WIP.........

I've finished the four cross stitch leaves. I really like the ombre effect that is used in some of the leaf sections.  It's very pretty. In person it's very clear but I'm not sure my pictures show it as the light wasn't that great to take pictures. 

The brown one made me think of chocolate the whole time I was working on it.

And.......I'm having a lucky summer it seems. I just won a $10 US coupon from the Dollmakers Journey Facebook page. They have a contest every week and I finally won. Already spent it on a doll pattern:)

Take care and keep safe:)

WIP

The temperature today was about 29 C with a humidex of 39C. HOT!

Then it started to rain in buckets. When the rain stopped for a few minutes the water steamed off the asphalt road. I decided that it was a good day to stay inside with the air conditioning on....and sew:) .

I made a start on the rag doll. Body, arms and legs. Tomorrow I will stuff her and give her some boots. I'm going to paint them on. I'm thinking black but I also like the idea of red boots. It all depends on what I find in my stash for her clothing.

Take care :)

A Rag Doll with a difference........

Lucky me!!!!

I was recently given a pattern book for some very unique rag dolls. Along with the pattern book I was also given two screen printed faces. One is called the Boudoir Doll and the other is called the Story Book Doll. They are really high quality and beautifully done.

These rag dolls have lots of personality:) The torso construction is pretty unique as well. Inside there are 10 face templates that you can trace onto fabric yourself to make other types of dolls or you can purchase one of the screen printed faces. There are also actual size patterns for the doll clothes as well. Lots of possibilities.

The designer is Gabriel Cardy who is a fellow Canadian. Strangely enough there doesn't seem to be a lot of Canadian cloth doll makers out there. If there are they are pretty silent as far as social media is concerned.

Gabriel does have an Etsy store if anyone is interested.....https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/GCardyDesigns. She is also on Facebook. You can do a search for G Cardy Designs to find her.

I'm going to make the Boudoir doll first. I can think of about a dozen ways I could dress her. The Storybook doll reminds me of Alice in Wonderland but she has a lot of potential for other different ideas.

I'll post a pic of my finished doll. Stay tuned :)

WIP Wednesday.....

I haven't been doing much crafting recently. Mostly sorting stuff to give away or throw away in my attempts to downsize for our eventual house move. It really is shocking what you can accumulate in 40 years. The things I have found that I didn't even know we owned...LOL Oh well:) Also isn't it amazing that when you put something at the bottom of the driveway it disappears. Magic. I'm so happy when that happens. Someone has found a use for what I have to let go.

The reason we are moving is to be closer to these two......Megan and her new brother Benjamin. A sweet little boy born in February. 

Despite all this I have done a wee bit of sewing.....

I had originally made a little bird nest of fibers on a CQ block. Then I decided I didn't like the fabrics that I had used so it went in to my "maybe later" pile.

I was sorting out stuff the other day and found the block again and I thought what a shame. So a wee bit of recycling was done and the nest was incorporated into the middle of an EPP block I had made some time ago.

It was an EPP block I made when I was learning how to do the technique. I wasn't too adept in joining the pieces and you can see my stitches. Now I can cover them up with some CQ seam treatments. Bonus!!

So it'll be EPP meets CQ :)

Take care.

A Finish....

We've had problems with our telephone line since about January 8th. We only found out that we had no land line when my son phoned my husband's cell phone to tell us. So of course the internet was down most of the time. It came back maybe two times? I gave up bothering to check. We finally got service back on January 16th. No explanation was offered by Bell Canada as to what the issue was.

I will admit that I was going through serious withdrawal....LOL.  I did listen to some audio books to keep myself amused while I finally finished a doll I started ages ago.

Queen Beetrix.

Take care:

WIP - Mermaid

I've been quiet lately as I have been working on my mermaid doll for the Doll Street Club challenge. Things are moving along slowly.

It's a good thing I still have until September 15th. Doll makers will tell you that sometimes the doll you are making has very definite ideas about what it wants to look like. I know that sounds weird but it's true. I have changed her look so many times but I think I'm okay with what I have now......on the bottom bit anyway. Her very bodacious top part is giving me grief.

She is from a pattern by Patti Medaris Culea. Patti did a lot more complicated beading than I have done. I kept it simple by only doing an edging. It turned out that I was very limited in my bead selection as I wanted to use what I already had. I picked out six colours that sort of matched the fabric.

I had some issues with the 7 separate "scaled" pieces that you are supposed to wrap around the tail. Hmmm.

 

After attempting that a few times I gave up. I didn't like the look with all the closed end bits showing up on the front here and there. It was sort of unavoidable if you wanted to cover the tail with them??? I felt it looked unfinished.

I ended up unpicking each end of the 7 bits and sewing them altogether into one strip. Even then it wasn't quite long enough to cover the tail even spreading the strip out as much as possible. Annoying. I didn't have any more fabric to try something else so I decided to go with what I had.

Then I had a problem. I didn't want to use Patti's idea for covering the raw seam between the torso and the tail. She used synthetic organza chiffon. She sealed the edges using a candle. It's very pretty but I couldn't see myself doing that...OMG. A disaster waiting to happen...LOL 

 

To fill in the gap from the end of the strip to her body I decided to use what the pattern designer had already provided. The actual pattern piece for the tail had an edging but the directions told you not to use it. To cut the edge straight instead. Which I did. So I cut a scrap of the fabric using the pattern piece. Then I used "Wonder-Under Pellon transfer web to attach it to her torso. It was pretty old stuff but it still worked.

Still needs something though....sigh. Tried a jeweled belt sort of thing but not quite right.

Still a work in progress. 

Take care:)

WIP.......and Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians.....

Source

I've been re-reading the whole "Realm of the Elderlings" series of books by Robin Hobb.
I just finished her "Rain Wild Chronicle" books....The Dragon Keeper, Dragon Haven, City of Dragons and Blood of Dragons.

I've also just finished watching the seventh season of Game of Thrones on blue ray. OMG eeeeek!!! The ending!!!!

So of course now I really want to make a dragon

I'm using a pattern by Melinda Small Patterson.

I've noticed that some doll makers add arms in addition to the wings but I'm leaning towards making it as Melinda designed it. Her dragon is more like Smaug from the Hobbits or the dragons from Game of Thrones. At this point I haven't decided if I want to make it with the mouth opened or closed.

I found some batik fabric at my local quilt shop with a print that looks very dragonish. I think so anyway.

When finished this dragon will be about 28 inches long and a foot high. Sorry I still don't use metric in sewing. Old habits etc.

My online doll club asked that we post pictures on their site of our sewing rooms. I thought you'd like to see where I sew too. I have got rid of a ton of stuff over the last few years as we are planning to sell this house and move closer to my son....and most importantly....my granddaughter :)

I have a small front bedroom with a window that looks out on the street. It's nice to watch people passing when I sew.

My laptop, TV and some upright storage drawers on wheels.

My bookshelf full of books on doll making, embroidery, doll house, crazy quilting and so on. My cutting table with two mini storage boxes that hold my scissors and other necessary tools. My sewing machines and one more upright storage unit. 

Two big shelves built into an alcove to hold my fabric, stuffing and WIPs. Underneath those big bins hold larger bits of fabric and fake fur etc.

That bin on the bottom left usually has a cat sleeping on it.

I try to keep my room as tidy as possible because I'm not very creative if I have a mess around me.

Hoped you enjoyed my mini tour. Take care :)

WIP.......

I had started doing some doodling using all the bits of thread left over from various projects. To what end I don't know but I thought it would be interesting to see what happened.

This was how it looked the last time I posted about it.....

It evolved into this.....

Isn't that strange? I took out one bit then added another bit and voila I have something totally and completely different. Actually it's a good way to try out ideas and stitches.

I have also being doing TAST again just for the heck of it. Using cross stitch fabric is a real challenge and limiting but it keeps it nice and neat.

We were having such nice weather. I had such high hopes for the month of March. Then it snowed again last night. Drat!! But, it is nice to be making dinner in daylight now rather than pitch dark.

Take care:)

Finishes and WIP's

I was following along with Pam Kellogg's "Never Ending Sampler Stitch-Along" and completed Sampler One. As I mentioned in a previous post I was trying to use up bits and pieces of canvas left over from other projects.

I haven't really followed along with her second sampler as it didn't really appeal to me. Maybe a bit too traditional although I did use two of the bands...the middle part of number 2 repeated and number 3.

I didn't quit though. I've been adding bands on my own. Some of them found online. Some my own creations. There's lots of inspiration for bands out there. Just Google Blackwork, Redwork, and so on. Pinterest is also a great source...better than Google actually.

 Some look at bit plain. I intend to add some beads here and there.

And......

I'm ALMOST caught up with "Take A Stitch Tuesday" aka TAST". 

I decided that I needed somewhere to put my stitch samples. So I made a cloth book with cloth pages. For the front cover I decided to use some of my ORTS....old ragged threads...that I have in a bottle on my work desk. It's where I put the ends from embroidery threads, ends of silk ribbon...whatever. I have stared at them for ages and wondered why the heck I was keeping them. Habit I guess.

I was sort of inspired by various crafters/artists that use fibres, threads and ribbons and layer them between sheer fabric or netting and create "fabric". I used a piece of white cotton and a piece of white wedding tulle. In between I placed threads and bits of ribbon from my ORTS jar.

To sandwich the layers together I used a running stitch on the diagonal.

The rest of the cover is some lovely purple batik. To reinforce the cover I used cardboard front and back and a separate piece down the spine. The fabric pages were glued together and then glued to the spine of the book.  So messy and gluey...eeek!  Ah well:)

Not my best effort. There are much better ways of making a cloth book. Next time I will do it very differently.....less glue.....LOL  But, I must say it's quite tactile and it does invite one to turn the pages. I have lots of pages. I intend to put my sampler pieces in the back as a reference for future CQ seams.

Take care:)

Working on a WIP....

I started a doll last year called Lady Anise from a class I took with Angela Jareki. I love her dolls as the costuming is always unique. This is what the doll should end up looking like.....

Source of picture.

Source of Picture

I tried several different types of fabric in various combinations but in the end I just didn't like the outcome. I really didn't like how the back of the skirt hung. It annoyed me.

I guess it's okay not to like someone's concept. But I really really like the look of this doll. I tried to recut the skirt in various ways. I finally decided to give that up as a lost cause and a waste of fabric.

I did make her another type of skirt way back in September. I wasn't sure if I liked it or not as it scrunched out in a strange way as she is designed to be a sitting doll. Work on her ground to a big stop.

She has been sitting around headless and arm less for months now. 

I want to finish her as I think she will turn out to be quite special if I get my act together.

I have started work on her blouse and here she is modeling it. It needs a bit of adjustment but I won't do that until I put her arms on.

Eeek....my sewing room looks very messy in the picture. I must tidy up a bit:)
So next the arms, a refit of the blouse and then her jacket which is cut and ready to sew:)

Is it just me or does Elsa look embarrassed about the whole thing?


Take care:)

Hello........

Hello everyone :)

I haven't been around for a bit as I've had influenza since the end of December. I still have a lingering cough but I'm finally on the mend.

I borrowed this video from another Blogger....Plays with Needles....as I thought it was lovely. All the amazing hand work. Sigh.

I have some deadlines I have to meet sewing wise for the end of January so I better get BUSY!!!!

One thing is the CQJP2015 challenge. Fortunately I took the time to put my 12 squares together before I got sick.

Thank heavens I did because I don't think I could face that at the moment. My enthusiasm and energy level is at a big zero :)

Looking at them now I must have been in a beige frame of mind. Never mind. I'll bling them up :)

I have a new little camera and we aren't friends yet. My old point and shoot died after I dropped it...twice :(  My new camera is not as intuitive as my old camera.

I'll just have to read the instructions I guess. What a concept.....read the instructions...har har. Oh I shouldn't laugh because my ribs hurt from coughing...ouch.

Ah well:)

Take care I'll be back soon to show you what I've been up to.

WIP........

More about my crazy quilting sampler on line class with Kathy Shaw.

I'm finding that the silk ribbon embroidery is not my forte.  It looks pretty though. Anyone who can master it rocks in my books...LOL I would say it takes lots of practice to get it right.

I found it was very difficult to keep the soft integrity of the silk ribbon while pulling it through the two layers of fabric. Pliers were needed when doing the vine. Bad planning on my part. A lot of my leaves are over areas where the seams meet and there are four layers of fabric. Ah well this is how you learn stuff...what not to do.....right?

We have now been introduced to Fly Stitch Roses and French Knot Wraps....eeeek !!

Thank goodness there are videos.

I'm posting the videos here so I can find them again. Also you might like to give SRE a try.

Fly Stitch Rose

French Knot Rose

 
Rosebud Made With French Knot and Beads

Twirled Ribbon Rose.....

Anyway, here is my effort. I think I may be done with this. I'll finish the edges and put it in my stitch diary book for further reference. I've learned quite a bit from this class and I'm considering taking Kathy's intermediate class when she offers it.

If you're interested in cloth doll making, I have also started a new class with Angela Jarecki called The Traveler: Anya and Baba. You can find out what I'm up to over here.

I'm joining up today with The Needle & Thread Network...come on over and see what my fellow Canadians are up to.

Take care:)

WIP

Well my sampler block for the online crazy quilting class I'm taking with Kathy Shaw is starting to fill up. I've done almost all the steps except the ribbon embroidery.

I remember doing silk ribbon embroidery years ago when Brazilian embroidery was a big fad. Silk ribbon is not easy to handle. It takes a light hand, patience and practice but the results are very pretty.

I really love the work of Di van Niekerk. She does such lovely work and she makes it look so easy. Kathy posted a link to Di's YouTube video on doing the iris stitch and I thought I'd share too.

Also here is her video on spiderweb roses...they are often used in crazy quilting....

Di van Niekerk has other videos if you are interested....here. 

Til next time.....

Take care:)

Added:
A great source for embroidery stitching how to's is Mary Corbet's videos which you came find ...here.

Plan B....C....and perhaps D :)

I was looking through my stash of stuff this morning and I found some dodads for want of a better name:) They are really ancient as they belonged to my mum. I believe they were for lingerie. I put two together and they sort of look like a butterfly don't they? Too big in scale for what I'm doing but maybe a future embellishment on something.

I fussy cut some flowers off some lace I had and then dyed them various colours just too see how they would turn out. They're still wet here and will dry a paler colour....hopefully :)

I used strong colours when I did the embroidery on my block so I think my embellishments need to have some depth as well. I can't wimp out and do pastels.

I cut the lace bits some more and made a motif....of sorts :)

I took the metal butterfly and painted it black as an experiment. I then covered the back with some orange/ yellow fabric. It turned out quite good.

Hmm...I can see a few small spots I missed...need to touch it up a bit...

I've pinned it in place for the moment and I'll look at it for a couple of days to see what I think.

 

I think I need some bees in this garden......:)

Take care.

WIP.....

I have done all the seam treatments except one on my block for Kathy Shaw's class on Crazy Quilting. The final seam will have ribbon flowers and leaves which we will get "how to" info on hopefully soon.

It's snowing here today so no light for a decent picture.

I'm supposed to add lace motifs now to a few spots here and there but as yet I haven't done that step. I haven't got any lace motifs....ha ha. I couldn't find any that I liked in the right size. I checked out some sites on line but the cost for shipping three or four little lace thingies was twice the actual cost of them. I'm too cheap:)

So I guess I'll have to go with a plan "B". 

After we do the sik ribbon stuff we will be doing beading and adding some charms. I have a few that I might use. Then again maybe not. I like the dragonfly but not in silver so much.

So that's where I am with this block.

On my other seasonal wall hanging crazy quilt project I had a rethink about the fabrics I was using for Summer. Not enough variety in colour and that butterfly bit had to go. What was I thinking? So I'm making a new block which I will show you soon:)

I'll be back soon.

I'm linking up today with Needlework Tuesday.





I'm also joining up with the Needle & Thread Network as I  haven't done so in a while. I'm not a traditional quilter but I figure when I do participate at TN&TN  it's to bring something different into the mix whether it's about my doll making or now my new venture into crazy quilting.



Take care:)