Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Waiting Up doll class - chair

I finished my chair. That was a lot of fun to make. Even though it was a little painful I enjoyed the hand sewing, and there was a lot. The chair arms and the cording was hot glued on and that was a bit of a mess. My glue gun is ancient and cheap, I need to invest in something better. I'm pleased with the way it came out. Can't wait to make the doll, her clothes co-ordinate with the colors in the chair!
 

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Waiting Up doll class

I started a new doll class - wish I would finish up the projects that I have to do first. My doll for the Houston International Quilt show is laying in pieces on my sewing table. I have her all made in my head which really doesn't help. I need to work on her but I wanted to start this class.

If you haven't seen this class, it is a doll by Cindee Moyer named "Waiting Up" where the doll falls asleep waiting up for their child to come home from their night out. I think most of us can relate.

First you make the chair that the doll is sitting in. I decided to start that because I needed to do something different for a while. Here are a couple of pictures of the chair so far. The front side of the pieces had the fabric glued on and the back side where sewn on by hand. My little arthritic fingers are so sore! Now I have the pieces pinned together and they get sewn on by hand also, so I wanted to give my fingers a break and I took a couple of pictures. They're not the best pictures because it is 11 in the morning and totally dark outside. We are having thunderstorms and it is pouring rain and hot and humid. But the room was really dark so I have overhead lights on and the table lamp is on, that is why there is a bright spot. Anyway, I thought this fabric was so pretty, I got it at JoAnn's it is upholstery fabric, thank goodness they were having a 60% off sale. I bought a yard of it so I could fussy cut it. Here is a view of the front, then the back. I'll take another picture when I sew these together and put the seat and trim on.

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

New doll for a friend

I was going along pretty well finishing up my WIPS, but then my grandson came to visit, a few days later we went on vacation and a few days after returning home my husband had surgery for a detached retina. After surgery he was in bed for 2 weeks, face down and I had all the house duties plus waiting on him and giving his medications and taking care of our crazy dogs. I was a bit stressed. But, he is getting better thank goodness because his eye was in really bad shape. He was very close to going blind in that eye.

So things are getting back to normal, whatever that is, and I made a doll for a friend of mine. She loves to see pictures of my dolls and is always talking about them to me and anyone else who will listen - so funny. I made her a doll years ago when I first started and we both thought it was great, but I've been thinking lately she needs something more sophisticated.

This is my interpretation of Cindee Moyer's "Violet Shadows".  Violet Shadows is a tree looking up into the moonlight.
I didn't paint the fabric like Cindee did. I found some batik that looked like tree branches and used that. My friend also likes dark colors so I used this gray. I think she came out great. I have some other batik fabric that I am going to use when I make my doll. It is yellows and oranges and touches of purple. It will be more like a sunset than moonlight.