Ta da! It's Raggedy Old Alice!

Click on the photo for a larger view. I love this doll! And I love this rabbit! For more info on her creation, read previous posts.

Alice is finished!

Oh boy, talk about cutting it close! I'll have to run to the office today to borrow the camera so I can get photos taken! She is fabulous, if I do say so myself! Her little white rabbit was created from scratch-I drew a picture, made a pattern and put it together. It's a little wonky, but much better than my usual "I'll make a pattern myself" patterns! They both got a drippy, wet coffee bath yesterday and this morning they are dry. I'm really happy with the coffee staining. It created such strange, random markings. My son, Max, says the rabbit looks like it has burn marks on it. And I said, "Yes, isn't it wonderful?". My kids think I am so weird, and yet, they seem to like it!

So, all in all, I'm very happy with my Raggedy Old Alice. The only thing that I would change is the weight. Old dolls are heavy, but fiberfill is light. When you look at her, you think she will have a nice heft when picked up, but she really doesn't. That's okay, I probably won't be carrying her around all that much!

Illustration Friday - Sorrow

I gotta say...bummer topic. But it seems to have gotten a lot of response over at Illo Friday. I'm tired of tweaking with this drawing so here it is. My apologies to the 51%.

Still not an easy job!

I love, love, love Suburban Bliss. Melissa is frequently profane and not always "nice", but she is very, very real and funny and she seriously tugs at my heart strings! She has younger children than mine and her posts often remind me of those tortuous crazy days of potty training and lice. I have been thinking that I am so glad that Carmen, Eric and Max are older and able to entertain themselves. They are in the middle of "mid-winter break"-a ski week for teachers, I guess. Yesterday I left them with a chore list and was so pleased to come home to dirty dishes ACTUALLY IN THE DISHWASHER! And the living room picked up and toys out of sight and the floor was even vacuumed! I did not leave a list today and apparently that meant that all of those things are unneccesary today! So this is what I came home to today:

Okay, the couch really is that shabby, but do you see the blankets, the dishes, the general mess?
And in the kitchen was this:

Why is this acceptable? Why don't they see this stuff unless I'm on top of them all the time? GRRRRR!

Okay, now to the fun stuff! Here, then, is Raggedy Old Alice:

Is she not adorable? Here's a close up:

So tonight-we stain! Mwahhaahhaaa!

Where I talk about a new doll, but show nothing!

My very dear friend since the 5th grade (!), Sandra, inspired my submission for this month's Month of Softies. The theme is Alice in Wonderland Revisited and I was pretty stumped coming up with anything. San suggested a Raggedy Old Alice! I love Nicole Ellison's dolls and I had a pattern for Scrappy Dot that I still hadn't made so this was the perfect opportunity. Mind you, the pattern was really just a starting point because I'm making Alice, not Annie! She is a nice big doll at 22". She is partially stuffed with muslin so she is nice and heavy. Her dress is made of a cute 1930's repro. My favorite part is her hair! I had no yellow yarn so I took some yellow and white plaid, tore it into strips and then twisted the strips back onto themselves to make cute locks of hair. I sewed them on last night and I must say...they are so darn CUTE! Now comes the hard part. I'm going to coffee stain the whole doll now. She's so cute and I don't want to ruin her, but I do think coffee staining will enhance her "primitive-ness" Nicole's instructions involve making a really strong brew and brushing it all over the doll with a foam brush. I'm not sure how that's going to play out on her hair. Well, we'll just have to see, won't we? I'll take some pictures of her at lunch today so I can share the "before" Alice.

Illustration Friday

The theme for Illustration Friday this week is "flight". That really spoke to me because I know what it is to fly! I was fortunate enough to grow up in a home with a pool in the backyard. During my youth, I had chlorine in my veins! Swooping and gliding and spinning under water was where I felt most comfortable. So..this humble sketch is in memory of that and is a thank you to my mom who provided the home that provided me flight. I hope she is smiling at me from heaven.
www.ImageShack.us" />
That being said, I feel compelled to say, once again, that I am much more comfortable working in fiber, so don't judge my work too harshly!

This is fun...

I like Valentine's Day. I had fun with my kiddies. I placed their pasta and meat sauce in a heart shape on their plates. After dinner I presented them with their See's candy while singing this festive song:

"Valentine, Valentine,
Will you be mine,
Sweet Valentine?"

This, of course, must be sung in your best opera singer voice!

And...I got a nice email from what may be my first visitor! Thanks, Amanda! She "needles" cute things!
I found her through my very favorite craft blogger, Hillary.

So...Happy Valentine's to all and to all a good night!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope this is a happy day for all. I know I'm feeling the love! Eric made a necklace for me-so sweet! And Earl suprised me with a dozen red roses!

I finally worked on those memory boxes! I'm not crazy about them, but the important thing is to get them done. I want to like my work better-I'm much more comfortable sewing than I am drawing or painting. Must practice.

I would post a picture, but the technology is killing me here! I really need to figure this out! In the meantime, here is a link to my webshots album.

Valentines Flowers!!!!

Look what my dad sent! This came to the house today for me and Carmen! We're special! Thanks, Pops!

sidetracked....

That's what I am...sidetracked. No memory boxes to report, but I did make two rockin' cloaks for my LOTR obsessed children! Eric, especially, is into Legolas. I found this great site with lots of costume help. He is so stoked! I will try to post a photo.



How about that! Of course, I didn't do it. Wonderful Carmen did it. Blogger tells me to download Hello to post photos, but it doesn't work on my home computer. It keeps telling me "failed to initializes. reinstall" but when I try to reinstall, it says I already have an account! grrr. I would just like to point out to anyone who may be laughing at me, that I am really not very computer literate. More than some, but not much! Anyway, I can see that I need to become proficient at image hosting!

Why is this blog free? I can't understand why. I'm on the web and it's free! How cool is that?!

One of my finest creations...(well, not entirely mine!)

Today is wonderful! I had a triennial review with my son, Eric's, special education teachers. Eric has been in special ed since he was 3 years old-he is 11 now. When he was a baby he had a lot of ear infections that caused scarring in his ears. He couldn't hear and then of course, he couldn't speak. He had an operation right before his third birthday-they put tubes in, they removed his tonsils and they removed his adenoids. We immediately began to see improvements, but he was significantly behind his peers. He went to preschool and was assigned an aide to work with him. He had a speech therapist that came to the house twice a week. When he got older he attended special day classes for kids with speech and language problems. In third grade he was put back into regular ed with speech classes and extra "resource" help. And today...he "graduated" from special education all together! I am so very, very proud of him! He has worked hard and he's doing so well! Here are some pictures of this wonderful guy:

And a few months ago!

Here he is in 2003...

Memory Boxes

Well, I've got a craft to keep me busy for a few days. I need to get some memory boxes done. I found this wonderful group in December that creates boxes for families who lose an infant. The boxes are given to the family by the nursing staff to take home mementos and papers. Yesterday I bought four boxes and I hope to get them done over the weekend. The groups output has been low lately and it breaks my heart. The boxes aren't much, but they mean a lot to the grieving families that receive them. This is taken from a letter received by our group last week:


Hi Guys and Gals,Tera got this post from one of our hospitals. I think you will all benefitfrom reading it - and realizing how important, what you do - is!

Dear Tera, I saw from the website that you are president of the program. I do not know if that means you also coordinate the distribution of the boxes. I have been receiving the boxes for my program for five years and I did receive four this week but I have been out since December. Because we have a high-risk pregnancy center in our womens hospital and a high-level NICU we unfortunately have a large number of losses, 24 so far since January..
I know the artists use their skills for personal things around theholidays but I have never run out of boxes. Having to give families their mementoes in plastic bags again has made me even more appreciative of the beautiful boxes. As I always tell the artists these boxes are so important and mean so much to the families. In my support group I often hear storiesof how parents have their boxes placed in a place of honor in their homes and how often they get their boxes and lovingly examine the contents. It is so important that they leave here with something tangible in their hands that validates that precious little life. I am sure you have heard these stories many times but I am so appreciative of what you do.
I hope you can pass on my need to the proper person. I would bevery grateful for any help you can give me. Thank you so much for thisprogram and for all you do for these families. Your gift is greatly appreciated.

Wow, that got me going! So hopefully after work today I can get out the paints and get to work!

Beautiful Rose

Baby...

patchwork curtain

These are the things I got accomplished in January. Two Edith Flack Ackley reproduction dolls, Rose and Baby. A patchwork curtain to cover a drafty door in my kitchen. A wonderful cat for Month of Softies January theme-Vintage Catwalk.

This is me with my "lifetime" quilt. I began it in 1994 for my then 4 year old daughter. Carmen is now 14 and has probably outgrown the Noah's Ark theme. Ya think?

An inauspicious beginning....

Here it is...my craft blog! I hope I can produce enough to make it worthwhile! This will be a place for me to talk about what I am creating at the moment. January was hugely productive for me, so far February has been a wash. But I've been sick and the rest of my energies have gone into family, work and home. In fact, I've been rather Martha-ish. I even tackled cleaning the oven! Now that's an accomplishment.

So, if there is anyone reading this, welcome. I hope I will be able to semi-entertain you soon. For now, it's time to get ready for work.