Table top 90% done..

The table top is about 90% done and I'm happy with it.  I have a few boo-boos to clean up and want to add some bees, lady bugs and a couple hummingbirds.  This week has a lot of commitments so it will be next week before I get to the legs and the finish coat.
The stencils were perfect but I needed to do them slower as I smudged a few as I was moving along.


As I was cleaning and sorting in the barn last week I came across an extra large zip lock bag and I could see a hand in it.. I couldn't imagine what it was.  It was a dance  hall floozie doll I started years and years ago.  All the parts are done and stuffed and all the embellishments are in the bag. The original design sketch is even there  and I had molded and painted her head.  There must have been some crisis in my life to have packed her away so close to finishing.  Maybe this winter..









I had always thought I had one more doll in me but I thought it was going to be a garden goddess...  I have her head done but no body....and I have lots and lots of material for her.  So maybe I have 2 more dolls in me..

Polly and her pups left home.

Polly and her pupcycle left home recently...  I made dolls for years and years.  Most often a doll  came about because of a theme or concept, but occasionally a doll was inspired by a "prop" and Polly was such a doll. 

























I saw this metal tricycle planter at a thrift store and I could just envision the basket fill with pups......thus

becoming a "pup"cycle.

I have a dear friend who loves dogs as much as I do and she   lost a beloved dog early this year and when her birthday came about recently I couldn't think of a better home for Polly and her pups...






I hadn't made a doll for about 8/10 years now.  Not that I didn't enjoy it or ran out of ideas but you can only have and store so many dolls so one day I just quit.

But I think I have to make one final doll...  and I  had her started years ago... 

The first step is to sculpt the head  and then (like CQ) gather materials for costuming and accessories. So here she is....the head for my garden's goddess.

I sculpted this head  from clay years ago and she has been on this dowel waiting ever since.  Most images you see of garden goddesses and garden angels are lovely and ethereal but my garden is tough and survives severe winters, summer droughts, and is besieged  by deer, gophers and rabbits so my garden goddess definitely had to be of stern resolve.  I have a large bag of fabulous fabrics and materials ready to go.. So one day....... 

Morris loves bugs, pies vs. tarts, and so much for Myrna Loy

Managed to do some stitching the last couple days on my CQJP "Morris Loves Bugs" page.  Of course the lady bug is a peek-a-boo and lifts up to show another Morris peering back.  I found that gorgeous sequined lady bug on a blouse from a thrift store in CA... I hardly left the store before the scissors were out.

Lower left among the daisies is Morris in stealth mode... Closing in on him is my wonderful woolly caterpillar which looks much better in person...  I crocheted a length of eyelash yarn and stitched it down and trimmed it short.  The spider web is there but no spider yet... I plan to add ants, more ladybugs, bees, 1 dragonfly and the piece de resistance; "rainbow butterflies.."  This page will mainly be a name and count the bugs...

When I had growing kids I loved to make cakes but mainly just for DH pies are now what I do most.... except I love to do tarts... They look prettier and take less fruit.  This one is a "Sour Cream Apple Tart" about to go into the oven yesterday.   Besides I can remove a tart from the pan and put it in my ancient glass-domed cake stand.  I've had the stand for about 50 years and it always pleases me to see lovin' from the oven in it...

A couple years ago I found this lovely  piece of lingerie at a thrift store.  I had planned to cut the lace from the sleeves.  But every time I looked at it I thought of Myrna Loy (Thin Man series) floating around in an elegant morning gown so I left it hanging on my closet door.  Maybe one day I would wake up 75lbs lighter (LOL) ,and  I could lounge on my brocade chaise (LOL), and my maid (LOL) would bring me my coffee on a silver tray (LOL). But this morning I cut off the lace and so much for my Myrna Loy fantasy.. In the lower right corner you see a bit of one of the dolls I made... She has a quite sinister face and an elegant gown...she's called Arsenic and Old Lace.

A girl and her doll

What a lovely way to start the day...  Hideko posted her work on the girl with a doll she chose... and it is so endearing... Although I only sent out six in this RR, I ended up with 18 of these images and will send them out in other RRs until I have enough for an album.

I wanted "girly" and sweet and Hideko definitely captured the feeling of the period of this painting... Look closely at the bottom and you see she has created an entire country scene with manor house and all.  With all the special touches now the block itself has a story.

She has posted about what the painting reminded her of as a child and it is very touching.  To hear her tell it you can go to her blog.  I could do all these blocks myself but they would all look like MY work, my voice.. It will be so much more special for each block to have another "voice."

Thank you so much Hideko...  I shall treasure it.

Artist DYB RR and trismus

I have this large print framed in my bedroom... It was done by French Impressionist Berthe Morisot in the latter part of the 1800s. It is my absolute favorite painting as I AM that child..even still... My hair is grey, my skin wrinkled, and my joints ache but I inside I am still that child. My earliest fond memories are of dolls I loved and that love of dolls has woven through my entire life... Of course my daughter, step daughters, granddaughters and nieces all could care less about dolls.


So when I joined the Artist DYB with a dream team (Hideko, Ritva, Helina, Margreet and Gayle) I chose a specific subject rather than a specific artist. And I chose a girl and her doll. Since I found so many images I will be using them in other DYBs and do some myself so I enough to make a book. I chose the following six for this DYB.

Not been a good week... last Friday the left side of my head and neck began to swell and I felt like someone had hit the side of my head with a 2x4...then my jaws froze shut... Called my dentist as it might be a tooth (although not any specific tooth was aching) and he was closed 4 days over Easter so I went to see my doctor to make sure it wasn't hoof and mouth disease or some such thing... She sent me home with pain pills... Finally saw my dentist Tuesday and he send me to a endodontist today... It is an abscessed tooth under a crown and my jaws are still frozen shut and for a week I have been eating with a straw and tiny demitasse spoon.... mashed bananas, yogurt, boiled eggs and ice cream.

I am now on 2 kinds of antibiotics and more pain pills and hopefully in a week my jaw muscles will relax enough they can do the surgery... And there is actually a name for this condition... "trismus" - the continuous contraction of the jaw muscles. Expanding my vocabulary the hard way.

The other doll and bags

This was the second doll... She's the same size, floppy, and has a hand painted face ...She also has some lovely petticoats and a stylish hat...all in her own colors... I am still amazed I did all that work on these dolls and forgot them...They have to have been in the trunk for 8-9 years.

This doll had beaded bloomers and beaded shoes... The comments are right I should give the girls the option... If they don't want them I will put them in a charity auction... which is a much better plan than sticking them back in the trunk until great grandchildren...which may be a long time coming..

Also in the trunk were 4 tapestry totes that I can really use right now...

Then after I rearranged all the furniture I didn't like it and as soon as DH got home he helped me move it all back where it was.... but I wouldn't have found the dolls otherwise... maybe I should deep clean more often.......................maybe not!!!

My surprise!!!

This morning I decided to rearrange my furniture which I only do about as often as I cut my hair...every 20 years or so... In the process I had to move a heavy antique trunk which I knew was full of rolls of really cool wallpaper (don't ask!) but when I opened it I also found 2 dolls... I vaguely remember making these dolls for my 2 oldest granddaughters when they were too old to play with dolls but I thought would like a "bed doll" I must have made them during some long ago summer and put them in the trunk until Christmas but forgot them..

They're very large.. about 2 1/2' tall, cloth and very rag-doll like with painted faces. Even if I must say so myself they are delightful but since the girls are in their twenties.....hardly appropriate anymore..


But check out these petticoats...#1 and #2

And the bloomers and stockings are to die for...

When I look at the dress I'm thinking these fabrics would make a great crazy quilt block...

Morris immediately fell in love with them so I just photographed them and put them back into the trunk and will save them for great-granddaughters I guess.

Garden Good Witch

Time and again after I started the bird garden things happened that either subtly or dramatically change my course and my life.. They were things that were not anticipated, foreseen, planned or even hoped for by me... Events that fell from the sky in front of me and if I didn't pay attention, hit me in the head..... It was really kinda spooky... Friends suggested I had a gardening angel...but it definitely didn't feel like heavenly intervention and I couldn't envision a sprightly garden fairy or a ethereal garden spirit at work for me.

My guiding force was shrewd, wise, cunning and had a warped sense of humor so I finally decided that I had a Garden Good Witch..

When I was making dolls I sculpted her head as I envisioned her. Unfortunately I stopped making dolls just before I would have started on her body... I do keep her head sitting around where I can see it and often imagine how I would costume her..... I don't often ask you questions, but can you see her as a good witch as I described her?????
The very last doll I worked on was one of my favorites and had the theme "Arsenic and Old Lace"...all she needs is shoes and her head glued on but she has been sitting like that for years. It was the costuming, not so much the making of the dolls, that I enjoyed.

Off to be Gerry Good Wife today and play duplicate bridge with HWCH and have Lamb Shanks with White Beans in the slow cooker for supper... Remember all those darling little lambs from last spring?..............well organic grass-fed yum yum!!

Polly and her "pup"cycle

This is another very old doll that was done on a whim and a dare when a friend and I found this cycle at a thrift store. What could be done with it...? The obvious thing was to fill the basket with flowers but I just couldn't resist a play on words... I have someone in mind that will receive it for Christmas as I continue to try to clear things out....

Ms. Seena d' Crime

I ran across this photo while sorting stuff yesterday. I made this doll years ago and not sure what happened to her... I made her before I started sculpting heads so her head is cloth and flat!!! I painted her face on with acrylics. Sometimes people had to touch her face to make sure it was really flat...too funny! She's a mystery writer as you can tell by her name, Ms. Seena d' Crime.



The handle of her umbrella is a dagger and there's skeletons in her bag. Spiders, a magnifying glass, clues and other things appropriate to her trade are in and about her body. I can't remember what was tucked on her hat.. I must have given her to someone but for the life of me can't remember that either......I did love doing Victorian costuming...

Self portrait

Several years ago I decided to make a doll in my own image for my son and here it is. I actually had a mirror on the table as I sculpted the face... Again the head is sculpted from paperclay... I love wearing red and probably have more red coats and red shoes than any normal person should have. So of course a doll in my own image had to have red shoes...

Here's a close up of the gourmet cake......not going to win any blue ribbon at the fair!!!! I'm making great headway on the Singer blocks and finished the mums tonight...

Doll making

Emmeline Pankhurst 1858-1928

I stopped making dolls because I had become absolutely obsessed with detail. This is one of the last dolls I made and it was inspired by Emmeline Pankhurst, a famous English suffragette. She was an activist and often chained herself to Parliment doors and to posts in front of men's club (hence the chain and padlock). Not only was she a vital force in England, she raised 2 daughters who were active in the American suffragette movement. I made this doll for myself and she is one of my very favorites. .only 18" tall More about her: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/WpankhurstE.mmeline

I sculpted her head with paperclay. I loved working with paperclay and the soft look of a finished piece ..very different from the plastic look using polymer clays... I researched costumes, beaded the purse, make the shoes with silver buckles, and even collected hundreds of quotes by famous women and made the leather bound book with 6 point type. Is that obsessive or what..? This is for you Carolyn Rapstine