The Cost of Doing Business

I, and obviously my customers, love the convenience of direct payments through Etsy.  However, after running the numbers, I've come to the realization that the per transaction fee is too much to absorb on a $2.00 item.  Reluctantly, I am going to be raising the prices on my wee badges over the next few months.  Any new badge will be listed at $2.50.  All existing badges will reflect the increase when their current listings have to be renewed.

The good news is that if you order lots of badges after all the prices have gone up I may be able to offer a discount.  It depends on the number and style of badges you want.  So talk to me!

Art Dolls!

Look what landed in my yard today!

The most adorable flying dragon.

And the sweetest butterfly fairy doll.

 

Look at those fabulous jointed arms and legs and that wonderful hair.

 

 

And who is that sitting on the high branch? A sweet little flower fairy. 

All of these were made for me by Linakins in the craftster art doll swap.  Fantastic. 

Doll for a Bride to be

My partner for the Art Doll swap on Craftster is getting married.  She really wanted a bride doll.  One that was wearing the dress she is going to wear.  I might have mentioned that I am feeling extremely over my head in this swap.  The dolls that have been made are incredible.  Add to that my polymer clay doll screw up and a tight deadline and you get close to panic mode.  Still no way I am going to make tiny little fingers out of anything, let alone cloth. 

I did manage to make a set of arms that were respectable.  Then I put together the legs.  They were even better.   Stitching her together was a learning experience.  I read several different patterns and watched a lot of youtube tutes.  Either you stuffed the appendages first and then sewed them on or you left an opening and stuffed them after the doll was stitched together.  Let's see, impossible to sew together with all those legs and arms stuffed into a tiny body or four more tiny little holes to stitch closed?  I went with impossible to stitch.  I traced the outline on around the square of fabric with the face stitched on.  I stitched a seam, leaving an opening between two more rectangles.  Then I tacked the arms and legs in place and stitched around the whole thing using my zipper foot. 
Let just say It was a very good thing I hadn't cut her out before sewing.  The back seam is a wee bit a whole lot crooked.  Amazingly enough she worked out without any really strange bumps. 

The face was a challenge.  I ended up finding this machine embroidery design by  JEmbroiderynApplique on etsy. It stitched out beautifully even on the quilter's weight muslin I was using.  Poor dolly is very pale as I didn't have enough of any type of flesh tone fabric to complete her.  Her hair is wool felt embellished with a few ribbon flowers.

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 For her dress, I really wanted to make the shear upper bodice that was on my partner's dress but it just didn't look right or even really show up over the muslin body.   I ended up using some more muslin for the bodice.  The skirt was made from two pieces of satin ruffle saved from making my Victorianimals way back in the 80's.  (You never know when things might come in handy!)  Unfortunately neither was quite big enough to go around and still allow her some modesty when seated.  So I did a double wrap to cover the waterfront as it were.

You can see that she is sporting a tulle veil.  What you can't see in the picture is the wee flowers holding the gathers together.

 

Her shoes are made from some pink felt.   These worked out far better than I anticipated.  I simply traced around the foot pattern, stitched on the line, cut, trimmed and made a wee bit of a scoop.  When turned right side round they actually fit and stay on.  Amazing. 

So here she is a bride doll for a bride to be.

Little Miss Myrtle Will be Staying for a While.

I foolishly decided to join the Art Doll Swap on Craftster.  I've never made an art doll before.  I looked at the images and decided  could probably do something that would be acceptable.   Then I got my partner's questionnaire and checked out her pinterest board.  I was in WAY over my head.

I mean seriously.  How on Earth do they TURN those tiny fingers?  Better yet, how do they stitch them???  And then the tiny clothes. 

I decided my only hope was to go back to an old project using Fimo/Sculpy.  I resurrected the drawer of 'baking clay'.  I found my beat up copy of "Clay Characters for Kids" by Maureen Carlson.  I bought some softener.  And I got started.

I found that I have absorbed a lot of polymer information in the past few years even though I haven't worked with the clay.  I did a lot more baking rather than waiting until the whole thing was finished.  That made a huge difference.  

I made Miss Myrtle, the Spring Flower Fairy.  She sits on her very own oak stump and has two friends a Rose the Turtle and a wee blue bird. She is about 5 inches tall. 

Unfortunately as I was re-reading my partner's wish list, I discovered that I had made a horrible mistake.  I mixed up her hate list with her like list.  She absolutely hates purple.  Miss Myrtle is just too purple.  So...  It was back to the drawing board.  Doll Number 2 is very different from Miss Myrtle.  She is fortunately finished and on her way before the deadline.  And little Miss Myrtle is staying here with me until I find her another home. 

Hoppy Easter!

This is the wee quilt I made for the Little Quilt Sew Vote Swap.  I used my new Micron markers and Derwent Inktense pencils on the drawing.  I had a lot of fun 'painting' it.  The quilting is simple leaves and flowers.  (My machine was acting up so it was a bit more challenging than it should have been.)  And it has a simple black and white striped binding.  I wanted to do a black and white check, but I wasn't sure I could get it square enough. 

I will be sad to be sending this off to it's new owner (that part is still a secret) but I am looking forward to doing more drawing-based projects. 

"There are a LOT of stitches on your machine..."

  And I have definitely been adding to them this week.  New badges coming soon, once I finish all the custom orders. 

Unfortunately, all I can show you are badges since my other projects are for swaps. 

Spring!

Yes, it is finally Spring around here.  A rather cool Spring, but things are green and the flowers are blooming.  Actually the cool weather tends to extend the flowering season.  That is a bonus. 

I was out yesterday shooting pictures of some secret projects.  A bit of blooming myrtle was a perfect match.  I'll share the projects once they reach their final destination. 

And Side by Side

After much figuring and ripping, I finally finished piecing one.  It went from one long string of blocks to this diamond pattern.  Spud 3 approves!  It is a twin sized top.   I need to find backing and figure out how to quilt it.  I am open to suggestions.  I want it to be vaguely historic. 

I keep naming this one different things.  So much so that I have a couple different picture folders.  One is called Riverbed.  The other is historic trip around the world.  I wonder what it will be once it gets quilted.

Blogiversary

I don't know how I missed it.  I started this blog three years ago on March 22, 2011. I've spent the last couple days reading it all in reverse order.  How interesting to see what I have chosen to record and preserve.