wips
I’ve been working on basting the quilt together. It progresses slowly. I have an idea now for how I’m going to quilt it. But, on the basting- I collected all of my almost empty spools of thread and some random bobbins with thread but no sewing machine to use them in, and used that to baste the quilt. It is so satisfying to be finishing up all those last little bits of thread!
My desk, this afternoon-
And today we had our Patriots’ Day parade. This is Mass Ave in Arlington, about a half hour before the parade started. Sort of eerie.
And this group made me laugh-
Hope you had a great weekend!
little witch girl
Another very hard to photograph girl- I’m going to have to learn more about under and overexposure on my camera. She has a dark purple body and a black cashmere pinafore. The pinafore has an embroidered sash. The camera wants to blend it all together. I did my best to show the colors and detail.
The sweater had moth holes and I decided to use them instead of avoid them in the pinafore.
Embroidery on a ribbon sash-
She has a skirt made from my favorite angora/wool blend. It is so soft and yet has body that makes it hold it’s shape. Cashmere can be floppy and stretchy. Yes, and talking of stretchy cashmere, yesterday I thought I was all finished here but… after I went to bed last night, I was thinking about her pinafore and decided it need to be lined. It was too “relaxed”- Â not staying in shape the way I’d like. Today, I added a wool felt lining to the bodice and sewed it on with buttonhole stitch all the way around the edge. It is one of those things that doesn’t really show and only I care. But it felt so satisfying when it was finished and everything seemed to fit so much better.
and her shoes-
I will be putting the fish, the Moonbeam girls and this one on Etsy, probably tomorrow afternoon. I have put away any more girls for now- they are just giving me too much trouble! I am working on lady pillows and babies- sewing them up and then I will do the decorative work. I am hoping that I’ll be doing some traveling in the next few months and it would be nice to have some dolls all ready to take along and do the handwork on.
Yesterday was the April crafty meet-up. There were 9 of us there- the biggest group yet! It was loads of fun. Look what Sharon made for Crystal! Â Next meet-up- May 12.
moonbeam 2
And now the doll that was giving me so much trouble last week. I could not get her face right. Setting her aside for a while helped a lot. After a day or so I knew what was wrong and after a couple more days, I was ready to fix it. Add to that, she is very hard to photograph, with her high contrast (head versus dress and body) and low contrast (dress details) elements. This photo was completely washed out but I had fun playing with all the slides in iPhoto to get this-
Her “night” is shades of purple and navy. Moonbeam 1 is all blues.
Her pinafore- this is the best color when I look at the photo on my computer. It is cashmere on cashmere applique.
going to Minneapolis in May
Shout Out! I will be in Minneapolis in mid-May for my son’s college graduation and would love to have a meet-up with fellow bloggers and/or crafty types. I will busy on Sat. 5/15 but wonder if people would like to get together sometime at either side of that day. I am trying to plan the trip and want to figure out what works best. Leave a comment or email me at mimik(at)pobox.com.
A photo so this post won’t be too boring-
Happy Birthday Peter!!!!
5 fish
the five fish I did last week.
gone fishin’
First some notes- Next Wednesday (4/14) is the next Crafty meet-up-Â details here. All are welcome, bring a friend.
I want to schedule the next class for June- Tiny world or Fish. Sometime between June 14 and June 28. Any interest? Ideas? Preferences?
This is my desk this morning-
I admit defeat. Sometimes you just have to back away from what you are doing and turn to something else- since curling up in bed and moping really isn’t an option in my life right now. I will probably come back to the various girls in a few days. After 2 attempts to photograph and then tweak a doll who turned out to not be finished after all, I am working on some fish.
I had something I needed to try out with some 2mm felt (that is twice as thick as standard felt).
I brought my new fish over to visit my friends next door. They both liked the blue fish. I’m rather partial to the red one myself.
Things got silly rather quickly.
moonbeam
She wasn’t done when I went and checked on her yesterday- I took off a capelet I’d make- she didn’t need it. And, I had forgotten to do some finish work on the skirt- it was still pinned on. But finally, here she is!
past week
It’s been a weird week. When I finish some pieces that I really like, as with the forest girls, it can be very difficult to get on track again. I started a number of new girl dolls this week. They are in a pile on my desk. They have had faces on, faces off. Then on again. And off again! Legs on. Legs off. New legs. Legs reattached. Clothes made and rejected. Hair on. Now I am sure it needs to be redone. A very frustrating week. Jodie is very eloquent about it here.
The weather has turned beautiful though after all the rain. I found this on the road while taking a walk-
A little bird skull.
And at the park, all the turtles were out catching rays. It seems so early but really, what do I know about that.
Yesterday, Ben and I went to the Western Ave Studios in Lowell. We visited Liz–
Liz–
and Linda, who I forgot to take a photo of- sorry! It was a beautiful day to get out of the house and studio and go for a ride.
I did finish one doll this week. Well, I haven’t looked at her today but last night I thought she was finished. Hopefully I will get some photos later.
Happy Easter!
wet
You may or may not have heard, but we’ve been getting a lot of rain here. Record amounts. Luckily for us, the roof is sound and the basement is dry. The backyard has another pool but that will be gone in a few days. I wonder how the flowers that have already come up will fare?
Yesterday, when the rain was really coming down, Â I went to see how a local stream was looking. Pretty full-
Today we had a little excitement around a downed wire- it involved sparks, smoke, fire… The firemen showed up and kept an eye on things until the electric company arrived to deal with it. Â We chatted. It came up that I am an artist. I showed them what I do and told them I needed a photo for my blog.
Thanks guys!