I painted my little fairy girl last night. Oooohhh, that made for a bad moment just at first. She turned out WAY too green, AND her wig melted in the oven. (Oh dear!) On the other hand, the wig will be easy enough to replace (I didn't like it much anyway,) and the vinyl softened up enough to pop her head off to make her easier to work with. All is not lost after all!

I added a second wash of paint, this time a pale flesh color, which toned down the green nicely. Then yet another wash of a rosy/lavender/flesh to blush, and then some final touches of blue in the creases. Very fairy-esque! All she needs now are her tattoos. Still thinking those should be gold...

The tights are made from a striped T-shirt -- I honestly thought I had matched the stripes better than that. It's amazing how photography shows up flaws that I just don't notice otherwise. I've got her bustier made except for the eyelets. Her skirt is cut out and the wings are in progress. This little girl is addicting!

Here are the photos I promised of my white-on-white doll in progress. The glare in the photo washes out the nice tones of the silk her gown and robe are made of, which is too bad, but turning off the flash robbed her face and hair piece of their detail. Sigh...

She is made from a Kezi's "Dollmaker's Angel" pattern, which has a lovely realistic body, but weird arms and legs. It's as is she can't decide whether to be an art or a play piece. Fortunately, her clothing hides the flaws and hangs nicely from her body.

I lost the instructions for making her wings, so I am using the instructions from an online class I took this spring from Jean Bernard. These wings made of shredded crystal organza and floral wire. The upper wire is reinforced with Aves. I still have the painting and glitter and bead embellishments to add -- these are labor intensive wings!

I will be so So SO happy to finish this doll. She isn't nearly as much fun as I had hoped.

Second Post

I am having some weird episodes with my internet connection lately, so I split today's entry in order to just get SOMETHING up on the blog. It's been a while since I've had a chance to post, and these interruptions are becoming quite frustrating...

Here is my little Goodwill baby with her ears and toes sculpted. I have painted the additions a flesh color and they are now in the oven for a heat set. The next step will be to add a wash of color to the vinyl to give her a fairy skin tone. I am thinking that a very pale green with violet shadows will be what she wants.

Fortunately, if she DOESN'T want it, the Genesis paint wipes right off until it's heat set.

Then for some tattoos -- in metallic gold? -- and her costume and wings and she'll be all set.

I'd *like* to post some photos of my white-on-white doll in progress, but I think I will take what I can get today and run with it. I'll try again tomorrow and see if I can catch a more reliable connection.

Instant gratification

Yes, I CAN finish what I start, and here is the proof. I bought the fabric for these pillowcases on a whim -- the prints just *fit* my daughters' personalities so well as to make them irresistable. And I am a HUGE Laurel Birch fan. Lydia didn't have to twist my arm at all to get me to buy the horse print from the LB fabric line. I love the way she uses color. Sigh...

Anyway, I sewed them up this morning. It's a pity the LB horse print doesn't show up better in the photo. It is a spectcular print. Aren't they cute??! And best of all, the girls like them too. It has been a long time since they let me make something for them. I hadn't realized I missed that feeling so much.


It feels very VERY good to FINISH a project and get the remnants out of my sewing room! I am trying -- really really trying -- to finish other ongoing projects, but, true to form, they are taking longer than I had anticipated when I began.



This little girl is a Goodwill rescue that was just too cute to pass up. She is in wonderful condition, but very very DIRTY. A hot bath cleaned her up nicely. (Her legs are off in the photo so that the interior of her body can dry too -- they went back on before I worked with her again.)

The ultimate plan is to rework her into a fairy in the style of Amy Brown. We will see if this is an idea the works as well in practice as well as it does in my imagination!

I think it's safe now

Here is the surprise doll I mentioned last week. Her name is "Serenity Rose" which is such a lovely and appropriate name -- she is going to live with my Mom as a Mother's Day gift. I didn't want to post her photo too soon, as mom checks the blog now and again and I didn't want to spoil her surprise. My dear dear Mom is so hard to choose gifts for. I hope she likes her...

She is a heavy girl -- over 3 pounds! -- fully clothed with painted shoes and features. I used my Genesis paints and I am SO happy with the results. Those paints are such a pleasure to use. I just with I could get a supply of them locally. Thank goodness for mail order!

I have 3 more fully assembled dolls now sitting on my cutting table waiting for clothes. It feels so good to clear out that backlog of parts off the floor. I haven't taken any photos yet, but I will do a "dolls in progress" spread today or tomorrow to show what I've been up to. It is amazing how mind-cleansing it is to actually FINISH a few things!

Paying Dues

This is one of those days when I wonder if I am *really* cut out to be a farm wife... I love living on the farm, but some days aren't as idyllic as others, and this is work that needs to be done. On the other hand, it was nothing a trip to town and some new paper and ink couldn't help alleviate. ;-) Whether or not to leave and get away from the noise and dust was never the question -- how long to stay away was another issue!

I have been creating like a maniac in my newly cleaned studio, but I can't share pictures of my latest project just yet. It's a surprise... So in the meantime, I'm going to tell you what's been going on here all day, and then you can decide for yourself if the inks and (beautiful, gorgeous, luscious, HAND-MADE) papers were worth the gas for the trip!

Both the north field and the west field were mown yesterday. A dry east wind has been blowing ever since, so a light fluffing was all the grass needed before it was ready to be chopped and packed in the silo. Unfortunately, I didn't think to get out my camera until the "fluffer-nutter" (as I call it) had already left. It is a fascinating machine to watch in action.

Here we are looking into the north field where you can see the chopper (in front) blowing the grass into the truck behind it. This truck will then take the grass to the other side of the farm to the silo for packing. The other truck on the right is waiting to take its place when the first truck is full.


This is the same truck dumping its load of grass in front of the silage pit, all ready for the tractors to push up into a neat, tidy, and well packed-down pile so that it can ferment properly without drying into hay or developing mold. That's Jake in the tractor on the right -- I haven't seen him all day. I wonder if he has had anything to eat yet...

Off it goes to get back in line for another load. And so it goes... and goes... and goes...

They've been at it all afternoon, and, while progress is being made, they won't be done for a while yet. (It's nearly 6:30 p.m. now.) Jake's dinner will be VERY cold by then...

What we go through to feed our cows!

This is the part that makes me nervous. Those tractors are plenty big enough for the job -- at least they look big enough when they are down on the ground where they belong. But look how high up they go!!!

Man was not meant to crawl around like a bug in big machines on top of huge piles of stuff, no matter HOW much fun they're having.

It's not nearly as nerve wracking to watch as when they o corn in the fall, but it still makes me plenty thankful when the grass is all piled up and covered and my man is safely back down on the ground. It's not that I don't trust him to know what he's doing... I just can't bear to watch!

The curse of an over-active imagination!


Julianna the llama and Penny the old pony are sublimely unconcerned.

It is a beautiful evening.