It has been a long time since I posted here.

I am going to try to post more often.

Life has changed so much for me since my Tom died.  2612 Days have passed since that day.

I have finished a lot of the holy do list that was his.

A new sun room to replace the screen porch.A new screen porch.

2 new furnaces. a ew hot water heater, washing machine and new central air.

We talked about things that needed to be done.

The the up keep on this big house, but I would not change it for anywhere else.

I down sized my gardens and flower beds.I will share pictures in the future but just wanted to check in on this blog. 

I am doing a lot of craft/art projects.i did these salt shaker snowmen as gifts for 2022. 

 Time seems to go by so fast. 

Then there are some days that seem to go on and on.

Here we are 1/2 way through 2023. 

It has bee a busy time all spring. Lots of projects and am pleased with what I got done. I added a new paver path out front.

I finished a lap quilt for a family member"s 80th birthday.

My flowers on the back patio are looking good. It is what I see when in my sewing room where I am a lot of the time.  It is where I paint, do computer stuff and sew.

I had a volunteer dill plant come up last year.  It went to see and I now have dill growing in the cracks of my paver sidewalk. LOL. I will harvest soon to use to make dilly green beans.

my latest painting is a field of daisies. I so enjoy painting with acrylics.They dry fast. Corrections are easy to do.

new adventure

I have begun doing acrylic painting. I also bought myself a sketch book. It is relaxing for me. 

I rearranged a few things in my sewing room to make a paint corner. I spend most of my time in this room sewing .painting and making cloth dolls. 

The tool chest to the right has my oil paint supplies in it. 

The 3 tier cart and the shelves behind it and to the left have the acrylic supplies.

 The small wooden table is a vintage folding table.It fit perfect. I covered it with a venial backed painters cloth I cut to fit. 

The chair I bought years ago at a thrift store.I put a light above the table on a shelf and an out light behind and to my left. In this room I have a recliner. 

I sit there and do sketching in the evening. I am very much a beginner in the sketching and acrylic painting.

In the past I have oil painted the cloth dolls I make.

 The Izannah Walker doll "wanna be" Cleta, is done.

She took a lot of hours to finish. She was a challenge and demanding.

Because this doll took so long to make I feel she may be my last doll for a while. I feel this doll was a culmination of my doll making. I used all the skills I have acquired in my years as a doll maker. Mask making, doll and clothes design. Oil painting.

There may be a few embroidered face dolls. Easily done with not much thought.

I am moving on to doing some acrylic paintings and oil paintings on canvas. 

Doll named Toby

This is Toby.

 

Poor boy has waited for many years to be finished. He sat in the bobby sock cover for all that time---- so I made his shirt from the cover. This shows the process and finish painting

 

clothes

 Her clothes are done. I will be making a bonnet, shawl and a necklace for her soon. But for now she is drying. I will dress her and take her photos.

Her face is paintedI have been working on a doll challenge for weeks.

She got her face today. 
Not my usual type of doll to paint. 
She is all cloth. 
I like a smoother finish but this is a reproduction of an 1800's doll and they did not do smooth.
It has been a challenge but fun.
Her boots still need to be painted.
Her clothes are done.

I am happy ready to move onto the next project A bunny made from plastic/styrofom eggs. 
24 days till the first day of spring.
I need to finish my inside projects to be ready for porch sitting.

 

 I finished another blouse today. Made a pattern. I used kleenex to fit it to the doll. The kleenex works better for me than paper towels. The paper towels are to stiff. Really happy with the drop sleeve.

Clothes done

 Making clothes for Charlotte has been trying. I worked on them for a couple of days. It takes some adjusting when there is no pattern.

I made the under slip to long.I made her under things from child's slip. When going through some things I found 3 pieces of clothing.

The slip was in bad shape to cut the best for the doll. I stitched it in one piece but was to bulky and to long when I got done. I cut the top away from the bottom and just made a camisole and a half slip so it was the right length. There was a lot of lace mending but turned out ok.

I had to adjust the darts in the bodice to make the blouse tighter.

I think I will make another top to go with the stripe skirt.

I will be able to paint the face and boots this coming week.

While waiting

 While waiting for the oil paint on the "walker wanna be" to dry I finished 3 boy dolls.

These barefoot boys have been waiting for years for their clothes. 

I am not for sure, but think they were made/painted between 2005 and 2010.

It seems I lost interest after I finished the painting. An online challenge kick started their finish.

A reason to do the clothes for the "wanna be"  before I do the detail painting.

To see the progress you need to look at older posts. 

 I started this walker "wanna be" 12 days ago. I have worked on her at least 1-2 hours each day. Some days up to 5 hours.

 Izannah walker dolls were made in the 1800's .

I can not afford to buy one so like so many other dolls on my blog I do "wanna bee's"

I tried the acrylic on the doll. I stopped after just doing the basic shapes because I can see it is NOT going to work for me.

I have done my doll faces with oils and using acrylics is not going to work for me. I like the look and feel of working with oils. The acrylics dry to fast and they do not move like oils.

 It looked so bad -- I repainted it with an oil base coat. 

The oil will have to dry. 

It will take at least a week to dry. Then I will add detail. 

A walker doll was featured in a page of dolls, stamps.

flesh color

 Today I added acrylic base coat. 

Normally my dolls have a very smooth finish. 

Because the walker dolls do not seem to have a smooth finish,  I left the texture of the fabric covering show through.

Not sure I like it but it is what it is. 

Because she is newly made I will not try to make her/him look old. 

Ears and hands

 This morning I added paper clay to the ears to make them blend into the face instead of just being stuck on there. 

When I looked at her last night she reminded me of golem from the hobbit movie LOL

The fingers on the hands were not quite long enough so I added paper clay to them. Messed with this for over an hour. Hours in this girl are adding up.

When she is dry today I will apply the gesso and she will be ready to paint.

I'm not sure the back of her head is big enough but I am just done with making changes. She is what she is. I am ready to do her painting.

Her cloth covering is from a pair of cotton underwear. I used stiffy fabric stiffener to soak the cloth.It worked really well,. There was no need for the messy mix because the head is now very hard.

ears

 Today I finished the seam with paper clay. I made her ears and glued them on. I will use some fabric stiffener on them after they are dry. 

Original walker doll ears are big and ugly. I have an ear pattern I made for my MJ doll pattern. I filled in the holes with paper clay.

I filled in all the seams to make them less apparent.

Arms and legs are sewn on. She is ready for the gesso. Then the painting, then clothes are next.Time spent each day about 2-3 hours.

 Her face cloth layer is on.

And the front shoulder plate.

I used stuffy fabric stiffener instead of glue. 

I am happy so far with how she looks.

There were air pockets so I clipped a small hole to be able to smooth the fabric. 

I will fill in with modeling paste when I do the messy mix.

When looking for sanding paper to sand her down ----I found a pair of antique bootie/socks 

They fit perfectly.

 Not sure if i will paint boots on the legs.

The arms and legs are attached.