It’s been a long time coming! Even though everything is moving slowly, it feels great to get something finished!
2 Blue and white cups and saucers.
I finished some Tiny Worlds!
h+h Americas
I am so out of the habit of doing the social media! I really have been SO distracted. A (whole!) month ago, I went to the h+h Americas show because it was in the Chicago area and I knew a few people who would be at the show. And, I wanted to get out of the house and think about crafty things. It is a business to business show and since I’m a maker, I qualify. I got to see some interesting new products and it got me thinking about equipment and supplies for when I set up my new studio.
I didn’t take enough photos but I got samples and catalogs so this is going to be a lot of links.
I stopped at the Quilter’s Rule booth and saw their all-white Mega cutting mats. I have looked for a white cutting mat for years but the closest I’ve gotten was clear(-ish) or light grey. I want a white mat so the fabric colors stay true. This company has them in all sizes including gigantic (60″ x 120″), not that I’d need that! Anyway, definitely on my new studio wish list.
This Clover tool got me excited- it is called a Pattern Cutting Guide.
It is for changing or adding a seam allowance to a pattern. My patterns don’t come with seam allowances and if someone wanted to add one, this would be just the thing. I can think of lots of times this would come in handy in my work.
I met the designer of Little House Cottons and was charmed by her fabrics. I will have to find a retail outlet in the Chicago area that sells her fabrics. Speaking of which, if anyone knows of good fabric stores in Chicago, I’d love to hear about them.
There were some fantastic displays and this one made me laugh- it is knitted!
I am getting a tiny bit of work done but it is going VERY slowly. I don’t think I will be back to work in a new studio until the new year. Fingers crossed.
Side Project- Gnomes
Maybe I should call them settling in projects. That’s what they feel like.
I bought these 4 gnomes many years ago (maybe 25?) in Paris and they came home with me in my carry-on. They lived in our front window, watching the world go by. I noticed how faded they were when I packed them up for the move. Once all our boxes arrived, I unpacked them and found my paints and brushes and got to work. Pictured above: 1 red hat.
It was harder that I was expecting- I am out of practice mixing paint colors!
Hats, shoes, skin tones painted. Of course I forgot to paint the ear on the one fellow that has them so had to go back later and try to match. As I said, out of practice with the color mixing.
All Done!
And now they are back in a new window.
Hello From Chicago!
It’s been a while! We got to Chicago on April 3 with the kitties. We spent 2 months in Airbnbs- one month each so it wasn’t too terrible but really, it was enough. So, we have found an apartment and we will stay here until we find our next home. We moved in on June 1 and all our stuff arrived on June 7. We have spent the time since, setting up, sorting boxes, and all the rest of what you do after a move. I am working on getting my studio set up again. Also, acquiring all the necessities for shipping since I left that all behind. Baby steps to getting back to work. Once I have my new shipping label printer figured out, I will be able to re-open my etsy shop. I do know where the post office is so that’s a step in the right direction!
While I was in studio limbo, I had a few projects to work on. I worked on some summer clothes and some quilts. I had 2 quilt tops done but not backed or quilted. Here is the big quilt, laid out on the floor of an airbnb, getting basted together.
The apartment for the first week-
And then our stuff arrived- and that is just the beginning of the moving-in day.
This is going to be my workspace- I just have to figure out how to make the space useable-
It is all coming along. I have to get back into practice doing my blog and all the rest. We are settling in, even the kitties. They have their condo even if we don’t have ours yet 😸
First Flower of Spring
Good-bye little flower. Just a few more weeks until the move. The 25% off sale is still going on for all the dolls- code MOVING25. My Etsy Shop.
I’m Moving so I’m having a Sale!
I am living in chaos right now- so many boxes and bins!
This was last week maybe? There is a lot less recognizable stuff and more taped up boxes.
I have no idea when I will be back to work. We will be out of the house by the beginning of April and into some kind of temporary situation. Then we wait for things to happen.
Anyway, all that said, I don’t want to put my finished work into storage for who knows how long. I am post here first for my blog friends- a 25% off code at my Etsy shop. MOVING25
The sale will include all the dolls and the Tiny Worlds, but not the patterns. The sale will go on until I am too busy to ship anything else out- sometime towards the end of March. Help me lighten my load!
2 Blue Fishes
2 more fish finished. I will plan to get these into my etsy shop this weekend.
Man With Chinoiserie Tattoos
The weather here has been terrible for my photography- it is rainy, or snowy, or everything is wet. Finally yesterday morning the sun came out so I rushed to take some pictures of the few things I’ve finished!
I will be finishing some random things as I work on the sorting and packing. The pieces that get finished are ones that are sewed and stuffed and just need their handwork. This fellow with his chinoiserie toile tattoos was the farthest along so he got finished first.
A Special Tiny World
I was asked to make a Tiny World in this gravy boat; this will be the one part of the dish set that they will keep. It was fun to figure out how to make it work in a vessel that isn’t round!
And the back view-
2022- Dolls in Review!
I’m a little late with this- that sums up what the last 6 months have been like around here! Among other things, when I went back over my photos, I’d messed up my counting and I had to clean up that mess. So, here we are finally!
I will start with 25 Tiny World pincushions, not dolls.
Tiny World 2, 2. Tiny World 5, 3. Tiny World 4, 4. Tiny World 3, 5. Tiny World 1, 6. Tiny World 7, 7. Tiny World 6, 8. Tiny World 9, 9. Tiny World 8, 10. Tiny World 11, 11. Tiny World 10, 12. Special Order Tiny World, 13. Red Transferware Tiny World, 14. Fancy cup pincushion, 15. Tiny World with Blue Flower Bush, 16. Farmyard Pincushion, 17. Farmyard Pincushion, 18. Desert House Pincushion 1 and 2, 19. Tiny World Pincushion, 20. Tiny Snowy World, 21. Tiny Snowy World, 22. Tiny World Pincushion, 23. Tiny World Pincushion, 24. Pincushion in a Calico tea cup
36 Fresh fish-
Red Fish 3 and 4, 2. Red Fish 1 and 2, 3. Blue Fish Pillows, 4. Blue-Green-ish Fish Pillows, 5. Green-ish Fish Pillows, 6. 2 Gold(ish)fish, 7. 2 Purple-y Red Fish, 8. 2 Green Fish, 9. 3 Wool Fish Pillows, 10. 2 Sweater Fish, 11. 3 Green Fish, 12. Blue Fish and Blue-Green Fish, 13. White and Gray Fish, 14. Pink Fish, 15. Autumn Fish, 16. Red Plaid Fish, 17. Blue Plaid Fish, 18. Purple Fish, 19. Purple-red Fish, 20. Blue-green Fish
14 Kitties, 1 Cat Lady
Untitled, 2. Mamma Cat, 3. Blue-eyed Kitty, 4. Kitty is shopping, 5. Untitled, 6. Going Fishing Cat, 7. Kitty in a Red Jacket, 8. OrangeMan 2002- 2022, 9. Aqua Kitty Girl, 10. Black Kitty, Liberty dress, 11. Black Cat in Striped Jacket, 12. Cat in a Plaid Jacket, 13. Charlie, 14. Fancy Fox Lady, 15. Fox Lady Goes Shopping, 16. Cat Lady Pillow Doll
12 Mermen
Blue Merman, 2. Merman with tall ship tattoos, 3. Merman with skeleton tattoos, 4. Orange Hair Merman, 5. Red-Haired Merman, 6. Purple-haired Merman, 7. Silver-tailed Merman, 8. Tentacle Merman, 9. Dark Blue Merman, 10. Merman with sea creatures, 11. Merman with Whales, 12. Purple Merman
18 other men
Corn Farmer, 2. Man with hunting tattoos, 3. Greenman, 4. Greenman 2, 5. Big Blond Lumberjack, 6. Lumberjack in Red-check Shirt, 7. Lumberjack 3, 8. Lumberjack 4, 9. Lumberjack in Plaid, 10. Man with Red Pants, 11. White-Haired Pirate, 12. Man in a Kilt doll, 13. Strongman with Goddess Tattoos, 14. Big Man in a Red Kilt, 15. Big Man in a Striped Bathing Suit, 16. Sepia Man, 17. Tattooed Man in Red Pants, 18. Man with skater tattoos, 19. Owl 1, 20. Owl 2
26 Owls
2 Dark Owls, 2. snowy owl, 3. Snowy Owl, 4. 2 Brown Owls, 5. Brown Owl Face, 6. Brown Owl Face, 7. Gray Owl, 8. Brown Owl, 9. 2 Snowy Owls, 10. 2 Dark Owls, 11. 3 Brown Owls, 12. Rust Owl, 13. Brown Owl, 14. Tan Owl, 15. 2 more owl dolls, 16. 2 owl dolls
And 3 Swaddled Babies, 11 Dogs…
Blond Flower Baby, 2. Blue Flower Baby, 3. Magenta Flower Baby, 4. Black Pug Fellow, 5. Pug Girl 1, 6. Cute Girl Pug, 7. lady gardener dog, 8. Cowboy Dog, 9. Bird Dog, 10. Dapper Dog, 11. Little White Dog, 12. Hiker Dog, 13. Folktale Puppy Girl, 14. Dog with a pipe, 15. Greenman 2, 16. cats – 1
and me. And Winifred and Jasper, the adorable kitties that came into our life almost a year ago!
That is 121 dolls plus 25 Tiny Worlds. I am surprised that so much got accomplished while I was clearing stuff out of the house, having a huge yard sale, flying to Chicago, and all the rest of the work of moving house after 36 years! We are still hoping to relocate in the Spring so fingers-crossed that our perfect new place will show up soon!