another forest girl

All covered with her cape-

Sneak peak of her brighter clothes underneath-

Here she is without her cape-

I played with a new way of making hair- several layers of wool.

Here is her cape, laid out. You can see her skirt and underskirt, which is made of another printed sweater of an angora/wool blend- so soft.

And here are the 2 girls together. These girls are making me very happy.

renegade and doll club

Hurray! I found out that I will be going to Renegade Brooklyn. See you there in June!

Yesterday was my doll club meeting- topic, making doll hats. Lots of ideas, styles, examples.

Two people showed up with dolls made from my patterns- so neat!

Lois made Purl girl-

And Pat made 2 fish-

Obviously I should have spent a minute taking one good photo, but I did not. So, here are 2 bad photos and maybe you’ll get the idea.

more tiny worlds, fantasy islands

I would really like to be on one of these right now-

This was the first one I got started on. The blue-green swirl glass was obviously perfect for a water scene, but the clear cup was a challenge to design around.

This second one is made on a cup I found at the Goodwill on Wednesday. Liz and I went there after the meet-up. Now, I know that you need to approach thrift shopping with an open mind. If I am looking for something in particular, I can be sure I will never find it. Something else wonderful, but never that thing I “needed”. As I walked into the store, I said to Liz, What I really need is some more teacups that don’t have flower designs because I am working on water scenes. Well, that should have killed any chance of finding what I need. So, imagine my surprise when I found not one, but two of these pretty celadon cups with a goldfish embossed into them. Perfect, and a thrifting miracle!

And one more-

These are going into my shop now.

another tiny world, books,

and some other notes.

One more tiny world done-

Another meet-up this morning and it was fantastic! Thanks for showing up ladies- Liz, Crystal, Louise, Linda, Lisa, and Kerry! Next one is April 14. Hmm, the day before taxes. Wonder if anyone will show up?

And, a book report. I bought myself a book about the circus. It is gigantic!

I’m not sure how I first discovered it. Maybe an Amazon search? I discovered that one local library has it as a reference book so I went to look at it. I literally gasped when I opened it. 600 plus pages of inspiration. But… wow, it cost SO much. It took me over a month to decide to buy it. First I thought I’d wait to see if I lost interest. When I didn’t, I checked out all the used book sites, watched on ebay, and then discovered there is another book of the same name by the same author but smaller… That was when I finally decided to just go for it and buy it on Amazon. I am not sorry.

and like I said, 600+ more pages!

And another book- this one I got out of the library, but I think I’ll be looking for a used one online.

Someone posted about it on their blog a while back- sorry but I don’t remember who. When I saw the book, it brought back a flood of memories. This book was the one I was using back in 9th grade when I made this sampler-

It is so much fun to page through the book and see how it influenced me. It is inspiring me once again – this time I am using the stitches on my tiny worlds.

meet-up, portland, etc.

The next crafty meet-up is this Wednesday, March 10 in Davis Sq. in Somerville (MA). 10 am. Other meet-up reports.

Ben and I drove up to Portland to pick up Peter for Spring break, see his new dorm room, have a great lunch, walk around on a beautiful day. There are some wonderful signs around the town.

I’ve got a lot of things on my mind and am in a bit of a funk. We are having beautiful weather though and that means I can spend some time in the garden doing the clean up that I never had time for last fall. Spending time in the sun at the end of winter is therapeutic.

I am trying to schedule another class for the end of April. Tiny World or Fresh Fish? At my house or a roomier venue? Any thoughts?

a little bit of this,

and a little bit of that.

This happens to me all the time. I finished up the fish project, went to NYC, had my class and then … well I am completely scattered. I’ve got a group of tiny worlds started-

and I’ve been wanting to dye a pile of toile fabric- I’d been in the middle of that project back at the beginning of February when I veered off to the fish. And the pile of fabric, the pots, the dye, have all been sitting on the kitchen counter for the month. So, I did that at the beginning of the week-

Okay, and then there are the girl dolls that have been haunting me since last summer. They were cut out in August, put in a bin and have been sitting there, waiting for me.  I really think I need to make them before anything else. Really, yes, haunting me. There are 4. I sewed one together last night.

And lastly, there are the partially finished projects that always seem to get left behind when I move on to the next thing- one fish, one tattooed man-

It will sort itself out as it always does. Things don’t progress in a nice straight line- just wanted to make sure you know it is not just you.

* Fish Sightings! * Here and Here! See- nobody can make just one.