Class Project

First big thanks to all those who commented on my book both here and yahoo. I really appreciate it. My second proposal, a Crazy Patch Goddess Wall Doll was accepted for a class. I made the prototype and also another to test the pattern pieces for the patches. I am not kitting the doll per se--the students will have choices of fabrics from a collection of silks I have been collecting for a CQ class. It all starts with the choice of a focus fabric and then the remaining choices for the patches. The seams are short, at least 2 will be covered with trims. The head will be completed and included in the kit and I will be printing the faces out. This is a two day class. Everyone will do a beaded butterfly too.

Long Time No Post

Hope everyone enjoyed your holidays. Ours were filled with family and friends which is the best way to spend them.

I finished a project I been mulling about for quite a while. It is a Silk Ribbon Embroidery Book. It started out with 10 pages grouped by stitches depicting floral bouquets. I got the idea from the beautiful floral bouquets on Judith Green's blog, but ended with 6 pages - 2 covers, 3 seasonal landscapes and a page of roses. Here is the front cover, which I did first but looking back, I think I should have waited until the inner pages were done so I could have repeated more of the flowers. The book is done on a soft shade of celedon green dupioni. I used 2mm, 4mm, 7mm and 13mm hand dyed silk ribbon. I also dyed the lace borders.

This is the spring page. The flowers here are Hollyhock, daffodil, tulips, and hyacinth.

Summer page with Sunflowers, Cosmos, Irises, and daisies.

Autumn page with spider mums, cat tails, goldenrod, and Zinnea.

Roses with Spider web, twisted, french knot, chain stitch and stem stitch roses.

I am going to send this out for a 4 day class proposal. Here is the back cover. I burned the silk for all the titles and stitched them down with french knots in metallic thread. I tried to keep it simple using the most common stitches so it could be completed in a reasonable amount of time. Still it took me about 5 days but I kept changing the design as I went along. The whole book is finished with a blanket stitch. I think I would prefer a palastrina knot or knotted blanket stitch to add a little texture to the edge. I made 2 class proposals for the 2009 EGA Metro Regional Conference and this is the one that wasn't accepted. A CQ doll was!! Will post pics of that later.

Have to post a pic of my little darling Diamond. Here she is in her New Year's outfit--our theme at this year's party was Tropical. She is sitting next to a hostess gift we received. I can't believe it will be 1 year on January 17th since we adopted her. She has brought us such joy! That's her in her Halloween Witch's Costume in the pic. She'll do just about anything for a treat and a belly rub.

Healing Quilt Block Close-ups

I mentioned I would post pics of some of the exceptional work on the Healing Quilt. Of course this is just my humble opinion, but I really love these elements. This is a block by Vickie Brown (http://www.ribbonsmyth.com/) I love the silk ribbon sprays and went gaga ove the meandering ric-rac with the SRE and fiber embellishments.

This is a portion of the block done by Rengin in Turkey. She used quite a few different types of Oyas (Turkish needle lace). I love the colors she chose and the juxtaposition of the old art with the new.

This is part of Linda's Block. She added the Cabachon face circled with beads. I love the little tassel she added and the underlying single wing.

This is a portion of Leslie's block. I just fell in love with the colors of this motif and all the beading she did on it. I also love the beaded fringe she added on the trim below it. I have that trim--never thought to add a fringe to it!

This is the center of Jule's block which became the center of the quilt. The embellishment of the graphic is really insired. So elegant and understated.

This graphic is on the block by Barbara--another master at embellishing graphics, SRE and beading. I love the cord she added around the graphic. It's made with a string of beads and a few different fibers. I'm guessing she did it on the Diva cord Maker. Just stunning!

I wasn't going to put up a tree this year--infact, I loaned my large, pre-lit tree to my Step-son and his wife. But my DH said it wouldn't feel like Christmas, so I relented and put up the small tree which used to be my Mickey Mouse tree. I didn't feel like using a Snow White or Minnie tree topper so I made an angel from my Dream Girls Pattern--just didn't do the tissue paper step or attach a base. The body from just below the waist is a Papertowel tube. Don't know how long it'll last, but it does look pretty!

Now if I could only find those ornies I bought on our trip down south in 2006!!!!! I try to get an ornie from our travels.

I do want to wish everyone a stress-free, happy, safe, and loving holiday.

Putting together a Quilt

Remember those Crazy Quilt blocks I did for a healing quilt? I went to the Ribbonsmyth Studio (What a wonderful place!!!! I am soooo looking forward to teaching some classes there in the late spring during a 4 day retreat. Check out the Ribbonsmyth site http://www.ribbonsmyth.com/) to help put the quilt together. Anne, Vickie and I spent so much time oooohing and aaaahing over the blocks, show and tell, each other, etc, we didn't finish the quilt so I took it home to finish. I was able to get what I think is the perfect backing and border fabric. I had some embroidered ribbon that also blended and some great antique gold cording that proved to be the perfect final touch. It is actually quilted through all layers around the ribbon trim. I tied the quilt at the corners where I added rolled ribbon roses on the front and beads on the back. I also added smaller rolled ribbon roses (48 of them to be exact!) on the front seams to soften them a bit.

This is the back of the quilt. I put the names of the Block maker on the back of each block on a piece of burnt silk centered in a heart quilted through to the batting.
Here is a close-up of one of the hearts on the back. The blocks are just amazing. Tomorrow I will post some closeups of the totally inspiring work.

Ornies and Journal Cover Completed

First,Thanks for all the wonderful comments on my book and Madame LeChat. I really do hope my exchange partner likes it and I hope our get-together isn't snowed out! Now to answer questions about "Heart Songs", I would like to teach a class in this technique. I am working on ideas for one--maybe something involving an altered photo album into a journal type thing. It was a lot of work, but it actually went pretty quick though there was a lot of waiting for stuff to dry. I planned the format in advance and the size of the pages (6 1/4" x 4 1/2") and the words I wanted to use. I did the collage for the pages in pastel colors though I didn't use the lavendar or blue pages.

I did finish the Ornies for the Pet Ornament Swap. I must admit I wasn't very imaginative and only did CQ stockings with a pic of my precious Diamond and a felt bone stuffed in the top.

I also did a doll type ornament. These have elongaged bodies, flat faces, and butterfly wings. They are trimmed with beaded trim and ribbon.

Lastly, I decided to make a prototype of an altered album--something you could carry in your purse--albeit a large one. I used an album that holds 4"x6" pics that you can pick up at any of the craft stores for 66c to $1 each. I plan to "alter" the pages to so there are sketch pages, pockets, photo pages etc. Here is the base fabric made from muslin with tissue paper collaged to it.

Here are the finished covers, front and back.

There are paper cutouts, foiling, expandapaint, ribbon, free-motion stitching, burnt metallic silk sheer, a clay face, a drawn moon, and lace left from my wedding dress. I used lots of Gel Medium, matte and irridescent, Lummier paints, dimensional paints, craft foam, and Pearl-ex Pigment powders. The word is Visions and that is done with Craft foam heated and then stamped. Here is a pic of the whole cover front and back

Finished another Gift!

First, thanks to Shashi, Judy, and Kay for the nice comments about my last post. Glad you like Madame Le Chat. The patterns have been shipped and should be available next week or so at Dollmakersjourney and Joggles.

My one doll club is doing a gift exchange and I decided to do a fabric/paper book. I did one of these a few months ago and one of the ladies just fell in love with it, so since I picked her name, I thought I would make one for her. Here are some pics--it has lots of interference powders and paints on it so it reflects light very strangely. The colors are really very muted. It is an accordian fold book. Here is the front. The first and last pages are the same background paper/fabric. The 4 middle pages are pastel colors. The name of the book is Heart Songs.

Closeup on the left of the front cover. On the right is the last page- Laughter and Joy. The words and small squares are from Model Magic by Crayola. The larger hearts are water soluble paper. Same lace on both. The background paper/fabric has pieces in caligraphy printed on the computer.

These are the first two pages, Friends with lace and butterfly embellishments, and Nature with tiles made from Model Magic and placed over ribbons. All the words are from Model Magic. Friends background is a very subtle paisley. Nature is shades of green. All the page blanks are finished with a coat of Iridescent Gel Medium.


Pages 3 and 4 are Love and Music. The heart is silk with bugle beads, the center hearts are from velum. The small dimensional hearts are velum also. The heart is over lace. The music was printed on the computer on cardstock and aged with gold paint and embossing powders. The ribbons were embroidered lines by machine and the notes were added with dimensional paint in pearl gold.

This is a view of the back of the book. All the backgrounds are from the same sheet of Paper/fabric. The entire book is bound in strips of sheer fabric that was rusted. The beads are also from fabric except the round ones on the very top. Each of the center motifs on the back pages are from water soluble paper.




Two from the back. The background squares are burnt silk with sheer ribbons over them.

Again, burnt silk background squares with water soluble paper motifs. These motifs were first painted to seal them then treated with pearlex powders and lumierre paints. The writing is more of the caligraphy I created by computer. It lists all the words in the book and many others of things that make your heart sing--like children, the ocean, a rainbow, etc.

Final back two pages. Hope she likes it. Not really doll related but I think I could have made two dolls in the time it took me to make this! I really did enjoy doing it. I am trying to limit my embellishments to fabric and fiber and move away from lots of papers.

Now on to the Pet ornies.

Taking a breath!

I made another CQ block for the Healing Quilt so there would be a nice easy number to work with. I think I finished this one in record time--I started it Sunday. Took me all afternoon to piece it--the part I hate most. OK, I did cheat a little by using so many trims and motifs, but I am pleased with the results. I finished it a little early, so I am probably not done with it yet!

I also finished the pattern for the cat doll since doing a prototype in --can't believe it's been so long ago!!!--March. Of course I made another one. The official name of the pattern is "Madame Le Chat" and this one is named Felecia and her pet mice are Winki and Inki (after Felix and his nephews). I am waiting for the pages and pics to come back from the printers. Will post when I ship them to the "shops".

And last but not least, I also finished the doll with the cloth over paperclay over cloth. He was actually done for the APWPWD blank canvas challenge. I used the pattern without the hands and feet as a skin over an armature I built at Day With Dolls. I wound colorful yarn around his limbs and gave him sculpted hands ala Marilyn Halcomb. I figured a blank canvas was a good opportunity to try out new techniques.

Now, all I have to do is finish an exchange gift for my "other" doll club, make 5 animal ornies for a pet ornie exchange, and 3 hostess gift ornies before December 15th. After the 15th I need to work on my proposals for EGA classes which have to be in by January 5, 2008. YIKES!