Redneck Photo Studio

DH recently installed shop lights (with Philips daylight bulbs) in his tractor shed and was curious to see what kind of photographic lighting effects he could achieve with a simple setup and just those overhead lights. As you can see from the photo of Madra Lord (Gene Marshall’s nemesis), the light is actually pretty soft. And DH is well pleased with what he calls his “redneck photo studio.”

The name of the doll outfit is “Catwalk.” I paid $25.00 for it, brand new, on eBay. The (bald) Madra doll was around $8.00, if I remember correctly.

Repro Toni Doll

This is my “Sew for Me Toni” doll, a reproduction (by Robert Tonner) of the original Toni from the fifties. She came with a chemise and underwear, socks and two pairs of shoes. I made her a crisp little summer dress of cotton chintz. She is a joy to sew for…

My sister purchased the original P90 Toni for me at an estate sale. Her condition is a little rough, but I love having both the vintage and repro dolls in my collection.

Hope everyone is having a safe and happy holiday!

Sweatshirt Cardi for Ellowyne

Recently, I found an old sweatshirt in the back of my closet that had never been worn. I had purchased it to embellish (quite a few years ago) and just never got around to doing it. I was tempted to just toss it and then had an idea to repurpose it to make doll clothes. Here is my first project: a funky little cardi for Ellowyne that she can just throw on over anything.

Nature Journal: Dog Rose

Lately, I have been getting error messages when I try to publish new posts to this blog. I have been using Explorer for years but I just discovered if I publish in Firefox everything works like a charm! I have absolutely no idea why…

Anyhoo, I made this little drawing in the beginning of June when the fragrant white flowers of the dog rose were in bloom.

June's Sketchbook Challenge: Pathways

May's Sketchbook Challenge

The Sketchbook Challenge for this month is “Can’t Resist.” Well, I can’t resist new spring leaves and splashing around in watercolors! I gathered a few varieties of leaves from the yard, sketched them and cut them out to use as stencils for this fun little exercise from Ann K. Lindsay’s book, WATERCOLOR: A NEW BEGINNING. Starting in the foreground, successive rows of overlapping leaf shapes have watercolor glazes added around them, pushing them further into the background. The stencils act as a kind of “resist” to the paint.

This was done on heavy watercolor paper because the paper has to be wet for the initial wash. I will glue it into my sketchbook.

French Kitty's New Outfit

Here is my French Kitty doll, all dolled up in a new dress and fascinator.

Vermicelli Stitch Practice on Paper Towel

Here is an example of one ply of paper toweling (used to clean up paint) fused to a piece of felt and then free-motion stitched. This very sturdy and highly textured piece of fabric paper will probably end up as a collage background. I learned about stitching on painted paper towels from this very inspiring blog: A Little Imagination and a Pile of Junk.

Mirror's New Corset

I sewed a doll corset from plain old muslin using a cute pattern by Gracefaerie Designs. It’s a solid little foundation piece, interfaced and lined. I had only intended to try it out for fit, but was so happy with the result that I went ahead and trimmed it with organza ribbon, lace, embroidery stitches and seed beads. Definitely need to make more of these! This one closes in the back with hooks and eyes, but the pattern also includes a variation that laces up the front.

A New Dress for Gene...

I made this dress yesterday from the very first Gene doll pattern I ever purchased a few years ago. It was designed by Gerry Broerman and inspired by a vintage Vogue pattern. Don’t know why it took me so long to get to it! It was easy to sew and fits her beautifully. The fabric I used was vintage handkerchief linen (from my mom’s old stash). The belt was made from a strip of bonded leather pulled through a doll-sized buckle. I love how it accents Gene’s tiny waist.

April Sketchbook Challenge

The theme this month is “Branching Out" – but I seem to have only sprouted…



Below is the same sketch with the photocopy filter applied in Photoshop. It gives it kind of an old world look. I may print this on fabric for further embellishment. This could be a way to leverage plain pencil sketches and studies.

Fun and Fast Recycling Project

In the process of weeding out my bookcases, I found a hardback book that I no longer wanted to keep. Not wanting to toss it out, entirely (well, books are sort of sacrosanct!), I decided to remove the pages and re-cover it, inspired by an article on bookmaking by Dede Warren in Somerset’s Sew magazine (Summer 2009). I followed her instructions except that I used a piece of original fabric paper for the cover (instead of scrapbook paper). I also used a single piece of heavy paper for the inside, including the spine. Using “Yes” glue and my fingers, I carefully glued my fabric paper to the outside first and then glued the inside paper to hide the raw edges. As per the instructions, I clamped the papers to the book, refolded the book back into its original position and left it to dry. A signature was made of 3 folded sheets of heavy watercolor paper and added to the book by using an awl to punch two corresponding holes through the center of the folded pages and the book’s spine and tied in with vintage seam tape.

Miniature Baltimore Album Quilt: Block One

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, it is my intention to attempt to make a miniature Baltimore Album quilt. I thought it would make a nice backdrop for photographing my 18” dolls. I had planned to learn how to use needleturn appliqué to stitch the motifs so I practiced on an oak leaf design with lots of tiny concave curves. I’m not even going to show you what an unmitigated disaster that was! I was just not able to turn those curves accurately. After a couple of fruitlessly frustrating hours, I tried tracing my pattern onto a used dryer sheet (in the spirit of recycling!), placing it on the right side of the appliqué fabric, taking tiny handstitches all around the marked lines, cutting a scant ¼” around the stitching and carefully clipping curves, then making a slit in the dryer sheet to pull the appliqué fabric through to the right side. I used my trusty hemostat to push out the edges. And pushed right through the tiny curves! ARGHH! Reluctantly, I decided to just use a lightweight fusible web and add decorative embroidery stitches. I’m actually kind of pleased with the resulting dimensionality. I have eleven more motifs to appliqué – plus border designs so I’m sure this little project is going to take a month of Sundays but, at least, I’ve made a start. I'm using old cotton fabric from my stash as much as possible for this project.

The patterns I’m using for my 4”square blocks are from the wonderful Better Homes and Gardens book, 501 Quilt Blocks, A Treasury of Patterns for Patchwork & Applique.

Sketchbook Challenge: "Spilling Over"

When the theme for this month’s Sketchbook Challenge, “Spilling Over,” was first announced, I was really stumped as to how I would illustrate it. Couldn’t think of a visual to save my life, but I did wax poetic:

Spilling over, overflowing;
Don’t have a clue where I am going.
Ideas for this theme elude,
My sketchbook sighs in solitude,
And wonders when
My Pitt Art pen
Will once again
Its ink exude.

Then, the other day, we had temperatures in the glorious mid-70s and I was walking around the house and noticed how the ivy spills over itself as it climbs the foundation. I decided to sit outside for a while and sketch it. Forgive my messy smudges – occupational hazard of being left-handed…

Mixed Time Periods...

I recently bought a bolt of muslin primarily to make Santa bodies but I also wanted to be able to use it to test-drive commercial clothing patterns for my dolls before committing to fashion fabric. First up is a little number I sewed for my beautiful American Girl doll, Elizabeth Cole. Although she is supposed to be a nine-year-old from 1774 Williamsburg, I think this dress style places her squarely in the early 1800s. I found the floral applique in my stash of lace and hand stitched it to the bodice. Beneath her feet, are the pieced blocks and borders for the miniature Baltimore album quilt I hope to make (pieced from recycled sheet). Baltimore Album quilts were not popular until the 1840s, way after Elizabeth’s time!

Repurposing...

This is something I meant to blog about earlier but it kind of got lost in the shuffle, here. Last year, the cats were roughhousing in bed and put a big tear in a very nice sheet (bad, bad kitties!). I couldn’t bear to throw it out, so I decided to repurpose it. First, I cut squares to use as practice for the free-motion embroidery course I took last fall.



Then, I decided to try out my AccuQuilt Go fabric cutter to cut strips and squares for a miniature Baltimore Album quilt I want to make for my dolls (someday, soon, I hope!). Finally, I found these cool instructions (inspired by Judy Coates Perez) on Jane LaFazio's blog for using teabags for drawing and collage. With the leftover tea, I dyed the rest of the fabric. Now, at least, I feel as though I got my money’s worth out of the sheet. The photo below shows the fabric cut for the little quilt, some tea-dyed fabric and a few sheets of teabag paper (made from iced tea teabags).

I Especially Heart Black Cats...

February’s Sketchbook Challenge is “Opposites.” I knew right away that I wanted to try making a cut paper collage using the Japanese positive and negative design concept of Notan. This was so much fun – kinda like cutting out Valentine hearts as a kid. For this simple, symmetrical design, I used a 3½“ piece of black paper folded in half diagonally, then cut the cat and heart shapes on one side. It’s amazing how much space a 3½” square takes up when all the cutout pieces are glued into their correct positions. And it’s interesting to see the design that’s revealed by the negative space. The second image is the design repeated and flipped in Photoshop. I think it has an Art Nouveau look to it. I will definitely be revisiting this process.

Help! I Need a Clone!

Real life (business) has gotten in the way these past few weeks - even more than usual! Been tempted to give up the blog altogether; after all, it’s been nearly six years! That’s a pretty good run. But, to be honest, I have truly missed it (and my readers – hope you are still out there!) and would like to get back into the online swing of things a little bit, as time permits.

I’m in the middle of so many projects and commitments, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to participate in the Sketchbook Challenge. The theme this month, "Highly Prized," was so broad; I found it difficult to narrow down my choices. Of course, DH is most highly prized – and his sweet visage can be found in every Santa doll I make. (Everyone who knows him says so!) My little cats are highly prized and I certainly prize my doll collection (got a few new ones for Christmas, including three American Girl dolls!) as well as a few favorite pieces of antique lace and porcelain. But I just couldn’t decide what to illustrate. I had nearly given up, when I set about the bittersweet task of taking down the Christmas tree two weeks ago. I think I’ve mentioned before that the Christmas tree has many ornaments made by my mom over the years. Well, the choice for the highly prized theme hit me like a ton of bricks! I decided to draw a couple of my cherished ornaments! The sketchbook I’m using is Canson’s Mixed Media. It is spiral bound with perforated pages and will accept both wet and dry media. I’m very happy with it. A bargain at $8.99 each, I bought two (sport that I am!). I’m using the other one for my nature journaling.

Some Santas Residing with my Sister...

Inspired by my friend, Allie's, post about the quilts she has given her sister over the years, here are a few Santa dolls I’ve made for my sister from Christmases past. The one in the wagon is my very first Santa (from a pattern in Santa Claus magazine in the 90s). These pictures were published, along with my Shanty Claus pattern, a few years ago in Australian Homespun magazine.

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

Gulli and his friend decide to have a little musical interlude in the middle of the tree trimming festivities.

A Little Santa...

I just finished another small Santa based on a design in Art Doll Quarterly by Dianne Rawls Davis (Nov. Dec. Jan 2010). I had made one in July and it was so much fun, I had to try another! I used a small remnant of heavily textured upholstery fabric and trims that I had on hand.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Here's Gulli and his little friend putting up the Christmas decorations! Dolls and outfits are by Goodreau.

Emu on the Loose in Southern NJ!

DH took this shot with his cell phone yesterday of an escaped emu on the side of the road near our house!

Shoes!

We had to paint our favorite shoes for lesson five of Jane's journaling class. I think shoes might be my new favorite subject!

Gerbera Daisies

Here are my exercises for lessons three and four of Jane’s Watercolor Sketchbook Journaling class. I bought this Gerbera daisy plant at the Acme a few weeks ago and it has been such a patient little model. Best $4.99 investment I ever made!

Merrick is Going to California!

Merrick just sold from my Shanty Clauses site and is heading out to California! My sweet boys are leading lives of travel and adventure!

Hubert is Going to Guam!

Hubert sold at auction, but only went for the opening bid, which was kinda low. Either he somehow flew under the radar - or he and I seriously overestimated his appeal! (We thought he was cute as heck!) Hmmm, anyway, he’s going to a very nice customer on the other side of the world in Guam. How cool is that? He’s very excited!

Santa Auction

In honor of Veteran’s Day (November 11th), I have put one of my Santas up for auction on eBay with 100% of the proceeds to benefit Homes for Our Troops. They are a wonderful organization that builds specially adapted houses for severely injured soldiers. I do hope Santa Hubert does well. He’s actually my favorite. I’m paying for shipping so that all the money goes to this truly worthy cause...

Watercolor Journal Class

In an attempt to learn some of her freewheeling journaling techniques, I enrolled in Jane LaFazio’s Sketching & Watercolor; Journal Style class at Joggles. It feels so strange to be working quickly with lots of intense color and water. My usual method for building up color is to lay down lots of glazes using only enough water to soften and diffuse the edges. This is much faster. Here are my exercises for week one and two.

Fun wuith FME

I have learned so many things in the Free Motion Embroidery class I took at Joggles. Most especially, I learned that I can adjust the tension on my bobbin case and, contrary to the warnings of the sewing machine dealer, the universe will not implode! That, alone, opens up a whole new world of stitch possibilities. Anyway, I’m still working through the lessons - and will be for quite awhile. Thought I’d show you one of the exercises I just completed – an example of cutwork.

WISP (Work in Slow Progress)

This still needs a lot more beads, but I’ve been working on it for awhile and wanted to show an update. The base is this monoprint painting I did in Susan Sorrell’s monoprinting class a few years ago. At the time, I didn’t own an orange cat, but now I have two! This quiltlet always makes me think of Briar, my little pumpkin-colored cat with tummy troubles, who insists on being spoon-fed. He has to have pumpkin or sweet potatoes added to his food for proper elimination. For some reason, he also likes me to sing Bobby Rydell’s “Wildwood Days” while he eats. And so I do...

I’ve been working on my FME lessons. The course is great and I'm learning things I would have never thought to try on my own.

A New Santa...

I’ve been really busy with a whole bunch of projects, one of which is taking Janet Clark’s fun and thorough free-motion embroidery class at Joggles. I have also been hand stitching and beading a couple of small art quilts begun in previous Joggles classes. And this afternoon, I finally finished a Santa that I started a couple of years ago. In 2008, I made a jacket out of some cool vintage upholstery fabric with little raised “needlepoint” flowers that my friend and neighbor, Linda, gave me. I never finished the doll because I couldn’t find just the right accessory for him to hold. A few weeks ago, while looking for something else, I happened to run across a little test of a faux needlepoint design I had stitched quite awhile back on my embroidery machine. I had forgotten that the motif was in the same exact colors as the jacket. So, I tea-dyed it, cut it out and hand stitched it to a small bag I made from a stained vintage towel. In my mom’s old sewing box, I found a piece of rust brown lace seam tape to tie the bag. Although this Santa can be displayed all year, he is especially nice for fall because of the harvest colors in his outfit.

Do you see the little hole in the gourd? That is a cat tooth mark - bad kitties!

Miniature Santa Au Naturel...

A few years ago, I designed and made a small (doll-house scale) Santa Claus doll. I gave him as a little extra thank-you gift to one of my wonderful eBay customers. Anyway, I always meant to make another and just recently found my original pattern. The clothing pattern is missing – so I’ll have to redraw that.

I have a copy of a great old book, Dolls to Make for Fun and Profit, and the author, Edith Flack Ackley, recommends stitching small dolls by hand, so that’s what I did - and it was actually easier than following pencil lines by machine on something this tiny. Santa is a little less than six inches tall so he's just the right proportion for a 1/12 scale dollhouse. His arms and legs are wired for flexibility and I ran dental floss through the body to attach them. Next, he has to be gessoed and painted.

Nature Journal: Swamp Maple (Acer rubrum) Leaves

Most of the maple trees are holding on to their green color (here, in southern NJ) but there are a few leaves that are beginning to change. I wanted to try out my new Pitt sepia pen so I used it to outline the leaves and add a little bit of stippling to my watercolor sketch.

This is the first year I have not mourned the passage of summer – and I’m really looking forward to cooler weather – and more autumn color! It has been ungodly hot here for the last couple of months!

Messin' with Photoshop..

I found a beautifully coloured single-lobed sassafras leaf on the ground this afternoon, scanned it with a piece of decorative paper and applied the poster edges filter. Be sure to click to enlarge to see the details.

Vintage Barbie Clothes for Gene

Well, I wondered if the old Barbie patterns would work, scaled up, for Gene. Yes, they do! I enlarged the dress pattern 130.5% to fit my 15 ½” Gene doll. The fabric is a lightweight wool challis – a joy to work with! I’m going to make the matching coat like I did with Barbie, but I think I may make it shorter than the dress for even more of a retro look.

It’s important to remember that when the patterns are enlarged, the seam allowances get bigger, too! This is my second attempt on this dress because I forgot and used ¼” seam allowance the first time and the garment was too big! The adjusted seam allowance for Gene is 3/8" which is the default seam allowance on my sewing machine.

After Earl...

We went to the Ocean City (NJ) boardwalk last night to see if Hurricane Earl had made any sort of impact. There was a little rough surf but that was about it. Although it was a beautiful night, the place was pretty empty (as you can see in the photo from DH's iPhone) for the last big weekend of the summer season. How awful for the businesses there... Below is a radar capture (again, from the iPhone) showing where Earl was in proximity to the east coast last night and our location on the boardwalk in Ocean City.

Coordinating Coat...

Okay, I’m having some serious fun, here! The coat is made from a buttery soft microsuede-type fabric. I know that’s not authentic to the time period (late 50s – early 60s) but I liked how it coordinated with the dress. This particular pattern also includes pants, top, jacket and a skirt. I’m thinking I may try enlarging the pieces to fit my 16” dolls.

Vintage Fashion Sewing for Repro Barbies

There was an article in the 2009 August issue of Haute Doll magazine about collecting and sewing old patterns for vintage Barbie dolls or reproductions. My most recent doll acquisition is the beautiful bubble blonde repro below. She arrived sans clothing and needed something to wear, quick! I found a vintage pattern for a simple sheath but it wasn’t lined. Well, I really wanted to add a lining but wasn’t quite sure how to go about it, so I searched the web and found this pattern for a lined dress for a larger doll and just followed the construction directions. I used “Silk Essence” as the lining material. Having never used it before, I’ve got to say it is wonderful stuff – lightweight, inexpensive and easy to work with – and comes in many colors! For the fashion fabric, I used a pretty scrap from my mom’s old stash. I'm not sure of the content but it is a very soft twill weave and is wrinkle resistant. The scale of the flowers is just right for Barbie. I love the way this dress fits! Next, I’m making a coat to coordinate with it.

Finally Finished!

I don’t know if anyone remembers this WIP/UFO that I actually started to work on before I ever started this blog – over five years ago! Finishing it has been on my “to do” list for several years and, finally, I felt motivated to just “git er done!” This will go into a frame/tray that I purchased on EBay. The bottom image is the full size (about 10x14 inches); the top image is a scan of some details.

Man & Machine...

I took this photo the other day of DH using the backhoe to remove a humongous tree stump. He’s clearing out dead pines and also making room for a dedicated shed to house the tractor and its various attachments.

Monthly Art Experiment for August

This is a quick experiment in embossing a lace design on quilt batting. The instructions are here and call for bamboo batting, but I got a nice, well-raised texture using an old piece of heavy lace on "Warm and Natural" cotton batting. I'm thinking this is another way to get more mileage from damaged vintage lace.

Another Monthly Art Experiment for July

I wanted to try “dyeing” plain fabric with water-soluble crayons. It’s so simple! I applied the crayons (Caran D’ache Neocolor II) very lightly to a piece of tightly woven muslin – then just brushed on water to blend. I kept the application of color very light because I wanted to use the fabric for a background to which I would be adding more color and stitching. I used a light box to trace a quick sketch of a zinnia from my nature journal onto the fabric, backed it with a piece of felt and then stitched it in black floss. The center is filled with French knots and straight stitches. I colored in the flower and leaves after I had finished stitching them, adding water to blend. Here is a great link showing the versatility of Caran D’ache Neocolor II water-soluble crayons (with tutorials) by wonderful artist, Fannie Narte.

I thoroughly enjoyed the whole process and plan on transferring more sketches to cloth. This one will probably be made into a postcard at some point. I will use my heat gun to set the colors.

They Grow So Quickly!

The first photo was taken July 8th; the second was taken today.