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Dolly Onlookers

I’ve been painting new doll faces today with my other dolls looking on. The slugs seem the most curious and eager to see what I’m up to. I need some shelving, maybe stadium seating.

I was making good progress until I had to take allergy medication for a bad insect bite I have on my foot. Nothing else seems to control the awful itching and the swelling, but then I nearly nodded off right in the middle of my faces. I kept going, but one or two didn’t come out the way I planned. I hate doing “negative work”, a phrase a friend uses for creating more work for yourself by making mistakes. I cut one up just to stop myself from continuing to try to fix it. I always feel compelled to try to fix everything, but sometimes it is just better to start over. Besides, most of them came out quite well. I’ve always been a perfectionist in regard to what I make, and that can make things unpleasant for me sometimes. I’ve been told that by the time I reached my current age, lots of things that bothered me before wouldn’t bother me so much anymore. In some ways that is true, but I haven’t shaken the perfectionist drive.

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Owlie Art Toys

I am still at work on my Lucy dolls, but I only managed to simplify my pattern by eliminating a seam or two…not much of a difference. I decided she was just going to remain complicated to make, and so I am slowly making progress on those. In the meantime, I took a mini detour and made an Owlie. I made up the pattern myself, fiddling around until I liked the shape.

I added some machine appliquéd details and sewed him up. I made two cute yellow feet for him too. I used some natural, undyed cotton fabric I had from a few years ago for his body. It has a lovely texture with a diagonal woven design. It is the color of oatmeal and is very soft.

Although I tried as many things as I could think to try, I could not get this red polka dot fabric color to show up right in the main photos of my owl. It is a dark red, but it looks too dark in my owl photos. It looks about right, on my monitor anyway, in this photo below:

Mr Owl is about 8 1/2 inches wide by 6 1/2 inches tall.

Other than playing with toys, I got to play with kids this weekend, which was a lot of fun. I think we crammed every kid activity possible into one afternoon. We played with toy trains (I managed to fix the engine part), flew kites, ate ice cream, looked for real trains, played on the caboose at the park, rode on a miniature train, rode the carousel (I picked a bunny), and played tag. And I’m sure I’m leaving things out. I also learned that I am sorely outmatched both in ice cream eating abilities and in superhero powers by a five and a six year old. I needed a lot of pizza to refuel afterwards, but I couldn’t help but feel happier when they were around.
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Super Slug Comes to Save the Day

My “Hug Me! Slugs” are taking on mutant superhero powers.

This one has an attached cape in case he needs to fly.

He’s also got a bit of a potbelly. So, I don’t know how much altitude he is going to achieve. He has high hopes, at the very least.

Thanks, G.B., for the “Super Slug” suggestion.

I think today, I am going to take another look at my Lucy doll pattern and see if I can simplify it somehow. She seems to be well loved, but she’s a little complicated to make. I can’t say, as of yet, I know how to make her less complicated, but my mind is on it.

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Gumdrop Babies

This is the new pattern I’ve been working on. I saw them all sitting on my table and they reminded me of gumdrops. So, they became “Gumdrop Babies”. I think they are sweet.

They are original, one-of-a-kind, art toys. I hand painted and heat set each one of their pleasantly smiling faces. They are about 10 3/4 to 11 inches tall and they have no removable or loose parts, making them safe for little ones. They are meant to be played with and loved and hugged. I prewashed the fabrics I used, mostly cotton quilting fabrics, with a little rayon on their faces. So they can be gently spot cleaned, rinsed, and set to dry. BTW, I’ve been using Tide Free for Sensitive Skin when I prewash my fabrics. I like to get that factory smell out of fabrics in addition to making sure they won’t shrink or run later.

I’m finding toy making to be therapeutic. No wonder Santa is a jolly guy. I’m not quite jolly yet, but I’m hoping to get there.