No Dolls for Dad

I made this pillow for Dad for Father's Day. I didn't think he'd like a doll so much, and I knew he was having knee surgery soon and so I thought a little pillow would be nice. A manly pillow. Or at least a cowboy pillow. I didn't have enough of the blue fabric for both sides but that turned out to be a good thing because then I found the white fabric with the branding iron pattern, so I used that with the blue cowboy pattern it turned out nice. The brown fringe? I found it at a thrift store and immediately knew I had to have it. I thought about sewing it between the fabrics but I wanted to do a blanket stitch around the perimeter of the pillow, so I sewed it on after I turned the pillow right side out. It didn't lay the way I thought it would, but then I still think it looks neato, with the blanket stitch prominent on one side and the silly fringe on the other. Dad likes it and uses it for his head for naps in the recliner, so I think I succeeded. I like doing pillows.

Dottee for Mommy

Here is the dottee doll I made for my Mom for Mother's Day. Uh, yeah, it was a little late going out. But she likes it. I actually got the Mary Engelbreit fabric from her. I thought she was a little too cheery with that fabric, so I had to give her some attitude, hence the tongue sticking out and the eyebrows. Then I had a great time making her hair, braiding strips of novelty yarn together and then hot gluing them on. The big green tassel trim I used on the bottom of the doll not only hides the seam but when I picked it I thought of Carol Burnett wearing the drapes in her Gone With the Wind skit on her show many years ago. My mom and I used to watch that show together when I was a kid and I remember Mom laughing so hard at that skit, it was really fun. I wish I could find it somewhere, like on YouTube, but alas, I searched and couldn't find it. Anyway, I also made this doll a knitted shawl which you can see more of on the back than in front. I love making these little dolls.

Charmed with Charming Charms

These are 4 of the 20 charms I made for a group charm swap. The theme was supposed to be Zetti, which can be interpreted in so many ways, but it usually about some black and white contrast, or stripes, in the style of artist Teesha Moore. So my take was to use dominoes as my base, then I glued some fab Japanese paper on the back of the domino and Mod Podged it so it would be shiny. Then I used some copper wire and wrapped the domino around the edges, then twisted and curlicued it on top of the paper, adding some beads along the way. The wire is looped at the top of the domino so it can be attached to a bracelet or whatever. I was very pleased with how these turned out.

kitty humor

More Robot

The little red tabs all open in different directions and there's a little something under each one: a chinese coin, a heart, and googly eyes.

New Dottee Doll: Robot

So here's my latest dolly I made for a Swap-bot swap. I love robots, so this was really fun.

Flowers Blooming, Finadamnly

We went to the flower show at the Como Conservatory a couple weeks ago in the sunken garden and I love this shot I got under the bridge. And it just smelled soooooo good in there. I'm very sensitive to smell.

comfiness break

Even though it's getting warmer here now, sometimes when it's in the low 60's and we have the windows open and there's breezes, I can not get warm all day. I want to be this kitty. I got to put on a sweatshirt and curl up under a blanket.

needle book: inside the front and back covers

I tried a couple different things inside the front and back covers that I may or may not do again. I just love that lace inside the front cover so wanted to use some. Same with my fabric choice. Then on the back page I sewed some sheer ribbon and made sort of a slot for a small bobbin of embroidery thread. I didn't quite like how that came out. I only used one sheet of felt, which some people try to pass off as 4 pages, and that's just stupid because you'll be poking yourself on both sides. So I might put another sheet of felt in next time for a few more pages, since I have so many needles.

I also whip-stiched some novelty yarn around the edge of the book, which may be overkill because I did two different yarns, but I like it. I want it to be fun and inspiring-looking, not boring and tedious. So I'm making more of these and will put some of them on my Etsy store and see how they sell. The other thing I was thinking was putting a few needles in them to start off the recipient. It just seems cruel to send an empty needle book. It's so overwhelming to go to JoAnn's and look at the needles, whereas if you're a general crafter, you can just look at a few and go, "That looks like it will work." That's what I've ended up doing. Any thoughts, fellow crafters who sew stuff?

new project: needle books

Hi, I am not a seamstress, but I play one on TV. Or at least in my craft room. and I have all these needles and I got sick of hunting them down so I looked up on the internet the ten thousand ways people make them. Most of them looked too darn tidy and fussy to me. I like quick and messy and a little fuzzy. So here's what I came up with: Heavier upholstery cotton fabric for the outside, a nice light cotton for the inside, a layer of batting in between, then after getting that all sewn and flipped right side out, cut a piece of felt with pinky shears (I know they're called pinking, I just like the name pinky shears better) and sew that on down the spine. Then I threw a couple cute iron-on patches on the front cover. And learned that there's a wrong way to sew in non-2-sided ribbon for ties.

Funky Tree ATC

Another tiny ATC book...ah so tiny, I love tiny

You know you want it, you must have it, go buy it on my Etsy... Update 5/15: Hey! Someone bought them all! Cool! I'll make more this weekend...

ACEO's...hmmmm

These are some ACEO's I just put up for sale in my Etsy shop. I've never sold ATC's before, which is what ACEO's are, but I felt these were worth it. They're made using rubber stamps I carved (of Amelia Earhart for the earlier shrine project - which did not sell, by the way, and I'm putting that up for sale on the Etsy shop as well). The backgrounds are painted with watercolors and lumiere and I think they're really nice. I hope someone else thinks so. We shall see.

Chris' Frosted Flaked ATC book finished!

I think I really over-blinged it, but I think Chris will love it. I just found these tiny spoon charms, too, that go Grrrreat! with the books that I'll keep using as long as I can find someplace to order them.

But Is She A Dotee?

Dotee Dolls are all friendly and cute, and mine are, well, countercultural, as my mother-in-law put it, correcting my father-in-law, who was calling them voodoo dolls. His is a very small world. I thought about calling them ShI dolls, as in pronounced she and short for Shut It. Like Talk to the Hand, just Talk to the doll, or talk to ShI.