For Keeps

24 x 30 oil on canvas

My Taleted Mom

My mother is so talented!

I love spending time with her in her sewing room while we are both creating things. It is so much fun. Several years ago when I was in junior high or high school (I can't remember) my mom gained a new appreciation for the dolls she loved growing up in the 50s.


She still had one Dollikin that she had taken incredible care of. This is her Dollikin and baby from childhood.

That is where the collecting started. Collecting turned into sewing her own fashions for the dolls. I even helped her make little pumps for them. It was so fun.

She eventually discovered ball-jointed dolls and fell in love with their beauty and ability to model her fashions. :)

She now makes the most unique and beautiful clothes for her collection of ball-jointed dolls. She develops her own patterns and has also developed a style all her own. She makes mo hair wigs, hats, dresses, leggings, jewelry. It is amazing to see what she can do.

She recently sent me pictures of an outfit she made, complete with a handmade straw hat. She not only decorated the hat to match the outfit, but she actually made the hat itself. I was so thrilled and impressed by it, I just had to show her off on my blog. I will be doing more of that in the future! I am so proud of my mom.

Here is the hat and dress she made:

Bass Clef

I made this bass clef pillow this weekend. My husband sings bass so I am somewhat partial to this symbol.

The music notes are hand-embroidered and embellished with buttons. The treble clef and "music" are also hand-embroidered. It is stitched together with a blanket stitch.

This is a picture of it hanging from an iron shelf in my dining room just to show that it can hang quite easily and still look normal and cute.

This is a photo of it resting on one of our bed pillows.
The great thing about felt is that it is clingy!

Mr. Whiskers

Commissioned by Jane T

Mr. Whiskers is 100% hand-stitched. His eyes, whiskers, mouth and toes are all hand-embroidered.

Little Miss Tweet

I finally got my inspiration today and made two stuffed animals. It felt so good to let it out!

Little Miss Tweet has sassy eyelashes and feathers on her tail.

Wally Whale

He is so happy.

Easter

I find it disturbing that when I search the word "Easter" in google images, the first 2 1/2 pages are all photos of bunnies, chicks and eggs.

Easter is not about bunnies and eggs. It is about the precious and undeserved gift of Jesus Christ. I hope at least one person comes to that realization today. One would be better than none.

Today is also a day of forgiveness. Without the forgiveness we receive through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we would be in trouble. It is important to forgive people and not live a life burdened by grief and bitterness.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day today. It is a great day to be alive.

Upcoming Projects

I have several exciting projects coming up:

Finishing the bird sachets I started

Letters for Dawn

Stuffed Cat for Jane

Painting for Leah and Noah

Painting for college professor

I'm using two kinds of napkins from Anthropologie for the pillows for our spare bedroom. Here is a peek....

MUSIC

I finally finished my Mod-Podge letters for my classroom! :)

Thank you Teresa for supplying the cardboard letters. :)

Trumpet Valves

This is another project from Design I. You can't tell in this picture, but there are tiny music notes in the negative space around the trumpet.

Abstraction of a Bicycle

Project for Design I Fall 2006