Another Crash!

My computer died again - this time it was the power source and that meant a new computer. So now I am writing to you on my new laptop. Fortunately I was able to salvage the hard drive and get all my data - unlike last time!

I was away teaching at the EGA Metropolitan region Seminar. What a blast!!! I had a small class but all the ladies completed their dolls! How cool is that! Then the following week I accompanied my friend Vickie to Artistic Figures in Cloth in Ohio to help man her booth. We had such a great time and the dolls were exceptional to say the least!

Then to top off a near perfect few weeks, two friends from Texas, Barbara and Lynnis came to visit. Here they are arriving at the airport. We spent a day in New York hitting all the bead shops, trim shops including Tinsel Trading, and a few fabric stores. We also hit a few local fabric stores. Both Barbara and Lynnis left some of those Texas dollars here! We also had a little time to create. We made pendants from UTEE and Textiva. Here is Barbara's beauty with the grapes and here is Lynnis's with leaves. I also made one for me and one for Vickie but couldn't make up my mind which one she would like best so I gave her both. Then I found directions on UTube here for faux opals using glass but since I didn't have glass, I made a base from clay. Here are pics of my pendants. The opal one really looks like a real opal! Amazing!

I am working on my Hoffman Challenge doll and a new class for a tree doll using almost all recycled materials. Watch for the announcement soon!

Stacy Clark Doll Exhibit

Ok. I have a little remiss in updating my blog lately so watch for a few posts. At the end of February, Colleen, Heidi, Tery, and I went to see an exhibit in Pennslyvania of dolls by a wonderful doll artist, Stacy Clark. More information can be found on my website but here are a few of her dolls to peak your interest.

I have also updated my etsy shop with a few more dolls for sale. Please take a look.

New Picture of the Witches

I have been meaning to take a profile picture of the 4 witches together. Here it is! I think I like Winter's profile the best!

Quilt Show

Friday, I was able to spend a few hours at the quilt show in NJ. To my surprise and delight, a Crazy Quilt won one of the first places. Dolls from the Hoffman Challenge Trunk A were also there and I took lots of pictures. You can see them on my website just click on the link above my lovely little dog Diamond.

Saturday and Sunday I had the opportunity to teach "One Kiss Is Not Enough" to a wonderful group of dollmakers at the City Quilter in New York. This was the first time I taught at this venue and they certainly made it a pleasure. Thank you ladies for a wonderful class. Unfortunately, since this was an ambitious project for a two day class, I didn't get an opportunity to take any pics. Oh well. Maybe next time!

Look What I Got!

One of my doll clubs had their "Christmas" exchange a couple weeks ago and I finally got the pics off my camera. Not part of the exchange, but as gifts for me from two of my favorite people, I received dolls from Tery (http"//dreamcreationstery.blogspot.com her new blog) and Colleen. Tery's elf is made from a free pattern from Lotus Vela and he is just amazing. His clothes are very detailed - his belt buckle is made from grunge board!

Colleen is a master sculptor and her faces are perfection. She uses all these little details like the small jewel studded clay hearts all over her outfit, in the crown, and in her hand - a touch that I think is just wonderful. I am so thrilled to have had these two dolls made just for me.

This club chose to do my Barefoot Valentines pattern for the exchange. I was excited to see the imaginative things they did. Unforetunately due to the snow, not all the members came so only three of us exchanged. I received Deb's doll and was blown away by what she did - she added breasts, wrists, and a belly button to make this wonderful genie who is posed around her bottle. How cool is that!!!! Such talent here. Unfortunately I didn't get a pic of Emily's doll, but it is on Colleen's blog. Another cutie!

My other doll club started doing the Barefoot Valentines at our club meeting last month so I sewed together parts to work on too. They were for my Summer Witch and today I finished her. Her skirt is from the fabric I won on http://winfabric.com/ I just love the colors. I also cut out some of the flowers and used them for her shoes and scattered on her skirt to add more dimension. Her bodice is a piece of Pansy printed fabric enhanced with dimensional paint. I then fussy cut some pansys to add sleeves and fill in any blanks areas. The bees, dragonflies and flowers on her hat are buttons I have had for years. I may make her a new hat because I think this one is a little small, but it is her summer hat. I just realized too I have to add her crystal moles on her face! See the dragonfly in her hand? got that idea from Colleen! Colleen also gifted me with the satin roses trimming her bloomers. Thanks again Colleen.

New Version Of One Kiss

One of the people who made this doll changed her pose to blowing a kiss. I just loved it and had to do one too. I thought I would make her a little more contemporary too. I had purchased this fabric quite awhile ago from Joanne's in the bargain bin and on sale of course. It is actually black flocked off white spark organza. While shopping for cotton/lycra for my doll club I found the face fabric. It is 100% cotton poplin from Anne Klein and it is fabulous to work with though a bit pricey at $14 yd! But it felt like silk and sewed like a dream. I thought too I may enter her in the 3D 2009 doll challenge but after I read the fine print, she is too big coming in at almost 22". Oh well! I left off the peplum and modified her shoes (being a "contemporary" woman she is wearing "Christian Louboutin" red sole shoes. I colored her face with chalks and pencils. I got that lovely black lace from sadiessilkenthreads.etsy.com. The fabrics for her arms and legs were black and white that I dyed ecru to blend. I also had to dye the fabric for her bloomers (OK. She's not that contemporary!) and her satin underskirt. Her hair is tibetan Lamb skin that I styled with hair spray and rollers. I must admit too I was inspired by Michelle Obama's appearance on the view when she wore the black and white dress from White House Black Market.

Thanks and a Thank You from one of my favorite shoppings spots

Thanks everyone for the kind words about my faces. After the last post I received a surprise from Fabric.com for mentioning them on my blog -a gift for me and my readers! How cool is that! This is from Tracy Jackson at fabric.com
"... For your readers, I have a $5 off coupon for them to use. The coupon code is blognovas. This coupon is also valid for one week, from 2/19 to 2/26. There is no minimum purchase and the coupon is a one time only coupon.
Thank you "sew" much. Enjoy!"

In case you missed the link, it's http://www.fabric.com

Thanks so much Tracy!