30 Comments
User's avatar
Helen Lawless Lee's avatar

Good morning Cathy,(I'm whispering these next words; respectful of your successful attempt 'not to grumble') on this very still, mild, beautiful day in Wales. I hope your health is vastly improved.

I would positively swoon at seeing your French pine pantry cupboard and its contents!

I agree totally about asymmetrical faces...character before perfection every time. I do hope the ladies will like their patchwork skirts...it looks so well on them as a blanket.

I....and I want to use a swear word here, as sometimes, for me, only a swear word will do! 😞....******* LOVE your collages. 'Hmmm' makes perfect sense.

Your collages and your tiny paintings of houses are my very favourites.

I read out your poem to my husband. What a perfect accompaniment to Sunday morning tea.

Thank you so much for sharing, Cathy.

Sending Cariad MAWR to you and your loved ones. x

Cathy Cullis's avatar

Thanks so much for your very encouraging and just so kind comment. Much appreciated x have a very good week ahead

claudine parmentier's avatar

Oh Cathy, I don’t think you’re complaining about anything at all. You’re part of our community of little people who are suffering from the heat and the drought, and when you add health problems on top of that :-( I admire how you manage to create so much beauty, despite it all. Thank you for that. You bring us deep joy and a connection to life. And you make me laugh when you catch yourself tidying away the patterns with the dolls. I sometimes catch myself doing the same thing too. Let’s hope that after autumn and the rain, the plumper birds will return. Have a lovely Sunday

Cathy Cullis's avatar

Thank you always Claudine, I am very grateful indeed and feel thankful to have such a lovely community of readers/ likeminded creative people x have a good week ahead x

Cathy's avatar

I love the time period that you have gotten so good at. The ladies, and houses, and birds and flowers you do~ The dolls, the blankets, etc. Hope it cools off soon and you can paint and relax again. Hope your health is good. Take care.

Cathy Cullis's avatar

Thank you Cathy! I am grateful to you for reading and enjoying the worlds I create - have a good week ahead x

Marilee Reyes's avatar

Yes, birds do spend a lot of time pecking at imaginary somethings. We have wild turkeys where I live and they do the same thing, but on a larger scale. What a mess they can make. Miss Hemstick would need to guard her toes.

Your French Pantry cupboard sounds fascinating. I would love to rummage through something like that to keep my works in progress. Alas, most of my things in progress reside in plastic totes under a big four poster bed.

I hope the weather will soon be treating you better. We have a few more weeks of hot and humid to stew through here in the Pacific Northwest before there's any sign of Fall on the horizon. Compiling your fascinating collage pages and creating new dolls sounds like the perfect things to do to keep one's mind off the heat.

Take care.

Cathy Cullis's avatar

Thank you Marilee, always for such a wonderful and thoughtful comment- I always enjoy reading about what is happening in other people’s lives and places - and hope things improve for everyone. Have a very good week ahead x

Jessica Leigh Allen's avatar

I adore the personalities exhibited by your dolls, Cathy. Although, is it right for me to call them 'your' dolls, as they appear very much to be their own ladies? They belong to themselves. ♡

Cathy Cullis's avatar

Thank you Jessica, yes understand how the dolls so quickly take on a personality and as a dollmaker it’s my job to listen as well as stitch. Have a very good week ahead and thanks always for reading x

Nancy Haresbreath's avatar

Oh to be present at the pantry rummage! I like to put my projects away and come back to them, they always seem to have got a bit nicer ☺️✨ I am always happier with them after a little time apart! I absolutely love the dolls, something I am aiming to make, perhaps before the year is out? I covet those little group drawings! Here's hoping for cooler days and rain x

Cathy Cullis's avatar

Many thanks Nancy! The cupboard has been one of the best pieces of furniture I’ve bought and I don’t think I would be able to find another one like it very easily and for the price I paid. Thank you for your kindness and have a good week ahead x

Alexandra Macgregor's avatar

So lovely to see some new dolls… love their faces. I just sold one I made years ago.. Miss Merry.. I will miss her..

Cathy Cullis's avatar

Always bittersweet, perhaps, to say farewell to a doll but always good to think of her in a fine new home!

Alexandra Macgregor's avatar

A young women brought it and thought she was wonderful so she is off to a good home.

Delia Lloyd's avatar

I love their skinny little legs!

Cathy Cullis's avatar

Thank you! They are pleased to know

Looking & Learning, Jen Peters's avatar

Hello Cathy from Erie, PA. It's a thick, cloudy morning near the lake with songbird music. I marvel at your work and thank you for sharing your journey. I appreciate your switch to stitching in hot weather. Be well:)

Cathy Cullis's avatar

Thank you Jen, I appreciate your kind comment and am looking forward to sharing more of my stitching. Have a good week x

Jeni Hankins's avatar

So excited to see which clothes your dolls choose! And thank you for your poems, collages, and drawings always. I love that past Cathy left a helpful pattern for future Cathy.

Cathy Cullis's avatar

Thank you Jeni! The dolls already have opinions about their attire and I am just going to have to listen - but you know all about listening to our doll friends:) have a very good week ahead x

Sheila (of Ephemera)'s avatar

Wonderful faces on the dolls. I love the poem.💕

Cathy Cullis's avatar

Thank you Sheila, thanks always for reading and have a good week ahead x

Natasha Newton's avatar

What lovely dolls! It made me chuckle to read what you've written about them. :) Cooler weather is on the way at last! I will be mightily relieved, I can't take much more heat. I hope you're keeping well. xx

Cathy Cullis's avatar

Thanks always Natasha! I am pleased to know you enjoyed seeing and reading about the dolls. So looking forward to a great autumn, keeping positive about that happening x have a very good week ahead xx

Nora Thompson's avatar

Sunday morning - thank you for your words today Cathy, love your dolls, your collage books - I personally feel that they all belong together in a book! And, your thoughts on black and white brought me back to last week when I reorganized my fabric cupboard and realized I had collected quite a stash of black and white material. I've been mulling over what to do with it so am going to create a book first to see where my creative path takes me. Hopefully you will see cooler temps soon!

Cathy Cullis's avatar

Thank you Nora, I am pleased to know reading about my process might just help you consider your own project - and a book is always a good idea. Have a very good week ahead x

Colee Wilkinson's avatar

Oh, I love your dolls and am glad you brought them out to show us! To me, they look as though they are nestled under a lovely quilt together. If the skirts don't suit them, then perhaps the patchwork can become a doll's house quilt. Looking forward to seeing what you do with these treasures.

Cathy Cullis's avatar

Thank you Colee! Will certainly make use of the patchwork as it would work in so many ways. I like the idea of a very tiny quilt. Have a good week ahead and thanks always x

Tanya Rogers's avatar

I very much relate to having ‘Works in long term progress’! I am often surprised at what I forgot I started! I think your ladies will suit patchwork skirts very well 💕