Category Archives: progress report

the quilt

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I’m working on the quilt- see resolutions here.

top2

The quilt has a Japanese motif. I gave Peter several choices for what kind of quilt he’d like- the only 2 I can remember are wool or choosing fabrics from my collection of Japanese cloths. I have a lot of Japanese cloth. Some of it come from my Mom’s collection, some I have collected over the years. There are the fabrics for gift wrapping and loosely woven fabric “towels”. (I know they have official Japanese names, but I don’t know what they are.) There was a roll of cotton fabric that my Mom bought on one of her visits to Japan.

Peter picked out what he liked and I added some other fabrics (with his approval) for color and connecting. We worked on arranging them on the floor of the attic. Then he left and I got to work on other things… all fall. I think the hardest part of making the quilt is me getting started on it!

top3

I am not set up to work on something this scale. I am making a full size quilt- approx 6ft x 7ft.  I was okay with the center panel- I made myself enough studio floor space that I could look at it. But this morning, when I need to expand out from the center, I spread out on my bed. That green in the upper right-hand corner is my blanket and not part of the quilt.

top1

The one fabric that Peter choose that is not Japanese is that circle fish fabric. It is a batik that my Mom bought for me when I was in High School- so probably 1970 or so? I loved it so much that I never made anything out of it. I hung it on the wall for a while in college. I think I might finally be getting over that craziness of not using my favorite things- seems silly now.

The top is now finished. I am very nervous about the next step. I am considering having someone else do the quilting because I am worried about making a big mess of it. And, frankly, I don’t think I’d enjoy doing it. I know I don’t want to hand quilt, so I’m talking about machine quilting. Any thoughts on this?

working away

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Things are very busy- so much that I am getting behind with posting the finished dolls- and that is usually the most fun for me! That is what happens when there is a show around the corner.

Everything, everywhere in the house is covered with my projects. Some studio photos-

table1

desk2

ironboard

I don’t know if you can see, but I’ve set up some photo postcards of the swaddled babies on my shelf to keep me inspired. I made several sets of photo postcards to sell at the show this weekend.

My other exciting buy is some fabric from Spoonflower– I am SO excited about this!

spoonflower

Right now I am trying to get some ornaments put together for the weekend. I will post photos when I figure out a way to put them together that I like.

This morning I snipped my finger with my shears- ouch! That was a sign to me- Slow Down! Of course it is also a sign that I have nice sharp scissors- lucky me :)

kitties and more kitties

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I am almost done with the pattern. I am trying to get decent photos, tweaking the wording, page order, general look of the thing. I guess it is time to show some of these cuties since that seems to be the way I declare them finished . I showed the first model way back at the beginning of October– wow, it is kind of shocking how long it takes me to do this.

kitty2

This is the sweetest, softest one. She is made from a cabled wool/angora blend sweater. The cables sort of disappeared when I felted the sweater.

I get hung up on the dumbest things. Should I name the kitty or just name the pattern “Kitty”? If I give a boy and girl kitty name, will that set a precedent for future pattern naming? Flower names, tree names, food, historic, my personal favorite names, names hopelessly out of fashion? It is overwhelming!  Opinions wanted please- is it better to give the doll a name or leave it plainly descriptive?

Some group shots-

porch

fabrics used- 1. heavy coat wool  2.wool/angora knit  3.boiled wool knit  4.wool/angora knit  5. linen  6.wool/angora knit.

sofa

Bye bye!

bye

Halloween sale

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I am having a 20% off sale of everything in my Etsy shop, starting now and ending at midnight, 10/31 wherever. Just write “blog” in a buyers message, or send me a convo with that information and I will refund 20% of the selling price (not shipping).

Okay, now that you are back, let me explain. When the market was canceled 2 weeks ago, I was left with a vague feeling of letdown. And, a pile of dolls with nowhere to go. There is no greater disincentive for me to get to work then having many finished dolls looking at me. I’ve got to get those guys moving out and get the energy going into new work. So, I thought I’d give this a try!

It’s not as if I am not working. I am just not finishing anything.

desk

I am working away on the pattern- tweaking, testing. Today I worked on photographing the steps. Mostly done with the kitty part.

kitties

Next, the clothes.

And some more tattooed ladies-

boobjob

and now for some nature photos because Hey! It’s autumn and everything is very pretty right now!

feet

leaves

discombobuated

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My head is all over the place these days. I am still working on settling into my studio- although I am at the point that when I think of something to change it tends to be an improvement instead of just a reshuffle. I have partially finished projects everywhere.

I am loving the morning light in the studio. Here is some test work for kitty pattern- using different fabrics, reconsidering how I do things, thinking about clothes-

kitties

I’ve got these four Purl girls done and waiting to be dressed-

You see the one with the decorations on her? My little friends from next door came over and decorated a whole lot of my unfinished dolls for me! Scraps and pins.

purlgirls

More decorated unfinished dolls-

girls

This one only got a little bit of color. And next to the baby, an unfinished tiny world.

baby

Here is the pile of fabric that will eventually get dyed for some more tattooed people-

toile

Yep- these ones. I am working on a tall lady design to go with the more round version.

ladies

And, more wool balls for the workshop next weekend. I need to have some small ones. Last time, several people brought very small cups and I didn’t really have exactly the right thing.

woolballs

I actually got the wool balls done today- hurray! One thing off the list!

friday

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Ben is away and the house is quiet.

I am enjoying the morning light in the new studio room. And playing with fall colors.

desk

window

After another trip to the thrift store that failed to produce any more wool in the right color for doll skin, I decided it was time to try dyeing some. Have you ever noticed that if you go to the thrift store, looking for something in particular, you can never find it. I try for the open-minded approach but at this point, most of the great bargains are just going to cause storage problems when I get home. I look for wool skin tones and stripes. I don’t find them but somehow still come home with a bag… ahem, see above.

So, time to do some dyeing. I love it when all the dye goes into the fabric and the water turns clear- there is something very satisfying about that somehow. Lookin’ good!

dyepoy

I think this is progress

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I am feeling pretty good after my latest rearrange. This is my desk with the purl girls (from the trip) moving forward. The space is beginning to feel functional.

desk

I’ve been haunted by this post about some very organized floss. Looks dreamy, doesn’t it.

Somewhere in the middle of this rambling post from 2 years ago, is a description of how I was organizing my floss. Every time I needed a color, I ended up pulling everything out of the bag and spreading it all out- time consuming and messy. Time to try something new.

So, first I went to my local art store and bought one box (Artbin Prism 6) to try. Yes, I liked it. I bought another at Joanns with my 40% off coupon. Okay, I was convince that this might work for me. Then, I went to the Joanns online, where the boxes were on sale, and bought the rest that I needed. Yesterday morning the boxes arrived and I organized all my floss- so much fun!

flat

They are not as neat and pretty as the boxes in the original post, but that is probably a reflection of my life in general.

stack

I like this organizing system for several reasons-

My ADHD needs clear storage. That is a given.

I can divide the colors up into small divisions so I don’t have to sort through so many skeins to find what I want.

I like my floss how it comes- as a skein. I will wind it onto a card or empty spool only when it has become hopelessly tangled. The skeins fit perfectly in these boxes.

I can keep the unused cut threads (those pieces with 4 strands or oops, I-guess-this-is-the-wrong-color pieces) together with the rest of the same colors.

These boxes fit very nicely into my desk drawer.

drawer

Okay, that was fun. There is something so incredibly satisfying about doing a job like this. One tiny part of my life is now neat, organized and in control- Hurray!

travel and all

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I’m trying to get back on track here.

I was away last weekend, visiting my sister in South Carolina- Hi Tina! There was quite a bit of time sitting in airports and on planes so I put together some project bags. I cut out 4 Purl girls. I put the parts for each girl in a separate zip bag. I added the matching floss colors to each bag. In one of the bags I added needles and small scissors. I filled a gallon bag with wool stuffing and some small forceps. I brought tools that I wouldn’t mind losing, in case airport security made a fuss. They didn’t.

baggies

It worked out really well. By the time I returned, I had done all I could. That was not because I was finished, but because I had underestimated how much stuffing I’d need! I also underestimated how much floss I needed but I was able to add some from Tina’s stash. All in all, it was an excellent travel project.

We drove to Charleston, SC for a day. I felt very much away from New England- pink houses and palm trees- ah!

palms

We ate some fantastic southern cuisine- like these fried green tomatoes… oops! We’d gobbled them up before I thought to take the photo- so delicious!

plate

We drove to the ocean and walked in the water.

beach

Then, an amazing rainbow on the way back to Columbia.

rainbow

I am back home now, trying to get my thoughts back to my work.

window

I am having a really hard time adjusting to the new space. For every hour I work, I seem to spend 2 hours rearranging. I am sure it will settle down soon… I hope?

Let me see- other news. Two weeks in, the son seems to be very happy at Art School. He is home for the weekend. And he now has a tattoo. Um, is this surprising? I guess not. Actually the artwork is very nice.

My brother and sister-in-law have an etsy shop. How fantastic is this card!  So many of my friends and relatives are getting Etsy shops that I need to get my act together and make a page with all their links. Geesh, that list of things I ought to do is so long… yeah, when I have time. OK.

Wow! What a week!

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Thank you, thank you, thank you! I am overwhelmed by the response to my Handmade Portrait! I’ve been getting all choked up when I read the comments on the Storque article. And people are entering the giveaway and actually posting it to their blogs. I have to admit that when the wonderful people at Etsy suggested doing a giveaway where people would have to post the video to their blog, I thought- um, No one will want to do that- well, except my husband, but he might have ulterior motives. So again- Thank you for all the internet love. I’ve been floating on it since Wednesday!

A Reminder- To be included in the giveaway drawing, you need to send an email with a link to mimi.kirchner.giveaway@gmail.com once you’ve posted the video on your blog. All the info is here. You can enter anytime up til 5pm ET.

I am trying very hard to pull myself away from the computer and spend some time in my studio and actually get back into the groove of making stuff. There has not been enough of that for the past few months. I am hoping that the major distractions that have kept me away from my desk are now behind me. See you soon with some finished dolls.