whimsymoon

Doll Busts

2011-10-29T21:16:00.000-07:00

I have not for the life of me, been able to figure out what to call these "busts." Nothing clever or moving would come to mind. They are just busts.
I was making doll heads of different ethnic groups. I felt horrible just to have them strewn about, begging me to make something of them. Nothing worse than looking over into the accusing eyes of a would-be doll, knowing that you have no intention of making a doll at that moment. So, the busts were born!

They are approximately 6" tall, attached to a wooden base. And despite all the guilt they caused me, I thoroughly enjoyed making them.

Bathing Beauty!

2011-06-15T17:12:00.000-07:00

One of the doll organizations I belong to, TAODA (Texas Association of Original Doll Artists), is an amazing group or original doll artists. This coming weekend we have a gallery show in Galveston, TX, called "Bathing Beauties". This is my doll for the show, "Perle".

Perle and her family are enjoying a sunny day at the beach, actually it is Perle's family that is enjoying the day. She however is terrified that someone will comment on her knobby knees! She was beside herself with joy when her Aunt Rilla promised her a new sunbathing suit. She began dreaming of a bright pink or soft yellow day dress that would garner her many appreciative stares as she walked up and down the beach. I needn't tell you of how her face fell when she opened the beautifully wrapped packaged her aunt had brought all the way from Boston and saw the blue short set inside. Her mother was quite embarrassed by her lack of graces.... but she quickly recovered and pasted a somewhat stiff smile in place. Her aunt was overjoyed. Poor Perle could only think about how a short set...and a blue one at that, would show her knees to a less than fashionable advantage. How mortifying!

Perle, usually loved the beach. Darting around finding shells that her mother would put in jars and so that Perle and her sister could put them around for decor. Today, her heart was just not in shell hunting. But not wanting to give any of her brother's less-than-kind friends time to remark on her clothing, she went in search of a quiet cove. After what seemed like an eternity of searching, she found a cove that was only inhabited by a family of egrets. The sand was so lovely in this part of the beach...bright yellow and glittery. And the shells were in abundance!

As she wandered around, half-heartedly looking for shells, she came upon a

beautiful shell that had a pearl in it! Maybe it wasn't going to be a bad day after all!

Perle is about 16" tall, including her hand-painted base. She is a cloth doll, made over a wire armature.

Another Abundance

2010-11-05T00:06:00.000-07:00

This is another version of Abundance that I made this summer. I had the honor of teaching her to a great group of women here in my neck of the woods! The Material Girls of Houston kindly had me teach her as a class this fall.

Abundance is about 18", and fully cloth. No paper clay this time! I think she is an enjoyable doll to make, because she is fairly easy to construct....and most of your time is spent on embellishing her, one of my favorite parts of doll making!

2 New Dolls!

2010-10-30T23:36:00.000-07:00

I don't know if you suffer from this, but sometimes the more behind on something that I get, the harder it is to make myself catch up. Such as blogging. If I miss more than a few months, I find it almost impossible to add an entry. So to "help" myself get over my self-imposed phobia, I've redesigned my blog. I'm still of the opinion that blogger does not make the process of changing a blog easy, but after spending all the time it took to just fix the margins, I kind of feel it's worth it to start blogging again.

Here are 2 dolls that I worked on over the last year. The first doll is called Reluctance. She is a paper clay doll made over a wire armature. Reluctance is about 22" tall, if she were to be standing.

This next doll is called Réalití. She is also a paper clay, stump body doll. She stands about 18" tall. As always, I enjoyed making them both....and finally sharing them with you!

Ode to Waterhouse

2009-12-02T12:42:00.000-08:00

J.W. Waterhouse is probably one of my favorite painters. This doll is called "Ode to Waterhouse" as a nod to his work "Windflowers".

"Ode to Waterhouse" is 18" tall with base included. I really enjoyed making her, especially sculpting and painting her face.

Her clothing is from bits of silk and satin, laces and bead embellishments.

Pantomime Joy

2009-09-02T09:13:00.000-07:00

I made this doll probably about 4 months ago. Her name "came" to me immediately! But her "story" is a whole different....er....story. I had been playing a board game with my children and one of the parts of the game was to act out being "happy". Well, we didn't quite get it....as we watched my youngest child "act" out happy, words that began to be shouted out were "crazy", "strange" and "luny"!!! LOL

At the end of the charade we were all laughing hysterically! That's when the idea of the doll came to me.

Pantomime Joy is 15" tall. She is sculpted from paper clay and covered with fabric. Her facial features are done in pastels and colored pencils.

I don't know if she is as successful in her pantomime as my daughter was in conveying "happy"...but I do wish you joy and contentment and the hope that in your life joy will become real....and not just a pantomime.

Ophelia, Her Older Sister and the Fish

2009-06-23T16:14:00.001-07:00

These dolls are sort of a tribute to sisterly boredom! I have 3 girls and for the most part they get along in a grand fashion. But every now and then they get really, really tired of playing together.

Especially the oldest one.

I can always tell when she's had enough of her younger sisters. She gets this incredibly bored looked that is seasoned with just enough "do-I-have-to" and "surely-as-the-mother-of-those-two-crazy-kids-you-should-see-that-what-you-ask-is-unreasonable" to pretty much convey to me that play time is over. And when the oldest gets "that" look....my middle girl gets a stoic, but desperate look on her face. The silent plea that she, though she is a reasonable being, should not have to play with her youngest sister all by herself. (In case it hasn't hit you....my youngest daughter is quite lively! She can whistle and sing louder than....anyone.....and when she's happy, she's usually singing or whistling. Trouble is....well...there's only so much loud whistling and singing most sane people can take!)

These dolls, OPHELIA and her older SISTER capture the look. I want to do a third doll that will represent my youngest daughter. I just have to figure out how to make a doll look like it is talking non-stop!

A little mermaid....

2009-04-01T14:28:00.000-07:00

This is Arisa. She is a companion child mermaid to a mermaid I made a while ago. She is about 12" tall and the pattern for her will be included in my online class Enkai Nou .

She is a cloth doll with a softly needle sculpted face. Her features are pastel, and watercolor pencils. Arisa is a wall doll and I'm rather fond of her as she looks like my daughters....minus the tail!

Titania...the Younger

2009-02-15T18:14:00.000-08:00

"I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine:
There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,
Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight;"

-William Shakespeare, A Midsummer's Night Dream
Ahh, what a position to hold!...Titania Queen of the Fairies....sure, it sounds like a glamorous job, but can you imagine the day to day grind of it? Holding court with a bunch of ill-mannered pixies, dancing till all hours of the night...how's a girl to keep her looks? Falling in love with a guy that has the head of ...well...you know! Not to mention keeping gremlins and goblins at bay...while your constituents thought that perhaps you could be doing a bit more. Doing loads of laundry, cooking dinner every night....no wait, that's my life!

Suddenly "queen" just doesn't seem so wonderful a position!

This doll is Titania....before she was queen...back in her carefree days of wandering hill and dale. I think I may have caught her a bit off guard...I can't tell by her expression if she is glad for the company or would rather pursue her travels alone.
Titania is a paper clay doll that has been made inside a frame. The background is painted in acrylic paints and the foliage that surrounds Titania is wired and "posed". The entire piece is 13" x 13". It was a bit daunting to do a 3 dimensional piece that would be seen as a 2 dimensional work, but it was fun...in hindsight!
This doll is dedicated to all the women that I know who deserve the title of Queen and may feel that their better days are behind them....may you find that this is not so! Your best days are still to come!

Joyous Noel!

2008-12-24T18:33:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to all! One of my favorite songs by Michael W. Smith, set to Christmas lights....how cool is that! See you next year!

Hugs!

Latest Dolls

2008-12-16T08:17:00.000-08:00

This is one of two dolls I made for the Houston Quilt Show. This first doll is my rendition of WENDY from PETER PAN.
She is part of a series that my doll club, TAODA does every year, called Storybook Dolls. This group of dolls travels to local libraries in the Houston area. Each set of dolls travels for 2 years. So the next time I see WENDY in person, I'll vaguely remember her!

PETER PAN was my favorite story as a child. I have a threadbare copy that my mother read to me over and over again, till I learned to read it to myself!
WENDY is approximately 9" tall, with her treehouse being about 12" tall altogether. She is sculpted from PAPER CLAY over a wire armature, and then covered with cotton cloth.
FOREST MAGE is the second doll that I made for the quilt show. She is part of a fabric challenge from one of the show sponsors.
FOREST would be about 19" if she were standing. She is also sculpted from PAPER CLAY and covered with cloth.

Proud mom!

2008-10-08T18:48:00.001-07:00

This is a video I recorded of my 14 year-old son from a few months back. His music teacher wanted him to play a few selections at her church, and this is part of his audition. He played 5 songs, all about 4-5 minutes long and this was his last selection. I chose this one, because it was the only one that I didn't hear my 5 year-old whispering to me over top of the video! The woman that he auditioned for was floored, because he played all the songs from memory! It was at that moment that I realized, "yeah, he doesn't have his books with him!" I was a bit surprised too, because he always tells me he doesn't have a very good memory. I wish my memory were so poor!

So far behind....

2008-08-31T13:39:00.001-07:00

Blogs are amazing! Sort of like email....what did we do before we had them?

I personally, was a less guilt-ridden individual.

I look at my blog...I think about my blog....can I keep up with a blog? Well, that's another story. Bloggers I admire
put something new up weekly. The blogs I love add content at a daily pace. The blogs I can identify with usually add something about once-a-month.

So without further ado....or belly-aching, here is what I have been late adding to my blog!

These first two are pod babies. They are polymer clay and about 7" long. Their little pods are quilted and embellished. I had a lot of fun making them!

These two are dolls that I took to ODACA with me. Both are paper clay with cloth. This first one is named RELUCTANCE.

This next one is called THE DANCE. I had Stephen Curtis Chapman's song "Lord of the Dance" traveling through my head when I made her.

I am the heart, He is the heartbeat
I am the eyes, He is the sight
And I see clearly, I am just a body
He is the life
I move my feet, I go through the motions
But He gives purpose to chance
I am the dancer
He is the Lord of the dance....

New member of ODACA!

2008-07-31T08:00:00.000-07:00

This medal marked my official entry into ODACA given to me by my friend Ute Vasina , who is also a new member of ODACA! In a fit of pre-critique "nerves" last week I had been lamenting to Ute that it had been a long year of waiting to find out if we would make it in....and if we did, it wasn't like we would get a crown or anything! So Ute went out looking for crowns.....she couldn't find any, so she showed up with medals! Ute is a hoot! I had the pleasure of sharing a table with her at the ODACA/UFCD sales day....and she made the day pass quickly with her wonderful outlook and great sense of humor! And so after a year long process of portfolios and critiques and (for me) huge fits of "nerves", we made it and are now members of ODACA!

The convention was held in Las Vegas this year......where I was assured that the daily temps of 108 or so were "okay", cause it's dry heat! When the temperature goes over 100 there is not enough "dry heat" in the world to make it not feel hot! Coming back to Houston, where it's 94 degrees, I thought I would have to break out a coat....but I digress!

Here in Texas I belong to a doll organization called TAODA (Texas Association of Original Doll Artists). TAODA had had 3 members that were also members of ODACA (Joyce Patterson, Anne Myatt, and Marilynn Huston....all wonderful doll makers!) This year 4 more of us from TAODA (Janet Bodin, Donna Sims, Marsha Krohn and myself) applied to ODACA and all were accepted! It was an amazing weekend.

For the critique, you set your dolls up on tables and then are asked to leave the room and come back in about an hour. During this time the Standards committee critiques your work and makes a written copy for you! Then when they were finished with all their part of the critique, we were ushered back in one by one and told the results. I had thought I was pretty "cool" and prepared mentally for either outcome....but I was one of the last ones called in and started having flashbacks to 3rd grade gym class and picking sides for kickball. I think when they finally called
me in I was a verifiable nervous wreck! LOL

Thanks so much to all of you that have been encouraging over the last year and have sent congrats! Once I get off cloud nine I will post more photos....of Vegas and of my dolls that traveled with me!

A lost mouse

2008-06-08T20:07:00.001-07:00

This little brown field mouse is Perdu Amant Fromage. He was so excited to get out into the world and show off the new hat that his mother made for him...that despite her warning of "stay on the path"....he did what little mice often do. Take a shortcut that seems like a better idea.

Well now poor Perdu is lost...and trying so, so hard not to cry. Fortunately for him, he has been found by a sweet fairy...one not given to playing too many pranks....and she is dedicated to helping him find his way home.

Both the fairy and mouse are OOAK polymer clay figures.
Perdu, the mouse, is 3" tall. Gabrielle is 4.5" kneeling.

Moral of the story....just because you get a new hat
doesn't mean your sense of direction suddenly improves!!!

Art doll-FALL

2008-06-04T14:47:00.000-07:00

In one of the many Yahoo groups I'm in, we are doing an "ART DOLL" trade. I had fun sculpting her face.
Her name is FALL.

She's a bit peevish what with all the fanfare and general good feeling that SPRING and SUMMER tend to engender in most people. FALL realizes that she is more popular than WINTER, but not by much and certainly not by those diehard snow lovers.

FALL comforts herself in the thought that colors do not truly shine and sparkle the way they do in her midst....that last hurrah before harvest and the harsh winds of WINTER begin.

A day in the life of......

2008-05-31T08:20:00.000-07:00

Me! Thanks Gai !!! LOL

Gai is an amazing illustrator/dollmaker from Italy that
I just adore! (I will get you back however!!!LOL) She has tagged me to describe a day in my life! Man, I bet this post
is going to get Hollywood producers clammering to buy the rights to make it into a movie....NOT!

Here's a photo of the courthouse in Sugar Land where I live. It's a dramatic shot....maybe this will lull you into the false sense that I live a dramatic life!!!

Probably not....but can you blame a girl for trying!

8:00 I homeschool my 4 kids, so this time of the morning will usually find me up, but not fully awake....at least not as awake as my 12 year-old daughter. My MORNING PERSON 12 year-old daughter. ( I believe she wakes up early to lead the birds in a rousing chorus of "Oh, what a beautiful morning....".) I will check her work, which she already has finished! And then she'll tell me about some arcane bit of knowledge that she has picked up in her science book and I'll be sitting there wondering how is is possible for ANYONE to be so AWAKE and ALERT and CHEERFUL all at once!

9:00 School is usually in full swing.....my 5 year-old is telling me about the lives of her stuffed animals, while I'm trying to do flash cards with her. By now, I have found coffee, so the world is good! Math is on schedule for the 7 year-old....who is following in the footsteps of her older sister by drawing little pictures all over her math book and then telling me she really doesn't have a lot of room left to work the problems.

10:00 My son who is 13....is up. He is not a morning person either! His way of waking up (and mind you he has been up for over an hour at this point!) is to have breakfast followed by an hour of playing Chopin on the piano.
(At this point I begin thinking that it would be lovely to have a larger/longer house, where I could put him at one end and let him play the piano to his hearts content. The piano is RIGHT next to the room we school in. Chopin is NOT the music of choice for people who aren't morning people!) I usually will jump on the internet and check to see if I have mail....and what's going on in the world before spelling!

11:00 The girls are mostly finished with their work....I have graded papers and begin to think that I could steal a
few minutes to work on something creative! My son is now at full swing with his work. I think he times it so that
he can have the entire table to himself when he works. I would love to say that he just wants it to be quiet so he can do his math and Latin, but the child prattles on non-stop stream of conscious. I am still utterly amazed at how well he does at school considering he talks to me WHILE he works!

12:00 Lunch time!....for the kids....I realize at this point I still haven't had breakfast!

1-4 I try to squeeze in a bit of working time if it's not cleaning day, grocery day or drop off one of the kids at music lessons day. By three, if I am lucky, I will have gotten about an hour of work in. Did I mention that ALL my kids are chatty sorts....can't imagine where they got that! So the afternoon is broken up with various conversations and observations and "can you fix this doll's hair" or "can I have that ribbon for this bear" or "would you like it if I cooked something" or ......you get the idea! It's funny, they do tend to sequester themselves in their rooms on cleaning day....hmmm!

5:00....I begin to fervently wish that I had a cook! I HATE cooking. There you have it. It's really not so much the cooking itself..it's just when you do it for 6 people....well, it's hard! And here I must clarify that none of my family save the 5 year-old is a picky eater (give her noodles and hot dog and she's good to go!) My family is very complimentary of my cooking. See, I have performance anxiety......I feel that TODAY's meal should top anything I have ever made! My family should be sooooo amazed at what I made that they realize eating anything in the future would be utterly useless and futile as this current meal was sooo wonderful.

Maybe I can find a cook......

6:00-9:30 A blur of evening activities....it makes me tired to think about it!

10:00-to infinity and beyond! Time to create and listen to books on tape....sweet!

"The Egg Thief"

2008-05-24T12:25:00.001-07:00

Usually the fairies I find in the yard are polite enough to tell me their names. Not this one. She's busy stealing eggs out of bird nests. She knows if she stops and speaks to me I'll demand she puts the egg back.

Every spring this happens, a sudden spike in fairy thievery. The fairies will tell me, "Oh, of course we'll return the eggs...it's just for fun!" They say they do it to see who can "steal" the most.....with a prize for the winner.....but about a month later I always see all these baby birds in the yard dressed in beads and bits of ribbons....and a lot of angry mother birds! The fairies aren't fooling me...they are making pets out of these little birds!

Madness I tell you!

I tried leaving a few gold fish about, but the general complaint was that the fish get the ribbons wet....and some eat the beads. What do you expect, they're fish!

So for the next few months, I'll be trying to placate mad mother birds....chasing off fairies from nests...along with everything else that keeps me busy.

Do me a favor will you....if you see a fairy carrying off an egg...tell them to put it back! Get a fish!This little "egg thief" is a polymer clay OOAK doll. She is about 6.5" tall. She is detachable from the base....and you can remove her egg....though she will complain.

Happy Mother's Day!

2008-05-11T11:19:00.000-07:00

Hi all! From my garden to your heart....happy Mother's Day! And remember, calories don't count today!
Hugs!!!

Altered Matchbox-The Fairy Looking Glass

2008-04-22T20:55:00.001-07:00

Every now and then I work on something that is so engrossing that time loses all meaning! Today my daughter and I pulled out the polymer clay and as we played we watched a really campy version of Jane Austen's "Persuasion" from
1971. (Campy, but delightful!) My daughter made miniature dishes and I made an altered matchbox that is for a swap.
I loved making it. I think I feel a sudden urge to find LOTS of matchboxes! Here's the end product. It's about 2.5" closed....made with polymer clay, painted with acrylics and sealed.

This is the inside....it has the "Fairy" Looking Glass!

An Abundant Life: Irene Cottrell Brisco November 29, 1915-April 17, 2008

2008-04-17T10:12:00.000-07:00

Today my grandmother Irene passed away. A few years ago I made a doll that I named ABUNDANCE that for me
was sort of an allegory of my grandmother.

My grandmother was fondly called "Frank" by my grandfather....and having a sense of humor to match his, she called and referred to him as "he"! ( I wonder why I have such an odd sense of humor?) My grandfather would pretend he was deaf (to all but small children) and she with a amused look on her face, would tell one of us smaller children, "tell 'he' that dinner is ready"!

My grandmother taught me by example that you are polite to all people whether they deserve it or not. One occasion I remember as a little girl was going to a store with her and hearing the owner of the store refer to her as "girl". (I had lived in the north most of my life and such southern ways such as calling grown women "girl" or mixed people such as our family was things like "colored" or "mulatto" were mostly unknown to me.) My grandmother smiled at him and gave him an appropriate "sir". Outside the store my aunts and mother turned into hens that had seen a snake!

They were outraged! How dare he!

My grandmother just smiled and shook her head and said that the store manager was not who she answered to. And the one that she did answer to expected her to keep a civil tongue in her head. Nothing else was said.

Nothing else needed to be said.

My grandmother lived to see her 92nd year, she would have been 93 this November. I hope I live my life even half as well as she did. A few days ago she told my uncle in the evening that she was "very tired and ready to go home." The next morning she slipped into a coma. Today she went home to be with her Lord and Savior, Jesus. I know I will see her again....along with a sister and a baby, Joshua, who both went home all too soon.

Till then grandma!

A Milestone to celebrate!

2008-04-17T08:16:00.000-07:00

I found out over the weekend that I had made it through phase 2 of screening for ODACA! It still feels a bit unreal! The final round will mean traveling to Las Vegas with 3 dolls in tow....to be critiqued "in person". Am I afraid? No! I have kids....well, actually nervous would sum it up nicely!

I have been working on dolls.....slooooowly. so nothing new to share as far as a doll yet. The only things that I have completely finished lately are drawings on fabric for my online class.

This is an example of a blonde child:
and an asian child:
These drawings are about 3" x 4". Watercolor pencil on 100% cotton fabric.

Procrastination

2008-03-25T10:36:00.000-07:00

I'm supposed to be doing about a million other things, but there they were...just sitting there minding their own thoughts....two fabric heads. More like two fabric lumps actually. Just lying there....I can't be totally heartless...they had no eyes with which to see the world, no mouths to comment with....no...well you get the idea.

I thought I would just do one, but that would have been downright cruel. One lump
transformed into a head....the other left in it's lumply state!

Oh the inhumanity!

So I get the pencils out...both the watercolor and regular colored pencils....maybe the pastels too! Can never have too many supplies out. Hmmm...they look like they need a bit more stuffing. Where did I put that bag of stuffing? Oh look there some yarn I had been looking for last week! Maybe I should work on my knitting...

Then of course, they needed their pictures taken...several shots to insure that I get their best side. Maybe while I'm at it I should take pictures of the flowers in the yard....the azaleas are so lovely right now.

I'm not getting a lot done today for some reason....

Papillon

2008-02-20T07:47:00.001-08:00

Papillon was one of those dolls that was supposed to have been made a long time ago. I had her in my head....sort of. I even managed to draw several sketches of her. But she was always in my peripheral vision and she would never come to where I could "see" her plainly. I had made her stand months ago.....even then I couldn't convince her to come out of hiding!

Suddenly one evening....when I should have been going to bed, I knew I was ready to begin work on her. She came together so quickly that even now it seems like a blur.

Papillon is 19.5" tall including her base. She's paper clay and fabric over an armature.

The Red Thread

2008-01-06T14:13:00.000-08:00

"An invisible red thread connects those
who are destined to meet,
Regardless of time, place or circumstance.
The thread may stretch or tangle, but it will never break." Chinese Proverb

I came across this proverb just a few months ago and it really struck a chord with me. So many of my dearest friends are the type of people that strike me as "I feel like I have known you my whole life!" I wanted to incorporate this proverb somehow into a doll/dolls that would show this. I had also been sketching ideas for dolls that would center around the idea of the FATES from mythology. The two ideas collided and thus the dolls, The RED THREAD were born.

The dolls are approximately 10" tall. They are paperclay covered with cloth. The clothing of the dolls is pieced and quilted together.

The first doll is the one who spins the thread and finds the joy of life in the "making". The second doll finds her joy in the beauty of the creation....and simply enjoys "being". The third doll finds her joy in the knowing and understanding of "completion". Each one is complete unto herself...but becomes so much more as she is connected to the others.

To all my dear friends who are and who are yet to be, I dedicate these dolls to you! May this new year bring you joy in the "making", "being" and completion" of your artistic endeavors.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-23T14:13:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and a creative New Year to all!
And one holiday hint....food eaten standing up has only half the calories! And if someone else made said food...calorie consumption drops to a mind altering quarter! Cheers!

This image is a small holiday quilt approximately 4"x7". The face is hand drawn with colored pencils.

Thanks to all of you "bad girls"......

2007-12-13T14:36:00.000-08:00

....and comment posters! Your comments are hot chocolate chip cookies for the soul!

And who are the "bad girls" you ask? Taggers!!!! That's who! LOL

One is no other than Shelli Heinemann of POTBELLY ARTS, such a sweet bear artist by day, crazed-internet tagger by night....who knew! AND Chantal another lovely bear artist and all around lovely lady.....at least till this tagging incident!

Since I've been tagged, here is what I get to do....I write 5 random things about myself and then TAG five other unsuspecting individuals. (That part sounds fun!!!)

1. I love anime. Anything from FRUITS BASKET to GHOST in the SHELL.

2. I miss snow. It doesn't snow in Houston....though I did hear that they got a dusting a couple of years back. Just a little snow on Christmas would make me very happy!

3. Susan Wallace (who I am TAGGING), makes the BEST purses!!! In fact the last one she made is actually mine.....she just won't give it to me. While this isn't totally a random thought about me....I do want the record to show that Susan needs to give me my purse! LOL

4. I've never been camping. I did see an ad for a camping trip that I would be willing to think about. It's a little pricey, but what it is a $595.00 a night camping trip in "big sky country" that comes complete with a butler to make your campfire for you and maid to turn down your down comforter at night! Now that's camping!!!

5. I have lived in Houston for over a year now and still can't decide on curtains....partially cause I will make them, and when I want to sew....bears and dolls seem soooo much more exciting!!!

And, seriously.....a heartfelt thanks to all of you that read and or comment on my blatherings! Group hug!

Silver Scales

2007-12-11T12:45:00.000-08:00

I've been pulling my hair out trying to think of a great December post. Thanks to my children, there are 3 Christmas trees of assorted shapes and sizes, all over the house. ("Oh mom, that poor little tree looks so lonesome sitting here in the store next to all these other big trees!") So, while I have an abundance of trees and tinsel, there's nary a Christmas doll in sight. So how about the next best thing! A mermaid!!! I know it brings to mind one of my favorite holiday tunes:

"Silver Scales,
silver scales...
it's swimming time
in the ocean!"

Hum along! I know you know the tune!!!

This is my doll Naiad. Poor dear doesn't actually have a name. That's as much her fault as it is mine. Every time
I have asked her what she is called by her mer-friends, she just rolls her eyes and flips her tail at me! Cheeky!

Naiad would be about 18" tall from the top of her head to the bottom of her fin if she stretched out. She is sculpted from paper clay and painted with genesis paints and acrylic paints.

I think the real reason she's a bit testy is that I overheard she doesn't have her Christmas shopping finished.
Not that I would know anything about that....

Ad ice or Alice

2007-11-09T17:56:00.000-08:00

That's supposed to read "Advice for Alice", but.....well truth be known, I'm not the most proficient of typists. I took Typing 1 twice in high school, so there's no excuse for it. To this day I ALWAYS type my name wrong on the end of emails. It comes out Anglea. Why?...I don't have a clue.

So, back to the weird title. I kind of like "Ad ice or Alice".....makes the viewer think! The title is sublime, mildly elusive and highly strange...but it's cool. I should have told the people that pointed it out to me, "Yeah, I meant to do that!"

Oh well.

This doll was an entry into the Houston International Quilt show. I would like to say that it was an error on their part that she was mistitled....but it's all me! When you submit work for the Quilt show, you have to fill out a form that will go to the group that puts on the show. I thought I was being so cool by filling out AND submitting the forms on the computer. What is it they say about pride....hmmm. I depend entirely too much on spell check....it tags my name every time I spell it Anglea! But spell check never was meant to gauge whether what you wrote was sane. And it doesn't help that "ad", "ice" and "or" are words....well, I guess I need to get my own personal editor.

So despite that fact that it will forever be immortalized as "Ad ice or Alice" in the handbook for the Houston International Quilt show, it is supposed to be "Advice for Alice".

Alice is inspired by the book "Alice in Wonderland". Always one of my favorite parts of the book, right up there
with the cheshire cat bit.

Alice is about 7" tall, made from paperclay that is then covered with cloth. The mushrooms are from Aves Apoxie sculpt. Both Alice and the caterpillar are removable from the base.

Big WORD Wednesday!!!

2007-11-06T19:34:00.000-08:00

It's been such a longggggg time since I've posted.

You know the feeling. You've been there.....

A week passes and you begin the lies. "Tomorrow....definitely tomorrow." Before you know it a month has passed and you feel queasy everytime you think about blogging. Even visiting other blogs make your stomach hurt for all the guilt and shame that hangs around your throat like so much bad HTML.

Then the unthinkable.....2 months pass by....and anytime anyone casually mentions the word blog, you are sure that they are secretly making the LOSER sign behind your back.

Ahhhh, the humanity!

Well, I don't have a good excuse....not even a lame one.

So to assuage any who think that my first post "back" should be something spectacular, here it is. An installment of BIG WORD WEDNESDAY!!!

It's a strange game that a friend of mine and I play.... (Hark! Could it be this delectable, yet highly-ineffective
use of time that creates my blogging dilemmas?)

Nah!

Strap on those dictionaries and go for it:

Scintillate, scintillate, asteroid minific;
Feign do I fathom your nature's specific
Exaltedly set on the aether capacious
A reasonable facsimile of a gem carbonaceous.

Scintillate, scintillate, asteroid minific;
Feign do I fathom your nature's specific

And....can you finish this?

Tetrade aggregate plus heptad twelve-month period gone, patriarchs belonging to us, effectuated......

And because this is supposed to be a visual blog of sorts, here's a picture of my dog...uh....she....uhm... ate my blog entries for the past couple of months!.....yeah! that's it! My dog Nutmeg ate my blog entries! Very sad ....'cause they were REALLY, REALLY cool.

A thing of beauty!

2007-08-11T12:04:00.000-07:00

What do you do when it's way too hot outside....go to the library of course! Actually, the kids and I practically live in the library.....and we're always playing revolving door.....take 10 back, check 20 out. It makes my stomach lurch sometimes when I notice that we have 90 or so books checked out.

Today we decided to take some back. Everyone gets out of the car carrying a pile of books. My 4 year-old jumps out of the car and hands me 2 books that her older sister, Maddie, should have been carrying, but I add them to my pile.

Just as I am about to drop these 2 particular books in the slot, Cayla...the 4 year-old, dances by and tells me that I
shouldn't put those in the slot. Now you have to understand that this daughter is ALWAYS telling me something...like her stuffed cats just had to play with the Play Doh and COULDN'T put it away......or her current invisible friend NEEDS to paint....or, the geckos on the back window just HAVE to come in.......etc., ect......so you might understand why I just smiled at her and rolled my eyes as I dropped the books in.

Cut to 30 minutes later......we are carrying out more books than we took in.....my stomach lurches (I have nightmares of forgetting which house on the street is mine.....thereby making it impossible to return any of the books we have checked out!) We get in the car and Maddie wants to know where her two books are that she left on her seat.

Uh oh!

I tell her that I returned them. Maddie at this point looks stricken. My husband tells her she can just re-check them out later.....he's already pulled out of the parking lot.....and it IS hot....no WAY we're getting out of the car, swimming through the humidity and going back in. I apologize to her and tell her that "Monday we'll come back!"

My husband and I start talking about how weird it is to see armadillos....we had just passed one. Not like the squirrels and hundreds, no thousands...... of rabbits you see in Missouri. However, my "mommy" radar is buzzing like a bad headache.....I look toward the back to see that Maddie has her face turned toward the window.....and from the bit of her face that I can see I can tell she is crying.

Maddie is one of those children that cries without sound. Her private griefs and momentary miseries that break her little 6 year-old heart are always without show. Now Cayla, when she cries, the neighbors know about it. But not Maddie. Her eyes, which are huge and beautiful, just leak a sea of silent tears. Whenever I see her cry I want to do anything in the world that would help her stop. (Heaven help her future husband!!!) Of course I have to console her......."Maddie, we can go back and get that book Monday." She looks at me with those incredible eyes. "It's not the book mom....I had Rita's ATC in it as a bookmark." Now my stomach really lurches.

Rita is our best friend, surrogate-mom-grandma, best hugger in the world....and she is back in Kansas City. She and her husband Bob, are the biggest reasons we have found it so hard to "deal" with moving to Houston. Every holiday and sometimes for no reason at all, they will make the kids cards and ATC's (artist trading cards.) This past Easter was no different. It was ATC's with rabbits, eggs and glitter. I still remember that when Maddie saw her card from Rita, her eyes got big and she sighed, "beautiful!"

And it had never really registered before, but whenever I would see Maddie with a book, that ATC would be somewhere close by. I never connected that that was her bookmark. (I did ask her one time why she carried it around instead of putting it in her folder where she keeps other cards.....she told me that she keeps it with her to remind her that Rita loves her.)

Well, I dumped everyone else at the house and Maddie and I went back to the library toot sweet! The librarian found the book in the back.....and the card was still in it! When she handed it to Maddie, she told her that she
wouldn't have wanted to lose something so beautiful either! Maddie smiled and told her, "Rita made it!"

So Rita, if you read this, know that you are a "thing of beauty" to us....and that there's some poor librarian in Texas going, "Who's Rita?"

Why engineers don't use apoxie sculpt on chairs....

2007-07-31T23:43:00.000-07:00

My office chair died yesterday.

I had been sitting in said chair thinking to myself what a lovely find the chair had been. Only $40! And it had lasted a whole year!!! Where in the world do you find "deals" like that? I was sculpting at the time that these soothing thoughts were going through my head. Suddenly I dropped one of my tools on the floor.....no surprise there.....I'm somewhat clumsy. A spaz, some might be so brazen to say.

Anyway....I dropped something. So I lean over in my miraculous chair and the next thing I know I'm looking up at the ceiling. One of the legs had fallen off! Stupid chair!

My husband laughed when I told him this.

He told me to get rid of the chair.

Pfffft! I don't think so!
Silly man.....doesn't he know that in my possession, I have a substance stronger than the will of a 4 year-old? I have Apoxie Sculpt. I love the stuff. I use it on everything.....cause I'm clumsy....I break stuff. Well, not only does Apoxie Sculpt make an outstanding armature, it repairs stuff! So cool.

Well, to show my husband, I repaired that chair today with my miracle glob (if you have used it, you know why I call it glob). I mixed a dollop of the "stuff" from container 1 with the same size dollop of "stuff" in container 2. So easy! I wonder if the people at NASA know about it.

After 3 hours, I had my chair back, as good as new!

My husband was sufficiently complimentary....if somewhat skeptical....but what can he say, here I am working away at my desk with my newly repaired chair. Well, things went well for about an hour......my husband had wandered off to the kitchen, the kids were in bed, I was in the sculpting "zone", feeling goooood, congratulating myself on overcoming simple chair breaks, thereby assuring myself years more use of my wonder chair, when all of a sudden I fell forward.

The next thing I remember is seeing my husband's feet at eye level. My husband said I had screamed and then there was a crash. The leg of the chair had broken AGAIN, but this time I had hit my head on the desk on the way down.

My husband was gracious enough to make sure I was ok, before launching into the "I told you so's".......what he
actually said was, "This is why engineers don't use apoxie sculpt on chairs"............I just thought they didn't cause they weren't in the know.

Oh well.....here's a picture of what I was working on.....I'm glad I didn't pull her off the table with me!

Did I mention that I'm clumsy?

Magda

2007-07-29T12:15:00.000-07:00

I've been working in Polymer Clay again....I can't decide if I love it or hate it!!!

This is my latest doll. Her name is Magda. She is approximately 11" and is removable from her base.

Waiting for THE book.....

2007-07-19T21:40:00.000-07:00

This is Celia. She is a 4.5" bear. She's very proud of herself....she can get in a chair all by herself.
She told me she is sitting here waiting for some book to arrive. Something about a kid named "Harry" or
something......

Why you should not eat nachos under the backboard and other peculiarities......

2007-06-19T22:26:00.000-07:00

This little dog has absolutely nothing to do with the nachos....more the peculiarities part. Her name is Chou-Chou and she is supposed to be a Dalmation, but if you ask her, she will insist that she is a Lhasa apso. I don't see the resemblance.....I think she just likes saying Lhasa apso.

She now lives with my good friend Gayle, who is a kind and patient soul....so maybe she won't mind her peculiarities......not Gayle's peculiarities, Chou-Chou's. Gayle has no peculiarities that I know of....other than having a Dalmation that thinks it's a Lhaso apso.....but hey, we can't all be normal.

And speaking of normal.......on to "Why you should not eat nachos under the backboard"...

......that's what my 11 year-old daughter found out today with 2 of her friends at choir. After they had practiced, they were sent to the gym for snacks.

Nachos and lemonade. Good eats!

I was across the gym from them with my youngest daughter....she opted for just the lemonade. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the 3 girls plunk down right underneath the backboard of the basketball hoop. I sat there in disbelief. Most of the other kids had chosen the sidelines or TABLES. Why right under the basketball hoop?

Did I mention that some boys were playing basketball? Boys with not very good aim?

Well, you know where I'm going with this.......in the blink of an eye, one of the boys goes in for the winning basket (in his mind) and shoots......and misses by a mile. Not quite misses. His ball landed with an amazing bit of speed and precision right smack dab in the middle of the nachos.....and lemonade.

Man, I wish I had had a camera!

Chips went flying, lemonade became airborne in only the way lemonade can when a projectile weapon has been thrown at it. It was amazing! Actually, a camera would not have done the scene justice. The "moment" definitely needed to be caught with a camera capable of capturing the sound of 3 eleven year-old girls "squeeeeeeing" and giggling as they were covered in chips, cheese and lemonade.

The young man at fault, being a gentleman, came over to assure them that he hadn't aimed at them.....but he did look mighty pleased with himself.....which considering the cinematic effect he caused by his lack of aim and problems with manual dexterity.....isn't at all peculiar.

I've been tagged!!!! Twice no less!!!

2007-05-31T16:35:00.000-07:00

LOL! Scarlatti and Ute....two of you.....bad girls! LOL!

Here are the rules:

Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write in their blogs the 7 facts, as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag seven others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog.

7 Random Facts about me:

1. I have a overactive imagination. Some might call it neurosis....I prefer to think of it as "a colorful way of seeing the world!"

2. I played with Barbies till I was 16. I always then add that I actually just made clothes for my dolls till I was 16 and went away to college. You say "potato", I say "pahtahto".

3. I thought the Backstreet Boys were kinda cool. (see Random Fact 1.)

4. I thought (and still sort of do) that Girl Scout THIN MINT cookies tasted heavenly with a bit of Grey Poupon mustard.

5. In 7th grade for a speech contest, I chose ANNABEL LEE by Edgar Allen Poe. My brother, who was in 3rd grade also was going to deliver a poem. He was so nervous that no matter what he did, he simply could not remember it. I tried to help him, by saying it with him to help him practice. When the fateful day of the contest came instead of reciting ANNABEL LEE as I was supposed to....I got in front of the entire school and gave his poem! I don't think I have ever had soooooo many people laugh at me....and not realize why!

6. I love Japanese anime.

7. I love Science fiction.....(again Random thought 1!) STARGATE SG-1 is my favorite.....Micheal Shanks, who plays Daniel Jackson, is cute enough to have been a Backstreet Boy!!!LOL

I hate to do this......

2007-05-21T13:05:00.000-07:00

If you know me personally, you know that I am just about one of the nicest people on the planet! (Those of you out there snickering......I know where you live!)

Anyway.....where was I?....oh, yes!....I'm a regular sweetheart.

I hate to brag, but I'm just an all around nice chick! And because of that, I hate to make waves. But when a gross injustice has been portioned out, well I just have to speak out!

Below you will see a WANTED poster for a CROC thief!

Sure, she looks nice and all, but let me tell you she is a bundle of danger! If I had all day, oh, the stories I could tell you! But, I'm not like that! Suffice it to say, this woman is in possession of PURPLE CROCS that are rightfully mine.....I did not buy them, but I am talking about on a cosmic level here people.

So if you see her, take the shoes, return them to me and there will be a reward involved.

If you need proof of her guilt:

Click here

Like I said, I hate to do this, but we all have to suffer for fashion every now and then.....

Since my camera died......

2007-05-04T10:04:00.000-07:00

I have been working on bears all week....and just as I was about to take some pictures of them I discovered that my camera died.

"If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all....Gloom, despair and agony on me!"

LOL!

Okay, things aren't THAT bad....I just like that song from HEE HAW! (If you are saying,"WHAT?".....you're probably
too young to remember that show or spent your formative years in more productive ventures than in front of the
television!)

Anyhoo....since I have no pictures!!!!....here is a cool site that will, tantalize, inform and give you insight into one of the greater mysteries of this computer age.

Have you ever wondered how the small arrow in the screen of the computer work when we move the mouse?

Now, through the miracle of the high technology, we can see how it is done.

With the aid of a screen magnifying lens the mechanism becomes apparent.

Click on the link below-it will take a few seconds to load. Then run your mouse over the circle. If you stop, watch what happens. Also look what happens when you click on the circle.....

http://tinyurl.com/ytxcr3

The tall one in back......

2007-04-24T16:13:00.000-07:00

This is a mermaid that I finished just a bit ago.....but because of her looooong length, I've never
gotten a good picture of her. I've tried. It just doesn't work! If I manage to get all of her in the picture, there
is so much empty space on the sides......that it looks rather pathetic. So I'll have to ask you kind viewer, to sort of visualize what she would look like all together.

She's cloth with a needle sculpted face. Her features are "painted" on using colored and watercolor pencils. Notice her smile....it's because she is tall!

When I was a kid, it was my dream to be tall! I have no idea what I planned to do with all my dreamed of height, but tall I was going to be!

By 8th grade, I was well on my way to my goal. I was always the kid that had to
stand at the back of pictures so that my great height would not obscure my height-disadvantaged peers.

Poor little things!

I would proudly stand in the back....careful not to look too smug, meanwhile exchanging
knowing looks with my teacher....who, due to high heels, was quite tall herself. But it wasn't going to be high heels for me! No, all my height was going to be natural. The product of the gathering of all the tall genes in my family coming together to propel me into the company of the naturally tall and lanky.

Alas! 8th grade I was 5'4" and I haven't grown an inch since.

I'm still waiting.

I have read that some people don't experience growth spurts till odd times in their lives. So, in years to come, if you visit me in the nursing home.....I'll be the tall one...in back.

...and it makes great coffee too!

2007-04-21T17:33:00.000-07:00

This is a doll that I finished this past week. I had come up with the pattern for her a while back. I had wanted to do a fugure that was "ample" and looked as if she were dancing! I made her out of cotton and then painted her entire body with acrylic paints. The paints took forever to dry, but I really like the way they stiffen up the fabric, making
it seem more like a canvas. She was supposed to have been an "altered doll".....complete with words and various collage elements. No matter what I tried, it just never felt right. Then last week, my daughters and I were dying coffee filters of all things. (You take Crayola or similar brand markers and color on a coffee filter. Then wet it and allow the colors to run where they will. I usually blow dry the filters so that they stiffen.) Well, we were getting such cool colors on the filters.....and really had no plans for what we were going to use them for...that I toyed around with the idea of making this dolls clothes out of layers of filters! Her clothes are all filters and ribbon. I wish it was as easy to come up with a new wardrobe for myself!

Close-up of her face and coffee filter skirts!

Bears with attitude and head xeroxes!

2007-03-31T11:04:00.000-07:00

Before I make a bear or a doll for that matter, I usually will sketch.

These are 3 little bears that I can see so clearly in my head....but when I try...and I have tried several times....to put them on paper, they always come out looking like bears with a LOT of attitude! They stare at me from the paper with their, "yeah, just try to call me cute!" sorta look.

If I could invent anything, it would be the head xerox.

You'd get a great idea...connect yourself to your computer (this is the tricky part) and woohoo!!! Instant great idea on your screen!! It would change the world...it would radically reduce the frustrations of artists worldwide. The world would become a kinder, gentler place because artists would no longer stew in a "I-knew-I-should-have-become-an-accountant" haze when ideas go bad. Instant xeroxing would radically reduce the hours ideas stay in your head, thereby alleviating any undue rottage! Instead we as artists would take to the streets, handing out chocolate and planting flowers! It would be beautiful!!!

I can see it in my head soooo clearly......if only I could figure out that "head-computer" connection thingy.....hmmm.

Crazy people....?

2007-03-21T19:46:00.000-07:00

I am such a people watcher! I love to just sit back and watch people interact. Especially people that are really emotive, and use a lot of gestures when they talk.

One of my favorite places is at the post office. Most people, when the line is really long, sort of zombie out. They look like they are almost in a hypnotic state.....trying to "peace out" and find that happy spot, so that they don't go "postal" while waiting for their turn at the window...their turn to talk to that government employee who is even unhappier than they are at the moment.

Occasionally, there will be one or two in this crowd that must be so sanguine that they can't hold it in. You've seen them....they are the ones that talk to anyone and everyone...and use big sweeping gestures and laugh long and hard at their own insights. They are the few, the proud...the ones you are afraid to sit next to on a plane. But standing in line at the post office they are great. They help to pass the time....sort of like a low level stand up comedian.

Today, standing in line at the post office, with my kids no less....there was one of these individuals two people ahead of us. She was so expressive...it was almost like a dance. She had my 12 year-old son enthralled. The best part of it was that she wasn't actually talking to anyone in line, even though the man in front of her kept turning around to her, just to be sure. She had long hair that hid what I hope was a headset to a phone. But part of me thinks that maybe she was just passing time....talking to someone that obviously was highly entertained by her...but that the rest of us just couldn't see.

When I was a teenager I used to get to ride the bus "downtown" on Saturdays to go to the library. And every Saturday, rain or shine, there was this woman that sat in the back all by herself, holding court with an unseen crowd. She would talk, laugh, gesticulate and once I even saw her cry. I remember telling a friend that I thought that the next Saturday I saw her I would go sit by her and talk to her. My friend told me that she was probably "crazy" and that was why she sat alone and that I would be crazy to go talk to her.

I never did get up the nerve to go and talk to her. Wish I had. I may have discovered that maybe she wasn't all that crazy. Maybe she was just having a good time....practicing for her next time in line at the post office....

Aster

2007-03-06T12:46:00.000-08:00

This is ASTER, named for what is probably one of my favorite flowers. I did a partial picture of her on a previous post, but then I found this picture on my computer and wanted to add it. I next want to make a bear for a DAHLIA and then one for a RANUNCULUS, both gorgeous flowers that we are going to try to grow in planters this year.

A window with a view.....

2007-03-02T17:40:00.000-08:00

It was such a beautiful day here that I took an extra long walk with my kids today. All four of them chattering about totally different things, not caring that because they are all talking about different things that I can't understand any of it.....they were just happy to be able to share their thoughts with the wind.

Conversation turned a little ugly from my 4 year-old when she saw a fire ant hill. She has an enormous fear...phobia...of fire ants after inadvertently sitting on one of their mounds last year.

She fell to her knees and yelled that she couldn't walk anymore till someone moved all the fire ants. It's a shame you can't do that as an adult. Right in the middle of the mall, "I can't walk anymore....till someone brings me a mocha...with a scone!"

One thing that was especially wonderful about the walk was all the flowers that were beginning to bloom. Of course they and the newly budding trees make me sneeze and feel like my head is full of cotton.....but beauty has it's price!

So in honor of my walk today, here is an art quilt that is titled "A Window with a View". It's for all that have bad allergies or humongous fears of fire ants.....sometimes it might seem tempting to watch the world from a window, but it's always better outside!

Procrastinators unite....tomorrow

2007-02-26T20:33:00.000-08:00

I saw this on a T-shirt tonight when I was at the library. I almost laughed out loud because just a second ago I had been making a list of things I could put off doing for a while.

Here is a picture of a baby fairy that I just sculpted. She is sleeping peacefully on my desk at the moment....every time I look at her I feel the overwhelming need for a nap. My youngest daughter, who just turned 4, is fascinated with her. She keeps asking me when she will wake up.

2007-02-24T20:57:00.000-08:00

This is an image that I just finished for a group book on birds. It feels like a self-portrait.

Our family recently moved.....after 14 years of living in the same house. At first it was exciting. Sort of like going on an extended vacation......800 miles from home! But now after 7 months, the reality of living somewhere so different is setting in. It hit me hard the other day that this may be where we spend the rest of our lives so far away from friends and family. So for now all I can say is, "this is my home."

Maybe one day it really will be.....

Bears

2007-02-21T19:30:00.000-08:00

I haven't made too many bears lately, but I thought I would add a few of my favorites:
This is Bridgette and her sidekick Mouse. Bridgette is about 4" tall and made from mohair fur and lots of quilted fabrics.

This is Aster....she is a fully crochet thread bear. She is about 7" tall....and loves gardening.

This is my Bonsai bear. He is trying to grow a bonsai, but is worried that it is so small. Maybe more sun will
make it grow better!

Kilt Pins

2007-02-20T14:08:00.000-08:00

These are Kilt Pins for a swap that I am doing with an online group. I should have been vacuuming, but the poor kilt pins have been sitting forlorn on my desk for sooooo long! What's a girl to do? They are embellished with African trade beads, twine, copper wire, odd beads and some shrink plastic that is heated and debossed with a rubber stamp. The bottom one also has one of my favorite beads from GREEN GIRLS Studio. The little mermaid. She's so adorable! Now I have to clean up the gi-normous mess I made putting these together....

Fiber Arts

2007-02-19T20:41:00.000-08:00

I love making cloth dolls. I started about 5 years ago when a friend asked me to come to a "cloth doll meeting" she attended. The only "cloth doll" I was familiar with was Raggedy-Ann....so I politely declined. But a few weeks later I saw this same friend in a bead store buying beads for one of her projects. It was a gorgeous doll...made of cloth no less! I was hooked and have been ever since.
Here are a few of the cloth doll that I have made. Their faces are all hand-painted using primarily watercolor pencils. All are from original patterns that I have made.

These are the LaPoire Sisters....they are about 10" tall.

This is a doll that I call FLIGHT. She stands about 15" including base.

This is an art quilt that I made a while back called "Black-Eyed Susan". The quilt is 5" in width. The face is hand-painted and sewn into the quilt.

One fish....two fish.....

2007-02-19T20:07:00.000-08:00

Starting a blog...

2007-02-19T19:58:00.000-08:00

I believe that I am possibly the last person in this hemisphere that has not fully completed a blog. I would say the world, but I was told that there are 4 men in Uganda that are holding out for better templates.

I have no idea how to get pictures on here....which is why I wanted this "thing" in the first place. I have now to my credit started 4 blogs. All of them failing miserably for one reason or another. Usually something like not being able to add pictures.....but enough of the nay-saying. It's onward and upward from here. Nothing but net!