thanks, mom

I called my mother on the phone today to ask her to describe how to do an invisible ladder stitch to close up a pillow I was sewing. A few minutes later I called her again because my seam had gaps. Ultimately, she came to my house and showed me the stitch. She is an excellent dollmaker, and I was filled with love for her as I watched her knuckles, swollen from arthritis, expertly and swiftly make the tiniest of stitches with ease.
Thank you Mom for countless lessons, for so many phone calls when I needed to visit, for teaching me how to live. I love you.

creativity with the girl scouts

18" x 18" fabric couch pillows

This week the fourth-grade Junior Girl Scouts and I made these pillows. They will be auctioned off at the annual school spring fundraising event.

i've been acting knotty

Here is a glimpse of recent projects I've done for practice, and to build a little inventory up. The aquamarine necklace was a gift for my daughter's teacher as the school year ends.
turquoise and garnet

velvet for jewelry display in an antique store












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aquamarine knotted on silk

my freaky robot disaster

I have been trying my hand at something new for me, which is trying to make some dolls, and I think I'm going to bag it, and go back to what I like better. In an attempt to get ready for some fall and Christmas time street/craft fairs, and in response to some positive feedback about my tiny felt microbots I made recently, my sister and I deciced to make some monster and robot toys. Her former employer was a preschool, and she thinks we could display some prototypes for sale there to get some feedback from kids and parents. She and my mom are successful dollmakers. I, on the other hand, have never been motivated to give dollmaking a try before now.

Thanks to a patient mom and a creative childhood, I do know how to sew pretty well, and I've done some pretty complicated projects in the past ( ...a wedding dress for a family friend when I was fairly young...and a bogus, silly family crest flag complete with two beavers and a great big heart made to fly over our old hippy bus camper...to name a few), but I have never made a real kid-friendly, washable, loveable toy. I rarely sew at all any more. It seems cheaper and faster to just hit the thrift store for what we need.

Well, I have two monsters and one robot done, and I've got to say, I'm just not feelin' the love for this project. The first monster was the best, the second one was a little overworked which is true to how I operate, and the third is a robot which turned out to be so freaky looking in a bad way that she would probably frighten any young kid who saw her. So now it's about ten days later, and I'm putting all that on the back burner for a time, while I decide what to work on next. I know this is my first attempt. Somehow I always expect perfection on the first try, and then reality is something else altogether.

I could fill a room with supplies for projects that go just about like this....