DIP (doll in progress)

A couple of years ago, I downloaded Sherry Goshon's free pattern, Goddess of Love.  The local doll group has taken it on as a February challenge/project, so I've been working on her, a little at a time.  In progress photos...

Basic body shape, on the painted and glazed base:

Working on her heart-shaped vest, a couple embellishments, and she'll be done:

At last month's meeting, we made a quick project of driftwood, wrapped with fibers and fabric, with molded faces.  These are the two I put together, though I still need to do the final embellishing - I'm thinking a couple beads and something that dangles (of course):

I'm also practicing free-motion work on my newly acquired "Bernie."  I feel very lucky to have some good online coaches - so far, my shoulders are not stuck to my ears, and my tangles have all been small enough to sort out on my own.  Here's Bernie, the way she looked the day I brought her home from my rendezvous with a Craig's List seller in a parking lot:

I want this to be the year that I not only try techniques and mediums that are new to me, I want to focus more on making things I want to make, just for me (with the exception of soap and lotion products, of course). I think I'm off to a pretty good start.

Still about the tree...

Some birds think this latest tree configuration is fine - quite the lookout spot.

Work continues today. 

Inspired by Carolyn

Inspired by my friend Carolyn (who was inspired by a doll she'd seen at another friend's house, plus an article in Sew Somerset about a doll named Lu-Cee by Linda Trenholm), I made this funny little, easy pointy headed doll.  She doesn't have a name yet.

What a fun way to use up a few home dec fabrics, and do some easy embellishing.  Her face is a face stamp (I have no clue where I got it) which has been colored with watercolor pencils.  The shoes are those inexpensive little clear ones you get in the wedding area of craft stores and sometimes even the dollar store.  I used Mod Podge and paper napkins on the exterior, and painted the interior over the Mod Podge that was inside.

Goodbye to the Sissoo

When we first made an offer on this house, we were made aware that the tree in the northwest corner of the lot was a potential problem.  Our neighbor was worried about it compromising his wall, and the sucker roots into his yard sending up shoots, for starters.  Others told us that the aggressive roots would cause a problem with the swimming pool.  My Oldtimer and I both opted to try to make it work.  It didn't.  It has been growing very rapidly, with the roots heaving up the ground at an amazing rate.  Since it's our only tree, we didn't mind the mess too much, but it does go through cycles of continuously dropping stuff - spent blossoms, fall leaves, and seed pods.   Still, it housed lots of birds - I called it my bird tenement house.  But no more...

Here's the before shot:

Here's an early during:

And a later during:

Here's a picture of my Oldtimer, saying "don't take pictures of me when I'm grunting":

And here's how it looked when we finished all the branches (today we have the world's largest slingshot in our yard, plus the biggest pile of brush I've ever seen):

The brush you see below the slingshot is about one-fifth of the stack.  Before we finished up for the day, all the brush was stacked in a different part of the yard, the pool was skimmed, the patio blown clean, and tools put away.  Guess who did it?  (Hint - not me.)