Fun day at the I-X

Pam, Rosemarie and I went to the I-X center for the Sewing Expo. We had a great time walking up and down the aisles looking at all the beautiful fabrics, trims, fibers and whichevers. There were so many beautiful fabrics I could have gone crazy filling my stash but I was really good. I got 4 colors of silk ribbon for NO RULES and 1 yard of a beautiful African fabric for one of Li Hertzi's dolls that I want to make.

We ran into Carolyn and her mom, then we ran into Teresa, and we saw Joan and her friend (Joan is the president of the Doll Gatherers). Then we ran into all of them 3 more times it was funny.

My doll club the Doll Gatherers had a wonderful display of dolls there. I managed to help fill the

display with 5 dolls. Here are some pictures.

So much to do!!

I belong to a few on line doll clubs and it seems that all of a sudden everyone wants to do swaps! Which is great I love doing this stuff it's just funny how it all came withing a week or 2 of each other, must be spring fever. At Cloth Doll Artistry - Santa Studio there is a swap of 3 fat quarters of fabric with your assigned partner then you have to use that fabric in making a Santa. I can add 2 solid colors of my own. There is a basic pattern to follow which can be used as is or altered to be fatter, skinnier, taller, shorter - whatever! I love love love Santas so I can't wait. I have my assigned partner, I just got in some material that I ordered so I need to send that out in the next couple of days and the Santa picture is due July 1st. Then over at Doll Street there is a Dotee doll swap. I had never heard of the Dotee doll but I do now! They are so cute. I have a bunch of ideas floating around in my head. They need to be mailed to Alaska by April 30. Then I have to get my dolls ready next week for an exhibition at the Sewing and Quilt Expo in Cleveland with my other doll club The Doll Gatherers who will also be having an exhibition table at AFIC the end of April.
So, I'm still recoverying from minor surgery last Monday, the surgery went really well, I just had problems in the recovery room which usually happens only it was a lot worse this time. It's Thursday and I still feel a little out of it but I'll be fine in a few days.

Time For Dolls - March 15, 2009

Last Sunday the 15th was our 3rd doll club meeting. We had a smaller group with people on vacation and previous engagements but we had a great meeting and a fun time. Dot Lewallen came to visit and brought some of her beautiful beaded dolls to show. Dot has been published in Soft Dolls and Animals and most recently in Doll Crafter and Costuming. Check out her work on her web site http://www.speediebeadie.com/. Thanks Dot we really enjoyed seeing your work.
A couple of the ladies finished and wore their club pin dolls, here are a couple of pictures
.
You can see a picture of my pin doll in an earlier blog. They are coming out so cute. I will post pictures of all the pin dolls as they are finished.
We had a great meeting. Everyone worked on their dolls and hopefully they will be done soon. A list was passed around with ideas for a challenge and everyone will vote on what theme they want for our first challenge - can't wait it sounds like fun. Here is a picture of the ladies working on their dolls.

Next meeting Pam is going to give a face sculpting demo and I will give a face painting demo (with color pencils and markers, not paints!)

NO RULES March 8, 2009

Well it was the March meeting of NO RULES. We didn't have a specific project this week we just worked on whatever we wanted. Pam was working on her Cyndy Seiving doll for the Guilded Lilies as was Theresa. Carolyn did some beading on a doll from one of her art groups. I didn't work on anything but I looked at a lot of books! Most of them were about altered journal pages which is an ongoing project for NO RULES. I have Pam's pages done but after looking at the books today I don't know if they are really done. Of course they are nothing like what you see in the books, not so "artsy". I'm more of a whimsical person but this is the first time doing this so I guess the more I do them the more "artsy" I can become. So I will make that a goal - to go from kindergarten art to mature art. Well, I'll try afterall "I don't want to grow up!"

Kimono As Art

Well, on Friday March 7, 2009 Pam and I went to the Canton Museum of Art and saw the most beautiful kimonos. It was an exhibit of 40 oversized kimonos made of silk and dyed to show flowers or landscapes by Itchiku Kubota. Thirty of the kimonos were in a seperate room lined up side by side in a "U" formation and where one landscape ended on a kimono it continued onto the kimono next to it - all the way around the room. It depicted the 4 seasons of Mt. Fuji and Lake Kawaguchi which is at the foot of Mt. Fuji. It was breath-takingly beautiful. Mr. Kubota first learned the art of dyeing at 14. When he was 20 he went to the Tokyo National Museum and saw an old silk textile and studied it for hours. It was from a lost art that he was determined to bring back. After fighting in Korea and being a POW in Siberia he devoted the rest of his life to rediscovering the lost art of Tsujigahana that he had seen in the Tokyo Museum 17 years earlier. It wasn't until he was 60 that he perfected the dyeing process to resemble French Impressionism and had a public exhibition in Tokyo. These kimonos were exhibited in San Diego and in Canton, OH and were in this country only once before in 1995 at the Smithsonian.
They are only in Canton until April 26th so if you are in the area I highly recommend that you go see them, it's an amazing form of art.
Then we happened upon a great restaurant and had a nice lunch, it was a good day.

New Doll - February 23,2009

Well last night I finished a new doll. She was made from a free pattern on Judi Ward's web site called Napkin/Sister. I made a few changes from the original to make it more my own. She's a pretty simple doll but fun to make. Thanks Judi!

Time For Dolls Club Meeting - February 19, 2009

Last Sunday was our second Time For Dolls Club meeting. I thought it was really good! There weren't as many people there as the first meeting but I know Pam went to Mexico for metal classes - we'll have to see what fabulous things she makes. A couple of people went to a doll show, someone was sick and someone couldn't make it for personal reasons. There was a new woman who came and seems very interested in joining so for those of us who were there it was a fun day.

I can't believe I brought my camera and then forgot to take pictures. What is up with that?? Anyway... we showed our pin dolls that we had made the first meeting. They all turned out fabulous. We had show and tell. I brought 2 dolls one of which was Patti Culea's doll from her first book. Carolyn also brought her doll she made from that book so it was interesting to see how different the same doll can look. Li brought her dolls which are fabulous, they are so artsy and different. I love them and can't wait to make some.

Yesterday I started making Judi Wards "Napkin Doll". It is a freebie from her site. She is coming out adorable if I say so myself. I'll post a picture when she is done. Once again it is snowing like crazy outside today. This is probably a good day to re-take photos of my dolls so I can put them in an album to share. We'll see how it goes, it is almost noon and I'm still here in my PJ's playing! Well here is a picture of my Patti doll - I've named her Cici (short for cupcake - long story) but she is cute as a cupcake

and a picture of my pin doll.

NO RULES Meeting - February 10, 2009

Last Sunday my friends Pam, Carolyn, Teresa and I met for our monthly NO RULES meeting. This is a mixed media art group. We showed off our puzzles, started our jounal project, made plans for our doll exchange, talked about our mini art quilt exchange and made ATC's. I'll talk about the puzzle now and the other projects as they come up.
We started the puzzle project last year and it was Christmas gifts to each other. We had 12 piece wooden puzzles that we chose a theme for and passed out pieces to each member and then embellished the pieces. One of our members, Judy, sadly has sinced dropped out of the group. We then put our puzzles back together again and had wonderful pictures that each member of the group contributed to and they are keepsakes for life.

This is my puzzle and my theme was beaches. Some of the pictures have real sand from different parts of the country - so cool! The pictue in the lower right is of my son and myself sitting by the sand dunes on Cape Cod about 30 years ago. We were living there at the time. It's one of my favorite pics. The picture on the lower left is a beach in Tortola which was one of my husband's and my favorite Caribbean Islands we visited on a cruise 2 years ago. I added the sparkly pink flamingo mostly because I love pink and sparkly! I still need to paint and decorate the frame but I love this project and it means so much to me.

This is Pam Rowe's puzzle. Her theme was mid-life reflections. One of the pieces I made for her is the one in the upper right hand corner with the cupcakes. Life is ALL about the cupcakes!! (Maybe not all but it helps.)

This is Carolyn Tolan's puzzle. Her theme was doors. One of the pieces I made for her is the bottom center with The Doors rock group. That was my husband's brilliant idea. But my other piece is the big brown door with a pretty handmade wreath that I put on upside down - could not believe it!

This is Terea Balasz's puzzle. Her theme was hearts. One of the pieces I made was the one with the big puffy hearts which Teresa tells me she uses as a handle to lift the puzzle out of its frame. And the other piece is right above it with sparkly hearts all over it - love the sparkle!

And the last one is Judy Brown's. Her theme was dolls. She is a beautiful doll maker and taught me a lot about making dolls. We'll miss having her in our group and hope she can return in the future.
Well that is all for today. I should be working on my challenge doll for one of my doll clubs but she is almost finished. The new doll club that Pam and I and another friend Rosemarie started in Akron is having its second meeting this Sunday. I'm really looking forward to it. It is very exciting to be starting a new doll club and to see how it will grow, I'll write about that later also.

My First Blog Entry

Well, I've finally decided to start my own blog. I've been making dolls for 2 years now and I'd like to share them with anyone who wants to see. I also like writing this for myself.
I plan to put up some photos of dolls I've made the last 2 years and I will be adding new photos as I make new dolls.