Monday

A new day of a new week of a new month. That's a mouthful. Today was a good day. I was able to longarm two preemie quilts, made binding and attached it to one of them, started a list for a huge project, organized and tallied receipts from last month (will be doing that once a month for end of year taxes, yes, I'm thinking of making next year's taxes as easy as possible), wrote a rough draft for a short story, attached Raggedy Ann's limbs (she was supposed to be done last year for her 100th anniversary), and stuffed arms for two Halloween dolls.

She's got big feet but that's okay. The thing is is to get her done. Paint job will be this week.

7/7

Okay, I mentioned that I was having a hard time creating in the past month. I don't know why I forget why it happens on occasion and what my remedy is. My work space has been a mess. Couldn't find anything. I knew I should clean up. But the procrastination pixies were running rampant. So instead of sinking into a pit of melted marshmallow mixed with peanut butter and crude oil, I decided to do something. About the mess. With the longarming of my own quilts, I had a pile of batting leftovers. I went through them, separated them, and put them into see through (that's the key) plastic bags and labeled them. The larger pieces I measured each piece, labeled, and nicely folded. They can be used for some nice size wall hangings. The next size pieces were too small for wall hangings but could be used to make some ornaments (I guess I should get going on those because you know what holiday is approaching), those also went into a labeled bag. The pieces that were too small for ornaments but too big to throw away, went into another bag. I will use those pieces to wrap doll bodies. That took about two hours of the morning but was very happy with the results. I continued to rearrange other things. I do have a few stacks of things to go through but they are neat stacks.

I practiced Esperanto, posted a blog, went to the library for more books, watched some paper mache videos, did not go on Facebook for the day (which was a bit difficult but stuck to my guns and was able to get things done), I got back to working on Verity (a pattern by Deana Hogan) and I was enjoying it. It's been awhile since I worked on a doll. I don't know why I'm so down on cloth dolls. Maybe because I've made so many of them that I want to do something different. That's fine, but I don't have to give cloth up forever.

The legs and arms have been stuffed. I now have to stitch the fingers on the hands and stuff the head and body. Her lower legs are out of a striped material to simulate stockings. I picked an olive green fabric for her dress.

I made a trip to Trailer Stash Fabrics this morning. Love that place. Got another Sashiko kit and a dress pattern. And I got into some more trouble. I signed up for a Quilt Top Challenge. We could list up to six quilt tops that we want to finish. The owner of the shop picks one of the numbers for us and that's the quilt we work on. It's not to finish the whole quilt, just the top. And the one she picked for me was my Halloween Cat wall hanging. I guess I'm going to have to get it done. I have a month. And I signed up for an open workshop that starts in the Fall. That one will be like a block-of-the-month. I can't wait to see the designs. I'm off to work on that cat and some other things. See ya later.

Makeover Dollies

Here’s an update on my redo babies. I’ve taken their clothes off, removed button eyes (felt like I was in the opening scene of Coraline), removed embroidered lips and fabric noses, took off legs and unstuffed them.

Here’s what the stuffing looked like after I fluffed the pieces out.

Now I’m ready to reshape the legs. I’ve drawn the old leg out on a piece of cardboard from a cereal box. I’ll draw a new shape for the feet, re-cut the old legs and sew back together. Should be fun.

Progress on Gail Wilson Doll

I've been busy, still at the costume shop at Old Salem and working hard to get home to create. Writing has been lackluster too. So here's a quicky. The next stage of my Columbian Doll. I couldn't believe how much stuffing went into that head. And it is hard. Note to self: don't clip so close to neck seams no matter what instructions say. I busted out a few seams and have camouflaged them with modeling paste. Poor baby.

I gave her two base coats of gesso and now I'll have to give her a light sanding before I start painting her with acrylic.

And here are my buttons for my pirate vest. I've been eyeing them for almost a year and was so happy that my bead lady still had some in stock. You know that adage? If you like it when you see it, buy it. I got lucky this time.

Pictureless Post

For the past three months I've been having problems with my right thumb. I figured it was either tendinitis or arthritis. Well it got so bad I finally had to go to the clinic to have it checked out. It's arthritis. Figures. I cried. I finally figure out what I want to do with myself and I'm off to a great start and this. Several prescriptions sucking up money I don't have, the purchase of a thumb splint and I'm still here. I've also added some natural things to my diet. Ginger, cayenne, cinnamon, tart cherry juice, Glucosamine complex, Vit E-alpha, and topping it off with some exercise by knitting and working with clay.

Getting old sucks but I will not let this get me down. I will continue on making as many heads as I can before I can't use my hands at all. Who knows, they may find a cure by the time I reach 80. It's starting to feel better. The meds are kicking in and I have a lot of catching up to do. So stay tuned.

Two Heads are Better Than One

I have an art exhibit coming up and pulled out these two heads.  They are made of polymer clay and I still like them.  That's why I will try to bring them to life.  I'm working out the details of their bodies.  I don't know if I want them as individual pieces or a team.  I'm going to have to work on that fast.

Parts and More Parts!

I love these legs. I felt I needed more parts for the film. A true doller has more than one project going on at the same time and this character (main one in film) will have all types of dolls in her shop. They kind of look like they can be Can-Can dancer legs or witchy legs. I think I'm going to have to make more of these and do the rest of the body. More things on the list, not many off.

I have some legs that won't be stuffed but be able to be spread on a table or stuck to a board on the wall. I like the green ones too. These are for the film. Down Bad Wendy, down.

I also did 2 sets of arms and one set will be stuffed. You can see the patterns to the right, which will probably be in the film too. I have different size body parts ready to be set. This is getting fun again. First real production meeting/rehearsal is Saturday. Woo hoo!

Up close on the arms. These individual fingers weren't too bad to do because they were quite big. I haven't stuffed the other set yet, so I don't know how much I'll be liking them when they're done. Still debating on if they fingers will be wired.

I know I'm behind and even though my eyeballs were getting funky again, I made sure I did something towards my art cause. Yay me!