Yearly Archives: 2005

Meet up!

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Yesterday I got together with Abby from While She Naps. This is a first for me- meeting someone in person, who I’ve connected with through blogging. It was great! She brought me this wonderful little owl-

owl

and she went through my piles of too much fabric and went home with 2 bags… I am hoping she will come back soon and take more! I got to see her sweet new little doll– I loved the patchwork technique and excellent color choices.

We talked about blogging, what it has added to our lives, which ones we read, the people we have connected with and why. Things we’ve learned, what you can or can’t say in emails or online. It is so great to have a person I can visualize, connected to a blog I read.

distracted again!

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faces

I’ve gone off on another tangent… Santa did it. I’ve got a bunch of these dolls in my head that just have to be made, so the animals will have to wait, I’m afraid.

This second Santa has a different kind of fur for his hair and beard-

santa 2

santa 2 face

and this mermaid; she isn’t made from wool. She is made from linen napkins that I got last year at the Antique and Collectible Show. I got them at the end when they said to fill up a bag for $1. Her hair is linen too.

mermaid2 face

mermaid2

lastly is this little winter girl. She started looking a bit too close to Rosa’s dolls… the circle face.

winter girl

These dolls are circling my thinking back to some of my first dolls. Faces and materials of these dolls-here and here. The hair on this lady.

Fenella Scarlett

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fenella scarlett

I have a new friend in my house. Her name is Fenella Scarlett and she comes from Jane at Yarnstorm. She arrived yesterday and I think she was a bit taken aback when she saw the weather-

snow

Snow in October? Where had she landed? Luckily she was prepared- she had on her beautiful and cozy scarf. Yikes, we both wanted to climb into the box and ship ourselves back to England! Today was better-

fall

The weather was beautiful, all the snow has melted and we were able to go to the annual block party… the leaves are suppose to be in full color, but this has been an extremely odd foliage/weather season.

mermaid

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The feet on Santa made me think of a fish tail, which got me thinking mermaid thoughts…

I didn’t have any pinky tone wool, so I dyed some. 3 different woolen fabrics- a knit, a thin twill and a soft, loose woven fabric. One of the things I like about dyeing is the different shades of color I get.

pink wool

Here she is, cut out, with another Santa face and my mostly finished teddy bear…

parts

and here she is!

mermaid

She is all wool fabric and stuffed with wool. Her hair was a challenge until I remembered this yarn.
I bought it August 2004- I knew I would need it! See Rosa’s
comment? I never forgot it!

closeup

swimming

Auctions, goodies and progress notes

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Skinner Auction House is having a doll auction on Nov. 3. I hope I can get out to the preview. There are some things I’d love to see in person- deco ladies, pin cushion doll, Door of Hope child, Dewees Cochran doll, and some great automaton toys.

Did you get your copy of Jess Hutch’s knitting pattern book? I can’t wait to get mine! I really admire anyone who can put patterns onto paper for another person to use- I have tried and find it incredibly difficult.

more heads

And I’m working on more ways to make an animal head… doing the teddy bear pattern is fun, but not really what I’m looking for- there are 21 pieces in the pattern! And it is only going to be about 5″ tall! I am trying to make a sewing pattern that will produce a look similar to the kitties I knitted, especially this one.

Woolen Santa Claus

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santa

face

santa back

The Vintage Clothdollmaking list on Yahoo is having a Santa challenge. It fit right in with my personal challenge to find ways of using all the woolen fabric I’ve got. I think I spent as much time trying to get a decent picture as I did to make the doll… I gave up with the picture. The fall light is beautiful, but makes photographing my work very difficult.

Pattern Experiments

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trials

I’ll stop whining and get to work here! I have been trying out some patterns for soft animals and other ideas running through my head. The drawings are Richard Scarry inspired. The body on the right is my first try, using a pattern from Sewing Tiny Toys by Carolyn Vosburg Hall. I was aiming for a cat, but I think it looks like a fox. On the left is my second try- my own pattern. More cat-like, but still needs lots of work. Right now I am trying a classic teddy bear head- well actually I’m doing the whole bear, not just doing the head. It is a 3 piece head pattern- 2 sides and a piece that goes down the middle of the face. I’ve never tried this design before.

In the middle of the picture is my Santa face experiment. Something else I’m stewing about,,,

Show at Handworks

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show

We went out to Handworks in Acton yesterday for the Fiber Arts Ashow. I was really pleased how my dolls looked! I could see them right from the front door- actually I could see them as I pulled into the parking space. The whole gallery is full of rich colors and textures- it all seems so right for fall and the cold, dreary weather we’ve been having. Then we went off to buy apples and a pumpkin… classic New England October activities.