Two fairy houses in a garden.
And here is a back view, if you are curious.
Tiny World Fairy Houses
Category Archives: other projects
Tiny World 3
I think of these little cottages on a hill as the classic tiny worlds. Along the lines of the lovely illustrations in this book- The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton.
And here are 3, all together-
Hope you are having a good weekend. It is a rainy day here in Boston so I have the perfect excuse to stay in my studio and play.
The Tiny Worlds are coming!
I am working on a batch of these. I’m lucky that I have a box of cups in waiting since I haven’t been visiting any thrift stores lately.
A cup with violets-
And a cup with summer flowers-
What have I been doing!
Sheesh, I had to put something up since it’s been a month of no posts. What have I been doing? Well, not too terribly much. I’ve been working in the garden quite a bit. Besides that though, nothing that has added up to much. I am working on making patterns for ornaments/little felt creatures. I decided to start with the ornaments I designed for West Elm back at least 5 years ago now? I thought that would be an easy place to start- silly me! Everything takes forever these days. Anyway, this is what I’ve been working on-
I’ve been playing with sizes and adjusting patterns pieces. Slowly I will get them done… There is a boy and girl fox, a boy and girl raccoon, a lady squirrel, a moose fellow, and a bear fellow.
As always, I have been a little more active on Instagram but it has mostly been pics of my garden. I hope you all are stay healthy, safe, and sane.
What Day is it again?
I don’t know about you but I have been feeling like I stepped into an episode of the Twilight Zone. Life is very strange these days. What has been happening here? Spring has arrived and the garden is happy.
My seeds are beginning to grow.
I made a baby blanket gift.
I learned something new. I had never heard about stack wound vs cross wound threads. I read/learned about it here. After reading this, I set up my sewing machine like this for when I use Gutermann threads-
I used the water cup for my iron because that was the closest thing at hand in my studio that worked. I will be keeping my eye out for something a bit more practical/permanent since I’ll have to use the water cup soon for it’s intended purpose! And here is the clip as suggested in the article.
So far it has been working great! At least half the thread I use is Coats & Clark which is stack wound so I don’t have to use this method for all my thread.
And lastly, I have been working on pugs. I haven’t made them for a long time! I don’t have any idea why all the sewing seems to be going at glacier speed, but little by little, hopefully I will get something finished. As of today, I have 8 sewed up and turned so hurray for that!
Abruptly Changing Direction
I have a friend whose daughter is a nurse working on a Covid-19 unit here in Boston. There is nowhere near enough protective gear for these workers and she asked people to make scrub caps for the nurses on her unit. Now it’s personal! I cleared all the babies-in-waiting (to be finished) from my worktable, downloaded the pattern, and that is what I’ll be focusing on this week.
Here I am, trying on my test model.
And here is 7 more, finished today. Plus another 20 cut out. I will be interested to see how many I can get done tomorrow.
I recently heard something along the lines of “action soothes anxiety” and I can tell you that having a positive helpful project to work on has made me feel SO much better. After these are done I will work on face masks for the people in my life. I am not sure how long it will be before I get back to dolls but at least a week. See you back here soon!
My Toile scrap quilt is done!
Here is the big picture. It is hard to see the toile images in the blocks, so I have put some detail photos at the end of the post. I am very happy with it! It is all made out of fabric from my stash: mostly from my scrap bins. I will admit that I cut out a few larger toile images to have some bigger blocks in the center.
And the back is made of more toile scraps; mostly from the slipcovers from the sofa in my childhood home (60’s – 70’s). Amongst the scrappy bits of red and white toile, was a different pattern than the slipcover. I am guessing it was a sample piece that my Mom was trying. I had to piece the backing since there were damaged areas and some of the color differences are due to fading. I love the story it tells.
Here is a close-up-
On a bed-
Some details-
Thanks Ben!
In case you are wondering about the toile scraps- I use toile to make the tattooed people. I buy fabric that has a white or cream background, with black, brown, or blue printing. I cut out the doll pieces and then I dye it to various skin tones. Most of the toile in this is off-cuts or scraps that I couldn’t bear to throw away. I don’t use any red on white toile for my dolls.
First Doll of 2020
Phew, I managed to finish one before January is over!
Her dress is made of vintage Liberty lawn that I got from my Mom. She has a cashmere sweater and a silk bow at her ear.
I have collected many random little trinkets over the years- that is the category that I’d put that dragonfly pin into. Sometimes they find their place.
I’d like to pretend that I could work on the dolls and also have a side project but I am very bad at it! My quilt is coming along and I wish I could keep to my plan to only work on it for an hour or 2 in the evenings, but it is a big distraction. Here it is, waiting and tempting me in the morning light. (I managed to resist because I NEEDED to post something today!)
January Update
January is flying by and I haven’t finished a single doll yet! I’ve been working on another quilt; one that I started way back in August 2017. I had actually gotten most of the blocks done but couldn’t focus on how to put it together so I set it aside. I got in the mood to finish it once the kiddos had all gone back to their homes and Christmas was put away. So here is where I started up again, spreading it all out on the guest bed.
This time I kept telling myself, Don’t over-think everything! Finish up the blocks and it will all come together. Sewing away.
And the top is all finished!
Next, figure out the backing. I had a bin in the attic with red and white toile items from my Mom’s house. There was a fabric sample, a sofa slipcover, and drapes. The slipcover was on our living room sofa from the mid-60’s to mid-70’s (?). It had worn spots, faded areas, and some holes, but there was still a ton of usable fabric. I took the slipcover apart and washed all the pieces. I used it to piece together the backing along with the fabric sample. I didn’t use any of the drapes so I still have loads left!
And here we are, the quilt top is sandwiched with it’s batting and backing with a million safety pins and I’ve started to quilt.
I’ve discovered that I love hand-quilting, now that I am over being worried about making it “perfect”. I’m in no rush, I can spend time here and there, listening to an audio book or podcast. It is very relaxing. I love how the stitching gives the blocks an added dimension.
And now that the quilt is all set up for me to stitch when I feel like it, I have gone back to some doll work although I haven’t gotten very far yet. Kitties are waiting for their clothes.
They will have to wait a little longer though. I am off on a trip to NYC this next week. I am looking forward to spending lots of time looking at art, eating good food, window shopping, people watching, and all the other fun vacation things. Got any recommendations for my trip? I’d love to hear!
Cabin in the Woods Tiny World
Lots of trees but no saucer on this one.
And here is a photo of almost all of them… somehow one got edged out of the photo!
I’m now busy listing these into my etsy shop, freezing peaches, making soup stock now that the weather has cooled, cleaning up my studio, trying to get everything back into my studio closet after my husband need to do a wiring project in there… it never ends!