Working on Website

Lately I have been working on creating my new website. I'll post a link once I get it uploaded, but it might be awhile. I have in mind several more pages of info and photos that still need to be worked out. But you'll definitely get first notice, and a link, here at my blog. I want to make sure I have all the testing done and the bugs out before uploading. I have yet to find a hosting site to work with, so need to scout out a few of those as well.

I finally named my favorite cloth elf doll. She goes by the name, Elsie. This also happens to be the name of one of my aunts. I like the name, and I like it for this doll. She is the mascot for my website and is the "voice" to show my web visitors around.

I've been getting in a lot of walking with the dogs lately. Mr. B says he can really see the difference in our little chihuahua, Sugar. She seems to have slimmed down quite a bit. This is a good thing. The vet said she needed to drop a pound. Our other little guy, Sparky, is still the skinny one. But now Sugar can make it up and down the steps a bit easier than before. Mr. B is happy about Ginger looking a little thinner as well. I overheard a 'conversation' he had with her the other day about how she looks like she's getting ready for hunting this fall. In previous years it took her a few trips out into the field to be in shape and energetic for walking all those tree rows while pheasant hunting. This year I think she'll be the one waiting for the humans to catch up as they get used to all the walking.

A few days ago I took Ginger to the Tom O'Leary golf course here in Bismarck for an extended period of walking. Earlier that day all three of the dogs came with me for a shorter walk around the neighborhood, but it was just Ginger and I for this longer, extended walk. We both got pretty tired out. It was a long walk. I have to say my feet and ankles were pretty sore the next day, and Ginger seemed to move a bit slower, too. I am not sure of the distance walking the sidewalks and paved perimeter of the course, but there are lots of ups and down with the rolling hills of the terrain. I ran out of breath for parts of the walk and had to slow down. We probably won't make that one of our usually outings, but it's a fun challenge from time-to-time.

We've been heading outdoors most everyday after the heat of the day starts to cool down. All I have to do is mention the word 'walk' and the dogs get excited. They're like having kids around, listening to everything we say. If I mention the work 'walk' they know what we're talking about. Ginger has even been known to go over to the hook where I hang the leashes and jiggle them around at the mention of the word 'walk'. We've taken to spelling it out at times like we had to spell C-A-N-D-Y for the kids when they were little. Sometimes they seem so much like kids, those dogs make me laugh!

New to Etsy.com

I recently signed on to Etsy.com and today signed up to be a seller on the site. This website features hand-made items for sale so is a good place to post some of the things I have made. At the moment the listings I am putting up are for items I have made in the past. As I have been cleaning up and sorting through my sewing studio I have come across a lot of items I am ready to part with.

I have many boxes of things I made years ago for craft shows I used to participate in. When I quit doing those shows I just packed up the items that I still had left on hand. These dolls have been sitting here, boxed up in a box of favorite items to keep, for quite some time. I am afraid much of the other hand painted wood items may not be worth much now as that trend has pretty much gone by the wayside from what I can see. I may try to post some of those, but I think most of it may end up going to the second hand store for charity once I am all through with sorting it. My only other option if I cannot sell it on Etsy or Ebay is to give it away, give it to charity, or just toss it out. I've still got lots of boxes and stuff to go through, but decided it was time to start parting with some of it.


The cloth dolls I am now listing are some of the more interesting things I think should still be of interest for other cloth doll collectors. I have thought more than once about just boxing them back up to keep awhile longer, but I have to ask myself why keep it if I don't have room to have them out for display any longer. I have made so many things over the years I have run out of room for display, and would also like to free up some room from my storage area. I am interested in getting back into creating some new things, but feel I need to make room for more first.

I made the white doves as a counter to all the black of the blackbirds in the sunflowers. My sister lived in Iowa at the time I came up with these. We went to visit that summer and witnessed the floods covering and blocking our route to get to her house. We must have driven at least an hour and a half or more out of our way trying to find a road open to get through. The dove symbolizes hope in a stressful and challenging time or event.
The original poem I wrote myself and put on the hand-cut and hand-painted wooden cutout of the rainbow and cloud motif. The poem reads:

Noah & Co. stayed safe in the ark. . . and after the flood on a mountain did park. A rainbow set high in the cloud above - God's promise forever of His abiding love!

I wanted to write something fairly short that I could make fit on the small wooden cutouts while also covering the message of the story of Noah and the Ark and God's faithful promise of hope given with the rainbow. The back side of this small wooden cutout is dated 1994. It's hard to believe it was that long ago when I originally made these doves. I always liked these little doves. Actually I liked all these little dolls, must be why I kept them around for so long. But, it's now time to make room for more things to come.

I looked for dates on the other two dolls, but apparently didn't mark these. I'll sign them before I let them go. I remember I used to hand sign the backs of the heads or on the back side or the back of a leg. The dolls are meant to be used for collector items, not for children's play toys. The garments are sewn on and are not meant to be removeable. Some of the stitching and small parts just are not recommended for children's playthings.

My etsy shop can be found by clicking on the sidebar where indicated, or click here at reenie581.etsy.com to see these and other current items I am selling.

The Sewing Studio

I'm not quite as frazzled as this doll looks although I still have lots of work ahead of me to get truly organized. Work on organizing my Sewing Studio is progressing slowly. I seem to be working so slowly because I get sidetracked with other tasks. I did some straightening and organizing of other parts of our home the last few days. Those areas needed it, and I'm glad to have made so much progress elsewhere, but want to continue downstairs now. So this is my task today.

By the way, the doll is from an on-line class I took some time ago from Judi Ward. It is her "Whatever, Whatever" doll. She still needs a face. I have only pinned the head in place for now until I finish the face (in case I mess it up it will be easier to replace). The hair is from one of those scrunchies that was made up of synthetic 'hair' we used to sell at Claire's Boutique years ago when I used to manage one of those stores. I kind of like the 'all over' look of the hair like that. It looks like bed-head when I wake up in the morning. Right now she is just tucked away behind this older Compaq computer watching me as I compute and sew here in my studio. One day I want to set up a better display area for some of my dolls where they can be showcased with more flair. For now she's just a bit shy.

She's holding a stuffed heart filled with sewn-on glass buttons from my old button collection. Years ago I had a sewing machine that stitched out alphabet letters and I sewed up a bunch of fabric strips that said, "I Love Buttons." At that time I made up a lot of these hearts with old buttons and sold them through a craft sale (years ago when the kids were little).

I purchased some of those stiff boards to wrap fabric around similar to like it comes on boards at a fabric shop. The purchased fabric storage boards worked nicely, but seemed a bit expensive selling at $1.69 for each piece. It occurred to me to cut some foam core I had sitting around my studio to the same dimensions to use for this purpose. The foam core might not be acid free because foam core is made of paper card stock mounted to a rigid plastic foam core, but they are sturdy and serve the purpose well. I had a few pieces sitting around, then went out and got more at a discount store. I decided to wrap some of the larger cuts of yardage like a mini fabric store. It is easy to unwrap to cut off chunks of fabric when needed, and makes it super easy to store fabric while being able to see it all on the shelf. In typing this up and looking for links I see there is foam core available that is acid free. I'm sure the kind available at my local discount store is not this variety, but I'm still okay with it. They look so nice lined up on the shelf this way!

I still have quite a bit of fabric folded and stacked on my shelf, but the larger yardages of fabric are easier to work with when they are wrapped around these foam core boards.

In order to wrap the fabric around the boards (which measure 10" x 14") I took the 45" wide yardage that comes already folded in half, folded it in half again along its entire length. This way it fits the 10" x 14" board better for wrapping and is a manageable size to fit the shelf I store it on. This means there is an additional crease the length of the fabric, but I usually press my fabric as I cut and sew my quilts anyway. So far the additional crease has not posed a problem. I would love to have the big, long fabric boards from the fabric store, but do not have the proper space on my shelves to store fabric that way.

A close up of these fabric boards reveals the first in this row is one of the original corrugated plastic boards I purchased (with nice rounded corners). These are entirely made of plastic. The rest of the boards in this row are made of foam core that I cut to size myself. I am completely pleased with my own boards as a slightly less-expensive alternative to the purchased ones. I was able to cut four fabric boards from one large piece of foam core. I considered just using a couple layers of cardboard from salvaged boxes. The cardboard idea would have been cheaper, but it doesn't look as pretty as the white foam core boards, and cardboard is not acid-free either.

While sorting through my stuff I came across this box of strips I started sewing for a strip quilt. These were started before all the rage of the jelly roll quilts and all the new patterns and books we currently see available. I really like those jelly rolls that have 2 1/2" fabric pre-cut for quilts. It makes it so much easier to just get right to the sewing process.

These are some 2 1/2" fabric strips I currently have sitting on my cutting table. I decided I would cut up all my smaller scraps of fabric into this 2 1/2" jelly roll size strip. I love having pre-cut strips ready to sew when I want to just sit down for some sewing relaxation, some sewing therapy!

Cloth Elf Doll

I was going through some of the older photos I recently downloaded from my camera and came across this one. I would have to look through some records to see when I made this doll, I don't remember off the top of my head. She came about because I saw an on-line challenge and sent away for the challenge kit. The idea was to use at least three of the 5-6 challenge kit items that came in the kit to create a doll. She was a winner for me in this challenge. I've always liked the way she turned out.

The three items I used were a plain muslin cotton dish towel, some orange feathers, and a short length of rope. I made the doll body, head, arms and legs from the dish towel. The feather was glued into the little bird cage I found in a local hobby supply shop (as if her caged bird flew away and left only the feather), and I un-twisted the sisal rope to use the fibers to make her hair. The doll is wired - meaning her fingers are poseable - I used pipe cleaners as the wiring. Her head and body are overpainted with acrylic paint so she has a stiff feel, not the soft cloth squishy doll type. I hand-painted the features on the face with acrylic.


I had her packed away for awhile, but took her out of storage a while ago. She's currently standing on her pedestal in my living room. I've got several other dolls I periodically take them out on a rotating basis for display. There's just not room in my house to keep them all out. I'd probably get tired of looking at all of them after awhile anyway.

Sometimes I wonder why I keep all the stuff I've got in storage. Since I recently started clearing things out of my Sewing Studio and realized just have much I have I have been thinking of selling some of it to get rid of some excess. I just haven't found the time to do that yet. I've still got some stuff to sort through.