Catching Up

Hi Everyone,

I've been a negligent blogger lately.  I've been doing some babysitting and not much sewing lately, so I didn't feel like I had much to write about.  I was still busy making dolls.  I had so much fun with the two I made that I got another pattern, this one for the Tiny Annie, and I've made seven of them.

I gave 2 to my nieces for Valentine's Day.

And since the neighbor girls are young and have red hair, I gave them each one, too.

One day a couple weeks ago, my friend Janice (we were friends in Virginia, but she moved to a cabin in Tennessee) came for a quick over-night visit.  (There was a family funeral down in Indianapolis.)  We had a great visit, but there wasn't enough time to sew together.  However, she brought the latest issue of Primitive Quilts and Projects.  I hadn't looked through it yet, and Oh Boy, it was full of fun projects.  One jumped out at me--A Noah's Ark scene made with wool.  After she left, I went out and bought my own copy of the magazine and set about working on it.  I pieced the background and used my machine to feather stitch over the seams.

Then I got my wool out and chose and prepped it.  It is now my travel project for bees.

Here I had just fused the camels and am now stitching them.

After a busy week, I was feeling like I was way behind in working on projects with deadlines.  I spent all day Friday in my quilting room.  I needed to make my final batch of spool blocks for my old bee in Virginia.  I missed the due date and feel bad, but I got them finished.  Our guild is having a rummage sale for the program next month, and my bee has a table to sell items, so I've been needing to have a really good sort/clear out.  I went through EVERYTHING.  I've been missing a few things since I moved, and I found them!  I also filled a large bin with items to sell.  I put away all of the little "piles" that have been accumulating and I straightened up some other areas.  I wound 7 bobbins and cleaned and oiled my machine.  Since I was cleaning, I took all the photos I needed to so that I can finally show you my quilting room here in the new house!  I will be posting that later this week!!  I'm really excited to show it off.

I'll be back soon!
JoAnne

Annie Get Your... ...Needle. And Thread. And Paint. And Coffee

Hi Everyone,

It seems I have gotten distracted again!  A bit over a week ago, I was looking on Instagram and saw the cutest rag dolls.  They are made by raggedyoldannies, who is really Nicole Campbell.  If you are not on Instagram, you can find her facebook page (raggedy old annies) or visit her website www.raggedyoldannies.com.  Alas, all the photos of completed dolls that she was selling were spoken for.  While visiting her website, though, I discovered that she sells patterns.  Two patterns screamed "me," so I ordered them.  Since they are PFDs, they came later in the day.  I got started.

Meanwhile, I was still drooling over her cute, cute dolls!  I finally broke down and have ordered one from her.  While waiting, though, making my own has been fun!

The first pattern I chose was "Miss America."  She featured a banner saying "Miss America" and a crown.  I decided to change the banner to read "The Patriotic Quilter" and left off the crown.

Instead, I made her a quilt!

I made it simply by fussy-cutting some flags out of a piece of fabric, using a glue stick to place them, and then just stitching around each one--raw edges and all.  I layered it with some batting and did a little simple quilting with my "hand quilting" machine stitch on my Bernina.  It isn't bound.  It all adds to the primitive look.

her dress is trimmed with rick rack--my favorite!  And her bloomers have a tiny crocheted lace edging.  Another change from the pattern directions was that I made her legs from striped fabric.  I did paint her shoes on, though.

Up next was "Sammy Annie."

She gets her name from Uncle Sam, of course.  She has an aged tag with his likeness.   I adore her big, big grin!

Her legs are totally painted--white with red stripes.  All the facial details are stitched.

Her bloomers are trimmed with a vintage red and white lace.  You can't see them, but they are white with tiny red stars.  

Once you get the dolls all complete and have the clothes stitched up, they get aged in a coffee bath.  I was a bit nervous as I thought everything looked great before, but I adore the "antiquing" that the coffee produced.  The most difficult part of the whole process was to be patient while everything dried!

They look so cute on a couple of my little red chairs.

You know who else likes loves my red chairs?

My nephew!  I can't believe that it was one year ago this weekend that I was at quilt retreat in Virginia when my sister had to have her baby early a she had developed preeclampsia.  

Despite being about 6 weeks early, my nephew was just fine and didn't have to be in the NICU.

And now on Sunday he is going to be one!  I will confess that since I finally got to meet him in July, he has securely wound me around his tiny finger and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Have a great weekend!

JoAnne