All three-

I am off to Connecticut tomorrow for a family gathering. See you soon!

and a tiny bit of green.

*update* I added whiskers.

She is made from the softest cashmere sweater- you can’t help petting her.

I made her a pleated skirt. I’ve never made one before. It was fun and easy with the plaid- it has all those marker lines.

Not what you were thinking from the title, eh?

It is so much fun to work with interesting toile. It makes the whole project more interesting- figuring out how to use the fabric to get the best images on the most appropriate places on the body.

The section of the toile with the balloon image was longer than the usual torso I cut out for my men dolls. I redesigned the fellow with a longer torso and shorter legs. I love how he looks.

If you ever see some toile that you think I might be interested in, I’d love to hear about it. Most of the great fabric that I’ve had the pleasure of using has been gifts from friends. I also buy scraps off of Etsy and Ebay and always keep my eye out at the thrift stores. I need toile with a white or cream background with the images printed in blue, brown or black. Also, since I over-dye it all, it should be cotton or linen. I don’t need huge pieces- decorator squares are excellent. I have a ton of red and white toile (slipcovers from my mom’s sofa, found in the attic when we cleaned out her house) and would be happy to trade too.

Okay, enough showing off.

Swoon worthy hair-

*note- I am not listing any of these in my Etsy shop at this point. I will update my shop right after Renegade Chicago, so sometime soon after 9/12. If you are interested in one of these fellows though, just shoot me an email. I am always happy to sell a doll.

One of the great things about blogging and twitter is that it gives me a place to dump some of the ideas, thoughts, questions, conversations, etc… all that talking going on in my head. Actually, the reason I listen to audiobooks and podcasts is because they block all the chatter. They somehow tie up the verbal part of my brain and leave me able to concentrate on my work. Except when a podcast talks about something that gets me so excited that it makes all the chatter even louder! That happened with a recent Radiolab titled, Words.

I was enjoying the podcast, in spite of the annoying sound effects added all over the production. One section was about Shakespeare and words. A line was quoted from his poem, The Rape of Lucrece, where a letter writer describes words (ideas?) like “a press of people at a door”. I couldn’t believe it- that is exactly how I have, for years, described my visual image of the doll ideas I have in my head. And I can guarantee you that I never read that poem (or any, I am reluctant to admit) from Shakespeare. Of course, my “people” are closer to the literal meaning!

Anyway. Funny to think about. When I first decided to start this blog, I couldn’t think of a name. That could have been the end of it right there. My wise husband told me that any name would do- just try out the blogging thing and see how it goes.  He wrote Doll in the title spot. Six and a half years later, that is what it is. But, because it had been a stumbling block, I sometime think of other names I could have used. An early alternative idea was Straw into Gold- since I was using so much reclaimed materials in my work. If I’d waited for that idea, I would have started about 1 1/2 years later then I did! Another, Playing God, probably would have seriously limited my readership by offending loads of people. When I heard that Shakespeare line, I thought that it would be a great blog name… A Press of People at a Door. Pretty good really. Another idea, also inspired by some audio I listened to this week- Diary of a Former Child Underachiever. That one made me laugh. It is hard to believe at this point in my life that that was the word that pretty much defined me in childhood. Yes, I think I outgrew it.

Okay, enough of the yakkity- yak.

I made him a barbell from wool felt balls.

His back has a wonderful illustration too-

Three faces- (if you count the parrot)

The rainy days have meant I am behind on posting finished dolls. There will be a rush of them until I mail them out to Chicago.

September- I will be in Chicago from 9/9 to 9/14. I will be participating in the Renegade Craft Fair.

October- I will be at the Art Weekend at ArtStream in New Hampshire, 10/15- 10/17. I will be teaching “Fresh Fish“.

October 30- I will be doing a Tiny World pincushion class at my house in Arlington, MA.

December-Luv-able and Hug-able at the Gallery Hanahou.

Dec. 11 and 12, I will be in the South End for the SOWA Holiday Market.

I will add anything else that comes up, but this is what it looks like right now.

You can’t really see, but there is an antique button for his belt buckle with an anchor on it.

With his beret off-

and the back. I am liking the applied ears.

And about the owls. Could I have made a MORE ambiguous survey? Obviously I should have lined them up in the number order for the photo. Also, I should have mentioned which owls were #1 and #2. I mean I did on Flickr but not on my blog. Thank you husband Ben for pointing out that little problem. Anyway, I will be sending one off today (not tellin’) and will let you know when there is more info about the show. I appreciate all your input!