Hoffman Challenge Doll

I just found out my doll was chosen as a winner in a new category for the Hoffman Challenge, Best use of Peacock Theme. My doll is "Ms Peacock in the Conservatory With the Candlestick" Sub title "But I just wanted a flower like Carrie"s!" Here are some pics.
Congratulations to all the winners and to everyone who entered. I would have hated to be a judge! The dolls I saw on Deanna Hogan's site were just spectacular! Can't wait to see the pics of the Winning Dolls.

Day With Dolls

Thanks to everyone who took time to write about my last post and to send good wishes to my Mother. Hopefully, she will be leaving the hospital tomorrow (6 week anniversary) and move to rehab for a week and then home. She is almost her own self personality wise. All this has certainly taken a toll but she still looks great for her age!



Last Saturday was Day With Dolls hosted by the 3D Doll Club in Mount Vernon, N. Y. This was the third annual in a what I hope is a long line of annual events. (The first and second were hosted by our own member Diane Kearney. ) We had demos on Paverpol and new products from those lovely ladies Bonnie and Mary Ann from Dollmaker's Journey, a textiva wing demo from Tonya (paintedthreads) and 2 dolls and supplies to begin on. (That's MaryAnn sitting with dolls from my patterns, Ragalia, Madame LeCat and my newest which debuted to a wonderful reception, Dances With Butterflies. I even found the perfect antenae - rhinestone studded head pins--from one of the vendors there. ) The first was a doll that originated from a bottle and a piece of fabric, the second was "Hang Ur Imagination" which started with a hanger, block of wood and a styrofoam ball! See below for my finished piece. I also helped out with name tags. Last year we did faces. This year I thought Paper dolls. The dolls, dresses and shoes were cut out on the Die cut machine. I think the attendees had fun with these. I know our club did - we made mermaids since we meet in Neptune!

Jane and Flora working hard.

Margaret, ?, Linda and Diane I from our doll club. I am so sorry but I don't remember the name of the person in green at our table.

Dolls from the display. See that one in red with the beautiful face and LOTS of attitude? She is Queen of Hearts by Maria Quinones--an original sculpt that is just beyond words beautiful. This is the doll she created from Arley Berryhill's Ms Peacock class.

Janice from our doll club's wonderful creation.

Love the long legs on this doll.




More eyecandy.

And still MORE eyecandy.

More dolls.

This one I finished. Beaded the face at the hospital. The arms and legs are from fringed cotton, the body is a piece of ribbon from the kit covered with beaded fringe also from the kit. I added the lame. I was going for no sew but since I had to sew the body, I decided to bead the face. I still have to finish the base. His hands are wire and textiva. I call him "Jazz Hands."

CQ Doll Class

The second weekend in July I taught a CQ Wall Doll Class. We had lots of fun and the ladies made the most beautiful creations. Here are some pics of the process and a few of the finished dolls. I was hoping the dolls would be finished, but I didn't realize EGA classes only run 5 hours per day and I had planned on a 7 hour day so I lost 4 hours of class time. They weren't dissapointed--most were up to the stuffing stage so they got close. At our regular meeting the following week, 4 had brought in completed dolls though I only got a pic of three.


Here is a pic of Kathy's Mermaid. Love these colors. She embellished it with shells, sequinse, beads and embroidery.

Here is Pat contemplating her body mask placement.

And Janet doing the same.

Ellen, Janice and BJ and their pieced fabric plotting out thier body placement. If the bodies look familiar, they sort of "shared Janice's. Ellen and Janice used the same focus fabric but their Dolls turned out sooooo Different!

What I did in the Hospital

While I was sitting watching my Mother sleep and heal, I worked on a new pattern and doll. I started this pattern a few years ago when I made the original Dances With Butterflies but when my computer crashed, I lost all my pics. I then did a smaller version for the Sept, 2007 issue of Doll Crafter and Costuming. So, coming soon, a 24" version of Dances With Butterflies. The pattern includes a tutorial on painting lace and also the complete pattern for the 18" version. So here she is in all her glory, pretty in pink. There also was a discussion about armatures to hold up a larger doll on one toe. She has a very stable stance made possible by 2 pieces of 16g florist wire and a 12" piece of a wooden skewer taped together. No sway here!

Life Intervenes

My 87 yr old mother went in for a serious but fairly routine surgery on June 26th. She has been in the hospital (except for a day and a half) eversince. She required another Major surgery on July 7th and spent 2 weeks in ICU on a vent. She is doing much better now and should be heading for a rehab center today or tomorrow. They call her a miracle because she had a heart attack and by all accounts should have died. Thank goodness for the Cardiac Drs and Surgeons at Jersey Shore University Medical Center. The nurses have been wonderful too. Here is a warning ladies: She had NO symptoms of a heart attack. She was tired and had trouble moving but felt NO pain or shortness of breath. Good thing my father and I got her to the dr. She had an appointment follow up for the first surgery but we ended up in Emergency. I have been at the hospital every day and caring for my Dad (88) who is pretty much lost without my Mother.

During this time, I had NO land line phone service on my 2 lines for over a week thanks to Verizon and their horrendous repair response. I was even told by a Repair Service CLERK that he showed my line working and he wasn't going to dispatch. After being on hold for over 9 minutes, I had to hang up because my cell battery died. I wrote 3 letters to the Board of Public Utilities--who NEVER responded either though I did get a call from Verizon President's office from a Mrs. White regarding the complaint. I even told them I was the sole emergency contact for my Mother and I also cared for my MIL, 91 with dimentia who had no way to get in touch with me since I had to leave her home alone for hours at a time. I also received NO follow-up from Mrs. White and the number she called from had no voice mail. I retired from Verizon. I did the calls as a response to BPU complaints. I would NEVER have been so callous and un-responsive. So much for customer care.

Ok. I am off my soap box now. I just need to fight them for a credit on my bill. Sad I see this as a battle and they don't see it as their responsibility.

Possible Class????

Not sure if anyone out there would be interested in a class on making a doll from a tree branch. The top part including the arms is collage fabric. The leaves are free-motion stitched (but can also be done with dimensional paint) then cut from sheer fabrics using a heat tool, applied to branches made from silver wire and embellished with a variety of beads--on this doll I used pale blue quartz, labradorite, crystals, fire polished beads and beautiful hand made glass icicles from http://www.myglassgarden.com/.

The face was done with fabric over paperclay over fabric.

Would anyone be interested in a class? It would be more of technique than actually following a distinct pattern since it all starts with the tree branch and no two of them are alike. Of course there are guidelines for choosing your branch, but making it into a doll and creating the head are the same.

Here's Looking at Ya!

I have been busy preparing for my class this week for the CQ Wall Doll for EGA. Here are the heads. I printed them on fabric then added highlights and color blending. I think they came out pretty good and I think the ladies in the class will like them too. I originally sketched 3 different faces then scanned them and manipulated them so each side was a mirror image of the other. Amazing how different the faces are from each side of the drawing!

Here too is another sample doll. This one is "Body by Margaret". I think Margaret did a great job on drawing her goddess. I hope the ladies in the class will enjoy this too! I'll post pics after the class.

I did finish my Hoffman Challenge doll. I'm mulling over her right now to see if there is something that needs attention. I just have to pack her up and ship her out.

Just to prove I haven't been a slacker I have also completed 2 new dolls for possible classes and one for the November issue of Doll Crafter and Costuming. Here is a sketch of one of the class dolls though the completed doll turned out a bit different. If you watch, her head and part of her shoulders is in my slide show. She is blond wearing a hat. The other possible class I will try to post tomorrow.