Surprise! A new post!

I have been keeping busy doing things for my hubbie.  He had a knee replacement in January and a second on in September.  So I got to be Chauffeur for a bit taking him to and from Dr Appts and PT.  But, I have been working on making dolls!

Since there is no Hoffman Challenge this year for the Doll Category, I figured I may as well get my toes wet and enter the Gypsy Challenge display at the Houston International Quilt Show.  The theme this year was "Once Upon a Time-Past Present and Future.  Gypsy Pamela sends you a packet of fabrics and trims you must use on your doll.  Unfortunately, I neglected to take a pic of my goodies, but they were a lovely pink floral brocade, a deep burgundy organza, a satin finish  bright teal/turquoise satin, a narrow brown and gold trim and a wide Brown?Gold beaded trim.

 Here is the first version of ZombiElla.  You can see the trim on her cuffs and down the center of her corset, the sleeves and ruffle trim on her bodice is the organza, the bodice is the brocade.  Her underslip is the teal satin.  Her overskirt is a dyed embroidered curtain panel border.  I finished her in April and lived with her awhile and decided I wasn't happy.  So in July, I redid her head, changed her hair color, added crystals to her bodice, nipped her waist a bit, added sequins to the fuchia overskirt and underskirt hem and since that wasn't quite enough bling, I also overpainted the embroidery with metallic and glitter paints.  The hair color is perfect but wasn't too happy with the quality - too fuzzy, not enough curls.  So she got new hair and of course a clock  necklace too.  I also added a clock to her base. And of course since she got a new hairstyle, she needed a crown - cut from a soda can!  Here she is in all her glory.







 She is 20" tall and it was quite a challenge to get her balanced and sturdy enough to travel.  Her Armature consists of double hard 16g aluminum wire, a 1/4" wooden down and a #7 Knitting needle!  Then I filled the hole on the bottom of the base with EpoxyScultp to make sure nothing would shift.  Hopefully nothing did!  Haven't heard from the receiving end, but I guess that's a good thing!

I also received an invite to submit a doll for the "In Celebration of the Doll" Display.    Since it was Spring when I did this one, I used lots of flowers and again some recycled fabrics.  This is the same pattern but her head is all cloth.  The pearls are from a garland (flea Market find), the Venetian lace was hand painted.  Her overskirt is from an embroidered curtain panel I dyed.  Lots of silk ribbon roses and posies in the layers of her dress, on her bodice and in her hair.  she has bees on her base, her hand and of course in her hair!   Covered the base with a scrap of faux "grass and also added some flowers.

And the best part - I'm going to the show in Houston!  Leaving Nov 1, back Nov 6 just in time to vote!

Also was fortunate to have my Brides series juried into the Petaluma show in California.  Was double fortunate to go see the fabulous exhibit!