewart with his mum and dad.

    And the doll you made for your friend is fabulous!

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  34. P.S I think eating chocolate in the name of art is a wonderful idea!

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