Refining my kitten drawing

When I enlarged my kitten drawing, I needed to expand it, add some more details, and refine it. I do this on tracing paper so I can make an image I can use for transferring. That means there is no shading, just a line drawing. If I need to indicate shading, I do that by drawing a dotted line instead of a solid one. Here, since I am working small, only 5 x 7 inches, I didn't bother including any shading lines. Most likely, I will refine my kitten some more after I transfer my drawing to the Claybord.

I took a trip to Chapel Hill today and stopped for my mom's current favorite cookies, Trader Joe's Laceys Cookies, Dark Chocolate Almond. I ate some too, of course. I poked around in A Southern Season and Kitchenworks also, picking up heart-shaped spring form pans and cookie cutters, thinking about things I could make that I probably won't get to making, sort of a baking daydream. I'm still toying with ideas for Valentine's Day but not really coming up with anything so far. Still waiting for a heart-shaped burst of inspiration :)

Two kitties and a hedgehog

I woke up this morning thinking I felt like painting. I was going to paint the little canvas I prepared in my video, but after thinking it over, I decided I felt more like continuing to paint in watercolor on Claybord. I took a scan of my Persian kitten drawing and enlarged it to fit on a 5 x 7. I also pulled out my Hedgehog drawing that I had previously enlarged to the same size.

I fiddled around for hours trying to make the floral borders at the bottom of each one, revising my ideas on tracing paper. Some days that sort of thing comes easily, and other days, it just doesn't. I traced the finished borders onto 5 x 7 pieces of tracing paper. I'll trace an outline of each animal onto the same pieces so that I can transfer them to the Claybord.

My assistant helped me a lot today. It was rainy and he was bored. He worked very hard though. Here you can see how exhausted he got. He fell asleep with his chin on my lightbox. That's how devoted he is.

Heidi's dress fitting and blueberry muffins

At first glance, it may appear from this photo that my kitty assistant from my last post has been magically transformed into a doll, but this is not the case. He would never fit in that dress.

This is Heidi, the tabby cat. She is Max and my first collaborative original folk art cat doll. I did the final fitting on her dress today. If you look closely, you will see the pins holding it together here. I sewed all the finishing details by hand. It's a real challenge sewing little things on a machine. Now I have to get our Siamese's sweater and skirt set assembled. It's going to be fun photographing them together.


I also made my blueberry muffins that I had planned to make along with the last batch of muffins I made. These are from the same book, Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. They are made from the Basic Buttermilk Muffins recipe. I added a cup of thawed blueberries and a teaspoon of orange zest. These are so good! I ate too many.

I had them with the orange I used for the orange zest for breakfast. Really good.

And thanks, Eric, for sharing an inspiring site...it's our cosmos, with a new view of our universe every day. Check out Eric and Melissa's music too. They're putting together an LP of their own original songs. Pretty exciting. It's great to see other people pursuing their dreams too :)

And whiskers on kittens

I'd like to thank Lisa Cole again, for giving me this "Kreativ Blogger" award. She is a very sweet lady and her artwork is magical. Be sure to go have a look. I am supposed to name seven things I love and nominate seven other people. I was curious about where this award started, and although I didn't find out, I did find out that there have been a few variations on the "things that you love" theme. I found people listing things for which they are grateful, things that make them happy, and values they support and don't support. I guess people have been "kreativ" with their lists too :)

I'd also like to thank my kitty assistant, because where would I be without him? It's purely an illusion that I come up with all of these ideas myself. As you can see from his expression, he is the go-to guy for ideas. I'm pretty sure he knows what all those buttons do on that sewing machine too. He just lets me try to figure it out on my own so I'll learn.

We had a beautiful snowy day today. The first and only real snow we have had this winter, here in the heart of North Carolina. I stomped around in the snow, then watched the inauguration, then stomped around in the snow some more. It was a good day.

Okay, so I am supposed to make lists here...I'm still thinking...Hm...I suppose I can't steal Lisa's list of things she loves, but I almost could, or would, because I'd have very similar answers. So, I will have to be more random. Let's see.

1) I love today. I am grateful for today, and today made me happy too. A new president. A new, clean, white, cold blanket over everything. A little flock of juncos hopping around eating cracked corn out my back door. The ducks safely floating on the pond. My family safe and sound. Everything was fine today. I aspire to love every day, and find something to be grateful for in every day.

2) I love myself. No, goodness knows, not in some egomaniacal way. But in a quiet, I'm-worth-taking-care-of-myself way. I'm happy with who I am, and I'm grateful for the things I can do. I'm happy and grateful to be alive and well.

3) I love that when I don't feel so happy, I have people who love me and listen to me and support me. I love that when I feel sad, even my kitties know enough about me to come see if I'm okay. I'm grateful to be loved.

4) I love that we have what we need. Plenty of food to eat, a home, central heat when we are cold, air conditioning when we are hot. I don't take these things for granted, and I am grateful for them.

5) I love beautiful and colorful things, gardens full of flowers, quilts made up of a little bit of everything, things arranged by color...bolts of fabric, skeins of yarn, boxes of paint. It doesn't matter so much what it is, as long as it's visually stimulating and varied. That excites me and makes me happy.

6) I love the natural world, with all the amazing and varied living things that inhabit it.

7) I love fantasy, imagining what might exist that we cannot, or have not yet seen.

Now I have to nominate people...so I nominate you! If you are reading this, I invite you to tell your story in whatever way you want, through your own blog, a hand-written journal, a poem, a painting, a song. Share it with the world, a confidante, or just keep it for yourself. Reflect on what you love, what makes you happy, and what you are grateful for and express that somewhere. You can even leave a comment here, telling me something you love, something that makes you happy, or something that you are grateful for. I'd enjoy checking out some great artists or writers or any creative people you think I might like too.

Banana oat muffins and sundry

Just a quick note for those of you waiting to see our new dolls finished...They are still in progress and I will be sure to post a note here and on our Ruffing's blog when we've got them finished and photographed. I was under the weather for a couple of weeks, and I've been in slo-mo. They'll be posted in our doll gallery too. Just so you know you haven't missed them.

I decided today was going to be muffin day. I've been saying I'm going to make muffins while watching my ingredients expire. I was going to go all out and make two kinds today, but I just made these Banana Oat Muffins from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. I didn't do her muffin recipe justice last time. So, this time, mid-recipe, when I saw my ingredients were, once again, over-the-hill, I just drove to the store and bought new ones. I found some King Arthur Unbleached White Whole Wheat Flour, which I'd never tried before, and used that. It seemed to give them a lighter taste and a finer texture than when I tried them with regular whole wheat flour. The recipe recommended whole wheat pastry flour, which I haven't seen. I also used less nutmeg and added a little cinnamon, but only because I don't go for nutmeg in a big way.

They came out nicely, not so sweet, more like a muffin to have with eggs, or another breakfast food. I keep feeling that there isn't any reason I'm not making more home-cooked foods, except that I've gotten lazy about it. And muffins are easy!

I've been trying to add more vegetables to my diet too, and trying to have a mixed plate of vegetables for lunch each day. A friend sent me an interesting video from Mark Bittman on what's wrong with what we eat. It's about twenty minutes, but I felt it was worth watching. He talks about how we need to eat less meat, more plants, less fast food, and more home cooking, not only for the sake of our own personal health, but for the sake of our environment. He makes a case for becoming at least a partial vegetarian, but he keeps his focus more on our health and our world, for anyone worried about being upset by watching a video on that subject. Anyway, I'm trying to do better in those areas.

And thanks, Lisa, for giving me the the "Kreativ Blogger" award! Thanks just as much for saying I am an "awesomely fabulous person" You know I like that just as much ;) Now I need to think of seven things I love and seven artists to pass the award along to. I'll have to give this some thought...

Passings

When I got up this morning, I was saddened to hear of the passing of Andrew Wyeth. My mom read a quote to me from an article about his life, and it was spooky because his was one of the portraits I'd been looking at just last Sunday, when I felt like the paintings were communicating with me:

But his granddaughter, Victoria Wyeth, told The Associated Press in 2008 that he no longer gave interviews. "He says, 'Vic, everything I have to say is on the walls,'" she said.

We went to look again at his paintings at the NC Museum of Art today, partly because I had the thought that they might be requested some day soon for a retrospective, and partly, to pay our respects. I know we both admired him, not just for his great talent and skill, but for his independence from the trends within the art world. He really did his own thing, which, I think, is one of the biggest and best things anyone can strive for.

This morning also, a Christmas card marked "return to sender" was in with our mail. I had meant to call our friend Dottie to wish her a happy birthday on December 21st, but had a sad and worried feeling about it. I knew she hadn't been well, but I now know that she was no longer with us at that time. She was a truly good and honest person. I liked her and trusted her completely, from the first time I talked to her. I never had one doubt about her. I often dreamed of walking to her house to visit her, only to wake up to realize I lived many hours away. I'm sorry I didn't get back to NY to see her again, but she will remain, for me, a barometer by which I measure the goodness and the honesty in other people.

I picked up a pencil because I had something to say

This is a preliminary outline for a self portrait I've have been planning in my head since I don't know how many months ago. It looks more elegant in person. The distortion in this photo of it makes it look a bit compressed and uncomfortable, but you get a rough idea of it. I'll draw out a background design on an overlay, and then trace it onto one outline to be transferred.

I went to brunch at the NC Museum of Art this weekend, and wandered around for a while. I was still getting over a cold, and was feeling rundown, and later light-headed, which might or might not explain this weird sensation I had that the paintings were communicating with me, especially the portraits. No, I don't mean I heard voices or anything like that. Perhaps it was just that I was uncomfortable, but it struck me that I felt a kinship with them.

It occurred to me that painting is a language that people who sensitively observe things use to communicate with other people who sensitively observe things, about what they see and experience. Later, I realized it wasn't the people in the portraits, or the paintings themselves, I felt a kinship toward...It was the artists who painted them. I remembered Oscar Wilde had a good quote about all portraits being self-portraits. It's from The Picture of Dorian Gray: "Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter."

I keep thinking that painting is the answer to my feeling better in general. It seems very important. I've been doing all these things to feel better, watching my diet, exercising, trying to keep a decent sleeping schedule, but I need to do this too, just as much as I need to do those other things.

On the way home from the museum, at a used book store, I found and purchased this very nice book on Gustav Klimt, one of my favorite painters, one who always inspires me. It's called Gustav Klimt Modernism in the Making. It was a good find.

I'm particularly drawn to this Portrait of Eugenia Primavesi, above. I left my book opened to this page for a couple of days, while I thought about how I wanted to do my own self portrait. I did a series of Klimt-inspired self portraits back in college, and I've been wanting to explore that again.

I bought a 12 x 16 piece of Claybord Textured, also known as Aquabord, so I could use both watercolor and acrylic paint together. I really prefer watercolor for painting faces and skin tones.

I also picked up a new journal, which oddly enough, has a lot of the same colors as the portrait I like. I think my own self portrait will be blue, blue-green, and lavender. I think I will have to try yellow at some point. First, I need to get my feet wet. Or my brushes wet, I guess.

Oh, a cool thing for today...one of my videos reached 1001 views! I don't think I will try to paint my self portrait while filming myself though. One self portrait at a time is enough!

Doll dress in progress, cutting out the pieces

I selected a red plaid, a black-on-black print, a gold-on-gold print, and an off-white cotton sateen for my doll dress. I knew I'd be adding some decorative stitching, and so I stayed modest in my print selection, choosing nothing too busy-looking. I didn't have a piece of red plaid wide enough for my skirt, and so I had to piece it. I divided my pattern in half for the front panel, and in quarters for the two back panels, adding 1/4 inch seam allowances.

Matching a plaid is a bit tricky. I find the easiest way to do it is to center my front panel on the plaid, cut it out, and then fold under my side seam allowances. Then I place the front panel on another section of plaid, right sides up, and move it around until the pattern is aligned. Being careful to note where the seam line is, I gently flip the fabric over, right sides together, and pin along the seam line. I then hand baste along the seam line, open it up to double check I have it in the right place, and then I sew it by machine. I also find it is easiest to choose a line in the plaid design to use as a guide for each seam line and cutting line, whenever possible.

Instead of trying to machine stitch a decorative stitch directly on these tiny dress pieces, I cut my fabric out in a larger-than-necessary size first, a square or a rectangle, and did my decorative work on those. I did this for my decorative stitches and for the two pin tucks I made in the front of my bodice. I made see-through plastic templates from a plastic quilter's template sheet for the pattern pieces that needed decorative work, and marked my seam lines with a permanent marker on the plastic. Then, after I did my decorative stitching and my pin tucks, I positioned my templates over my work, until I liked their placement, and then drew around them with a marking pencil. Then I cut out my fabric in the final dress pattern shape.

I got to try out my mirror stitch function on my new sewing machine too. On the vest, I flipped my leaf design so the two sides of the vest would mirror each other. Pretty cool. I used tear-away stabilizer under my fabric and Fusi-Knit interfacing, where necessary, for the decorative stitching to avoid puckering. I used rayon thread on top for the decorative stitching, with regular cotton sewing thread in my bobbin.

Treasury in pink

My Soleil the sock baby was included in this very pink treasury on Etsy. Special thanks to Erika for including her!

Soleil and her other soft doll friends can be found over on the soft dolls and toys page of our Ruffing's website.

Adapting a doll dress pattern

Now that I've got my doll dress muslin done, I can use the pieces from my own, custom dress and add elements from other patterns, adjusting them to fit, according to my dress muslin. You can see in the photo above, that I've taken the pieces from my dress muslin, and traced them to make pattern pieces on paper. Once I have my own basic pattern pieces in the right sizes and shapes, I can take pattern pieces for additional elements, like sleeves, vests, and aprons, such as those from commercial patterns, and adapt them to fit my own pattern pieces. This is something you can do with clothing patterns for people as well.

In this case, I'm using my own bodice and skirt pattern pieces, and I am adding sleeves, a vest, and an apron from an adorable Brown House Doll pattern. Be sure to check out Bev Brown's designs if you like to sew clothing for dolls. They are super. I adapted my bodice and skirt from doll dresses Max came up with before.

Here, I've redrafted the BHD pieces to fit my dress. I do this by tracing the elements I want to adapt, and laying the tracings over my pattern pieces. Then I can redraw the lines to fit my pattern pieces. The top of the sleeve needed to be redrawn to fit the armhole of my pattern. The vest had to be completely redrawn according to the lines I marked on my bodice for my neckline, armholes, and waistline. The apron should work as it is, but I will be adding a row of machine-embroidered fabric on the lower edge, which means I may need to widen the sides of the apron to compensate for the amount I will need to turn under on the raw edges.

Making another muslin at this point is not a bad idea, but, instead I will leave my seam allowances a little wide, in case I need to adjust them. I made some changes to my bodice that I haven't retested. Next comes fabric selection.

Original folk art cat doll in progress, the dress muslin

Here are some photos of the muslin of the doll dress I was working on, completed. It is entirely hand sewn using cotton quilting thread to make a basting stitch.

I draw any adjustments in fit and length that I want to make directly onto my dress muslin with a mechanical pencil. Before I assembled the dress muslin, I traced the original version of my pattern right onto my fabric using a permanent black marker. Generally, I use a pencil to mark my dress muslin while my doll is wearing it to make sure I don't mark the doll.

There are some minor adjustments to make. There was a small pucker in the bodice at the underarm. I will deepen the bottom of the armhole to compensate for this. I also added a quarter inch to the length of the skirt, and widened the back of the bodice slightly.

I used a single strand of thread for my stitching because it is easier to pull out, which is the next step. The muslin is next carefully disassembled using a seam ripper. Then I trace each piece, refine each one on paper, and make a final draft of my pattern. I haven't pressed the dress muslin at all, to minimize any distortion of the fabric pieces.

Incidentally, although the rough draft of a dress is called a muslin, I don't use actual muslin fabric to make my dress muslin. I used cotton sheeting on this one. The important thing is to use a fabric similar in weight and drape to the fabric you will use for your real dress.

We'll be adding these new collaborative dolls to our online doll gallery once they are completed and photographed. I'm brainstorming on my navigation ideas for that main doll gallery page. There are so many original art dolls now, they're divided into four subcategories, jointed cloth and paperclay art dolls, art doll figurines, soft art dolls and art toys, and already adopted dolls. Be sure to come check them out.

Happy new year!

These are some of the photos I have taken, although not just recently, at the Raleigh Little Theater Rose Garden, at Sarah P. Duke Memorial Gardens, and in my own garden.

Back in upstate New York, where I grew up, I would spend our most dreary winter days pouring over flower catalogs and magazines. I couldn't wait for spring to come when I could dig in the warm earth of the garden again. My garden was one of my favorite things in the world.

Last night, I thought I only had one resolution for New Year's: to answer the rest of my email that I hadn't answered yet. But, this morning, I decided I needed a new resolution: to start over, and to start over every day if necessary. I've realized that I am tired of dragging around my yesterdays. I love so many of my yesterdays, but I spend too much time thinking about the ones I don't love as much. Those have to go.

I have dwelled on sadness, and on people who have been selfish and cruel, but I accept that they have nothing to do with me. I don't want to think about them anymore either. I know that I have love to give, and I believe there are good people who have love and kindness to share as well. I hope to find more of them.

I want to dwell on beautiful things, and create beautiful things. I want to have hope. I want to do the best I can do, and know that I have done the best I could do. I know I try to. Mostly, I want to believe that there are good things to come, happiness, good health, love, and peace. I wish this for you too. Happy new year, everyone.

"Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these...Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field...shall he not much more clothe you...?"-Matthew 6:28-30