A Busy Week

There is nothing like being busy to prod one into getting things done. Thanks to my new job, my days are no longer entirely my own, so I need to work on my various projects in a much more organized and efficient manner.

This is "Lily Ann", an all-cloth doll from a pattern by Kezi Matthews. I have been trying to put her on my Etsy site, but I haven't been able to get a decent photo of her in my little light tent. I popped over to the hardward store this weekend for another length of PVC pipe to make longer legs for the frame, so now she fits inside and I can photograph her at last.




All her features are hand embroidered using cotton floss.

This little darling is my first completed "Reborn" doll. She started out as a "Lots to Love" doll by Berengeur. I took her apart, painted more realistic features and skin colors on all the vinyl parts, and gave her a rooted mohair wig instead of the textured vinyl she started out with. Then I sewed a new and more proportionate body for her out of cuddly soft doe suede, jointed her parts back together, and weighted her body for a more realistic heft. Her romper is made of Hoffman cotton and trimmed with lace.

I enjoyed the painting part a great deal, but sewing the body and clothes was rather boring. I may make another one some day, but not any time soon.




Last but not least, I finished weaving the prayer blanket I began for my brother-in-law last autumn. I stopped work on it for a while when I found out that his church had already made him one. I need the loom for another project though, so I got this one off, sewed up the center seam (my loom isn't wide enough to make a full-width blanket in a single swath) and bound it this morning with the coolest irridescent silk duipioni. It has a few quirks so I don't think it's nice enough to give as a gift or sell, but it is a wonderfully heavy fuzzy thing and will be pleasant to have on hand next winter.

"Magik" the cat likes the corner where the yarn has noticibly more mohair spun into it.