Lemon Tree Tales

Rain, Rain Go Away ...

Every once in a while I like rain. It's nice to sit back in a warm, dry cozy house while reading a good book, maybe sipping some hot tea. But this is getting to be ridiculous ... so far in the month of March we've only had 6, yes that is the number six, days of sunshine. I really do like to have lots of natural light. It makes the day longer, sweeter and even more productive. I'm hoping that April will have less rain, more sun.

Happy Birthday to me!

In honor of my birthday, I made this little tape measure cover following Craftapalooza's tape measure tutorial. It was very simple to do.  Since I found quite a few of these little tape measures at Hancock's Fabrics for $1, I think that they would be great to make as little gifts. Everyone should have a tape measure at their disposal, don't you think?

I'll have to go back and make a matching pincushion, but I'll save that for another day.

Barbara Willis doll class - day two

Okay, just a quick post of the doll parts that I've been working on at Barbara Willis' doll class. I'll post more later.  :-)

Here's the face, the legs, unstuffed arms (the fingers have their wires in them) and part of the skirt .. hand-stamped dupioni silk.  Will show more in the next day or two. Just let me say that it was a blast!

Paperdoll Postcard

Today I was finally able to meet with my small sewing circle .. okay, so with only three members it's more of a triangle.  (I missed last meeting due to frantic last minute freelance project.) We worked on a small little project this time, no big stuff. It's good to get something completed quickly once in a while.We tried making those fabric postcards that have become popular in the last couple of years. Not too bad, actually became more fun as the afternoon wore by.

We used a product called Fast-2-Fuse which is basically heavy weight interfacing  with fusible webbing on each side. We didn't have a non-stick pressing sheet, but aluminum foil worked just as well in a pinch (just cover it with a traditional press cloth so that the iron doesn't get scratched by the foil.) These were cut into 5"x7" rectangles to give lots of room for cropping later. Pieces of scrap fabrics were cut up and laid on top - a quick pressing between the foil so that the reverse side still retained its fusible. Some quick machine stitching, random allover stitching or zig-zags.

Finally cut a piece of light colored solid to fuse to the reverse side. This becomes the actual postcard side plus has the additional job of hiding the bobbin stitching.  Then we rotary cut these down to regulation 4"x6" size ... drew a dividing line down the middle ... wrote "postcard" on it and off we go to the post office. Well, Rachel decided that she will post hers in an envelope.

Mine is off to one of the expectant mothers as a congratulations card:

This is just a mini practice one that I tried first, recognize the fabrics?

This is what the back ends up looking like - maybe a heavier cotton would cover the threads completely, but I think this is interesting:

Barbara Willis class!

I'm sooooooo excited because this weekend I'll be taking a class taught by Barbara Willis . This will be her absolutely newest doll that she just designed this past January, Memory Box doll. I think that she's taught it in Australia a month ago, but other than that it's new. She comes to our doll-club meetings when she's in town so I think we're pretty lucky. Last year, or actually 1 1/2 years ago or so I took her class on The Collector Doll. It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot!!! These were the smallest fingers that I've ever turned.  Lots of trinkets and mementos - our wedding pic and some of my old jewelry - you know, the sentimental treasures everyone hangs on to:

These are the fabrics that I have for the new doll - lots of dupioni silk, charmeuse silk, and a few cotton prints. I also found leather gloves and vintage trim at a thrift shop to use (leather to make shoes and a hat.)

Lots of yellow because my MIL's mother loved yellow roses and this doll will be for my MIL. She sent me her mother's flapper dress, or what was left of it after time has disintegrated the fabric. I'm going to re-bead a few of the motifs on silk organza to use as appliques and use some of the beads to make tassels. This must have been gorgeous in its heyday.

Must be something in the air

I don't know if it's because it's close to springtime or what. But so far I've heard from three of our friends that they are preparing for baby #2. Wow, and here I thought that I was going to just be making one baby quilt.  The first baby we already know will be a girl so this is what I'm planning on making:

And these are the fabrics that I'll be using, along with a soft white background:

These are such delicious colors and sweet prints. I can't wait to get started, but first I have to finish the wall-hanging. I have some time. This baby won't arrive until June and the others will make their debuts in the fall.

Look, elinor has a blog!

I just now discovered that elinor peace bailey (epb) has a blog! How exciting. She was probably one of the first doll artists that I knew about. Before her, I didn't think about where the ideas for doll patterns came from. I probably thought that they were just like the clothing patterns that I shopped for ... all made by some faceless company. Boy, did she change that thinking in a hurry! Amazing color combinations - absolutely fearless! And I thought that I was daring for the couple of years that I sported hot-pink striped hair and blue glasses. Go check out her site for all sorts of spectrum delights.

Shall we dance?

I finally get to post this picture of this sweet little dancing girl that I finished the other day.  Heera was sweet enough to present this as a doll club project at last month's meeting. She had all of these little baggies full of the pre-sewn doll bodies (that she made by herself, ALL of them) and swatches of fabric that she had brought back from her trip to India. Last night we had quite a few of these little dancers finished for show-and-tell. I really like the shape of her pattern. Even though it's a pancake body, the legs want to cross over each other in a dancer's pose. I can see lots of variations using this pattern. Hmm, something else to add to the project list.

Snow on 101 in California?

My DH and I had to drive down to Nipomo (south of Pismo Beach and north of Santa Barbara) today. On the way down this morning we saw the most amazing thing ... SNOW! People were stopped by the side of the highway taking pictures. I even saw one family with kids playing in a nearby field while their parents were shaking their heads in amazement. Too bad I didn't have the camera with us. What's even more interesting is that by the afternoon on the return trip it was all gone. Not one trace left, just the sun shining brightly.

That inspired me to play with virtual dolls when I got home. Okay, I have to admit it, I'm a girly girl .. no two ways around it. So when I saw the new animations for the Candybar doll maker, I just had to play with it. What do you think? I was able to find a hair color that is pretty darn close to mine. It even has the same streak of white that I do. Of course I usually carry around a purse that is orange, not green. But it is the same shape - that counts for something right? And the sunbeams are just like what we saw today.

Now I'm having fun learning new things. I even may have to learn a bit of HTML so that I can understand better what I'm doing. Since I live in the heart of the Silicon Valley, I guess I'm way behind the bell curve. I wonder what I'll learn next?

Mission Accomplished!!!

It's always a good feeling when you come to the successful end of a design project.  It's a relief to be done, most especially when the client makes many up to the last minute changes.  The client looooved the project! Now hopefully the major discount retail chain to whom the client is showing these swimwear designs will be equally enamored. I'll find out more on Monday afternoon from my client.

Now it's time to catch a breath .. relax .. maybe work on something for next Tuesday's doll club meeting. Of course this Sunday there will be time to watch the first episode of the final season of Sopranos.