Prairie Girls

These are my Prairie Girls. I think they turned out quite well and I had a great time making them. I hadn't made anything that big in a long time(18") and I found myself giving them hugs when they were done. They are also for the film. I think I'll have to make some just for me. :)

I think they look cuter and different on my sofa. The bodices have pin tucks and their bloomers have either pin tucks or lace. Their shoes are painted on with acrylic paints. I used regular yarn for their hair instead of fancy yarn for most of my dolls. These were also done the end of December. That was a good month. Keep checking back.

Gingy Girls

These are my Gingy Girls. Gingy because before they got dressed, they looked like gingerbread cookies. Big ones. They will be in with the others for the independent film that is still in pre-production. They were finished the last week in December and the boys will be following soon.

Happy New Year

It is a new year. How fast the time flew by. 2009 was a decent year, I learned a lot about myself. I pushed myself into doing things out of my comfort zone, I finally made it to the NC coast and started my lighthouse hunting, and I made it to Pilot Mountain. I've made new friends, lost one and made many wonderful contacts. I met Faith Ringgold, one of my favorite artists/writers and I was a participant in my town's Holiday Parade. That was so much fun.

2010
I am ready and excited for the New Year. I am not making resolutions, I have goals and I'm open for cool and unusual surprises. I am working in a new art medium, needle felting and will have something to show at the end of the month. There will be bears, pirates, merfolk, faefolk, oh my!

I have rearranged my living quarters, so I now have a bonafide art/workroom. I can close the door on hurricane activities.

Along with getting rid of holiday weight, some of my other goals are:
-complete edit of my kid's manuscript
-edit a sci-fi story and enter it into a competition
-create more pieces of art
-be more frequent with my blog postings
-finish more of my unfinished quilt projects
-travel more
-laugh more

and

-a painting a month

Crazy? Yeah, but you only go around once and I'm going to have a blast this year. I am going to make my life, wild, crazy and exciting along with all my creative endeavors. I am so excited, I can't sit still.

I do hope you'll come back.

I finally finished 'Aunt Fadeelah's Fancy Quilt'. It's from fabric in my stash that I wasn't going to use. I had started it some time ago but it got put onto the UFP pile. Then I had a talk with my aunt and decided to go ahead and finish. It's big enough to go over her lap and knees, 24" x 38".
I feel so good now that it's done. I was having a bit of a problem getting back to finishing things. I didn't know what it was until I looked at my art table. It was a disaster. Hurricane Hugo and a 8.0 magnitude earthquake played tag there. I cringed. I really did. I didn't want to go near it and that's where my block was coming from.

So I took 30 minutes to clear it off. I only have 3 projects on my table after a whopping 9 unfinished projects. They were all vying for my time to get done and I didn't know what was there or what to work on. Now, I only have 3 in varying stages. I can actually see my table. I do feel a bit better now, but my bedroom is a mess. I only sleep there. Now I have room to finish things.

Oswin

This is Oswin. He's my 5th needle felt creation but my first needle felt art doll. I made him in at a Paige Cox workshop and had a blast. She didn't think I would learn anything from her, me being a doll maker for over 20 years but I knew better. One can always pick up different techniques in any class.
I wasn't too fond of the idea of wet felting but she showed me a different way to do it and I'm just about ready to go. I need to pick up a few more things at the end of the week and Oswin will have company.
My friend Kellie fell in love with him, so she'll get one for her office. I'll make a female version for my mom for Christmas. She'll get a kick out of it.

Weekend Vacation

My friend Kellie came to visit me this weekend from Michigan. She comes once a year about this time and we catch up on everything from when we were in school, to families, work, creative endeavors and the future.

Of course we had a blast. We ate out and drove around. I took her to Historic Bethania and to the Hampton House Gallery. We saw some awesome homes and told of how we would decorate and landscape them. Went shopping and talked and laughed 'til we couldn't do it anymore. No towns were painted red or purple and no buildings burned. :D

Now it's back to being creative and get back on track with NaNo. I miss her already but will see her in the summer.

It's November!

OMG!
Two more months and it's all over. Time truly waits for no one. You either do it or you don't. I've started NaNo and have 4851 words. I have my aunt's lap quilt layered up and will machine quilt it this week. Binding next week and then in the mail to her. I'm feeling really good about that quilt. The last time I spoke to her, she said how much she liked quilts, and new of the work that went into them. That if I had time, could I make her a small one to put on her lap. I thought, wow, that's really cool. So her lap quilt is almost done and she will be tickled to get it.

Still working on dolls for the film. It's all good because I feel good about them. I've picked up a new technique and will make a couple using that. Debating on whether to decorate for X-Mas. I could go Steampunk. :)

Working to get more pics up. Have a great day and November.