Maggie Goes Shopping

A couple of weeks ago about a dozen members of my doll group, the Cloth-a-Dollics, met at Heritage Acres in Victoria for a three day doll crafting weekend.  The weather was perfect, crisp, sunny with fall in the air.  The company was lively, giving and ready to play dolls.  

About five of us had decided to make an elinor peace bailey doll pattern called "Maggie Goes Shopping".  e p bailey is the guru of cloth doll clubs and has introduced many of us into the fun, fantastic world of cloth art dolls.  Her patterns represent cloth dolls that are made from colourful patterned fabrics.  The finished dolls are full of personality and represent girls/women and boys/men at their best.

I decided to make two "Maggie's", as I had too many colourful fabrics to use in only one doll.  This doll pattern was created by elinor for her grand daughter and has about 16 colourful yo-yos as part of her outfit as well as wooden beads for joints at the wrist, elbow, shoulder, thigh, knee, and ankle. What fun I had in making my "Maggie" and "Maddie" dolls:  First comes Maggie with jewel tones and purple hair:

A close up of her yo-yo Monkey I made her

I used "Halloween" hair from the dollar store for her funky hair-do!

She just loves to shop and cannot help but wear all her new clothes at once!

Next comes Maddie with soft pastel colours and pinkish/mauve hair, holding a bunny:

Maddie is a "girly girl" that loves soft pastel colours in her outfit, she would have fit in nicely in the 60's peace movement

I gave her hand crocheted flowers and silk bows for her mauve/pink hair

Instead of a monkey, she has a shy, soft fuzzy bunny that I made for her.  She takes her bunny with her everywhere.

Maggie and Maddie are sisters and best friends.  They love, love to shop together!

Have fun making colourful dolls of your own and indulge your inner child!  See you in a week with a Halloween witch kitty.

Craft Show Mania

Well, here we are at the end of summer and ready for fall!  There is a crispness in the air, a fresh breeze and cooler days and nights.  This is the perfect time of the year!

I have been busy getting ready for the fall craft shows.  In fact, the first one is this Saturday, and Etsy Canada one day event at the Da Vinci centre here in Victoria, BC!

I thought I would share some the the ornaments I am making for this year: first are the Christmas bunnies, all about 5" tall

Frida Bunny

The bunnies are my own design, made of white wool felt with felt clothing that is hand embroidered, front and back.

New this year are the Christmas Kitties which I made using woven fabric, then painted with acrylic paints.  They are also about 5" tall and are jointed with thread and are wearing felt jackets and slippers.  They were such fun to make!

Here are the beginning 6 kitties with painted faces and bodies:

 The finished kitties all took on a personality of their own!  I placed a wee tea cup in the photos to give you an idea of size:

 Just like the bunnies, their coats are hand-embroidered on the front and back ( I do get obsessed that way, lol)

 I even knitted some of the kittens wee toques and scarves!

 Oh yes, this kitten has a kitten of her own made in white felt!

I made a sixteen kittens in all and I have a hard time picking a favourite!

Well that is all for now but I will be back with photos of more of my work after my first show of the year-which is this Saturday-yikes!