kerrykatiecakes

This is the second of the two comfort dolls I made. I was inspired by a scrap of Ukranian embroidery I had - this distinctive black and red cross stitch on linen. I used one of the Fimo faces I made recently, beading around it with some small beads reclaimed from a piece of jewelry from the thrift store. I used three small beaded tassels combined for the bottom of the doll. I am really fond of this little one - it was hard to send her away. I have always been enamoured with all things Ukranian and this doll is named for Sophie, the grandmother of my friend Jacquie. Jacquie and her grandmother introduced me to wonderful Ukranian delights such as perogies and feather tics!

Well, what can I say? It had been raining for two weeks and I had no power but I did have a propane oven, a new mold and five packages of Fimo! This isn`t all of them by any means but it is a good sampling of the faces I made one afternoon. I don`t think I`ll run out of these any time soon now but I have managed to used three already. And because of the limited stash I have here in the trailer, and necessity being the mother of invention, I discovered that crazy glue makes a nice shiny glaze for these little faces.

This project did double duty - it was my project for the last In the Bag swap and, as well, my entry into the CQI purse contest. So, I have been unable to blog it til now. It didn't win, place or show in the purse contest but it was a personal triumph that I actually got an entry finished in time!

I decided to make a couple dolls for Pat Winter's Comfort Doll Project( http://comfortdolls.blogspot.com /). This was my first attempt. My idea was to create a Dancing Doll - in my mind I was thinking of one of those moments of pure joy - dancing when no one else is there, singing when no one is there to hear. I think I will be making more - maybe a whole series of Dancing Dolls! This wee one started out as quite a docile creature - tentatively named Rose - but as she progressed she became more militant and by the time she was complete she insisted her name was simply Strength. I hope she manages to find a home - perhaps she can hang from someone's rear view mirror and share her courage - a talisman of luck and hope for the future.

This is just some stitching I did recently on a round robin block. On the top picture I did the bead and button swap. I was pleased with the way it turned out. The bottom picure shows a fan I added reclaimed from some thrift store jewelry, attached with beads and with a small tassel I made added. Below that I stitched a necklace. I used an actual clasp from more dismantled jewelry at the ends of the chain stitch chain I did in metallic. The crystal heart at the bottom doesn't show well which is a shame because it was a pretty little thing.

This was a neat round robin block to work on - full of fans! I added the small swirly brown and blue bead motif at the top, edged the one fan in blue beaded backstitch and added a sequin flower on each fan blade. I added a small cameo below that on the tiny black patch and beaded around it. Then I did a couple small seam treatments.

I was the first stitcher on Linda's CQI Novice Great Beginnings RR block. Her theme was he Great Outdoors so it was such fun to stitch on. I gave her a waterfall to start off her nature block and included some silk ribbon catstails and ferns in the foreground. The waterfall itself was all surface embroidery so was a nice change to do.