My Summer of Finishing Things

I have decided that this is going to be 

my summer to finish things.  

What have I finished so far?  Let's start with these fun place mats inspired by Maureen Hensel Cracknell at Maureen Cracknell Handmade.  She is an AMAZING quilter who happens to be my mom's best friend's brother's daughter.  Seriously!  I know that sounds made up but it's TOTALLY true.  My mom grew up in a town in western PA of about 450 people.  Her neighbor was her best friend.  They both ended up in Rochester (Mom because of Dad, and her friend because of our great hospitals) so they are still best friends.  Anyhow, Maureen made these dish towels (click link above) as part of a sew along based on The book Patchwork Please! by Ayumi Takahashi!  I have too many dish towels so I decided to make place mats instead.

Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner were obvious, but we have 4 people in our house so I had to make a 4th.  Dessert seemed appropriate because my daughter is for ever asking what's for dessert.

Then I really got going.  I thought why not?

 "What about...

?

 Luncheon?

? 

"Dinner? 

"Supper? 

" He knows about them, doesn't he?"

"I wouldn't count on it, Pip."

I know about them and I had great fun making extra place mats for at least some them.

Thanks again to Maureen and Ayumi.  

You can follow and sew along with them at LRstitched and A Quilter's Table.

Summer of Dolls: Joy Made It

Can you guess who the doll artist of the day is?  Joy!  She made it.  Or them.  Whichever.  Joy lives and works in Lancaster, PA with her 2 boys.  That explains the desire to make dolls!  Let's start with the Pirate Doll just to be fair to her boys anyhow.

Me: Why dolls (other than the 2 boys thing)?
Joy: I love to craft and sew and have since I was a little girl. It first started with my Mom letting me pick out the pattern and fabric for my fancy Christmas dress. As I got older I became interested in quilting. But through the years I always loved to try something new and so I've had many "phases" - pottery, jewelry, floral, clothing, crochet, painting. But I've always come back to sewing.

I had to include this lovely Miss with the pink hair 

since her name is Abby like my sister.  Though her hair 

was never pink she did want to be a rock star when she grew up.

Love this hair style!

Thanks Joy!

Summer of Dolls: Salvage Handmade

 

Today I welcome Gabrielle Kingsley from Salvage Handmade based in Arkansas. 

Me: What is Salvage?

Gabrielle: At Salvage you will find simple and sweet handmade plush dolls. Each doll is made using mostly organic, natural, or eco-friendly materials, and is sure to delight both the young and the young-at-heart. 

Me: When did you start making dolls?

Gabrielle: I started making dolls in 2009 during my last semester of undergrad, when I was working on my senior art project. I was supposedly an illustration major, but toward the end of my undergrad days, I decided that I preferred tactile crafts to drawing and illustrating. I started experimenting with patterns to try to get a perfect, simple doll. My original dolls were much smaller, only about 5 inches long! They were cute, but eventually I decided that something of a little more "huggable" size would be better.  Having never made dolls or softies before, my pattern creation process was a lengthy one, and my pattern has been through many changes and adjustments. Sometimes making something simple can be really complicated!

 Me:  Where does your inspiration come from?

Gabrielle:  I took a lot of inspiration along the way from softie and doll makers like Jess Brown (shop.jessbrowndesign.com/category/dolls), Hop Skip Jump (www.hopskipjump.bigcartel.com/), and One Red Robin (oneredrobin.com/), as well as many others. 

 

Salvage dolls are 17 inches tall and made of eco-friendly materials including corn based fill and hand dyed felt hair.  (Gabrielle says: I don't actually dye the wool felt for the dolls' hair myself. I buy the felt from suppliers on Etsy who are better qualified than I am to do so!)

Gabrielle also offers customized dolls.  When ordering she allows customers to choose hair, eye, skin, and dress colors.  Optional details such as accessories and embroidery are also available for an additional fee to make your doll really yours.

Me: What does the future of Salvage Handmade look like to you?

Gabrielle: In the future, however, I would like to make doll dresses out of fabric that I design and print through Spoonflower.com. I would also like to try designing some different dress styles and possibly make little quilts to go with the dolls... The sky's the limit, I guess! I'm open to suggestions and requests! I am, however, enjoying my third baby, born this summer, so the immediate future of Salvage Handmade may be something more along the lines of "maternity leave"... :)

Ok, here is my favorite doll from Gabrielle's collection: Wynnie.  I can't resist the red hair and blue eyes, plus the pattern on the dress is so lovely and fresh.  I wish she was sitting here on my desk helping with these posts.

Summer of Dolls: Sewing Box Poetry

Today's featured doll maker is Regina Marti from Sewing Box Poetry.  Although her etsy shop is closed for the summer her blog features each of her Waldorf inspired dolls as she creates them. 
She is a stay at home mom of two wonderful little children, and whenever there is some time She's trying to play out her ideas of little smiley dolls, cute bears or other loveable creatures.

Check out the cheeks on Pixie...

Me: How long have you been making dolls?
Regina: I started making bears when I went to high school but then didn't have enough time to follow my hobby until my second child was born. Then I got back to creating my little friends, and I'm so thankful for all these internet platforms where artists and crafters can show their work and discuss things.

Me: What is Waldorf?
Regina: Here is a link to wikipedia where you can find information about the Waldorf education.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldorf_education

 

Me: How do you create each one's personality?
Regina: I always had stuffed animals and dolls around me. As a child I had quite a collection of stuffed animals. They were like real friends to me and very important. But it was always tricky to just buy a teddy bear or doll for me because I was (and still am...) very picky with the faces/expressions. A doll or teddy bear has to 'look at me' and show a special personality otherwise I wouldn't want it. So and that is still the same with my dolls and creatures. The expression is the most important part and I'm only happy if the new doll really looks at me and has it's very own personality. 

 

Visit Regina's blog this summer and watch her new friends unfold.  Sewing Box Poetry

Me: Is Pixie for sale? I love him!
Regina: No.
Me: *crying*