Unwanted blog

Is anyone having a problem with unwanted blogs that they follow? I looked at my dashboard and there's a blog called Gadget Question by a Catherine Anderson. I haven't signed up to follow it and it's on my list of blogs that I follow. I can't unfollow it because I haven't signed up to follow it. It just appeared and I can't get rid of it. It's really upsetting me because it's taking up space from the blogs I do follow and I have to wade through all of these stupid Google gadget posts.

More Legs

Sewing up a storm and liking my new enlarged voodoo doll pin pattern. I thought I'd get some sewing done while I wait for the cold front that's supposed to come in today. Maybe it'll cool off enough so I can stuff.

These legs will belong to goth type dollies. Maybe a bit of 70's needs to be involved here. A couple of rock stars maybe?

These are quite mod too.

Here are the first two stuffed and ready to be dressed. I thought their head would be too big but now, I see that I'll be able to make hats for them. A big head comes in handy.

Now I have to determine if I want their faces to look like my voodoo doll pins. One button eye and a x for a missing eye or two button eyes, or painted eyes with the 'I need some sleep' look. Any suggestions?

Ghostie Girl Beatrix

Oh my gosh! I was looking over my blog and I didn't post a pic of Beatrix. I posted her toys and cotton candy but not her finished. Good grief! Well, here she is.

Beatrix had fun at the Bat Festival. She had bat fritters, and bat juice and she didn't throw up when she got on the Bat Cup ride or the Bat Coaster. She won two plushies, and was able to get some creepy cotton candy with spider bits before heading home.

The squid is made of felt with pipe cleaners in his legs for posing. His face is embroidered. You can see the bats in her skirt.

The bat is also made of felt and is quite regal with his pendant and ribbon ends. The cotton candy is needle felted and the spiders are small buttons. Gotta love Halloween stuff at the store. You can find so much. These buttons were from last year. I can't wait to see what they have for this year.

Beatrix also has yellow star buttons on her shoe straps. You can barely see the yellow.

And her official bat hat is made of felt with a bat button on the front. The expression on her face shows that she is bat tired. I am so sorry Beatrix and crew for forgetting to post you. See everybody real soon.

More in Progress

I've decided to try and get a lot of doll bodies done this month and dress them all next month. Stuffing and attaching limbs can be a bit tedious, dressing them is fun. I'm going to try it. Here are more bodies in the works.

I like my little voodoo doll pins so much that I decided to enlarge the pattern to make a larger doll. I don't have a copier in my apartment so I measured the original pattern. The distance between the top of the head to the waist, the top of hips to toes and made a new, bigger pattern.

This is what I came up with after using some of my yummy stripe fabric for their legs. I'll stuff them tomorrow. I did find a problem after altering the body pattern as I was cutting them out and had to readjust the leg pattern. If it works out after stuffing, I'll just adjust the leg part. If it doesn't work out, I'll have to redo the body.

This is my fourth Ghostie Girl. As of right now she doesn't have a name. She will have bats. Not in her belfry but all over. They are pets. I'm on the lookout for a small wicker birdcage. The craft stores have their fall stuff out now and guess where I'll be. Also will be on the lookout for coupons.

Another Wandi Goth doll. I finally stuffed her head and attached it and limbs. That other long arm with the pointed finger belongs to the above Ghostie Girl.

Hop To It Block 7

I finally finished another block-of-the-month block. I'm a bit out of order but here it is. We just got number 8 and I have to finish appliqueing number 6. Confused? Enjoy.

More Projects

I got off to a good start at the beginning of the month and now, well, life is doing weird things to me. But I shall prevail. I'm not going down without a fight. Here are two new projects I'll be working on in the next week.

First up is another needle felted Mardi Gras skellie, like Mavis. I've got to get pipe cleaner on for the feet and then add more wool for felting. The armature is covered with wool batting. He/she looks kind of happy and ready to celebrate already.

A friend gave me these two candlestick holders. I will sand them and needle felt Halloween heads and attach them to each. The sanding will take place today. I mean, why not? I think once I get them painted, I'll have a better idea of the size head or jack'o lantern I'll put on.  Here we go.

Topsy Turvy Doll

One day, working at the job in a gallery, a woman stopped in to look around. We started talking and I told her I made dolls. She asked if I repaired them and I said that I used to. She told me she had her grandmother's doll and it's head was coming off. That there was a tear in it and her two year old granddaughter got a hold of it and well, you know what happened. I told her to bring it in and let me take a look at it and I wasn't going to guarantee anything. A week later, she brought the poor thing in. It was a beautiful doll, well loved. This woman was in her 50s and the doll belonged to her grandmother. Lots of loving going on.

This is the other end of the doll. You can see the discoloration and dirt in the dress.

This is the poor baby. Little granddaughter did quite a number on an already weakened head. I told the lady that I would do what I could but she wouldn't be able to go onto Antique Roadshow with it. She said she knew that and it was okay. She said that it's only worth something to her and she just wanted the head back on.

Her she is with her head back on. I had to make a surgical collar for her. As you can see more deterioration on her cheek. She was very fragile and I had a little darning to do. It's held up well for as old as it is. I marveled at the detail of the hand sewing that was done to put this little beauty together in the first place. The ladder stitching was impeccable. I haven't made one of these in a long time and now I want to dash off a few.  

Isn't she just the cutest thing? I love her embroidered face. I'm glad I got her head back on but she's going to have to have a proper place on a high shelf, away from little fingers. She can't stand much more harsh treatment. I almost cried as I was trying to get her back together because of the condition the fabric is in. But I sucked it up. The lady just wanted her head on.

And now it is.

Work in Progress

I had started several Ghostie Girls last year and only have two of the five done. Until now. Here are Beatrix's plushies and cotton candy.

This is Sal, her squid plushie made of felt and embroidered eyes and mouth.

Bastion, the bat prince, that she won at the Whack a Bat game.

She also scarfed down some bat fritters and when she was done riding the Bat Coaster, she picked up some Creepy Critter Cotton Candy.

Those are black spiders on the cotton candy. There is no other way to have Creepy Critter Cotton Candy. Beatrix will be completed by the end of the day. Cheers!

Hello August

A new month and I've left the creative starting gate in a flash. So many new projects going on, being started, those needing to be completed. I have a show in two months and I've got to get crackin'. So far I've got witch pins cut out and ready to be sewn. All 20 of them. I will work on them in batches of five. I have needle felted dolls to do ranging from bears to skellies to ghoulish ladies. Ornaments need to be made: bats, Day of the Dead, and skulls. And I've started some miniature figures. That should be fun. I will get pics up soon but for right now, enjoy another block of my Hop To It quilt.