No crow zone

I finished a scarecrow doll today, except for a few final touches. I gave him some big hands to resemble gardening gloves and I think they need a little dirt on them.
I usually use instant coffee for that, but I guess I could just drag him around the construction site next door....

I like the way his hat came out. I made it out of osnaburg fabric and painted it brown. I'm thinking I might try the same technique for my next snowman. The paint made the fabric very stiff. I don't know about you, but I love a snowman in a hat with plenty of stand-upness.


So Mr. Gadget and I have been getting a few chores done around the new house. I thought with a new house there would be no chores, but I was wrong. I finally cleaned out my car--a car that served us well as a mini-moving van. Then we both scrubbed the front porch area. Seems those nice white vinyl stair rails collect dirt. We continued with the scrubbing and cleaned up our old deck furniture....and concluded that it might be worthwhile to do that more than once a decade.

Next up on my dollmaking agenda is a red hat lady and a cat. They are already underway. There's never much debate about how to dress the lady. It's always something purple with a red boa. It's not as easy with the others. At the moment the cat is all dressed and sitting patiently on my table while I decide on just the right fabric for his tie.

I've also been writing a story with my niece in Wichita who is 8. I came up with the idea as a way to help her with her writing skills, and so that we could develop a closer relationship. This has been difficult when we only see her family every few years. I thought of a story idea and wrote the beginning, then mailed it to her so she could continue it. Now it's back in my court. She's really enjoying the project and I am too, but after all these years I'd forgotten about homework.