I’ve got several ladies in the works right now so see you soon with more!
finally, a doll for February!
Too, too many unfinished pieces in the studio. I need to get some pieces finished! I’ve got some girls and some guys in progress- still finishing the backlog of sewed inventory from last year. I can’t wait to get out the toile and starting cutting some new ones! Soon I hope.
She is a green-eyed, red-haired girl.
Vintage rick-rack and button. Skeleton tattoos.
10! 10! 10!
Do you know what day it is today? My blog’s 10th birthday! It is mind-boggling that I’ve been doing this for 10 years!
This is the first picture in the first post.
Things that I posted in the first 18 months or so are kind of a mess- pics sized wrong, posts duplicated, pics missing. Most of that is a result of upgrades (?) over the years I think. Anyway, so many posts, so many dolls, so many friends, so many amazing opportunities have come out of doing this. I had no idea where it would all lead when I started!
Here is something from the first year- Halloween 2004, a Dr. Who scarf for Peter.
And, here he is this past Christmas, same scarf-
Peter grew and so did the scarf!
So, a reminder to myself- you never know where those first steps will lead!
Eleanor’s quilt
I made a quilt for my daughter who is having a rather big birthday this month. And, I flew to Chicago to deliver it. Some things you just have to present in person. Here are some pics from the process, most off my phone so they aren’t all that great.
Starting out, mid-January-
The center of the quilt is a Japanese gift wrapping cloth. I made a similar quilt in 2010. Using the Japanese fabrics and piecing, quilting and then assembling. There were 5 main pieces- 2 sides, the center, top center panel, bottom center panel.
I machine quilted each section, then put them together with a combination of machine and hand stitching.
Then sewed the sections together until,
It was all together! I will confess that I am most certainly not an expert quilter and some of my machine quilting was wonky enough that I had to remove it and quilt some parts by hand. So, it’s a mixed hand/machine piece.
It’s fun to do something completely different, every once in a while!
Little Thing magazine
I am absolutely thrilled by my profile in Little Thing, a Chinese lifestyle and fashion magazine. I just received a copy and I’m blown away. Look at this!
It is a calendar for 2014!
The theme of this issue is Grandma Style- too funny.
Here are my pages and as usual, I have no idea what it says. Hopefully something insightful and witty. Notice my neighbor- Jenny Hart. Good company, eh?
And here is the index if you want to see what else is in this beautiful publication-
If you are interested in getting a copy, they have a facebook page for international sales here. They also have an instagram feed with loads of beautiful pics including this amazing little video of the pop-up in the magazine. Here is a link to Google image search which has lots of pages and gives a great idea of the look of the magazine. I am putting the article pictures into my Flickr stream. You can look at them in a large size if you want to.
another kilt
Making kilts is fun so I had to do it again.
Is it all right that my man in a kilt has George Washington on his chest?
I made him a scarf because it is just too cold to go outside (for picture taking) without one.
Pirate in Stripy pants
I might have to take some more pics tomorrow because you can not see the print design on the fabric of his beard or his embroidered mouth. I am still getting used to my new camera.
His belt buckle is made from an antique hook of a hook and eye set. It looks handmade to me, with a hammered flat edge.
new fellow for 2014
He looked pretty chilly when I took him outside for his photos. I almost wanted to make him a sweater but that would cover up all his lovely tats.
I can spend way too much time picking out a button for a doll. It is so hard to pick just the right one.
Close-up of the hair fabric-
2 sweater pugs
The other 2 pugs are in sweaters and scarfs. I love how the different materials make for different sizes and looks.
This one is made of wool knit-
It is the kind of fabric that, even though it is felted, will stretch and stretch if I’m not careful with the stuffing. You can see in the photo of the 3 pugs in the last post that he is the biggest.
This other pug is made of a wool/angora blend. It has less stretch and makes a smaller dog. A very, very soft dog too!
professor pug
Hurray! The first finished doll of 2014! Presenting Professor Pug-
He’s a dapper fellow with his Harris Tweed jacket and elbow patches. He has 2 friends which I will show you more closely tomorrow.
