TRYING TO CATCH UP

Okay, Christmas is over (I received a great new bed!) and New Year's Eve is day after tomorrow.  Time to recycle the last of the boxes and gather up all the glittery do-dads that can be used again and store them in the big box labeled "Christmas Stuff".  Not sure where that box will be stored since the room it was in is now my bedroom.

New Year's Eve is an annual non-event for us but I will stop by Pete and Melanie's in the afternoon and be back home before dark and the drunk drivers.  Melanie teaches hypertufa and sells her pieces at craft and garden fairs.  She is a vegetarian - tho' Pete is not - and she celebrates the equinox and seasonal changes by inviting friends to visit, have a glass of wine a snack and a chat.  Weather permitting, out doors in her garden with rescue cats in attendance.

Once construction has moved from this end of the house, I can do some serious rearranging in an effort to make my work run smoother.  Then, perhaps I can catch up with the DollWorks ladies.   Stop laughing - it's a goal!

CHRISTMAS BLESSINGS

Another year has rushed by.  I've been so busy, I hardly noticed - until I stop to think back on the high (and low) points that marked its progress.  The most life changing was the day I walked out of my home of 20+ years and moved to my son and daughter-in-law's  home to become a permanent family member.

This move prompted the get-it-done renovations (DIL) Luli had longed for for years - which is how I got both a bedroom and a studio/office and a totally rehabed bathroom.  When my bathroom is finished, the kitchen is up for a major renovation. Though Gus did a good upgrade job adding a new tiled counter top and a small pantry a couple of years ago, the kitchen footprint was obviously laid out by someone who had never cooked.  Insofar as load bearing walls will allow, we plan to enlarge the footprint and make it more efficient.

Then on to the master bath!  And the new garage door, the new irrigation system and new landscaping.  And God willing, my back will hold up long enough to have a small vegetable garden.

But best of all is the room I now call my studio/office, just three steps from my bedroom.  And like my bedroom, it's crammed full of those things I simply cannot function without; my computer, my sewing machine, the BIG storage container full of fabrics and furs and idea starters.  The TV and dog food container are in here, too, as is a table Luli gave me.  It fits perfectly in the space I had alloted for it and is long enough to lay out and cut a pattern.  The sewing machine sits on one end.

But space so limited is forcing me to rethink my requirements.  I'm giving my pretty sewing box to my grand daughter who is the go-to person for costumes that she and her friends wear when visiting medieval fairs.   My husband gave me that sewing box the first Christmas we were married. It is leather covered wood and so well made it 's still beautiful after 62 years of use.  With a little loving care, perhaps it will last another 62 years.




  

IT'S HAPPENING!

Today, workers finished laying the bamboo flooring in what will become my new bedroom.  The room has been freshly painted and practically glows.  I've been told I can move furniture in tomorrow, but they will start putting in (after first tearing down) my new bathroom tomorrow.  I will have a walk in shower with a bench.  No more lifting my stiff and aching legs into the tub.  SO.  After workers leave this evening, I start hauling stuff out of the bathroom - and into the new bedroom for the time being.  After the bathroom rehab, my current bedroom will be painted and have a new bamboo floor.  THIS WILL BE MY LONGED FOR STUDIO!

But, moving furniture to and from the storage unit will be a problem.  I'm considering hiring the same crew that moved my stuff from Macclenny to Jacksonville.  Hmmmm, after today's shopping spree, I wonder what my checking account looks like.  Guess I'd better check it.

DETAILS . . .

So, I've all but finished a little draw string bag and a clutch.  The clutch needs some binding and a latch of some sort and the little bag needs -- a better drawstring than I've provided.  I'll tweak it a bit and if I can't make it work, will buy something easier to work with than a metallic embroidery floss.  I've also finished my Elf and Sock and have hung him on my bedroom door.  He will be a gift to anyone who wants him.

MOVING FORWARD - SLOWLY

If I could just STAY AWAKE!!   Sleep deprivation is a real problem for me.  It seems every time I sit down at the computer, sewing machine or tv, my eyes slam shut.  Then it becomes a choice of lay down or fall down.  I prefer to NOT fall down.  Naps are some times no more than 15 minutes, but necessary to get me back on my feet.  Consequently, any project I'm working on is interrupted numerous times

MOVING FORWARD - SLOWLY

If I could just STAY AWAKE!!   Sleep deprivation is a real problem for me.  It seems every time I sit down at the computer, sewing machine or tv, my eyes slam shut.  Then it becomes a choice of lay down or fall down.  I prefer to NOT fall down.  Naps are some times no more than 15 minutes, but necessary to get me back on my feet.  Consequently, any project I'm working on is interrupted numerous times

WHAT ELSE CAN GO WRONG??

I am SO frustrated!  My little Singer Light Weight has a piece of thread caught in the bobbin  mechanism.  Couldn't get it out, so took it to a sewing machine repairman - who has had it for a week.  I can't understand why it's taking so long to do a piece of work that should take someone with the proper tools, only 15 minutes to do.  If he screws up that machine he will pay with his flesh!  Well, his ears, anyway.  My sister "loaned" me that machine years ago and promised me a slow and painful death if anything happened to it.

I will need to take it to the DollWorks meeting on the 7th of next month which is rapidly approaching.  Meanwhile, I have not only doll work to do but   Christmas gifts and mending.  I'm hoping I will be able to have my sewing machine back by this coming Tuesday.  It will probably cost an arm and leg because I wanted it done ASAP - but I probably could have fumbled around and done it myself in a week's time.

Yes, I'm a very impatient person.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

WHAT ELSE CAN GO WRONG??

I am SO frustrated!  My little Singer Light Weight has a piece of thread caught in the bobbin  mechanism.  Couldn't get it out, so took it to a sewing machine repairman - who has had it for a week.  I can't understand why it's taking so long to do a piece of work that should take someone with the proper tools, only 15 minutes to do.  If he screws up that machine he will pay with his flesh!  Well, his ears, anyway.  My sister "loaned" me that machine years ago and promised me a slow and painful death if anything happened to it.

I will need to take it to the DollWorks meeting on the 7th of next month which is rapidly approaching.  Meanwhile, I have not only doll work to do but   Christmas gifts and mending.  I'm hoping I will be able to have my sewing machine back by this coming Tuesday.  It will probably cost an arm and leg because I wanted it done ASAP - but I probably could have fumbled around and done it myself in a week's time.

Yes, I'm a very impatient person.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

THEY DON'T CALL IT DOLLWORKS FOR NOTHING!

--- and WORK is the operative word.  I can't keep up!  I have no husband or children to care for, very little cooking or cleaning to do (except sweeping up after the dogs!), so one would assume I have TONS of free time.   But being unsure of my skills with computer and sewing machine, requires hours of fumbling around, making the wrong choices and generally doing everything at least twice.  Very time consuming.

So the fabric wizards at DollWorks are light years ahead of me and I'm frantically trying to get my December project off the ground.  It seemed simple enough until they added a doll.  Now we will make a stocking with a doll on it.   MY doll is going to be an elf - and that's all I'm going to tell about it. The stocking is made and I'm adjusting the doll pattern  to fit.  I may use the head from last month's project since I've decided to get a better "doll fabric" for her.  After all, she's to be a very classy 20's flapper.

NOW I REMEMBER

--  why I made only one cloth doll before switching to clay.
I finally received the October project pattern and discovered that what I'd thought was a tightly woven fabric - was not, that the dolls hips and bust looked disproportionally large (so I narrowed the hips a bit),  and that no matter how fat I made the fingers, I still couldn't turn them.  So far, I've made a second pair of arms - that I can't turn past the wrist - and three heads.  I haven't tried stuffing head number three yet.  I'm glad I bought a half yard of the fabric.

But my very first discovery before ever cutting the first piece of fabric, was that the pattern itself seemed to be hand drawn without the use of a straight edge or curve.  Having been a drafter for so many years, I notice immediately when a thing, a pattern piece, isn't a mirror image when it's supposed to be.  I'm tempted to draw a Revision A of this pattern for my own use.  I couldn't sell Rev A because the (lopsided) original is copyrighted - and she's selling it for eight bucks a pop!

With so many other demands on my time, I doubt I'll have this project done for show and tell.  I'm thinking of just ditching the doll and making a dress for my unpainted manequin - and of course, it's not the pattern dress.  I didn't like it either, so did some research and came up with a dress I DID like.  A funny thought; not only do I think outside the box, I create my own box.

PAPER DOLLS -- FOR GROWN-UPS

The idea is floating around Doll Works members.  I think it would be a fun project, especially if we sewed the dolls costume instead of making paper clothes with tabs to hold them in place.  Of course, a sewn costume would require a sturdier doll - perhaps the paper doll mounted on luaun - perhaps show both front and back.  After all if the costume is to be sewn, why not make it complete?

Meanwhile, I'm waiting to receive the pattern for next month's project - my first fabric doll since my poor Christmas doll made of cast off body parts.  I'll start the new doll right away - that is if I can find a good flesh color fabric.  I think my theme will be the 1920's, via some glamorous draped gown with all the beads and feathers.  I need to find the nearest Hobby Lobby.

. . . AND THE BUBBLE BURST

. . . but life goes on.  Our dream of a farm has been canceled by my son's worsening health.  The farm is now for sale and the proceeds will go to rehab our current city house.  I will get a new bathroom and a studio room (HOORAY!)  and we will still have a small aquaponics setup and a garden as well as a splash pool.  Of course, living in a planned community means dealing with the home owners association (HOA) who can put the kabosh on your most well meaning idea or project.  I guess the idea is to either make it pretty or hide it. Meanwhile, I'll keep on making dolls and things.

DollWorks

Only four members showed up for the meeting, and the pattern making demo got moved aside for  an urgent discussion on collecting member dolls to grace the opening reception of our annual Quilt Fest.  The dolls display had to be set up then taken down that same evening.

I wish our quilt show would include cloth dolls as a regular part of the show.  So many quilters make more than just quilts especially if there are grandchildren about.

I think some times that I'd like to design a quilt, even select the fabrics for it - but I'd never want to actually make it.  I simply don't have the sewing skill or patience!

MISSING THE MESS

That sounds awful, I'm sure, but I miss not having an entire room - okay, house - to spread out numerous projects in.  My creative process is probably short circuited some how, because unless I have a deadline looming over me (too many years in publishing?)  I tend to hop from project to project on the slightest excuse, ergo: I ran out of a required color of paint, the glue dried up, I cut a pattern piece on the wrong side of the fabric, or most annoying, finally admitting her head is too big/small and requires  replacing.

Joining the DollWorks group is keeping me involved and scrambling to keep up with these very talented ladies.  But, my room is quickly filling up not only with finished pieces but with leftovers from making those pieces.  I can see me eventually taking a load of "stuff" to the storage unit so I can find my bed.  I'll have a proper work space again eventually.

Meanwhile, my sister will be down here from the mountains of N Carolina the last two weeks of September to do a house search.  I'm going to do my best to influence her choice to include a generous "craft/sewing room."   I'm sure she'd let me share it once in a while.

Her son is urging a duplex so that they may be close but not together.  I like the idea because HE is also very artsy crafty and we think very much alike.  I've learned that working with other creative people multiplies the creative output exponentially.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed.                                                  

STELLA DIDN'T MAKE IT

Finally received my fall edition of Art Doll Quarterly yesterday and Stella Skelly didn't make the cut - or rather, she WAS cut from the "Glamour Ghoul" contestants.  This would have been the perfect venue for Stella, had I sent better photos.  My photographer tried his best to give me what I wanted but what I wanted was photographically unrealistic - and bless him, he seemed unwilling to tell me "NO".  So, perhaps I'll enter her next year if I don't sell her before then.

                            "TRICK? OR TREAT?"
                                          WITH
                              STELLA SKELLY

CATCHING UP

I'm trying to catch up as well as keep up.  The Doll Works group I've joined are a great bunch, but with my limited work space and limited tools, materials, etc., I don't know if I'll be able to keep up with them!  The August "show and tell"  is to be a fabric collage of a face.  I've never made a collage before, let alone of fabric.  So what I wound up with, I THINK will qualify as a collage but I may be corrected at the meeting.  If I can find a frame for it, maybe I can  sell it.  I've titled it "Beloved Horse" which the Arab horse is often called in Arabia.  I hope I've done the breed justice.

And my former neighbor gave me a rather large box of goodies the other day.  She sold her dress making business and is still unloading odds and ends - in my case, a giant spool of bubble gum pink elastic, eyelet ruffles, lace trims, and buttons galore.  I'm grateful as can be but - where on earth will I put that box?

THE GRIMLINS ARE GONE!

----- I HOPE!

something did a number on my computer even before my move.  I could bring the blog up but couldn't post a word.  Now it's working again and I've no idea how or why.  I'm just glad it's back.

So.  I now live with my son and DIL.  It's obvious we love each other and obvious there are now THREE good cooks in the house.  We eat Cuban, Thai and Middle America.  We have decided that we will have a state-of-the-art kitchen (in so far as we can afford it) in the new house and have even talked about holding cooking classes.  But it will probably be next year before we can start on the new house.

Meanwhile, 99% of my "doll making stuff" is in storage - not that I have any space for it here.  I did bring my little sewing machine and my finished dolls.  I couldn't bear the thought of them being in a dusty, hot storage unit.   And the doll making has all but stopped, BUT I've been promised a large work space in the new house.  Can hardly wait!!

The gourd doll class will be held on the 5th of July.  I have one more student kit to make up then it will just be a matter of gathering up equipment - Dremel, extension cord, drill with a 1/4" bit, etc. and fill the gas tank because I'll be driving to the next county.  Must remember to charge some batteries for my camera  --  then remember to take some photos!!

ANOTHER BADGE

     


Once again, I've  managed to post another "Ive been published" badge.  Months after it was awarded, of course.  Seems I can never get it right the first few times I try and success is more often than not, accidental.
     

Be that as it may, I'm happy to have sold my Mardi Gras doll to Carol Thornton,  A woman I've known since she was in first grade.  It pleased me to pieces that she remembered me, reminding me of a drawing I'd done for her Mom and of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches I made for her and her brothers and sisters. 

Getting the doll packed for shipment was an exercise in frustration.  Armed with my  25 foot steel tape, I visited the Big Box stores looking for (and measuring) plastic storage boxes. Finally, at Target, I was at my wits end.  On my way out of the store, I saw some kitchen trash cans.  One tall bag container just fit.  Without the lid.  So I bought just the container.  I splinted her unbent leg with popcicle sticks, taped her base to a foam platform, lined the container with carpet padding and filled the whole thing with foam peanuts.  I made the lid from a large scrap of foam core poster board, reinforced it, tied it down with cable ties and tape - and prayed.
The doll arrived safely except for a hairline crack on the protected leg.  I suggested Carol use a thin formula CA glue if she felt glue was necessary.  

And I'm wrapping up the putting-together of student kits for a gourd doll class I've been asked to teach.  I just hope there will actually BE some students!   I've managed to cut the price per student considerably, so that should help.  This should be a fun class and I'm really looking forward to it.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

  

A TUB FULL OF STUFF!

OH, M'GOSH!!  I've hit the bubble wrap mother load!  The tub in my guest bath room is filled to capacity with bags and boxes of bubble wrap and foam peanuts.  This forgotten find is the aftermath of dolls sent to California and Texas and back - at great expense - over a period of about five years.   I no longer send the dolls to be photographed since I've found an excellent photographer who will make a cd that can be mailed for less than $100.

SO.  I shall have padding for my china - what hasn't already been packed - just today, I purchased a dozen microwave meals because I seem to have packed most of my cookware.  The first load of my "stuff" goes to the shipping container storage unit at the farm, on Saturday.  I needed some space in the garage to hold a moving sale.

THURSDAY PHOTO SHOOT

My photographer e mailed me this evening to let me know he would be able to "shoot" Stella Thursday after work.  If I have to cancel my own funeral, I will have her ready - and the set!!

I'm still alive, Stella's been shot and there is fine glitter all over the house.  In my effort to make the background moon "glow" I was overly generous with a vial of very fine glitter dust.  I just hope the background I set up won't look so amateurish the photos can't be used.

My photographer, a young man by the name of Cedric Bacon, works a night shift then drives across town (in our case, the entire county) to photograph my dolls.  Since my living and dining area is filled with stacks of boxes, we had to work in my cramped and cluttered office/studio where I'd arranged the setting on top of the sewing machine.  I make sure he gets credit for the photography and my extra copy of any Art Doll Quarterly our work appears in.   Having his work appear in an international magazine, looks very good on his resume.

STUFF addendum

I must add to the previous post because Juanelle was a most delightful person and her dolls were EXQUISITE !  She brought several of her dolls for me to see and they just blew my mind.  Technically, her work was perfect and artistically, it was very obvious that she was very familiar with the human body.

Despite the packing, bits and pieces of what would be an entire day of (gourd) doll crafting are beginning to come together in my head.  When I do have time to sit down and put it all on paper, it should be - if not complete - then very near it.  Very briefly, it comes down to $60. to $75. per person and they bring a brown bag lunch.. For that price, I provide all materials and  instruction sheets and answer all questions to the best of my ability.   Because of the move and my need to finish Stella Skelly, I'm going to guess that I can pull the class together some time in mid to late March.   Must mark my calendars!

STUFF, STUFF, STUFF!

I knew I had a lot of stuff, but I seem hardly to have made a dent in it all after four days of packing.  The bookcases in my office/studio are empty of books except for the photo albums.  I will store them in a plastic container in order to keep them dry.

And yesterday, I braved the TWO fifty gallon storage containers full of fabric, determined to condense them into only one.  I succeeded with room to spare by setting aside fabric for Meredith and a roll of remnants to make dolls of every skin color for Paris Freeman of the quilt guild.  The guild will get a ton of what's left after my new doll artist friend, Juanelle Marshall chooses what she wants tomorrow afternoon.

About four days ago, I received a note from Juanelle, telling me she had seen my doll the Spanish Dancer in a recent Art Doll Quarterly.  She said she loved my technique and would I be willing to teach a class.  (of course!)  Juanelle also said she belonged to a recently disbanded doll club. (after years of looking, now I learn there actually WAS one ) and would I be interested joining and help to breath new life into the group.  Sure, I would, though I don't know how much life I could actually breath into a group of already creative women.

So.  I'll continue packing to the point of leaving just enough to eat and sleep here until I actually vacate the house.  That will be a huge adjustment after having an entire house to fill with all my artsy-crafty stuff.

Which reminds me, I MUST get cracking on Stella if I'm to have her photographed and to ADQ before the 15th of March.

NEW YEAR, NEW LIFE STYLE

The new year has brought a very big shift in my life.  I shall soon be going to live with my son and daughter-in-law.  This is a move they have wanted for several years - and which I have resisted - but this year (I pray) will benefit all of us.  DIL has MS as well as severe pulmonary problems.  Son has a hard time cooking, cleaning, maintaining the yard and holding down a full time job.  They need help and despite my age and the attendant aches and pains, I'm in better health than they are.

I will no doubt continue to make dolls, but at a slower pace.  I can't remember a time when I wasn't creating something, no matter how childish or unrecognizable.  The following has become my mantra:  "I will make things until I can't make things any more.  This is what I do.  This is who I am.  I make things".              

HOORAY, I'VE SURVIVED ANOTHER YEAR!

The best part was selling (at a deep discount) my Gypsy dolls "Casting a Protective Spell" scene.  Read the details on my Facebook page.

2015 was also the year my poor car got minimum maintenance and is now in deplorable condition; it was also the year I was in constant fear of having to replace my air-conditioning unit.  It's a good bet it will gasp its last on the coldest or hottest day of the year.

I hope this will be the year Stella Skelly my Halloween Vamp will be published in ADQ.  I'd be walking on clouds if she made the cover.  But I'm not a "professional" doll artist so that will probably never happen.  I wonder when an artist morphs into a "professional"?  I suppose when the public gets sick of seeing your work.  I think I got started in this doll business too late in my life - I've run out of energy before I could get up a good head of steam.