The Sea Story, a large wall hanging quilt, whacked out by freehand

This is a quilt a did a while back, it is all my design, no patterns were used I just cut all the pieces out by free hand. I used all kinds of fabrics for this quilt there are cottons, rayon's, corduroy, flannel, polyester, muslin, quilt batting, buttons, and yarn used to create this one of kind quilt not to mention all the different stitches used by my sewing machine. This quilt is no longer for sale I have decided to just to kept as a reminder of my Uncle Bill who was in the navy and once told me that untrue stories, wild stories were often called Sea Stories, so thus is the name of this quilt, as it is nothing but a wild tale.

In the first panel there are some mermaids sun bathing and watching over their treasure, and a school of happy fish swimming on a nice warm day. Suddenly the day is spoiled by a silly fisherman who is wanting to catch a grand fish! But this fisherman finds himself in a heap of trouble with mean old octopus, lucky for this fisherman the maids decide to help him out and hand over the treasure to this poor unlucky fisherman!

Later on I may do another sea story quilt, I love whacking it's working with imagination to me, and of cartooning helps me lots in designing these one of kind quilts.

Winner of the Contest is....

Howdy to everyone; well the contest is over and I have picked a winner. The winner is...

"Hi please sign me up for your giveaway.Congrads. on your 200th post" I just picked the last person to comment I was going to just do a drawing but then changed my mind and decided to stick somewhat to the rules so I picked the last comment instead; It just did not seem quite fair to do a drawing with only 3; I will be contacting the winner today and sending out the prizes when I hear from the winner, I will ship both items priority mail with tracking to the winner. I want to say thank you! to those that commented and got the contest ball rolling! I plan on having more contests and hopes are more will play along and be winners!

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.