Doll

It has been a long while and I’m back in the mood for tikis. I think I made the last one in January 2008.

I am thinking that I will make the tiki pattern this summer. I’ve tried 3 different faces- I will have to decide which one I like best.

It is fun to be working on wool applique after making all the little fox clothes. Mixing it up keeps it all fun for me.

A view from the top-

And the garden is reaching explosion level! I love poppies-

and the allium-

Both the poppies and the allium have self-seeded into all kinds of wonderful places around the garden. And this is just the beginning of the season!

It is looking like Spring, although we might be getting more snow on Friday- April 1, you know.

I’m very pleased with the mustache on this fellow.

If you are interested in joining the Tiny World class on April 30, please email me at mimik@pobox.com.

Ben and I took a mini tropical vacation on Sunday. We drove down to Connecticut and visited Logees and breathed in some warm, humid air. It was wonderful.

an idea, a pattern tweak, becomes something new.

I don’t know if you can tell from the above photo, but I tried out several head shapes before getting to the one that worked in my eyes.

Just like the kitty except that I changed the ears, and the tail, and the nose. Oh yes, and the arms.

I sewed up the boy fox first (although I didn’t know it was a boy at that point). He is made of a woven orange wool. He is smaller because the fabric has less stretch then the knit that the girl was cut from.

I found that I imagine foxes as boys more than girls. It was easier to come up with clothing ideas for a boy fox.

And you really need to see the profile to get the full fox look. Photographing him straight on took a lot of the foxiness away.

As always, getting the point across in the simplest way is the challenge.

I got distracted by this pretty shadow when I was out taking photos this morning.

My sister-in-law and brother-in-law visited on Friday. They had a beautiful weekend to be in New England for a whirlwind visit.

Walk photos-

And on Saturday was the Tiny World class. It was wonderful. There were 6 plus me, sitting around my table.

As always, it was so much fun to see the different directions that people go in. Here are photos from the end of the class- no one finished, but they were close.

If I get better photos, I’ll post them.

wow- I just realized that I will have gone a month without posting a new doll. What a crazy month! It is not that I haven’t been working.

Sage (my intern) and I have been working on a big pile of girls. We’ve got ten going. When I get home from Paris, these are going to get finished up. I also was working on a project that is one of those fun things that I can’t tell you about quite yet… actually, just having a project that I can’t mention is a thrill in itself! And, of course, there has been all my Paris prep. I am making myself a few new skirts and shirts. Hopefully I will actually finish them before we leave tomorrow.

If you are interested, here is the google map I am making with all the interesting suggestions people have made. I sure I won’t get to everything, but I have a lot to choose from.

And the garden is thriving. I’ve got my tomatoes in, using my containers, but this year I tried lining them with corrugated cardboard before stretching the t-shirts. So far, so good.

I am growing Carbons, Pink Brandywine, Copia, Bonny Best, Opalka, and Isis Candy.

Well, see you in Paris!

That week flew by. And now a new one begins. Happy Mothers Day!

My tree peony bloomed- always a treat.

We’ve had some crazy weather in the few days since I took the photos- wild thunderstorm, torrential rain and now some very windy weather. The plant is looking a bit tussled today. The flowers rarely last more then a week so I appreciate them while I can.

On Friday night I went to the MassArt Senior Fashion Show: Current 2010.  I was offered complimentary tickets (not sure how I got on that list!)- it is not something I would ordinarily think of going to. Well, it was so much fun! I have never been to anything like it- there was the runway, the models, the collections. I tried to find photos but there wasn’t much. I did find this one of my favorite dress of the evening. I hope I can go next year- it was a blast!

Saturday, doll club. We did needle felting. I will not be changing over to needle felting any time soon. Sorry about no pics- the photos I took were too awful to post.

And today. Working on- gladiator sandals.

Maybe too much fiddly work. Piled on the table are men in progress, paper pattern pieces, fabric marking tools, trims…

And the desk, looking cleaner then usual.

This coming week will focus on finishing those guys and then I’m off to Minneapolis on Thursday for J’s graduation. Life seems to have suddenly shifted to high speed.

walking around town- it’s Spring!

I wasn’t the only one taking photos.

I love these antique slate gravestones. There are some very interesting geometric and repeating patterns around the words, willows and urns.

On Wednesday, I went on an Arlington “craft crawl” with 3 friends. The first stop was Balich’s 5 &10. That store never ceases to amaze me- all the crazy old stuff they have there. I bought some snaps that were originally priced at 35 cents. That had been blacked out and repriced to .65, in pencil this time. All ready to raise again in another 10 years or so. They also have some of the funniest clothing ever and it is no wonder it never sold back in the 70′s or whenever it was new stock- like the chartreuse and white plaid bellbottoms size 10 girls. I was thrilled to find the peach Rit dye that has been discontinued- 4 boxes! Yes, I snagged them all. Here are some photos from Kerry, since I forgot to take any pics at all. We also went to Playtime and ArtBeat. Never made it to the Fabric Corner so we’ll save that for next time.

I am trying to be on a stats diet- I think once a week is a good idea. No blog or Etsy stats, no google alerts. I’ve been totally addicted and it is not good for me- since I can’t really do much to determine what direction they are going on any given day.

Peter is coming home for the summer next week. That means that I should take advantage of the open floor space that is available for just a few more days. I’m thinking I’ll cut out some clothing and possibly move the quilt to the next stage. Life seems to have switched gears around here and all of a sudden my calendar is filling up and there are travel plans in the offing. Busy!

It’s been a weird week. When I finish some pieces that I really like, as with the forest girls, it can be very difficult to get on track again. I started a number of new girl dolls this week. They are in a pile on my desk. They have had faces on, faces off. Then on again. And off again! Legs on. Legs off. New legs. Legs reattached. Clothes made and rejected. Hair on. Now I am sure it needs to be redone. A very frustrating week. Jodie is very eloquent about it here.

The weather has turned beautiful though after all the rain. I found this on the road while taking a walk-

A little bird skull.

And at the park, all the turtles were out catching rays. It seems so early but really, what do I know about that.

Yesterday, Ben and I went to the Western Ave Studios in Lowell. We visited Liz-

Liz-

and Linda, who I forgot to take a photo of- sorry! It was a beautiful day to get out of the house and studio and go for a ride.

I did finish one doll this week. Well, I haven’t looked at her today but last night I thought she was finished. Hopefully I will get some photos later.

Happy Easter!

You may or may not have heard, but we’ve been getting a lot of rain here. Record amounts. Luckily for us, the roof is sound and the basement is dry. The backyard has another pool but that will be gone in a few days. I wonder how the flowers that have already come up will fare?

Yesterday, when the rain was really coming down,  I went to see how a local stream was looking. Pretty full-

Today we had a little excitement around a downed wire- it involved sparks, smoke, fire… The firemen showed up and kept an eye on things until the electric company arrived to deal with it.  We chatted. It came up that I am an artist. I showed them what I do and told them I needed a photo for my blog.

Thanks guys!