Just Hanging Around

The doll is now fully clothed, and yes, she's pinned to the design wall to have her photo taken. I made her a skirt from a piece of recycled wool. It's a tube with darts and a waistband, very simple, but I feel clever for having lined up the lower edge with the existing hem tape.
Here she is with the book I used for the body pattern. It was published by Dover in the 70s and I picked it up at a thrift store. I found a pattern for her shoes in the book: some lovely, practical flats. Then it will be time for accessories.

Both Sue in Western WA and Catherine posted in the comments that they thought she was a self-portrait doll. That was one of my original ideas, to make a Lady Professor doll, but I decided to make Lady X, whose identity is almost complete, instead. I will definitely make a self-portrait doll in the future.
Drum roll please. Here's the drawing of November commenters for a goody bag to celebrate my 100th post. ...And the winner is...
Whoo-who! I'll send you an email Susan, or you can send me one through my blog. Goodies are coming!

The Valley of the Doll

I began my doll project by studying various patterns and books. My doll is made from a basic body pattern I found in an old Dover book. She has yarn looped hair, which was very tedious to make until I went and got large utility needles. Other than needles, I haven't needed a lot of new supplies.

Her face is embroidered and is a variation on the pattern's doll face. I think in the future I'll go for smaller eyes. These are a bit scary. I'm starting to keep a sketch book of face drawings, and I now look at fashion magazines with new eyes. Certain combinations of hairdos and clothes can call up very specific characters.
Because I want to make my doll an adult, I amended the body by giving her some boobs. I have some old doll clothes patterns that I edited to make her a blouse. Because of those boobs, that blouse is going to need darts. (That blur in the photo is my cat design consultant Bunny)
I found the perfect color for her blouse. One cool thing about making dolls is that you can get a blouse out of a fat quarter.
This blue blouse is an important part of her character. Stay tuned to see how she comes along.

100th post!

I missed my two-year blogaversary last month, but I did notice that this is my 100th post. Blogging has been a very useful way for me to keep in touch with old and new fiber friends. I do enjoy the on-going exchange with all of you, I just wish I had time to post more frequently. But for the sake of celebrating this milestone, I'm going to have a drawing. I'll put the names of any commenters to this month's posts in a hat and I'll send the winner a goodie bag. Make sure to comment!



These before and after images show what I did with a quilt top that was hanging in my closet unfinished. I originally planned for it to be a table cloth, but on second thought I decided to expand it into a throw. It went from about 50x50 to about 60x70. I plan to give it to a niece for her birthday next year.
I've got similar plans for this quilt top:
Once finished, it will be a throw for my other niece's birthday. I love the cheerful polka dots in these fabrics.

After mulling it over, I've decided to make a few dolls. It's a different process from quilt making, for me anyway. I like to improvise a lot when designing quilts, but I find that I need to settle on a concept before beginning a doll.


I've been collecting patterns and books, so I'm getting a feel for some of the alternative styles of doll bodies that can be made from fabric. The materials themselves are, of course, the same as for quilting, and hence, very familiar. This particular doll will be an adult, and not a child, so I may tweak this body a bit. Other than that, her character is going to be mostly rendered through her clothes. Check back and see who surfaces.

Caprice (50x50)

I finished my little quilt from the rummage sale box, and I found its title, Caprice, by scanning the titles of Doris Day movies. This wasn't one of her better known flicks, but the era, the late 60s, was what I was looking for, and the name fits. I like the whimsical quality of this quilt. Just what I need for a grey fall day.
Allie Aller was brave and posted pics of her studio space mid-project. It's interesting the controlled chaos that is required to produce art. I'm only showing my space because I just gave it a thorough cleaning, so it's presentable for company.

This is a spare bedroom in my house. The wall where the sewing machine is separates the sewing room from my daughter's bedroom, so I usually don't run the machine if she's asleep. Otherwise, this is the perfect space. I've got my sewing machine on an old desk+dresser combo that I bought used (of course). The drawers are not very sturdy, but it's fine for holding fabric. The work table is in a new position after the room overhaul. I like this spot by the window, and if I'm not too rushed in the morning, I'll sit here and drink my coffee and look at what's on the design wall in front of me. The big dresser is a recent addition. I needed more storage and this allowed me to organize my supplies better.
When I finish this quilt I'm going to re-position my design wall by moving it out from behind the dresser. My design wall is a flannel sheet that's been upholstery tacked to the top of the wall for years now. It's worked great. This quilt is one of a group of projects I made awhile back, but haven't finished. Many of these need final borders and I'm trying to finish as many of these as possible. This one's being given extra blocks and a more definitive border.
Behind the ironing board is the closet which was my original sewing room. When I first moved into this house, this was the kids' t.v. room, and I had a table in this closet with my one sewing machine and all my supplies for quilting. Needless to say, this whole operation has expanded quite a bit.
I finally pulled the table out of there and installed shelves for various WIPs and supplies. That sack of rice is not a spillover from the kitchen, but I use it to make neck warmers.
On the other side of the closet I hang my UQOs (unquilted objects) many of which are waiting for final border decisions. I've got at least 3 bed-sized quilts that have their backings sewn and are ready to be pin basted. I keep larger pieces of yardage up top, and some of my remaining magazine stash. When I cleaned out this room, I got rid of several boxes of old magazines that I just don't have room for anymore.

Finally graduated from the almost-done closet is my Japanese Ladies quilt.
After Debra and I worked out a swap, it has gone to live at her house after a long limbo hanging with the almost-finished quilts. Life is more adventurous for all of us when we expand ourselves and leave the closet.

Rummage Sale Two

I've been designing another quilt from the box of scraps that I got at the Methodist church rummage sale awhile back. The colors of the vintage 60s and 70s fabrics in the box remind me of earlier times and styles. Aqua was pretty popular in the 60s, and now you don't see it very much. I remember when I was a kid my mother made matching a-line polyester dresses for me and my sister one year. When I was in high school in the early 70s, the choir I was in wore identical long aqua polyester dresses. There must've been 25 or 30 of us, so you can imagine how it looked. The justification for the color choice was that this color looks good on everyone. I wonder how true that is.
I cut up some of these old fabrics and they decided they wanted to be paired with pink. Most of the center fabrics are from the rummage box, and I pulled some others from my stash that seemed to play well. I also threw in a bit of lime green for accent.
I'll have to think of a cool 60s movie name for this quilt. Any suggestions? Maybe something with Doris Day.

I guess the aqua vibe is in the air.

I got this beautiful necklace from Debra
as part of a swap. I just love the colors, and of course the little Virgin Mary beads are a reminder of our quilt series on the Madonna.

Finishing Up

When I finished this little quilt, "Asiatic Lilies," Allie left me a comment asking if I was planning to quilt the background. This struck a cord, because although I wanted to be done, I did have this nagging feeling that something was missing. So I hand quilted the background and scattered some tiny glass beads. I also embroidered over more of the leaves and stems printed on the fabric. Now it feels complete. Thanks Allie!
I'm on a campaign to finish up some UFOs. For a long time it hasn't bothered me to have multiple projects going (or not) at the same time, but now the backlog feels distracting. I finished this little piece, which is about 8 x 10 inches. When I first began to work with photo transfers I transferred this image of a painting by the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. This is a painting she made after she cut her hair in response to her husband's infidelity.
I made this for Leslie my hairdresser. She is an accomplished painter and she likes Frida Kahlo, and especially this painting. She also has a faux-vintage sign in her shop, "We Repair Homemade Haircuts," so I combined that caption with the image of the painting. I hope she likes it.
I machine quilted this recent scrap quilt. The center blocks got spirals and I made these eucalyptus leaves in the border. I realize that there is nothing between me and acceptable machine quilting but practice. I'm slowly layering my finished UFOs and lining them up for practice.
I may even have some finished quilts for Christmas gifts when all is said and done. Oh my, did I mention Christmas in October? Sorry!!!

Farmer's Market

Today I'm bringing you images of the other kind of fiber.


I took these photos at the Farmer's Market a couple of weeks ago. The colors were a real visual treat. I love the purple bell peppers.
You can see how small these eggplants are next to the peppers.
This red and green combination is the essence of summer.
I grow cherry tomatoes in my yard since they have a short growing season, but they've only just recently begun to give fruit. This is the one downside to living on the coast. The farmers who sell here are from the inland areas. Just 5 or 10 miles to the east, the weather is much warmer and sunnier.

They sell flowers and plants at the market for good measure.
These beauties remind me that the fall is upon us.

Rummage Sale

A couple of weeks ago I hit one of my favorite church rummage sales. They always have great stuff and tremendous bargains. I picked up a box of cotton fabric scraps, which of course to me is like treasure. I whipped up this little table top quilt, inspired by Finn's similar little quilt. I used the stretched stars setting on mine. All these fabrics, except for the black inner border, were from the scraps. Here are a few closeups:
There were scraps with a cute "State Fair" motif.
I love this little farm couple.


There were only these tiny pieces of the little clown faces. I like the way the second one has his tongue sticking out.

The whole quilt is 33x33. The inner squares are 4" and the outer ones are 3".


I've also resolved to finish some of my UFOs. I've got a few quilts hanging in the closet that need borders. I seem to poop out when it comes to putting borders on quilts. I've been designing and sewing the border onto this quilt in fits and starts. I want to finish it just so I can get my design wall back.

So what have I accomplished with this resolve?
Yep, I've been playing in the scrap drawer and I've started a new project.

Asiatic Lilies

Here's the latest 12x12 piece in my series pairing bird and flower images. This piece began as a home dec fabric sample. I've been looking for fabrics on which I can embellish in order to create a new composition. I was attracted to this lily fabric, and I found some clip art pieces to add both more flowers and a bird.


Both lilies and Stellar's Jays are prevalent in the region where I live. The Stellar's Jay is a bird common to the west. Though the Blue Jay is more well known, they're not native to the west.


I used a drawing of a Blue Jay for the basic body shape, and then studied a friend's photos for the Stellar's Jay coloration.
I drew the shapes on water-soluble stabilizer, and then stitched through the whole thing.

The embroidery is almost all chain stitch. I like the idea of using one stitch for the whole composition. I did add a few bullion stitches for the pistils of the flowers.

I'm looking for ideas for my next composition. It's fun to choose the bird, flower, and background fabric for the next project.