Liz's Grandma's Linen Doll

My friend Liz visited me from Boise. We celebrated our birthdays together when she was here. It was really nice to spend an evening with her and her kids and go on two morning walks with her. It was like she never left the Bay area. We walked on two trails which we used to every weekend while she lived in the area. Here is something I made for her from her grandma's linen. Liz had given me some of her grandma's linen before she left for Boise 2 years ago. I have used a couple of them on my dolls. This little item was a project at my doll club and was taught by my friend Connie.

Pindolls from March Swap

I am back after a two week break. My son is much better after a bout of very high fever. I was also very busy thinking about and making my second secret pal doll. I finished the doll 2 days before the due date. This is the second time I finished something days (!!!!) before the due date. Now I have some free time until the next swap doll (which I plan to do in the next day or two) and the next class on April 20th. I hope to find more free time when kids go back to school on Monday after their spring break.

Last month my swap partners made these pin dolls for me. Aren't they just too cute? Cheshire cat was made for me by Patti and the March Hare by Kelly. I am so lucky to get such beautiful dolls in return. I made the Queen of Hearts for Patti and Alice for Kelly.

March Swap at the Alley

Alice was easy to pick for the "Alice in Wonderland" swap at Pindoll Alley. I looked into several books and a lot of pictures on Google and then came up with my own version. I made her a red head (I can be a rebel sometimes). I put 2 rows of beads to attach the legs onto the body and one row of beads to attach the arms. A simple blue dress with lace and red striped stocking finished the look. She is also carrying a bag with a picture of the tea party.

Sometimes when there is a lot to choose from it gets doubly difficult. There are so many fun characters in the Wonderland and so I have very little time! Should I make the March Hare? How about the cook in the Queen's kitchen? or the flamingo? or the card soldier with a red paint brush? The list was long and I could not decide. Finally I made the Queen of Hearts. Here she is with her royal blue hair and the blue features just like in her pictures on the playing cards. This month's challenge was fun and throughly enjoyed making both the dolls.

Nita's Design Pin Doll

I love and admire my 5 year old's art. She started on the human figure last year and has steadily improved. I have picked a few elements of her design and copied them to make this pin doll. The body is her design from last year when the body was not so complicated. I have taken an artist's liberty and given my pin doll 4 fingers and 4 toes.

She has noticed and learned more about hair now and does not draw the hair like she used to. I love the hair, don't you?

February Pindoll Swap

Carolyn and I swapped pin dolls this month and the topic was Make Me Laugh. Carolyn made me a sweet little flower and the name is "Bloom Where You are Planted". My doll for her is called "Some Women Will Do Anything (To Make Their Boobs Look Perky)". It was fun designing the doll and then making it. She is made to hang upside down with her legs in a pocket or they can be turned and then she can be worn using the pin that is already sewn on.

Next month the topic is Alice in Wonderland. I never knew I am capable of finishing something sooner than the deadline! I learned something new about myself!!

Anger Management/ Felting

Lets see...how do I explain felting in my own words? Felting is fusing fibers together in order to bring them together or fuse together. Do you see the small round fuzzy balls on your wool or acrylic blanket? or your wool sweater? That is a form of felting.

As an art form, people take long strands of wool fibers and fuze them all together using felting needles. Felting needles are not to be taken lightly. Even though they are very small they are very very very sharp and have barbs on them to fuse the fibers together. They bend on one end to make a handle. The felting needles are a bit longer than regular needles and are usually the same length but the thickness will change according to the size.

I think felting teaches you anger management. It helps vent out all the anger. It also teaches you to "manage/control" that anger. Because if you don't control your movement, you will jab yourself in your fingers! Learning to felt is somewhat similar to riding a bike. Just like you fall at least twice before you learn to ride a bike, you will jab yourself twice before you learn to felt.

Here is my first attempt at felting. I took this mini class and Tina taught me how to felt. It was a class to make mini sized lady bugs but I made him a pincushion instead. So about 30 minutes of felting and 2 jabs later, I ended up with this handsome fella. He is about 2.5 inches long and about 2" high.

Just Stuff....

Early this morning at 7.30am, I opened my blog and realised that I have posted 80 times. When will I get to 100? Some people can do that in a few months and here I am after more than a year. It is like my count at Curves. I am on my 174th workout in 2 years!! But the count there is a bit better than my blogging. I do have a goal for Curves and that is to finish my 200th workout by my birthday at the end of next month. Will I do it? I hope so. Should I have a goal for blogging too? I don't know.

Here are 3 pictures of the finished ATCs which I have already swapped. I have just a few to finish and maybe swap at another time. I also have the ATCs which I got in exchange. I have not taken the pictures yet. That will give me a chance for my blog entry #82!??

Dancing Doll

It is my turn to bring a doll or doll related item for raffle this month at the doll club. I made this small dancing doll to take to the meeting. The designer is Ellise Peeples and the name of the pattern is Leaping Doll Pin. She was easy to make and lots of fun.

ATCs after the 2nd "Addition"

Here are the cards after I added some beads and sequence I got from India. I have done some machine embroidery to fill out the background a bit. Next I need to work on sewing the plain white fabric to the back of the cards to sign my name on and I have to work on the edges of the cards too.

Heads on Shoulders

I put the heads on but have not put my heads on straight! Well that is done. So where do you go from here? The hair? Maybe some sewing around lines. Which comes first?