Category Archives: General

doll quilt

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One of the many great things about belonging to a doll club, is that people clean out their stashes and bring their leftovers along to give away. I’ve gotten some great syuff this way. Last month, Jenny brought a pile of old linens including this very old piece of a quilt top-

top

someone had sewn a backing onto it. It is not in great condition, but still very pretty. You can see the original colors on the inside compared to the faded top-

quilta

quiltb

It is hand stitched with tiny stitches

quiltc

I decided to make a doll quilt. I washed it and put a thin cotton batting between the top and the backing. I then stiched the layers and here it is!

quilt done

quilt back

It is 15 1/4 inches by 21 1/2 inches.

catching up

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today I’ve been working on catching up with all the email correspondence- I’ve been terrible!

Also, I’ve meant to give some great feedback for Dollmaker’s Journey for fantastic service. I needed some special fabric for a class I’m taking- I ordered on a Saturday and had it on the Monday- wow!

Here is a not doll project I did yesterday- new placemats.

placemats

Yeah, I’m finally using some of the fabrics I’ve bought recently! I love cotton prints, but they don’t really fit in much with the dolls I’m doing these days. The back (or maybe they are reversible) is linen from IKEA a few years ago. Here is the great insight of yesterday- I struggled through sewing 2 of the mats with a million pins and still getting puckers and tucks… all of a sudden I remembered my walking foot- that amazing tool that came with my sewing machine but I had never yet tried- well, guess what- it really works! The 6 that I did after that came out much better!

Here they are on the table, along with some of my old art i.e. my pottery that got broken and turned into a mosaic hot dish holder.

table

And a picture of the kitchen window on a spring evening-

window

robot update and other stuff

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I have had several enquiries about selling the robot dolls. I am trying to figure out what I want to do. For some unknown reason I am feeling very attached to the last group of dolls- the robots and grandmas- unusual for me. Anyway, I continue to think about making and publishing patterns for these dolls. The wool dolls seem like they would be fun and easy. I am going to try giving myself a deadline- I will make up patterns of the finished robots this week and will list the finished dolls for sale next week- probably in Etsy, unless someone just wants to contact me directly. They will be around $100 each I think.

This beautiful tree peony is blooming in my garden right now- I love it.

peony

bloom

And, I made myself a reminder bracelet- now I need to absorb or embrace this idea…

moveon

it’s made using shrink plastic and Sharpie marker.

robot 5

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but first- married 26 years ago today. Time flies when you are having fun!

After all that rain, it was a beautiful day today and I mowed the lawn and turned the compost… it was so nice to be outside.

and here is robot 5-

r5

He is about 2 inches thick and I wanted him stuffed like a pillow, but everything seemed to be not quite stable so I sort of quilted him… I tied through in a few places, which has given his body more shaping then he started with. Here you can see my shrink plastic charms-

r5face

more robots

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Robot 4 after stuffing and tweaking-

r4a

r4b

I stitched up through some of the wool and button joints because he ended up being too floppy. The ones I fixed were at the neck, waist and knees.

I changed his head from this picture. The finished body proportions made the head look too small to me… so I made a new one.

r4head

Here is the back in case you are curious-

r4back

He is about 28 inches long.

Here is the whole gang… next post, photos of Robot 5 which I finally finished. The poor thing was armless for too long.

group

wool flower

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flower

I got a few more of these sizzix punches on Mothers Day. I made the flower with a heart and little circle punch. I backed it with a cut-out called “Sun”- a notched circle. I was having all sorts of trouble with the sun punch and then I realized it was defective- the cutting blade was upside-down. Now I have to go return/exchange it, which sort of takes the fun out of getting new toys- humph!

soggy weather

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It has been raining here in the Boston area for the past 10 days.

soggy pansies that never got out of their 6-pack-

pansy

wet allium looking discouraged-

allium

azaleas-

azalea

columbine-

columbine

and droopy blossoms on the dogwood-

dogwood

playing

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I’m working on the fourth robot. Actually, I am having way too much fun with this one…

here he is on my messy desk-

r4

I am using buttons inside to reinforce the joints- sort of like what is used in teddy bear construction. I’ve got all the pieces done and I love how he flops around-

flop

He has a rather inebriated appearance!

stairs

I now have him mostly finished- time for tweaking.

robots in progress

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This is what I’ve been working on-

robots

After I made the robot heads it seemed that the bodies would be easy, but it hasn’t worked out that way… getting started is easy until I hit the next block. So, I’ve been working on these in an unusual (for me lately) way. I get started until I can’t figure out what comes next and then I pick up a different head. So, I’ve got 4 in progress.

I am always amazed when people show their desks and it is a calm sanctuary of space and work gets done there. My workspace always looks like a tornado is in progress. Well, except when I am not getting anything done and I’m in some kind of funk. This is a tiny bit of my desk today-

desk

See that blue wool ball? I tried that out as a body for the blue head robot- I didn’t like it, but it gave me an idea for the brown headed one- I am trying to go bobble-headed for that one.

I bought myself a bunch more bobbins on ebay- I feel so rich!

bobbins