fat fairy 6- Spring

Introducing the latest fairy. She reminds me of the colors of early spring.

ff6

I embroidered her eyebrows since her last appearance-

ff6 face

I made her hair out of old sewing thread. I have lots of old cotton thread from my mom and mother-in-law. Most of it is not useable on the sewing machine- it breaks too easily or is cut or one even had been scribbled on with crayon. I plied a number of colored threads together (including a pink and a green) and embroidered the back. The edging is a lot of the thread, twisted together and stitched in place.

hair

her wings-

wings

and a side view-

side

I was fighting with the skirt. For some reason it wasn’t working right, so I turned it around and tied it in the front. Better! The green trim on her bodice edging is an old piece of trim I found in my parents’ basement when we were cleaning it out. I think it is probably from the fifties. I also used it on the chimera I made for Month of Softies, so long ago.

nothing in particular

Family get-together at our house. Julian, we missed you! The empty space at the end of the sofa is for me and my laptop-

family

and, we had some tree work done last friday. That guy was really high up. The yard is so much better now. I’ve been wanting to do this for 10 years.

tree

Eleanor has been home (from Chicago) and is now delivered back to college. I visited the friends and relatives in Connecticut. Now I can get back to work and finish up some more fairies.

fairies- wip

I was hoping to have finished these fairies by today, but that is unlikely with family and life and house and all.

crown

free advise- don’t sew on an embellishment with lots of little beady things until you have finished all the rest of your sewing- your thread will get tangled in it with every stitch!

bust

I love making these little flowers.

hair

I am having trouble with this one’s hair- sometimes it feels like the doll is arguing with me… argh!

more on the fairies

I worked on these all day yesterday. Stuffed with wool. Wool dust is everywhere now. Sewed closed on the back-

sewed

Next they got their sexy figures and a start on their faces. I put pins in for their eyes before I embroider them in. It makes them seem more alive.

5dolls

I’m very fussy with the faces so I do a lot of picking out stitches. The purple/lilac body doll is one of the fairies from the first series I did in February. I embroidered a face, gave her some hair and embellished her with trim… but it wasn’t working for me. First she sat around for 5 months or so, then I took off the trim. More waiting then off with the hair, and finally yesterday, as I was working on these other ones, off with her face. Here we are, starting over.

face1

And another. I am happy with the lips and the noses so far today. I am working on the eyes. Next it will be eyebrows and hair.

face2

thinking about…

musicians-

sketch

and working on fairies-

fairyparts

I had a wonderful surprise yesterday. Last month I cleared out a container full of old cassette tapes. I threw some away, others I piled into a box and brought up to my studio. Slowly I’ve been listening to them and deciding if they are worth keeping (a lot are damaged in some way- they sound like a warped record). It has been a strange trip back to other times in my life, as far back as the early 70’s. Yesterday, I tried out a tape with no label- I thought it might just be a blank tape. Little kid voices started singing “Happy Birthday to you”, slowly. Eleanor and Julian, I think. They got to “Happy Birthday, dear (who was it going to be for???) mommie/ mom” -they hadn’t agreed on that part I guess- I got chills! They went on to sing several more songs- talk about being sent back to another time! I could picture the whole project being organized and excecuted.

2 finished projects

wow, 2 finished projects to post about in one day!

finished

Here is the finished “make-do” pin cushion for Tina.

pin cushion

I glued the pin cushion to the glass but also put these strings on. I thought it would be a good reinforcement and I also like how it looks-

pin detail

And here is Little Red Ridinghood 2-

rrh2

a detail of her face-

face

and body-

body

and here she is flat- “I fell down and I can’t get up!!!” – sorry, don’t quite know if anyone would be interested in this view but here it is anyway-

fall down

I put up some more dolls and postcards on my Etsy shop if you’re interested.