Linda August 4th, 2010
Well, saw the Dr. and the x-rays. Broke the smaller of the two leg bones above my ankle. I have bright pink cast that my daughter is itching to decorate LOL…I am to keep weight off of it or they will really push me to get a screw put in. I am rolling around the house on a scooter type thingie (who in their right mind would emboss your company name where a person puts their shin all day????). Kids are being great about helping me, Scott is good too but constantly telling me to go slower, don’t stretch so much yadda yadda yadda. After scooting up stairs on my butt a few times I decided to move some of my studio down stairs. I cannot do the face-ups on my new dolls but am doing alot of beading of buttons for upcoming Quilters Home article etc. And tryng to now to not become too depresses about this whole thing—I hate the cast, I hate using one leg only, I hate not being able to drive myself, I hate it hate it hate it. It does not hurt but now kinda itches and I have to not think about how my foot is enclosed in plaster for an indeterminate amount of time–it makes me feel claustrophobic and then I want to take a knife to it–so I try and distract myself. Scott bought me a beautiful Brother sewing machine that I cannot use because of the cast to I am going to use that as a goal/reward to myself. If you are a praying individual I would really appreciate your prayers this I would not need surgery and that it would heal super fast! Thank you.
Linda June 15th, 2010
Melissa Maher called me today. She is the editor in charge of the “bling” section of the magazine Quilters Home. My pins will be in the Oct/Nov issue and on newsstands in late Sept. One of Scott’s quilts will also be featured in the same issue. Hmmmm, where oh where do you think the path will lead?
Linda June 10th, 2010
Scott has been home from quilt market for about 2 weeks and the dust (or rather fabric) has had time to settle. He made lots of good contacts (Amy Butler for one) and the new Editor of Quilter’s Home for another. I had sent him with a couple of my beaded pins to give away. Amy loved hers and so did the Editor (oops-forgot her name here, senior moment! Is it Jake?). Anyway, it was so well received that this Editor wants to highlight them in her “bling” section of the magazine sometime in the Fall. I am told there will be a “small” phone interview with me (just the idea makes me all squirmy!). So with that said I have been making new pins to put on my Etsy shop like a mad women…this along with the state messing with the funding for my kids’ alternative school, Noel taking the Sat, signing kids up for Fall classes, one dental crown for me, wisdom teeth removal for Noel, gypsy doll to finish, AND a requested custom made 2 headed cat.
This is what my desk looks like at the moment. You can see the fabric color card from Quilt Market (very cool stuff, it is a 50/50 silk cotton blend–look for it, very fun stuff!). The 2 headed teddy that started the request, beads to the left and a great pile of button in front (this is only PART of my button stash–oh I do love finding jars of buttons at garage sales nothing is better except the smell of old fabric!) The body parts for the 2 headed cat are in purple-the middle–my desk do not normally look this way (LOL but Scott’s does !!!!). I will post pics of the cat when I am done.
Oh and if you have time–check out a place on line called GraphJam.com!!!!
Linda March 31st, 2010
I have added new pictures of an outfit that I made for my Sd sized boy doll and progress on my homemade Bjd. They can been seen on my BJd page.
Also, Scott has submitted his book proprosal to C and T publishing and it has pass through the first editors review. From there it has to go through 2 more hurdles to be accepted. He is very excited.
Linda July 14th, 2009
I finished his hat and am pleased with how it turned out. I had originally envisioned black as the material but the contrast was too much…when I went to Pacific Fabrics I found this dark tobacco green..yes, the color is actually green but in some light is appears brown (i.e. this photo!) I also learned that you really should bring the doll with you unless you want an excuse to buy a few extra fabrics (in case the one you picked doesn’t work LOL!!!).
Yes, this is a picture taken on my desk…you can see it is a “creative spot” huh?!
I made the pattern for the hat from an old Chinese hat that I have (it folds up). I must of made 6 hats before I got the right size, argh!!!
Scott now has his portion to complete. It is an invational doll for the “Art of the Doll” show that is part of the Treasures of the Gypsy doll show…there are really 4 doll shows in one, the gypsies are actaully just one portion. We have been batting ideas around. It will be some kind of throne for him. (Well I need to add a golden ball in froggies palm but other than that I am done LOL).
Linda May 5th, 2009
The weather here has been wonderful the last few days and it is all I can do to work in my studio and not run outside and play. I got the veggie beds cleaned and planted with the early veggies. The peas are already up about 1 and 1/2 inches. And ofcourse so are the radishes, lettuces and spinach. I trimmed and tied up the raspberries and we are going to have one of Scott’s spring favorites–rhubarb bars, yummy good. Noel and I have been busy with his running start application/testing/meeting stuff…it is almost over, whew!!! I have just finished up writing an article (with pictures) for Doll Crafter and Costuming magazine (hopefully it will be in the Oct. issue). Was requested by Art Doll Quarterly Editor to send off 2 dolls (yet another post office run–the lady there is now used to my weird shipping requests and questions ;0). Gypsy doll was in the latest issue of ADQ (page 72 if interested). In the picture above you can see 2 jean skirts that I made for my daughter and I. Hers is the blue-ish one and mine is the pink and orange one. Scott donated the fabrics–I am not sure which line they are from but were decorator weight and washed up beautifully. My 100th post is coming-up and I have added new goodies to the pile so stay tuned.
Linda April 15th, 2009
This is for Jeanette–she requested a close-up of the buttons that I posted in an earlier post.
For Easter Scott requested that I make him a pencil case like the one I made for Max only larger. So here it is. I bought him a load of prisma pencils, sharpener and a nice sharpie felt pen to put inside it. It has extra larger pockets so Scott can put in a glue stick or scissor. It is funny because I can’t stand to throw away the selvedge edge of fabrics–sometimes they have cool print on them. This particular line has “sketch book” on it. How perfect is that?! I told him that this was his entertainment kit for his airplane trip to Pittsburgh in May.
Max and Noel are in Karate classes. Her is my very hansome son and his new belt/certificate. He went from a green belt to a blue/white belt.
Linda April 8th, 2009
Scott has every other Wednesday off so I “talked” him into making that a “date” day. He gave in and said yes, LOL. Now it is hard to find something to do that does not cost a lot of $$$…the weather here in Wa. is temperamental right now (read here I am VERY tired of being cold). So a walk or picnic is out of the question. So I suggested poking around in Snohomish. There is this way awesome store called Joy Works. It is shabby chic at it’s best. I found a LARGE jar of vintage shell buttons there..they had some packaged up to sell but I didn’t want the the “cute” packaging I just lusted terribly after all the pretty buttons. Scott managed to talk them into selling just an “amount” of them (geez, I really would like to have gotten the whole jar ;0/). A dixie cup full for $5. Surprisingly enough, a dixie cup is a lot. Here is froggy guy holding them for me.
Next is a picture of a blank journal that will also be part of the 100th give away. The pages are made up of 140 pd uno fabrino cold press water color paper. For people who are not paper conosiours, this mean it is thick and smooth as butter and will take all sorts of mediums and won’t worp. I also have 2 journals that are for sell on my etsy site that are made out of the same paper with vintage game board covers—see etsy link on the right.
Linda February 27th, 2009
After much consideration I have decided that Scott and I will make an anthropomorphic frog doll for the “Art of the Doll” portion of the Gypsy/Quilt show. I was considering using a batik for the the body but decided to dye some raw silk that I have had for a long time. It turned out a bright green.
I had also wanted to used a sleeve of a Kimono that I was given by my mom (she bought it at a garage sale–WHO would cut up such a thing???) But the greens didn’t work out–it is on the right. Scott had a friend from school who went to china for a missions trip and bought back the red brocade on the left. We decided that the red did not make it look like Xmas colors so we will use that for the costume.
The doll is a frog after all so I tweaked the hands from a normal doll. I elongated his fingers and made webs between them..the fingers have pipe cleaners to help them “hold things”. I am thinking about a golden ball for him (think “Frog Prince” fairy tale).
He did not start out with “hardly” a chin, that was added to make him appear more frog like.
He has a very plump body–I put plastic pellets in his butt so he would have weight and would not fall over easily and would sit more stable. His arms and legs are done from a modified Patty Culea pattern. I had the darndest time getting his face color right. It was just working out to be too dark (see the question was–do I paint the head and then try to dye the fabric to match–Nay, too hard–or dye the fabric and try to paint the head to match?!) After alot of coats of paint and lots of frustration (I was afraid that his head would be round from all the coats of paint!!!!), I am pretty well satisfied. He will have a kimono, a coolie braid, a hat and some kind of pants–I researching that right now. He does not need to be done for a long time yet but once I get started on a project I want to continue so I don’t lose momentum.
