The 200th Post and the Give Away Contest!

The 200th Blog post and Give Away Contest!

I was amazed that I have made 200 posts, so thought it would be nice to have a give away celebrating the fact I have made that many posts. So are you ready!

Okay then...

Be the 27th person to comment on these 2 photos

The 27th person will be the winner of these 2 items pictured!

You can say something silly, funny, sweet, serious, goofy but just be that 27th person within the United States to make a comment

I will check back often to see how the contest is running

Once I have the 27th comment I will post the winner! on my blog and give my email address, the winner will then have to contact me about shipping and handling arrangements, etc.

So come along and have some fun and help me celebrate my 200th blog post!

Aretha is a 18 inch Rag Cloth doll, an Original Design

Aretha is a 18 inch rag cloth doll that is designed entirely by me, I created the pattern and the looks for this sweet doll. I finally finished her Sunday evening. She is made from muslin and filled with fiber fill.

This time I only lightly stained the doll and reduced the staining solution. A new thing that I am doing with the rag dolls that I design is to paint a heart with a arrow through it and sign with PS so that it gives them that special little extra something.

I filled the doll and hand sewed the arms on, the legs are sewn on with the sewing machine for this larger doll. It makes the legs more secure. I then brushed the stain on using a sponge brush and did only one coat and dried her well with a large blow drier. Some features are painted on using acrylic paints, and the eyes are black buttons that I have hand sewn into the doll. The hair is a heavy red wool yarn and I have also hand sewn the hair into the head of the doll using heavy quilting thread. I also sanded the black painted shoes to make them look older on this doll. The dress and bloomers are my own design and are cotton fabrics. I had fun creating her and I will be adding her to my art fire store in a few days.

More on The frenzy of making Rag Cloth dolls

I just wanted to share with you all the frenzy I have been in about making rag cloth dolls, these five are what I have finished this week, and this morning I just finished the larger rag cloth doll. I just have been in the mood to really get busy and create dolls and more dolls! The doll below is one I created a while back and today decided to stain her up just a little, I created the facial features and stained her with some instant coffee, the hair has been sewn into the head of the doll and it was a white/sliver yarn that I used just to give the doll a different look. She is 14 inches and filled with fiber fill. I have just been having a blast this week creating all kinds of rag cloth dolls and I am not done yet!

Doll Making Frenzy in My Home, Primitive, Old looking Rag Cloth Dolls

Well the little flower doll started me off into a real doll making frenzy! I started on some smaller dolls that are 10 inches the pattern is from a very favorite place I love to visit http://www.chestnutjunction.com/ The pattern is called Lill' Anne and Fran and it is an e pattern. There are lots of wonderful patterns at Chestnut Junction.

In the picture above I have already sewn the doll and I am about to stain it with 2 tablespoons of instant coffee and some warm water, about a tablespoon and half;I began brushing the stain on using a sponge paint brush. I wanted the doll really dark and as you can see in the picture below the stain is quite dark. Then I took a blow dyer to the doll and dried her. After she was quite dry and began painting on the facial features with acrylic paints. Then I took some light weight sand paper and sanded on the doll just slightly to help get the real old feel to the doll. The hair for the doll was also stained and it a bright red/orange thick wool yarn that I sewed into the head of the doll using a very heavy quilting thread. In case you might be wondering how I stained the hair; what I did was to cut the the yarn into the pieces I wanted then I just placed them into the staining solution and let them soak a minute or two, next I squeezed out the excess and just let them air dry. The picture below is the finished doll and did she come out quite sweet looking, also quite aged and primitive.

What I Finished for Monday, a 18 inch Flower rag cloth doll

Today I have been busy crafting away! I just finished this rag cloth doll and wanted to share it which is kind of funny because yesterday and today I have just been as sick as can be but yet I felt like crafting a little later today. In fact I think its the flu bug coming back around on me, had once now seems like I am getting again dang it.

The doll pattern is from an old Butter wick pattern of different flower dolls this one is a rose flower doll but I decided to do her a tiny bit different, instead of using a solid color for the petals I went with a dark plaid rose instead; the facial features are designed by me instead of using beads or buttons for eyes. I painted the facial features using acrylic paints and adding powdered blush to the cheeks. The doll is made from muslin and filled with fiber fill, the dress is cotton fabrics. I have also added some gold colored yarn for a bit of hair, which is sewn into the head of the doll using a very heavy quilting thread. I have also sewn the flower hat into the doll so her little hat does not come off she was lots of fun to create. I kind thought it was time to start doing some spring time crafting and what better way than to create some flower rag cloth dolls, I will add her to the Art fire store in a few days.

Talking about What I Love to Crochet; Rag Rugs

I thought I would talk about one of my second favorite things I love to do, which is to crochet. Many years ago I wanted to crochet and I had a friend who could really crochet up a storm and really win big for her crocheting. Well to say the least this really inspired me to learn how to crochet. I was left handed and she was right handed and so teaching me was hard; if you are left handed you will know what I am talking about everything was the opposite.

So my good friend learned how to crochet left handed in order to teach me, basically I just learned some easy stitches and that was that. So for a really long long time I never crochet until my aunt came along and taught me that fancy crocheting was not that big of a deal! God bless her!

She taught me that by just using a simple basic stitch one can make crochet rag rugs with yarns, recycle sheets, or other fabrics.

Most of all she taught me no fancy patterns were needed just go until you like what your getting, and if you don't you can undo and start over.

Let me tell you I have had lots of fun creating this way; one of my favorite rugs is the one pictured up above. I found some really thick green wool yarn and dark orange yarn and began creating this rag rug just using a basic stitch and I think it came out really nice looking, I did not use a pattern guide but just a thought or idea of how I wanted it to turn out, when I was finished I thought it needed some tassels and so I added those on a little later on. Since then I crochet with a fever using all kinds of fabrics, I will say sheets are the funnest for me, easy to tear into strips and knot together, and second cotton fabrics too. I guess my whole point is crocheting never has to be hard it can be lots of fun even when you only know a few basic steps.

Doing up Another of My Favorite chicken Pie Recipes

Once again I made up my favorite chicken pot pie but I did a little different this time around; I used 3 cans of canned chicken, 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup, spinach, packaged American cheese, 1 egg, 1 cup of milk and Bisquick baking mix also add salt, pepper and some celery salt for taste.

In a large bowl add the the chicken un-drained, soup, and package of instant potatoes, in this case I used extra buttery and creamy. Mix it all well together, you may have add a little water to thin it just a tiny bit, now add the fresh spinach that you can buy in a bag this is and works the best I think and mix well again this mixture should be thick enough just to spoon in and spread. I love using my large cast iron skillet for this but any baking dish will work; once you have those items mixed thoroughly then spread into a well greased skillet or baking dish. Then add the American cheese on top. You last step is to add 2 cups of Bisquick making mix to a small bowl, the egg and milk, about one cup or a little more than one cup, you want the batter to be thin enough to cover all the items and make a crust on top, so start with a cup of milk and add a little more if its not just pouring over all the ingredients. Bake this until the crust is done on top and turns a light golden brown color about 35 min at 350.

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