Miss America

A few years ago, I decided to try making a primitive doll. Primitives are not known for their beauty, but they do have a certain appeal to some folks. It was fun to do all the coffee staining and the rather crudely embroidered facial features, but this is not a doll I'd make again. I did, however, use this pattern to make a witch. Her name was Wanda and she was scooped up rather quickly on eBay. There was actually one of those bidding frenzies. I think it was the spiders that sold her. She had a big one on her neck, and another one crawling up her leg. People who don't like spiders crawling around their houses seem to be fine living with fabric and thread spiders. I'll put Wanda's picture up on the blog soon (she's on the other computer) along with the alphabet quilt I did for BCG. I really haven't forgotten..heh..heh....

So I'm back on the east coast now, with nothing but rain since I returned. Big City Girl and her BF came up last night on the train from the big city. Today they are headed up to a cute little inn in Vermont to attend a wedding in which BF will be the best man. BCG will be doing the driving, and it's been a while since she's driven now that she's a seasoned subway commuter. This required some parental intervention. Mr. Gadget checked the car over this morning and ended up taking it to have a new muffler installed. He made sure there was a full tank of gas as well as a map and a working flashlight in the glove compartment. Her mother packed a bag with water bottles, pretzel snacks and a couple of rather large Snicker's brownies. This was followed by the usual hug and kiss and "drive carefully" and "please call when you get there." I'm pleased to report that the infamous dust mop sweater will be making it's official debut this weekend.

And on the dollmaking front, I'm working on a red hat lady and another witch, both special orders. And I'm sitting here looking at my primitive black cat as a possible eBay offering. He can sit on a bookcase or a mantel if he has something to lean against. But if I put a little hanger on his back, he could also be a wall decoration.

This guy was so easy to make. I just drew the outline of a cat and traced around it on a double layer of muslin. Then I sewed around on the traced line, cut it out, stuffed, drew the face (and the crazier the better) and painted. I'm thinking it might be fun to have a whole herd of cats on the mantel. You could even put little red santa hats on them and leave 'em up through Christmas. Which reminds me.....I'd better go find my red hat and dust it off so I'm ready for the big train adventure tomorrow. I imagine there'll be a few photos coming 'round the bend.....