Neighborhood discovery...

I made a fabulous discovery in my neighborhood today. I was wandering around with a cup of Ben and Jerry's Butter Pecan when I stumbled on this charming store, Accessories of Old. I could have played in there all day. It's filled with vintage embellishments that can be used for all kinds of projects. Just wander around their website and drool. You can order on-line as well. Be sure to check out the lace edgings. They have a wonderful assortment. And don't miss the old-timey hair clips and barrettes in the original packaging.

Prairie Fairy

Spent my crafting time this weekend working on a celebrity doll for the Show Business doll swap I'm hosting on Stitchin' Fingers. It's coming along nicely, but once again, it is mentally exhausting. So to get a better feeling of accomplishment, I did the finishing on this little design from Prairie Schooler. It's meant to be a luggage tag and you can insert an ID card. For this one, I backed it in the same fabric as I used for the top border. The inside is about 1/2 lined, more of a facing than a lining.



It puts me in mind of these adorable Tooth Fairy Pouches on Marie's blog. With a little adaptation, these luggage tags could serve as tooth fairy pouches too, I think.

The happy couple...

My friend Miek made good on her promise to send me a Brad Pitt to go with my Angelina. He's dressed as a Frenchman since they are moving to France. Don't you just love the details, including the frog! Here we have the two together until Angelina goes off to star in a new Dutch film:



Miek sent more of her hand-dyed fabbies too. She's the just the bestest floss daughter.

They can't all be Ariel...

I finally got around to stitching one of the Jill Oxton Voluptuous Mermaids. My camera and monitor seem to want to show her in blues, but she's really in purple. Purple fabric from Enchanted Fabrics and purples in the body and head piece. Plus little gold beads as trim.





And yesterday, I received my fob for the EMS Initial Scissors Fob Exchange. It came from Antonella in Italy. She used an 'A' from an alphabet by Frimousse That was a perfect choice.

New little angel

Here's the angel pinkeep I received from Theresa for the exchange on EMS. She's such a little cutie pie. And Theresa sent a couple of mini-kits with an angel theme as well. A big thank-you to Theresa...

Angelina-Lara Croft

Spent way too much mental energy on the Angelina Jolie doll. Finally, I decided to just do it and accept whatever resulted. She's way skinnier than I planned, but after all, Angelina is very skinny in real life so I guess it's appropriate. I had great fun with the pink embroidered gun. I had a pair of cap pistols with 'pearl' handles as a kid (imagine the whining I had to do to get my Mom to buy me those!) so I added the beads in memory of those guns.

There has been a lot of talk about what to do with thread clippings (aka 'orts') on blogs recently. Well, Angelina's insides are all made of clippings. Probably a year's worth!

At least now I can move on to thinking about other things in my spare time! But Miek, you promised me a Brad Pitt doll if I did an Angelina. If you do the Brad Pitt one, I'll send you the Angelina as a mate.

Standing on the corner..

Here are the results of my experimenting with corner bookmarks. The first is a cross-stitch version from Cross Country Stitching magazine. At one time you could buy these pre-finished. I never did that, but I figured it wouldn't be too difficult to make one. I didn't have lace for the hem, so I just did a quick machine-stitched hem. A bit crooked, but I was tired and in a hurry to see how it would work.




Next I once again felt the pull of crochet. I worked up a cute little corner bookmark dress. I think it's very sweet. Instructions are here.

Angel Pinkeep

My partner for the EMS Angel Pinkeep exchange received the one I made for her so I can show a picture here now. I found it really difficult to assemble. I ended up using tape to attach the pinkeep and the backing fabric to the cardboard, each with a couple of layers of batting. I couldn't get the lacing method to work at all. And then when I sewed the back to the front, the stitches left big gaps due to the thickness of the piece. Although the ribbon covers the gaps, I didn't feel like it was a very good finish. And it was hard to turn the ribbon ends under neatly so they wouldn't look scraggly. I don't think I'll be making more pinkeeps any time soon. Maybe after the frustration subsides, I'll try again one day.

The fabric is from Sassy's Fabbys, 36 count linen in Caramel Creme. I think it looks kind of pinkish on my monitor, but it really is more caramel colored. The design was a collection of motifs from back issues of Cross Country Stitching.

Sweet Petite

Those designs by Vavi seem to draw me in. This little cutie was so charming, I couldn't resist turning her into a Comfort Doll. The beads and sequined flower bouquet were my added touches. I was trying to get the shoes to look like flip-flops, but it was a stretch. I also had trouble getting a nice sharp image of this with my camera. Anything that requires more than point and shoot and I'm at a loss. Anyway, I hope she'll brighten your weekend. She's very dear in person.



And thanks for all of the kind words about my crocheted pieces. I think I only did them out of tatting envy.