Looking on the bright side of life.

I started five dolls this last Saturday, and will work on all of them at the same time.  Not sure why I do that, except it seems more fun to have a lot of little "people" show up together.  

These new dolls are smaller versions of some I made five years ago, because I scaled down the pattern from 21" to 18" size.  I hope.  Tomorrow?  I get to start sculpting heads and faces.  Yay!!!  The doll below is a larger version, commissioned by a man in Texas for his grand daughter. 

Winter is coming (echoes of Mr. Martin, anyone?) and I'll be indoors a lot more.  I can think of no better way to while away a snowy season than making things with faces. 

Cheers!

 

16" Izzy is done and done.

 It feels to be back to doll making!  The minis have sold well, except for the boys.  Note to self:  apparently doll collectors want girl dolls.  Poor fellas.

The hubby had to go out of town for a week of work, and I made it a goal to start and finish one regular size Izannah Walker doll.  I did it!  So I can say that I have managed to streamline things and it takes approximately 40 hours to make one, with hand finishing and such.  This one kind of looks like my cousin Valerie as a child.  So that's what I call her.  It's likely not a 19th century name, but who's counting? 

Here are photos of her.  I won't make any more til she sells, or else I'll be up to my eyebrows in Izzies.  But I will start making more of the "weird" dolls that are so fun (and less labor intensive). 

Cheers!

 

Teeny Izzies are DONE.

 They're finished, and listed on Etsy now.  I'm ready to work on larger dolls, but in a sick kinda way I'm glad I got back into it with these--the rest will seem so easy by comparison!

I've got chores to do, so I'll be quick here.  Just a lot of photos.  The dolls are about 7.5" tall, just about the length of my hand.  Each carries a...something.  They seem to vary in age, based on their expressions and dress, I guess, but that was not intentional. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope your weekend is wonderful!

"...back in the saddle again."

 Okay, back in the studio, for real this time.  Not just making curtains--although I still have plenty of those to make for the winter. 

No--I'm making dolls again!  Feels good, too.  This first set was probably not the thing to start with, but I had already cut and stitched together the wee body parts, and the heads were started, so...

I finished sculpting, stuffed the parts, and applied the heads.  Painting is one of my favorite parts, next to the sculpting, because those bring the personalities out.  I don't aim for a particular face/features/expression.  I just wait to see who shows up.  I don't know if that's lazy or creative, and don't care.  It's fun! 

So these are miniature Izannah Walker style dolls--about 71/2 " or so.  Their clothing is sewn on, because I'm not doing buttons or snaps on that tiny of a doll--I can do it, and would sort of enjoy the challenge, but nobody wants to pay for that kind of detail. 

They charm me, with their petite little selves, even the attitudinal ones, and they make sweet "doll's dolls" in the lap of big antiques (see Mary Nell for example.)

Two of them have sold and will head off to Florida next week sometime.  They all have names, but I try to leave that out of Etsy listings, because collectors tend to like naming them.  Works for me--I do it too, when I buy a doll. 

So, without further ado, here are the Mini Izzies. (Click on the first pic for a slide show.)

And may I never make another, 

because cross-eyed is not a good look for me. 

 

 

Mary Nell, a mini from 2014, with a 27" antique Greiner.

Four more to dress, six for "glamour shots" and Etsy listings, then on to the larger ones.  

Hope October is treating everyone well this year.  Cheers!

Weird sad.

 Went grocery shopping today.  Had my list, was maybe a quarter of the way through it, which brought me to the chips isle.  For the last several months, I have noticed a new guy stocking chips.  Not The Big Guy who has been there since we moved up on the mountain, and with whom I passed inconsequential conversation just about every time I was there.  He was Big, with a capital B, scruffy blonde beard, gentle giant sort of nature.  Just an all around nice guy, always willing to help or chat.  So today I asked New Guy--"Where's the big guy been?  Haven't seen him in quite a while." 

"He passed away.  Pneumonia." 

I never even knew Big Guy's name, so why did it make me so sad?  I guess because he seemed young--younger than I am, at least.  And it was unexpected, even though carrying that much weight couldn't have been healthy.  He once told me (we were talking about chip consumption in general) that they moved $30,000 just in Frito Lay products every month.  I know he didn't drink, because I tried to recommend this gawd-awful peanut butter flavored whisky I'd found.  I know he was willing to help lift the heavy kitty litter for me (one isle over) when I'd had surgery and under lifting restrictions.  But I never knew his name. 

Sorry to be a Debbie Downer.  Just wanted to say; if you get a chance, say something nice to the people that are "incidental" in your life.  Nobody is forever.

Rain! Flowers! Mud!

 We live in the high desert mountains, as I'm sure I've said.  There is always, during the summer, the worry of forest fires, because of how dry it can get, and because with the beauty of the area come tourists and campers.  Who wouldn't want to camp here?  I don't fuss about the summer people, because without them, this little cluster of towns would dry up to nothing.  The combination of Show Low, Pinetop, and Lakeside (where we live) is around 22,000.  In the summer, that can quadruple!  You can imagine the traffic. 

So...where was I?  Fire danger.  There are, among those summer people, a few reckless, careless, or just plain stupid people who don't understand--or don't care about--simple fire safety.  Forestry personnel constantly find fires there were left still smouldering, or fires when there's a current ban on camp fires.  It's always the few that ruin it for the many, right?  When it gets really bad, super dry, or windy, they just close the forests, and camping is only allowed in supervised camping areas, and even then, no fires.

BUT...

With the rain this summer, starting around the 1st of July, we have little to worry about!  I'm not sure what the annual rainfall is for the area, but we've likely hit that amount already--even without the coming snows!  The wild flower show has been spectacular, and every walk across Sherwood Forest to get the mail is a wonder.  We even have mushrooms, sprouting up everywhere.  I had to get a field guide so I could identify as many as I could while they're here to see--there are years when very little blooms.  But to name a few; wild yarrow, geranium (cranes-bill), a kind of tiny cosmos, a kind of blue-bonnet, of course thistles, desert mallow, clovers, and a gazillian sun flowers! 

It's amazing to see how green everything is, how many colors line the roads and paint a color wash across the grazing fields on the way into town.  There are even baby pine trees, sprouting all over the yard.  (Get them now, if they sprout where you don't want a tree!)

Along with the flowers is mud.  This is primarily because we just built our house last year, and the natural carpet of pine needles and oak leaf litter has yet to re-establish itself.  Muck boots are the order of the day for walking the dog, and for any outdoor chores.  But it's worth it.

Now, if it can just dry up enough so we can get the chicken coop foundation dug and poured, I'd be happy. 
In the meantime, here's a picture of a volunteer sunflower "bush" that sprouted by our driveway.  Most of the ones along the road to town get maybe 3 or so ft high.  Phil is 6 ft tall, for reference. 

 Hope everyone has had a fabulous summer!

Spring Fever, Excuses, and Recuperation

Last post was early March?  It was all about the studio, which I have yet to really use. 

My excuse: Spring Fever hit me.  Hard.  After this first winter on the mountain, I was hungry to get outside in the sunshine.  Our spring is chilly, but fine for digging.  I got potted iris into the ground and some herbs planted.  The gardening is--and will remain--limited.  We're on a community well, with higher water bills than a municipal system.  But surrounded by pine trees and wildflowers, who needs a big flower garden? 

So: the herb garden and the irises. A little salvia for the hummers and mahonia for interest.  That'll do.  The herbs are for the chickens later.  I still have chicken fever, but due to a recent recuperation, chickens will happen next year. 

(Click on the first photo to expand them all.)

The recuperation was due to a bladder prolapse surgery in mid-April.  It was my second--the first was five years ago.  "No lifting more than ten pounds for six weeks."  Ten pounds!  Six weeks?  Doc even nixed the dog walking.  (Gypsy is large, very strong, and has the prey drive of a wolf.) 

I have behaved myself, as it was my over-lifting that caused the prolapses.  The spirit was willing, but the body was furious.  Now I can work my way back to normal life.  Wisely.

Coming up: a chain link yard for the dog by the end of July, and a chicken coop/run by fall.  A friend gave me fencing when her little dog passed.  That, combined with a couple more panels, will make a safe run for the chooks.  And for the record: Apologies In Advance for all the chick pictures!

Cheers, y'all!

 Coop/shed is 12 x 10, total run area is 240 sq ft.

Gypsy waits for a fenced yard.  In the meantime: hiking.

Progress is a beautiful thing. (And beauty is in the eye of the beholder.)

I took a risk today and photographed the studio as it is so far.  The risk is that someone will call the paddy wagon, and I'll end up in one of those nifty sweaters that ties in the back.  Livin' dangerously. 

With a before photo to illustrate how far it's come, here's a tour of what's happened to what my spousal unit calls The Scary Room.  (This has been his name for it the last four places we've lived.  I wonder why?)

Even though it seems a mess right now, it's at least set up so I can start working soon. First it was a storage room while we got moved in--everything that didn't have a place yet got shoved in there. Then when it was (mostly) empty except for what would live there, it was the Painting Room, because we've done all our own finish work on the new house. I painted miles of trim here. 🙂

Now that there are work tables, I used my old doll show display screens to go vertical with storage and as a backstop for the paint/sculpt and the sewing tables. On the other side of the screens/tables are walls of storage, big windows, and the Willie-Cat's favorite sunny spot.

A Before photo, and then some (not quite ready) Afters.

Don't know where something goes?  Throw it in here!  We put one little twin bed in there, in case one of us snores the other out of the master bedroom.  It sort of turned into the pets' daybed. 

 

There's Willie in her window sill basket.  She sleeps there allllll day.

 

I bought seven bookshelf units to store things...almost organized!

 

Still need trim for the closets.  It's painted and ready, just not up yet.  

No doors, though--they just get in the way.  

 

The top two rows hold yarn.  Below that are bins, drawers, and boxes full of...well, so many kinds of supplies I'd be embarrassed to list them all here.   We'll just say I could make just about anything.

I hope y'all enjoyed the tour.  Or at least weren't traumatized by it.  I'll post again when I've got it entirely functional.  As I need to turn some piles of fabric into curtains for the new house, I'm highly motivated to get this all sorted out! 

Time's fun when you're having flies.

 I got a card ready to put in the mail for our youngest daughter's birthday.  Thirty-five???  How can that be?  She's the baby!  No way she's thirty-five. 

My hair just went two shades whiter.  But that's okay.  It's a privilege to see my children grow up, to become people I am proud of.  We have nine grandchildren, and while we don't get to see them often at all (scattered across the US), we trust they are well and happy.  What more can a mom want?

Regarding our little acre in the woods; snow.  More snow.  We'd just gotten past the three feet from earlier--mostly melted--then we got another nine inches, and today added another five.  It's been a learning experience for this native Texan, I can tell you.  We didn't get snow but once or twice every five years back home. 

So; sorry if I keep posting pictures of snow.  The new will wear off I'm sure, and then I'll quit. 

From what I hear, there's a cold front through the south that has some toes a bit frosty--my home town got down to -3, and folks in Houston and San Antonio were well below freezing.  So y'all stay warm, wherever you are!

We got a big snow.

 Almost two feet in three days.  Folks who have been up here a while say it's not the norm, which is okay with me.  Four cancelled/rescheduled appointments is enough!

Cheers, y'all. 

Surprise!

 We get our carpet early!

I'm not normally a big fan of carpet in general.  It's nice and soft underfoot, but other than that, I would rather have hard floors.  But we'll have it in the master bedroom.  And since I should have scheduled it way earlier, we were looking at an install date of January 26! 

But yesterday they called and said they'd had a little shift in their install schedule, and "Would you like carpet tomorrow?"  Uh--yeah!!!  We've been using that room as a place to paint trim--who cares if you drop a bit of paint on the subfloor, right?  And as I'm almost finished with trim, we're actually ready and it's exactly the right time. 

Wouldn't seem like a big deal, except we're currently sleeping in the guest room, because--why move everything in only to have to move it out, get carpet, and move it back in again?  Add to that the studio is piled high with so much because...waiting for carpet. 

Essentially, this install is going to kick loose a HUGE logjam of progress for us!  Get the bedroom set up--bam!  Get the guest room set up--bam!  Both of those done will make room in the studio to do something more than pile more stuff.  The dynamics of the whole house will change, and it'll feel like we're really in.

If you did a search for Studio on this blog, you'd find several "I cleaned!" posts that show how to make the most of vertical space in a small room. 

 

South end of the studio--bonus points if you find Tater.  

The bed is where one of us goes if the other is snoring.  It happens.

 

North end of the studio--the doors are out now and
Phil's worktable is in, but piled sooooo high with boxes.  

 

Willie believes cat hair in the paint finish makes it art.

 

It's going to be so great!

 

Our little nest (didn't I make the bed???) in the guest room.

Let these stand as the Before pictures of the New Studio.  Soon I'll be able to post the Afters.  With everything I've learned about functional storage from all the previous moves and studios--it will be wondrous.  (And I promise to make the beds before any more pictures.)

Y'all have a fabulous weekend.  Cheers!