What's Happening Wednesday......

Abundance is as done as I can get her....LOL

I decided to give Abundance dark hair instead of blond as the original design shows. Somehow it fitted the whole colour palette and image better......to me anyway.

I also did my own thing with her underskirt. Some of the fabrics I used had linings as they were from recycled garments. I took those scraps of lining and put then together at the front and then added the cheesecloth on the side and back.

I over dyed the yellow cheesecloth with orange  and it turned out perfect with a sort of mottled effect.  One of my more successful dying attempts:)  I also redyed the red and it came out much brighter and rustier.

My favourite thing was making the raven or crow or blackbird......whatever he is:)

That beady eye is watching you.......LOL

What next?

Well I'm am in the process of putting together my Princess so I can complete The Princess and The Pea.......

It doesn't look like much yet.

I'm also linking up today with The Needle & Thread Network....come on over and visit:)

Take care.

WIP...Abundance Continued....

I bought myself a new toy:) The "Abundance" class recommended that you have one of these for shaping her face........I didn't but I do now for future faces.

A handy dandy Mini Clover Iron. All of the quilters out there will know about this tool and I don't know why I didn't buy one before. I've looked at them in my local quilt store so many times and now I see that it does have lots of uses.

So on to WIP...I've put the coat together and have done a wee bit of decoration.

Here is the front and back.

Click on the pic to enlarge to get a better look see:)

The class directions said to sew around the edges to construct the coat and then turn it right side out and sew up the sides which would leave a raw edge on the inside......:(

I know that once the coat is on the doll this won't matter but I just couldn't do that....my mum would be rolling over in her grave if I did....she always said that the inside of a garment must look as good as the outside.

So even though it was a bit fiddly I sewed up the inside seams and finished it off. Then I did a quick tacking stitch along the bottom and up the side edge so that the lining won't slip down once the coat is on.

Now I just have to put all the elements together and finish off the doll.

Well that's it from me for today:)

I'm linking up with the Needle & Thread Network . Please go over and visit and see what my fellow Canadians are up to this week.

Take care.

p.s. Personal complaint....re. blogs that are on WordPress.com....sometimes it's impossible to leave comments unless you have a WordPress user ID and password...it is a real pain...and I do have one and it's still a pain. I usually give up.  Rant over:)

WIP...Abundance Class Week 4....

I have really been dragging my feet with this doll. So far this doll has been the easiest to construct as far as the body goes...but...the head has been a nightmare for me.

I just cannot get it right no matter what I do. I think I have made five heads so far and this is my latest. I haven't got the mouth or eyes correct. I know I'm being picky but I would like to get it right. I'm not giving up though as this style of construction is awesome and has so many possibilities.

Here she is...her head and hair are just pinned on for the moment as is her skirt draping.

I dyed some cheesecloth for her skirt and head shawl but I'm not sure I will go that route because I don't think it really goes with the fabrics I've chosen for the coat.  I think a chiffon might suit better.

 

The colours are a bit different in person. I was disappointed in how the red turned out as it was supposed to be more rusty red so I may redye it to see if I can get a better colour:) 

Here is the front of her coat so far.....I appliqued the pieces together by hand sewing.

The class suggests free motion stitching over the surface of the coat and I'm still thinking about whether that is what I want to do. I'm wondering if it might be a bit too busy then.

One of my classmates is The Stitch Fiddler:)  IMHO she has totally nailed this doll...please go over and see how this doll should really look like:) 

I'm linking up today with The Needle & Thread Network. 

Please hop over and take a look and see what some of my fellow Canadians are making.

Take care:)

WIP....Princess and the Pea

So here is the bed so far.....lots of little mattresses stacked hither and thither.....

I used shades of teal, rust and peach in different prints. It looks very springlike and fresh.

The light at the moment is just the pits for taking pictures so the colours looked washed out but they are very nice together.

The pillowcase was looking a bit plain so I added some lace seam binding and a few sequins.

This week is lesson three where we make the body and head for the Princess....fun stuff:)

I'm linking up with The Needle and Thread Network this week....come on over and visit:)

WIP - Princess and the Pea

The first lesson was constructing the bed frame and creating the base.

I made my base much smaller than the one in the design. The only reason I did that was to be able to display it in a particular place. The other base would have been way too big.

I covered the base in a greeny blue...teal?...velveteen which will go well with the  fabrics I have chosen. I have a temporary mattress on the frame at the moment just to give you an idea of how it looks.

The bed is about 17 inches tall!!!

I will be getting Lesson 2 on Tuesday.....we will be making all the mattresses for the bed. 

I have also been fooling around with a much smaller bed. This one is 1/12th scale....6 inches long and 5 inches wide.... and will fit into a standard doll house.  I've already discovered design flaws...oh well:)  I'll keep going and finish it but next time I'll do a few things differently

Take care:)

WIP.....

Well the first week of the on line class for "Abundance" has commenced and here is where I am so far....

"Abundance" has what is known as a stump body in that she has no legs but has a shaped base that allows her to stand on her own. A stump body works very well for dolls where the costume is the main focus.

I used a piece of heavy cotton for her body. It was a very large remnant that I bought at the Toronto CreativFestival two years ago for $2. It's actually heavy weight drapery fabric. At the time I thought it would make a great background for an appliqued picture of some sort. I have strange ideas sometimes.

I was very lucky this week too as I commented on a blog I follow for a giveaway and guess what I won.......FABRIC!!!! Not just any fabric but crazy quilting type fabric from Diane's Decorating Diary.

I had a choice of twenty crazy quilting packages to choose from and it was very difficult but I chose this one......

Borrowed from Diane's Blog...hope she doesn't mind.

 ......as I thought I could use some of them for "Abundance" and another project that I'm working on too.

The Princess and the Pea by Cindee Moyer:) 

Source: Joggles

All of those little cushions.....and the mattress too.

Source: Joggles

I have some very nice pieces of  embroidered lawn that came from a store sample book that I bought about 30 years. The pieces are quite small but I think together they might be perfect for her night gown. I might finally be able to use them for something:)

Well that's it for me. Much more soon.

I'm linking up today with The Needle & Thread Network. Please go over and visit and see what my fellow Canadians are creating.

Take care.

A New Project......

I'm starting a new on line class on Friday called "Abundance" with the talented Angela Jarecki. I'm so excited!!!!

Isn't she beautiful........

 

 

 

Source: Whimsy Moon

Look at her coat.....crazy quilting folks....beading....embroidery........eeeeekk!!!!!

That coat is not a quickie project.....I'm so going to love making it:)

Plus I get to dye stuff too!!!!!

I also have another project starting soon as well but I'll keep that under wraps for a bit:)

Stay tuned.......