All Dolled Up...

...And no place to go. Is that how you feel during this time of isolation? I always say that I'm not a doll maker. And yet, look what happened when I got confined to my sewing room for a long period of time! I saw a similar style doll in an issue of Sew Somerset, and decided to try my hand. So I got busy with decorator fabric samples, laces, beads, trims and some Ficklesticks for arms. She sure is...ummm... shall we say, unusual? I believe she is an antibody. I've seen the image of the virus so many times- all prickly and wicked looking. I'm thinking she can take it on! Now that I have a collection of various styles of dolls that I've made, I guess it's time to stop saying I'm not a doll maker. Quilts are happening, too. But they take a bit longer and I don't have any quite ready for prime time. Soon I hope.

Quick and easy doll projects also await. These two cute stitch-and-stuff dolls are ones I found on Spoonflower, a print-to-order fabric company.  This girl is Allie.

And this is Scarlet. Spoonflower had a 50% off sale early in the pandemic, so I ordered both of these. 

Another stitch-and-stuff panel I bought is The Quilt Police who reminds us to "measure twice, cut once". She has a few other quilting guidelines to make quilting fun. And she's ready to write a ticket if necessary.

Paging through another early issue of Sew Somerset, I found image transfer journals that looked interesting. She's underway, but still has more embroidery and beading to be done before becoming the journal cover. I like sitting in the evening working on hand sewing, so this little project has filled the bill. I may need to gather up all the dolls and display them together on a shelf unit. They'll likely fill it. 

A Little of This, A Bit of That...

During this stay-at-home time I've been able to complete or nearly complete three quilt projects, right down to the labels and sleeves. So that has been a good outcome. Even so, I don't feel as productive as usual. One antidote to that feeling is the pleasure I get from working on small handwork projects and learning as I go. This colorful cat patch is a fabric print to which I've added hand embroidery and some beads. It's worked on a piece of turmeric dyed cotton. The patch is going into a collection of little stitched bits I'm planning to use in an altered tote bag project. It made for good tv watching work, and I think it will be right at home in the tote.

In addition, a number of artists and stitchery groups have made some free instruction available online. One of them is  Textile Artists Organization which sponsored a series of 7 textile artists, each with a video tutorial and a stitch challenge. Week 3 was artist Emily Tull who taught us to merge observational skills with embroidery. She showed how to look at our own eyes, and translate what we saw into an embroidery piece like the one above. I took a selfie, cropped the image down to just my eye, and then sketched some lines to follow in thread. What an interesting concept. A Facebook group allowed students to share their challenges and what inspiration is found there! 

Free-motion stitching and some bright fabric scraps got turned into this fabric-paper piece done on scrapbooking paper. I'm not sure what this will be, but possibly a journal cover. Just a fun project to explore now that I have the time. So the stitching continues and so does keeping a low profile!