Doll for 2013 cruise

My goal is to keep up with my blog.  I decided to share a doll in the making.  This is the doll I’ll be teaching on the cruise in February 2013.  Every other year we have an all cloth doll making cruise.  They have been great fun and close friendships have developed.

I’ve posted a photo of Annie’s doll, and wanted to show my doll, although she isn’t finished.  She needs hair and her crown.  She’s an elf princess without a name.  She’ll have her name soon.

The doll body will be made by each person going on the cruise before we depart.  During the cruise we’ll do her face, create her clothing and the beaded joints.  Simple beaded flowers will be made, along with silk ribbon flowers.  Some embroidery will be done, too.  The kit supplied by me will include the beautiful fabric that her dress is made from, along with a bead kit and several other goodies.

If you are interested in the cruise go to www.clothdollcruises.com for more details and also contact Barbara Roby at barbara@brtravelservices.com

Bohdana Klatilova and the Czech Doll Club along with Bernina are sponsoring the first Doll Exhibit & Competition with classes in Prague April 1-3, 2011.  Marlaine Verhelst and I will be the tutors.  I'm so excited to see Marlaine.  I met her ages ago and have admired her work.

Bohdana has been a true friend and encourager for both Marlaine and I and I know this is going to be a spectacular event.

For more details contact:  bohdana.klatilova@gmail.com

To see what the doll club there does, go to their website:

http://czechdollsclub.com

This is one very talented group.

Marlaine's website:

http://marlaineverhelst.com

After receiving the book, I have to admit it is more than I thought it would be.  It is truly beautiful.

The book is like a complete textbook on doll making as it takes the reader from a beginning type doll to a more advanced doll.  We've taken the best of each of the books and put them in one volume.

The book is 304 pages, so quite large for this type of book.  It covers several ways of creating faces, bodies, hands, feet, clothing, accessories, and beading. 

It is very exciting and I'll be eager to hear what people think of it once it is released.

The release date is in March.  Keep watching by publishers website for the release date.

http://www.quarrybooks.com

Also, don't forget to check out my publishers blog.  Lots of fun stuff there.

http://craftside.typepad.com

Theo is 11 mos. old and full of fun.  I should have titled this post "The many faces of Theo".

He changes all the time.  And, he loves to show off his two lower teeth.  He's working on his uppers at the moment.  We may have pictures of those before they return to Brussels.

John had not met Theo as he's not been to Belgium since Theo was born.  I've been twice, so have been able to watch a bit of his growth during his first year.  The first year is probably the one of the most changes.  Both physical and mental.  Theo is quite vocal, so will keep up with his cousins once we get all of them together.

Before they arrived John and I purchased a toddler bed and fixed up a bedroom for him.  I made a quilt for the new bed.  Heidi (our daughter) loves giraffe's.  I was able to find a wonderful giraffe print.

If you click on the photo a larger one will pop up.  We also found a little giraffe that has various sounds to help babies sleep.

  This is a wonderful time of year to spend it with family.

Merry Christmas!

  Marley is one of the dolls I'm selling.  She's a combination of several patterns from two of my books – Creative Cloth Doll Making and Creative Cloth Doll Faces. 

The other samples I'm selling are:

Patti's Fanciful Fan – 5 dolls on fan blades with interchangeable clothing.  Fun project and definitely a conversation piece.

 Stargaze Arca.  This is a box that can hold a journal or treasures.  It is made from all fibers with many techniques.  It was made to hold my Stargaze Stitchery Tome.  Since I'm teaching the Arca on my Stargaze Stitchery Yahoo group I will be making another one.

If you are interested in any of these items, go to my website and read more about the items then email me.  I'll tell you how to purchase them.

Hoping everyone is ready for a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I had met Mr. Davies last year at the Knitting & Stitching Show in London and purchased his magical book on knotted gardens.  I decided that was what I would do for the floor of the cage.  Yes.  I was out of my mind!  45 working hours later I decided to make a few changes.

My idea was to do cross-stitch, as shown with the black and white threads, a pond using seed stitch, then flowers using French knots.  I also started creating a path using a different stitch and woven leaves.  The photo to the right had taken me 45 hours.  So, I decided to knit some "grass" and use my embellisher (felting machine) to "grass" it up.  You can see the knitted piece before felting on the upper left side.

If you click on any of the photo's they'll take you to a larger image.

On the left is the knitted piece being "felted".  I find it helpful to felt on one side, then flip it over and felt on the wrong side.

This helps create the more grassy effect.  I also had to be careful to not catch my leaves.  I used a piece of tape to tape them towards the checkered walkway.

After the grass was finished I started more French knots for flowers.  I used various threads from the magic box DMC had sent.  And the little curled up bits along the one path are made from DMC's Memory Thread.  This is beautiful threads wrapped around wire so you can shape it in any way you want. 

Because the knotted garden was taking even more time I decided to create a more fairyish scene by throwing down some Angelina along with the wool threads from DMC and felting them.  The tapestry I was working on is a 16 count linen, also in the box. 

It was now time to create the fairy that would reside in the garden.  I actually made 3 fairies, but ran out of time to complete them all.  I'll finish them after Christmas and take them to the CHA show in January and place them in the garden.

To create the fairy I reduced my "Leona" pattern by 30%.  Leona is normally 10-inches tall.  This reduced her down to 5 1/2-inches.  I had learned how to make fairy wings with Angelina and Angelina film from Rosemary Hernandez at the local doll club's Doll Camp.  Her sleeves and skirt were made from DMC's metallic threads.  Like a dummy I didn't take a photo of her before I placed her in the cage so didn't get many close-ups of her.  In her left hand she's holding a flower she's going to plant in the garden.

Even though she's too big for the garden, she still looks pretty cute.  She's actually one of the fairies that is planting the garden for the wee fairy folk, who are much smaller than the garden fairies.

I created a few vines by wrapping some wire with DMC pearl cotton.  I added flowers I made with their wool thead.  You can see the vines in the photo taken from the opening in the top of the cage.

Now you know what I've been doing for the past two weeks.  John has been wonderful.  He's brought home dinner several nights so I could continue working.  I averaged 16 hours a day.  I did take Thanksgiving Day off until later in the evening.  And, Sunday's I only worked for a few hours in the afternoons and another two hours in the evening after church.

This was a fun project to work on and whenever you see DMC at any shows be sure to stop by and visit.  Don't forget, two more fairies will join in planting the garden.  Someday.

We met at the Julian Meadow View Lodge, formerly known as Angels Landing.  In the center of the lodge is a conference room where the workshop was held.  Most of the participants stayed in the lodge rooms on either side of the conference room.  As you can see the room is quite large and very well lit.  We started the classes on Friday night, shown here.

All of the furry bits you see in the foreground are some of the Tibetan skins I brought.  I also provided Fairfield Polyfil for those who needed stuffing.  It is my preferred stuffing as it is slickery and easy to needle sculpt.                                                                                                  For those who came long distances I brought 3 of my Bernina's.  I had just purchased a Bernina 380, which is a wonderful machine for classes.  It is one of Bernina's more affordable machines and a machine that isn't as heavy as some of their others.  

Saturday morning we colored the doll faces with Shiva Paintstiks then fixed them with Prismacolor's Workable Fixative.  This is similar to Krylon's Workable Fixative, but made by Prismacolor.  We didn't have the luxury of 3 days to allow the paintstiks to "cure", so fixing them allowed us to detail the faces later in the day.  Patty Smith is shown here spraying her dolls head.  You can see the beautiful area we were staying.  Julian is wonderful.  It is 4,000 feet up in our mountains, so not too high.

Lynn Tesch, from Georgia had flown in for Doll Camp.  She really got into fixing her dolls head.  So much so that she nearly fell down the mountain as her dolls head went rolling down hill.  She was able to save the head as several of us came to her rescue and held on to her as she reached for the head.   We'll never let Lynn forget that episode.                                                                  

One of the more popular events at any doll gathering is "show & tell".  Saturday night was the show & tell night and it was so exciting seeing what everyone brought.

Mary "Dolly" Francis came from Arizona and brought her "Arizona Camel".  This is her doll clubs mascot and he goes everywhere Dolly goes.  You can click on the photo to go to a larger image to see the details on this wonderful creature.  We all thoroughly enjoyed Dolly's wonderful sense of humor.

Caroline Weber made two of the cutest veggies from one of Sally Lampi's patterns.  Caroline and her daughter, Jennifer, drove down from San Francisco.  Both are extremely talented women and it was fun having them at Doll Camp.

Lois Boncer, of Carlsbad, California, brought her 7-headed dragon, along with her adorable ballet class for children.  Lois is a past president of IOLCC and has a company called Aardvark to Zebras.  She's been featured in Soft Dolls & Animals and other publications.   Another very talented woman.

Deborah Ditson of Santee, California shared some of her amazing beadwork.  She, and her friend Martine met me at the San Diego Quilt Show and are first time doll makers.  They say.  Both made wonderful dolls during the weekend.

And, you can see by this photo how talented Deborah is.  Her beadwork is stunning.  I wish I had more photo's of some of her other pieces.

If you ever get a chance to attend a "doll" camp or any other retreat I highly recommend it.  It is a fabulous way of getting away from the phone, tv, computer, children, grandchildren, you name it.  We had great food, beautiful scenery and developed friendships that will last a long, long time.

From left to right are:  Steve Kerr,  Teddi Neal Nicolosi, Rosemary Davis Logan, Betty List Zaslowsky, Leona Spurling Nelson, Patti Medaris Culea and John Culea.

                    These photos show Steve Kerr and John Culea in 1958 and 2010.  These two were some of the "class clowns".  Steve refered to John as "you big dummy!"  He still does.

Steve was one of my favorite classmates from 1958 to 1960.  I loved his car almost as much as I loved Steve.  I didn't love Steve as a "boy friend", but as one of my best friends.  As you know I ended up marrying John in 1973.  But, in high school. I didn't like him.  I found my diary from high school and I wrote in my diary June 15, 1959 "Had a date with John Culea.  Didn't like him.  He kissed me at the door."  We've been married for 37 years so guess I got used to the kisses!

We were amazed at how many of our classmates have gone on to Heaven.  We have lost 12, that we know of.  Two of the photo's are from a surprise birthday party my friend, Betty List, gave for me in 1958.  Shown are Anne Malmgren Raines, who went to heaven this year in March;  and Jim Round who was killed in a plane crash shortly after we graduated in 1960.  Below is Chuck Reedy, who was killed in a car accident in 1958. 

Below are a few of us who went to one of our favorite hang outs after football games – Mary Coyle's Ice Cream Parlour.  Mary Coyle's is still around and we had to go after the Homecoming game Friday evening.  Starting at the lower left is Rosemary Davis Logan, me, John, JoAnn Stephens Harte, JoAnn's husband Jim.  Then Teddi Neal Nicolosi, Leona Spurling Nelson, Hazel Schierbeek Andringa and her husband, Jack.  As you can see we can still enjoy ice cream sundaes.  What am I saying?  I'm a farm girl.  I always enjoy ice cream sundaes.  In fact, on our way home today John stopped in Dateland so I could have a famous date shake!

Our classmate, Bob Porter, and his wife Judie opened their amazing home to our class for our get-together Saturday night.  Bob and Judie are the most generous people John and I know.  They are very humble and are dedicated 100% to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Their home is built for entertainment.  We had Macayo's Mexican Restaurant do the catering and we all enjoyed catching up with what we have been doing the past 50 years. 

All I can say is I highly recommend attending your high school reunions.  They are fun, hilarious, emotional and rewarding.

We decided on my Fantasy Purses as a project and 7 women joined in.  The photo is of Sarah setting up a machine for one of the participants.

We used both regular sewing machines and embellishing machines.  Some had never used the embellishing machines before and all decided they loved the technique.

Sarah's workshop area is full of inspiration.  All of her "stuff" is there for all of us to use, which we did.  I don't have samples here, but Sarah has new Mica powders that have a binding agent in them so all you need is water and  you have the most beautiful, shimmery paints.  But, back to our time there.

Here Gill and Chris are looking over the base of the purse Gill has finished.  Nearly everyone got their base done, which included stamping a face onto plain fabric and painting it with Sarah's Colourful Thoughts all purpose paints. 

I didn't get photo's of everyone in the workshop.  Jacquie and Elinor are missing in nearly all the photo's.  Don't know how I missed them.  They were obviously downstairs in the warehouse shopping.  Which we all did a fair amount of.

Val brought an album she had made of her grandchildren and said it was based on my book "Creative Cloth Explorations".  I think it was all her original idea.  There were several pages dedicated to her 3 grandchildren and the book is fantastic.  Wish I had space to put photo's of each of the pages.  Beautifully done and such a terrific idea.

Today, Sunday Oct. 17, was another free day and Peggy took me on a walk-about through downtown Newark.  I wish I had a photo of Peggy and I together.  She's almost 6 feet tall (5'11 1/2").  Together we made quite a pair (I'm 4'11").

Newark is a beautiful city.  It is about 1 1/2 hours north of London, by train.  The weather was absolutely perfect today.  Clear, sunny, cool.  I couldn't resist taking a photo of the 5 young swans as they started swimming towards us hoping we had some bread for them.  We didn't so they swam on.

Newark is full of beautiful, old buildings like the one below where Prince Rupert stayed when he had an argument with King Charles.  The building was built in 1475!  Peggy took me upstairs so I could see the ceiling beams and how low the ceilings were then.  Simply amazing.

Below is a photo of David & Sarah Lawrence, and Peggy, with whom I stayed in her home.  The embroidered wall hanging behind them was lovingly put together by many people and Sarah pulled it all together.  It is the main streets of Newark as it was in the past.  It was given to the Millgate Museum and if you are ever in the area go see it.  The lighting was really bad during the time we were there so I couldn't get a really good photo.  It is a master piece.                

I really hated to leave Newark, but my time here is over.  I head to Heathrow tomorrow and fly home on Tuesday.  England is close to my heart and I'll be back next September/October.

Isn't that the cutest photo you've ever seen?  He is really enjoying his new pumpkin outfit.  He does love pumpkin to eat, too.

How I miss him, and his mommy and daddy.  My time with them was far too short.

After my 3 1/2 days with my daughter, son-in-law and grandson in Belgium I flew to Prague to teach a workshop.

I taught one of my favorite classes – creating faces with Shiva/Markal Paintstiks.  This group took to it like a fish in water.  They loved the technique and every face they did was

excellent.       After several of the doll group members shared dolls they have made from either my books, patterns or when I was there in February.  This is an extraordinary group.                                                                  Very enthusiastic and extremely talented as you can see by these photos.

After my workshop I had a free day to do a bit more site-seeing and Jane, the club president and Bohdana, who owns the Creative Center where I taught the workshop showed me around town.  The two buildings are called Fred & Ginger.  Truly beautiful buildings. 

Bohdana then took me to see a special Mucha exhibit at their National Museum.  Fabulous.  Photo's weren't allowed inside the exhibit, naturally, but I did get this near the entrance.  His work is one of my sources of inspiration for my work.

I also got to meet Sarka Rooya, who owns a fabulous bead store in Prague, and also is editor of a bead magazine.

While there she shared with us some of what she's been doing with lampwork beads.  She gave me a beautiful heart shaped bead she has made.  Beautiful young woman.                                                         

Below are Mirek and Bohdana.  They always show me the best time.  Prague is a beautiful city, but the people are the best part of it.