Winter School Girl fox

I couldn’t wait to make something out of this lovely wool blend boucle knit. Of course it is perfect for a fox sweater!

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It was pouring rain and very gloomy when I finished her up and there was no time to wait before she went into the window. I had to take photos in what were not ideal lighting conditions so these are the best I got.

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She has a tin bee pin on her backpack.

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Tomorrow I will post photos of the foxes in place in the window.

One more photo! Here she is, waiting for her turn to go into the window.

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the explorer fox

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I labeled him an explorer but he might just be a tourist. He has a Guidebook-

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and a map. Here he is in the window display, leading the walk of the foxes.

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I had to take these latest photos in very poor light because I knew they had to get into the window display. As a result, they are a bit fuzzy but that’s better than nothing, right?

 

Forest Girl Fox

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The fabrics in this sweet girl fox have stories. The wool I used for her body is some that I dyed and somehow, when I look at it, it seems to have a life. I bought the fabric in the dress when I was in Portland last summer. And her Liberty wool shawl is made from a shawl/scarf that I wore for years before I wore it right out. Time to turn the beautiful fabric into something new.

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I made her a bag for her knitting project.

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Winter fox girl 2

Another fox girl in a warm wool coat.

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I love the bird fabric- I bought it in Portland last summer.

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Silk ribbon bow at her ear-

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I set up the fox window at Gather Here in Cambridge (Massachusetts). Stop by if you want to see them in person! I will be going back when it isn’t pouring down rain and take photos and will do a post sometime soon.

2015 round-up continued

I didn’t get as many dolls finished in 2015 as 2014 and there are many reasons. At the end of 2014 I decided that my resolution for the New Year would be to try to get to the end of the year and not feel so completely crazy (stressed). I wasn’t actually sure how to accomplish that so I worked away and mixed it up with trying new things.

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I started out 2015 by doing my prototypes for the 2015 ornaments for West Elm and went to Brooklyn to deliver them. Any excuse to go to NYC! And in October I designed the next line for 2016. It has been really exciting that they have continued my line of ornaments.

I traveled a LOT this year. Some of the trips were awesomely fun, others ended up being very stressful- so I guess I’ll be testing out more of the traveling this year, right?! I went to New York City and/or Brooklyn 5 times in 2015! I saw Mr. Finch! I went to Puerto Rico for some snow relief, Philadelphia for the Sweet Paul Makerie Retreat, an I’d-go-back-in-a-minute week in Portland Oregon, and Chicago. This year I will be heading out to LA in April for Craftcation.

I taught a few classes- Tiny Worlds in January, and Ornaments in July (in Portland) and December in Cambridge.

We had that horrible winter and I am hoping to never see anything like that again.

I published 5 ornament patterns and I have so many more that I want to make, so hopefully, more patterns this year! I also had 2 free ornament patterns in the Sweet Paul Holiday issue and I saw a few super cute ones that people had made and posted on Instagram.

I was part of the 6 weeks of Softies over on Sew Mama Sew. I was interviewed by Abby with my friend Salley. And I was honored to be a featured artist in Susan’s book.

What I most obviously didn’t do were any shows. No deadlines and packing up and setting up booths and spending days interacting with customers. I think I needed a year off but I don’t want to leave them completely behind. The shows I was doing weren’t really working for me and what I really need to do is find the right show(s) instead of none.

Onward into the New Year! I don’t have a vision of what I want to focus on this year but not making myself crazy is still a good goal for me. I really want to get to some more of the things on my endless to-do list and to feel like I am doing fresh things and not rehashing old ideas.

I am currently very busy working on a group of foxes for a window display for Gather Here in Cambridge. Pictures starting tomorrow, I hope!

 

2015 round up- all the dolls!

It is time to collect all the things I’ve made in 2015 and put it all here in this one post!

I made odd amounts of specific patterns which made these mosaics a bit challenging. Also, I made a LOT less dolls than last year: 97 for 2015 versus 156 for 2014. That was kind of a bummer but I’m not going to focus on that, right?

There were 11 fish-

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2 babies and 3 owls-

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5 pugs-

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17 kitties and some girl dolls that never got finished-

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9 foxes-

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10 ladies-

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and lots of men! 11 lumberjacks-

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and 29 tattooed men-

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this last fellow couldn’t fit into the mosaic-

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edited because I forgot- 11 Tiny Worlds and some felt medals-

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And then, of course, the ornaments (and the patterns)-

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I will do another post with the more but this is enough for now. Happy New Year everyone!