This week

The past week has been cold cold cold!
Makes buying the new to us RV all that much better.
We are hoping to travel south for a few weeks in March.
We will probably need to be home in April and May because of the rains and worry about flooded basement.
Last year our town received over one million three hundred thousand in grant money for repair to the sewer systems.Thank goodness for that.
Perhaps,once this is repaired, we will not have the flooded basement problem ever again.

This week has also brought sadness to my heart. People I love have health issues. It is so hard to know there is nothing I can do to help them. It truly is in our God's hands.
If you have the time please ask that Gods will be done and for his blessings on them all.

This really brings home the fact that one needs to make the most of everyday.
Smile, call a friend, do something you have put off doing.Make a list of things to do with the rest of my life.And do them!

I have done some sewing this week.Busy work to keep the hands and mind occupied.
Bloomers and 2 dresses done.2 dresses,bonnets and little quilts still to do for these 4 dolly's.

have a good weekend.
j

Today is one of those really damp cold winter days in Iowa.
I have been looking around at blogs I love and again found one of my favorites.I added her blog to my blog list so I can check in to see her wonderful dolls often.Lone is on the yahoo vintage cloth doll list and I have admired her dolls from the first one I saw.It was the boy with the pug towards the bottom of the page.
http://ddd-favoritter.blogspot.com/



I finally got the clothes cut out for 3 of the dolls.Now to find ambition to sew them up.










This weather is finally getting on my last nerve. I spent some time in the greenhouse just to see green growing plants.

I planted some hyacinth bulbs in vases in water.Fun to watch.The picture of the bulb,before planting, with out roots shows side growth.Mother natures oddities.
I planted the bulbs the first of the week and already the roots are over an inch long.stay warm and dry.j

Social security

I warned you in an earlier blog I posted that once in a while I would get on the band wagon.
Mr.T. and I are close to retiring. We have worked hard for a lot of years.We are not rich. According to the charts we are even considered poor. I don't think we are not poor. We have what we need and a little extra once in a while.
This morning I read about Social Security under the snopes site.Don't you find the name*Social Security* to be misleading?Who ever came up with that name anyway?It has nothing to do with being social or does it make us secure.Do you know of any affluent person that is secure on social security?

****" This change to Social Security was but one element of the massive Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA) introduced in Congress in 1993. OBRA was barely passed by a 218-216 vote in the House of Representatives, with not a single Republican voting in favor of it (although 41 Democrats voted against it). Likewise, the Senate vote on OBRA was deadlocked at 50-50 (again, with not a single Republican voting in favor of it, although 6 Democrats voted against it) until Vice-President Al Gore (a Democrat) cast the deciding "Yea" vote. The bill was signed into law by President Bill Clinton (also a Democrat)."

The more I read the more I think we need a shake up in the government.They work for us or at least that is the way it was meant to be.Does it feel like they work for us?To me it feels like they take from us because WE allow them to just go along doing what they want. We all need to take responsibility for what WE allow them to do *FOR* us.Write to them, e-mail them, call them and tell them how you feel.

I received an e-mail this morning that says it all and I will share it with you here.Think about it and then remember how to vote in 2010. Weather you are a young person or old,Democrat or Republican it will effect you all.

GRRRRRRRRRR....!
I'm MAD AND YOU WILL BE TOO!
Your U.S. House & Senate have voted themselves $4,700 and $5,300 raises.
1. They voted to not give you a S.S. cost of living raise 2010 and 2011.
2. Your Medicaid premiums will go up $285.60 for the 2-years and you will not get the 3% COLA: $660/yr. Your total2-yr loss and cost is -$1,600 or -$3,200 for husband and wife
3. Over 2-yrs The House & Senate each get
$10,000 raises
4. Do you feel SCREWED?
5. WILL your cost of drugs - doctor fees - local taxes - food,
etc., increase? You better believe they will!
WILL THEIRS...NO WAY.. They have a raise and better benefits. Why care about you? You never did anything about it in the past.You're obviously too stupid or don't care. No offense; just making a point!
6. Do you really think that Nancy, Harry, Chris, Charlie, Barnie, et al, care about you?
SEND THE MESSAGE-- You're FIRED.

IN 2010 YOU WILL HAVE A CHANCE TO GET RID OF THE SITTING CONGRESS AND Up to 1/3 OF THE SENATE,
AND 100% OF THE HOUSE. MAKE SURE YOU'RE STILL MAD IN NOVEMBER 2010 AND TELL THEIR REPLACEMENTS NOT TO SCREW UP.
It is ok to forward this to your sphere of influence if you are finally tired of the abuse.Maybe it's time for the........

Amendment 28
"Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators or Representatives,and Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States."
Let's get this passed around, folks - these people in Washington have brought this upon themselves!!! It's time for a revolution. Let's take back America, one seat at a time...

j

Maybe there is hope for newly elected to really care.
read here
http://countryfolkkeepsakes.blogspot.com/

CFL Light Bulbs: Government Mandated Danger!!!

Go on over to http://oldcentennialfarmhouse.blogspot.com/
and read about the cfl light bulbs.
What are they thinking??
j

A pick me up.

Nothing can make me think spring like a bouquet of tulips.
One day closer to spring.Treated myself, aren't they beautiful!
Have a good Monday.
j

Arms and legs on the dolls

These 4 finally have their arms and legs.Their modesty would not allow for any more naked pictures.

While looking in my storage boxes I ran across the hats and scarves my mom made for the American girl dolls.
A couple of hats are too big but they insisted they would be happy with the cover ups.The dolls are 14-18 inches tall.
The doll on the left(Marcella June) is all cloth, oil painted.

The other 3 have a little or a lot of paper clay.The one on the right has a cloth over a mask, then paper clay details.
The biggest is a paper clay mask made from a sculpt I did.The mask is added over the cloth head/body pattern that is my Maggie Joy pattern.Marcella June is also the Maggie Joy pattern reduced.
The Maggie Joy pattern is one I have worked on over the 25 years of doll making.It has been revised and tweaked and revised again.Each doll made from the pattern is a little different than the one before.
My dolls are made from vintage feed sack fabric.I like the texture it has.Has a kind of canvas feel to it.

MJ. is a big doll.24 inches.

Clothes are next for the 4 dolls.Then doll quilts.
Stay tuned
j

2nd post of the day.Gold fish

I got the cutest note in the mail from a 10 year old.I took out the addresses on the envelope so you all can see it.How cute is that envelope?

For Christmas she wanted new fish.I gave her a few several years ago and they all finally died.
For a surprise we secreted the fish to her house just before Christmas.I gave her 3 this time.She wrote their names are Lucky,Brownie and Twinkle Toes.She also said she got a new fish tank and they LOVE it.
She took a picture of her new fish.That is the front of the thank you note.


I have pond gold fish that are 10 going on 11 years old.Some of mine are 10 - 12 inches long.They started out as 23 cent, 2 inch gold fish from wal-mart.
They have babies,every year and that is how I came to be giving Samantha gold fish.
We have way to many babies from last summer I think there are over 50 in the small tank.
I hope to give them away this spring to other pond owners.
Thanks Samantha this was a nice surprise in the mail.
j

Doll Hands

Doll hands have always given me trouble.I should say vintage doll hands. The wired hands I used to do for the art style dolls were easy.
Getting the right chubbiness the right finger length to the thumb is harder than you would think.At least for me.

Today I was doodling with a Columbian face,(Yes--- I keep trying even though I know I can never get it just the same.)
And gave drawing a hand another try. This one just may have possibilities.I will cut one out stitch it up and see what it looks like in fabric.Stay tuned. Those dolls *need* arms and legs.

I may do a 2 part arm to see if it works any better than the one piece.

I emptied out my booth Sunday.I read about all the different gals with booths in antique shops.How do you make it?
The economy is just not good enough to pay the rent and make anything for the work.I sold but just not enough.
I will take it to the 2nd hand store and sell there.
Look out Carol I will be there with my treasures soon as it gets a bit warmer.
j

Cloth dolls

I have had a tote of cloth dolls waiting for faces.Some have waited for a long time.One from 2006. Yikes poor thing.
I don't make new years resolutions but I did make a to do list.At the top were the Cloth dolls.
As I said in the last post I love painting the faces.I now have 3 painted.They need to dry for a couple of days then I will put on the hair.
Making the clothes is the 2nd favorite thing.January has been so very cold it is good to have these fun things to keep me busy.There are more waiting for faces but not today. I have to run errends.Out in the cold is not where I want to go but it is a have to thing.
Stay warm.j

Painting a cloth doll

Columbians are my favorite cloth doll.I could never afford one so I tried to make my own.It took me a while to figure out my dolls would never be Columbian so I just do judith ann dolls.I really am glad I took the class from Susan Fosnot that started me on this doll journey.

The talk about painting a doll on one of my yahoo lists got me inspired to get started on one of my UFO's.
She is coming along.
She will get more shading and hair tomorrow. For now I will share pictures of the process.

I start with 3 flesh colors.Each made from the first blend of white and burnt sienna. One darker, one lighter.It takes very little sienna to make flesh color.
This I learned from Susan Fosnot.Every other color I blend will start with that first blend as its base. Except the black on the pupil.I do not use black any where else when I paint a doll.

white
burnt sienna
burnt umber are the basic.A red, a yellow, and a blue.
The light outline is done with water color pencils.I then use the base color and burnt umber to do the outline.With a small shading brush I lightly blend the outline paint ,so it is not so heavy a line.
I love painting the faces.I do not know why it has taken so long to get back to it.
j

Oh my goodness if I had my druthers I'd wish it was green not white.
The garden gals in spring and winter.
Even they look warm when it is green.j

Finished

All done binding sewn and all pressed.Feels good to finish.j

Little Doll Quilt

Remember the 2 books I got for Christmas?For the last couple of days I have been working on a doll quilt challenge for the smallquilttalk yahoo group.The first picture is of the stack of fabrics.The 2nd picture is of the 2 blocks I like the best.


This is the first quilt in the Prairie Children and their quilts book.The friendship star quilt.

It is a scrap quilt but I gave away all my scraps to quilters.So i picked from my stash.Now I have some scraps!



When the tips of the points are not just right or a seam is not just so it tends to bother me. Many have told me it does not have to be exact, but I want it to be.
I will finish the binding tonight.I do enjoy the hand work.


I will keep making the quilts(because I love these little quilts), until I get one that is as good as I can do. I will share this one and hope the next is better. I have tons of fabric to use up.I like the game board quilt and the schoolgirl sampler patterns in this book.It will be hard to choose which on is next.

As I worked on this project today I thought about the pioneers that came to Iowa.How could they have survived this weather we are having. Tonight's forecast is for 30 degrees below wind chill.

I am sitting in a very nice *warm*house.The lighting is good and the materials I have are good.
The pioneers were cold,they had to be.The fabrics were re purposed and the lighting had to put a strain on the eye.They did not have fancy cutters and mattes.They made do with what ever they had on hand.
Writing this now and letting myself think that way, I will be satisfied with what I have done and not complain.It may not be perfect but it will do. I am blessed to live in this time.
stay warm
j

The last of the holiday guests left today.
It has been so good to have the girls and their families for Christmas.Even Sadie got into the family picture,see her down by the chair.
We ate too much.We played games and watched movies.Opened gifts and ate some more.Nothing better than family at Christmas.
Our weather is so very cold we did not spend anytime outside.-17 degrees this morning.