Turn Around Tillie

I finally have completed my first "topsy-turvy" doll.  I have always been charmed by this vintage doll design.  There are so many possibilities and variations, but I found this wonderful tutorial at 
http://keepsakecrafts.net/blog/2010/11/18/topsy-turvy-doll-free-pattern-and-directions-part-1/
so I finally made one.  I made some changes to the basic pattern given at the above link.  I wanted a more defined head/neck transition and I made "elbows" in the arms.  But otherwise I followed Sandy's directions which were wonderful.  She put so much detail into this tutorial and lots of pictures.  
Here is my doll.  I call her "Turn Around Tillie"

This is her daytime side.  Tillie is made from 100% cotton muslin which was tea dyed to give it a flesh tone.  She is stuffed with 100 % natural unbleached cotton too.  
Her faces were drawn free hand on the finished heads with colored pencils.

Here's a close up of Daytime Tillie's face.  The bow/head band was an afterthought to help deal with Tillie's hair.  Her hair is wefted "fun fur" yarn which was sewn and glued onto her head.  I wouldn't recommend this - especially not if you intend to give your doll to a young child as they might chew on the hair and it could be a choking hazard.  The problem with Tillie's hair was that some of it hung straight down from the bottom side head and showed a little below the dress hem, so I made the headband and sewed it to her head to keep all the "fly aways" in place.

Here's Sleeping Tillie.  I didn't have any flannel for her nightgown and cap, but I thought that this hearts and stars print worked well. 

The sleep bonnet solves the hair problem on this end.

And this final picture shows both ends at once.  

This doll was great fun.  Many thanks to Sandy for her fantastic tutorial.

Butterfly Belle

My latest completed project is a small cloth doll I made for a swap sponsored by the Glitter Town Dollies Yahoo group.  We were all to make a doll using the same pattern.  The chosen pattern was designed by Natalie Bird and is available here:
http://www.thebirdhouse.com.au/Freebies/freebies.htm

Here's a picture of Natalie's doll:

Cute, isn't she? 
I wanted to put my own spin on this design rather that trying to duplicate it, so this is what I came up with

I used the pattern for the basic doll, but I did it with black velvet instead of muslin or calico.  I couldn't get around the difficulty of painting such a tiny face and giving it more expression on a black background, so I decided to use my own face and tranfer it to fabric and stitch it on.  I redesign the size and shape of the wings, but used the same quilted fabric method as prescribed.  I used a couple of different decorative stitches in black and gold to quilt the wings.  I really didn't like the idea of a butterfly holding a butterfly net, so I made this a "mama" butterfly holding her pupa instead.  The pupa was sculpted in polymer clay and then rolled in felt.  She has beads around her face, fun fur yarn hair and bead antenea.    I hope my partner will enjoy her.
My partner is Glo von Gesselein and if you hop over to her blog at
http://mrsartdollmaker.blogspot.com/
you can see the beautiful doll she has made for me for this swap. 

Quilt in Progress

I've been working on a new quilt this month. I was inspired by a pillow sham my mother-in-law sent as well as some pirate motif fabrics my sister gave me - both with my "piratologist" husband in mind.
It took a while for me to come up with the right pattern and I finally found one in a Debbie Mumm book which has a nice masculine and "Sou'western" flavor. I didn't want the quilt to come off too juvenile and the colors of the pirate motif fabrics are a bit loud, so I chose the maroons and browns and beiges to tone the overall look down into something more restful for the eye.
This is a snapshot of the three different blocks used arranged int the proper order. It's funny how you can't see the forrest for the trees when you are working on individual blocks. It wasn't until I arranged these on my design wall and then viewed them through the camera lens that I really saw the pattern.

Turkey Tail Fungi

It's 47 degrees this February morning and I finally went for my mile lap around the neighborhood for the first time in months.
Along the bike path I came across this interesting thing on the ground. It's hard to tell without a reference, but it is about 10 inches in diameter. It is a tree stump onto which a fungi know as "Turkey Tail" has thoroughly and completely covered. This fungi is like the cleanup commitee as it feeds off of decomposing trees.
I think it's fascinating the way it grows around and around. It's almost pretty - like a wooden flower - or maybe I'm just desperate for any sign of spring.
At least there's bare ground - that's some hope anyway.

Another beginning

I can't believe it's been 10 months since I made an entry here! 

But it has been, and here we are at the start of a new year.  I do hope to do better this year with maintaining this blog, but I won't go so far as to call that a resolution. 

On the topic of resolutions, I want to recommend a book titled "This Year I Will..." by M. J. Ryan.  I bought my copy in audio format, but I recommend text, because it's the kind of book you'll want to go back and review certain parts, make notes, maybe scribble in the margins.  It's not so easy to do that while listening on an MP3 player.  The book is about resolutions.. New Year's ... birthday... whenever... we all have times when we self evaluate our lives, find something lacking, and resolve to change it.  This book is about why we fail to make those changes time and time again, and how to go about making a resolution that will really stick.

So we begin a new year and I'll start by posting this picture of the first project I completed this year - my crocheted tam.  I got the pattern from Crochet magazine.  It's unique enough to hold interest.  The hat itself fits well and is very warm.  I think I'd like to try the pattern with a different yarn.  Something that would lend it to be a little more fluid.  We'll see...

One Fat Quarter Wallet

A few months ago I participated in a round robin doll project. Often in these types of swapping or sharing projects you'll get more than a doll in the bargain. I've found that most doll makers are very generous and there is frequently swapping of stash items and trims and notions.

I received this delightful novelty print fat quarter from one of my swap partners and I've been trying to come up with a project to use it. It's all about shopping ladies.. "sale", "bargains" are included in the motif as well as hats and shoes and purses, and a portrait of a cat - just because.

I found a free pattern for a fabric wallet here:
http://sewing.about.com/od/bagstotespurseproject/ss/clothwallet.htm

Although the materials list does not say how much fabric is needed, I was able to make the entire wallet with it's zippered coin purse and credit card holders and multiple layers from just the one fat quarter. I was even able to "fussy cut" a little.

I managed to get "Bargains" right across the outside and "Sale" on the closure tab.

Kitty is on the zipper coin purse.  I'm rather tickled with how well this came out.  It's a handy little lightweight wallet.  If you decide to make one for yourself I offer this advise: Make sure you have a heavyweight needle in your sewing machine and use lightweight fabric - in the end you'll be sewing through 8 layers of fabric plus interfacing and batting.

Armband for MP3 player

I tried another free pattern at "About.com"

http://sewing.about.com/od/bagstotespurseproject/ss/zuneholderarm.htm

I made some modifications to the armband part, and the result is "okay" in that it serves the purpose, but I think I'm going to try to tweak it a bit more. I'll post again if I come up with a better design.

Meanwhile - I'm going to make a wallet today using this other free About pattern:

http://sewing.about.com/od/bagstotespurseproject/ss/clothwallet.htm