Patter from Patti

Upcoming Interview

My publisher has been wonderful in helping promote my books.  They've arranged for me to be interviewed live on a couple shows.  This next Sunday, I'll be interviewed on Artistically Speaking Talk Show.  The date is Sunday, Nov. 27 at 6:30pm ET, 5:30pm CT, 4:30pmMT or 3:30pmPT.  Here's the link so you can check it out:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/artisticallyspeaking

Hope you log on and listen.  Should be a lot of fun.

I've been awful at updating my blog.  I've been having fun traveling to teach and visiting grandchildren.  Here's a couple photo's of two of our granddaughters in Florida:

Kaylahna is now 2 mos. old.  She's the chubbiest, cutest baby girl.  Always happy, too.

Below is a photo of Kayleigh (now 5 years old) and Kaylahna.  I bought the outfit Kaylahna is wearing at a fabulous boutique in Monticello, Illinois.  Our daughter found the dress Kayleigh is wearing, which is made from the same fabrics.  So adorable.

Next week I'll be in Belgium and will get new photo's of our grandson's there. 

John and I now have 6 grandchildren.  We are so blessed.

Newest look to my studio

With Galli Studio's arriving last week to tape a DVD series I had to shape up my studio.  Many pieces had to be removed to allow space for lights and camera's.  I liked the open feeling so much I've kept it pretty much as it was last week.   But, before showing you what it now looks like I want to show you a box I decorated to hold various projects for the DVD.

A local craft shop had a 40% sale on boxes.  I picked two of the not so pretty ones and came home and started decorating them.  With fabric, of course.

The woman on the right was colored with Tsukineko's All Purpose Inks.  The woman on the left was done with Copic markers.  The fabric was glued on, then covered with Mod Podge to hold it all in place.  Took just a few hours and now I have a lovely box to hold projects.

Now, to the new look of my "studio".  Last year I moved from a large bedroom into the smallest bedroom.  It is 10-feet by 9-feet.  Small, but workable. 

This photo is of the closet, with the doors removed, that houses my fabrics and beads.  The cubby holds yarn and the rest holds books and CD's.  Other supplies, too.

We had purchased the table you see as the producer wanted me to have a table that would be relatively clear so I could show how to do various techniques.  I liked having the table so much it is now a permanent part, as you can see.  Rather cluttered at the moment as I'm working on several projects.

The photo on the right is another view, facing the window.  More fabrics - my silks, organza's and velvets.  Yes, there's two machines, but one is my Babylock Embellisher.  The other is my favorite sewing machine - a Bernina 440 QE. 

I have 6 Bernina machines and one Singer Featherweight.  Once a year I host a master class and with so many flying in from other states and countries it is nice having machines for them to use.  Thus the reason I have so many.  I generally have two sewing machines and the embellisher operating almost daily when I'm home.

Finally a view of the other side of the room with my wonderful "wall of threads".  I do love threads.  Superior Threads are my favorites for embellishing.  Superior's Rainbows are my passion, along with their varigated metallics.

Hope you had fun looking into my studio.  Now, I need to head back upstairs and get to work!

                                                                           

A day in Los Angeles' fabric district

Today was truly wonderful.  I picked up my sister and niece and took them to the fabric district in Los Angeles.  They had never been. 

We started at Michael Levine's on Maple and walked up and down several streets.  Found fabulous bargains.  And, my favorite lace shop is closing so loaded up with hundreds of yards of lace for kits.

We then went to FIDM.  At their museum they have an exhibit called "The Little Black Dress".  Dresses from Breakfast at Tiffany's, and other dresses from the 1940's to present day.  Their museum is free and definitely a must see when you are in the area.

We shopped at FIDM's scholarship store and I got two large bags of buttons at $2.50 each.  The fabrics this time were more winter, but at $1.00 a yard you can always find something you can use.

This photo is my niece and I across the street from FIDM with the Project Runway billboard behind us.  Love that show!

After the downtown area we drove to the American Doll store to get some birthday and Christmas presents for granddaughters.  They now have 11 stores in the U.S.

Then we drove to Mood Designer Fabrics.  I had never been here.  Oh, my goodness!  What a treasure trove of fabrics, trims, lace, buttons.  Not discounted like downtown L.A., but this place carries high fashion fabrics.  And, I've found a source for the silks I like.

The photo is my sister and niece.  My niece is holding my bag of amazing trims from Mood.  I was trying to keep within my budget so didn't buy fabrics this trip.  But, I certainly will go back.  How the designers on Project Runway can spend only 30 minutes running through Mood to buy their challenge fabrics is beyond me. 

One thing that would make it easy is Mood has excellent signage for the various types of fabrics, laces, trims, etc.  You can go directly to the section you need, but once you get there watch out!  You could spend an hour just fondling the fabrics.

The staff at Mood are extremely helpful and friendly.  Oscar, the mascot Chihuahua also loves to greet you.  From what I read on the internet in NYC they have a bulldog in their store. 

 

We came home tired, happy and eagerly awaiting our sewing day.

Sample sale

Some of you may have received my eNewsletter in which I announced selling some of my samples.  I'm clearing out space for new samples.  January will find me developing new dolls for classes and patterns.  And, Jan. 19 my website, as it is now, will be going away.  I'll no longer be selling retail, but you'll be able to buy my patterns from several online & in person stores.

  Marley is one of the dolls I'm selling.  She's a combination of several patterns from two of my books - Creative Cloth Doll Making and Creative Cloth Doll Faces. 

The other samples I'm selling are:

Patti's Fanciful Fan - 5 dolls on fan blades with interchangeable clothing.  Fun project and definitely a conversation piece.

 

 Stargaze Arca.  This is a box that can hold a journal or treasures.  It is made from all fibers with many techniques.  It was made to hold my Stargaze Stitchery Tome.  Since I'm teaching the Arca on my Stargaze Stitchery Yahoo group I will be making another one.

 

If you are interested in any of these items, go to my website and read more about the items then email me.  I'll tell you how to purchase them.

Hoping everyone is ready for a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

 

 

 

 

Doll Camp

This past weekend found 16 of us getting away for a fun-filled workshop up in the mountain village of Julian near San Diego.  Doll Camp is sponsored by the local doll club - IOLCC.  A perfect name for a unique group of doll makers.  IOLCC stands for the Imitation of Life Construction Company, a Cloth Doll Society.  Karen Wooton came up with the name 20 years ago.  But, that is a story for another time.

We met at the Julian Meadow View Lodge, formerly known as Angels Landing.  In the center of the lodge is a conference room where the workshop was held.  Most of the participants stayed in the lodge rooms on either side of the conference room.  As you can see the room is quite large and very well lit.  We started the classes on Friday night, shown here.

All of the furry bits you see in the foreground are some of the Tibetan skins I brought.  I also provided Fairfield Polyfil for those who needed stuffing.  It is my preferred stuffing as it is slickery and easy to needle sculpt.                                                                                                  For those who came long distances I brought 3 of my Bernina's.  I had just purchased a Bernina 380, which is a wonderful machine for classes.  It is one of Bernina's more affordable machines and a machine that isn't as heavy as some of their others.  

Saturday morning we colored the doll faces with Shiva Paintstiks then fixed them with Prismacolor's Workable Fixative.  This is similar to Krylon's Workable Fixative, but made by Prismacolor.  We didn't have the luxury of 3 days to allow the paintstiks to "cure", so fixing them allowed us to detail the faces later in the day.  Patty Smith is shown here spraying her dolls head.  You can see the beautiful area we were staying.  Julian is wonderful.  It is 4,000 feet up in our mountains, so not too high.

Lynn Tesch, from Georgia had flown in for Doll Camp.  She really got into fixing her dolls head.  So much so that she nearly fell down the mountain as her dolls head went rolling down hill.  She was able to save the head as several of us came to her rescue and held on to her as she reached for the head.   We'll never let Lynn forget that episode.                                                                  

 

 

 

One of the more popular events at any doll gathering is "show & tell".  Saturday night was the show & tell night and it was so exciting seeing what everyone brought.

Mary "Dolly" Francis came from Arizona and brought her "Arizona Camel".  This is her doll clubs mascot and he goes everywhere Dolly goes.  You can click on the photo to go to a larger image to see the details on this wonderful creature.  We all thoroughly enjoyed Dolly's wonderful sense of humor.

Caroline Weber made two of the cutest veggies from one of Sally Lampi's patterns.  Caroline and her daughter, Jennifer, drove down from San Francisco.  Both are extremely talented women and it was fun having them at Doll Camp.

Lois Boncer, of Carlsbad, California, brought her 7-headed dragon, along with her adorable ballet class for children.  Lois is a past president of IOLCC and has a company called Aardvark to Zebras.  She's been featured in Soft Dolls & Animals and other publications.   Another very talented woman.

Deborah Ditson of Santee, California shared some of her amazing beadwork.  She, and her friend Martine met me at the San Diego Quilt Show and are first time doll makers.  They say.  Both made wonderful dolls during the weekend.

And, you can see by this photo how talented Deborah is.  Her beadwork is stunning.  I wish I had more photo's of some of her other pieces.

If you ever get a chance to attend a "doll" camp or any other retreat I highly recommend it.  It is a fabulous way of getting away from the phone, tv, computer, children, grandchildren, you name it.  We had great food, beautiful scenery and developed friendships that will last a long, long time.

 

The Knitting & Stitching Show

Thursday, Oct. 7, before I took Eurostar to Brussels I attended my favorite fiber art show - the Knitting & Stitching Show at Alexander Palace.    This isn't really a palace, but more of an event center.  It is perfect for this show.

The whole area really catches the excitement of the show.  A Mrs. Smith made the seat cushion, pillows, leg cuffs and cover for the bus stop in front of Ali Pali (what the locals call the palace).  This was a beautiful greeting to those arriving and departing.
                                                                                                                                             As soon as I arrived my friend Maudie found me.  It was fun going into the show with her.  In the entrance is always a challenge.  This year it was fabric bags made from scraps leftover from projects.

This is actually a unique idea that one woman started here in the UK.  Bags are made and passed out to people who are shopping so that plastic and paper bags aren't needed.  These are given free to whomever wants one.  I love that idea.  Who wouldn't love to have a hand-made shopping bag.  There were hundreds of bags at the show and all beautifully made. 

Wouldn't it be wonderful to start this all over the world? 

About 8 years ago several of us got together and decided to have a stand at the show.  I did the show for 3 years with Betts Vidal, Barbara Willis and Michele Meinhold.  The 4th year I worked with Rainbow Silk, then after decided to just come and enjoy the show.  Barbara took over the event and added Gloria McKinnon, who is our friend from Australia. 

                                                                               It was fun seeing Colleen Babcock at the show, too.  Here she's with Betts and Barbara. 

Not sure you can see the amazing Asian Dreams crazy patch quilt on the wall next to Colleen.  I bought all the blocks from Gloria last year and have started putting them together.  Gloria also comes to Piecemaker's Country Store in Costa Mesa, California to teach.  It is there that we all take her classes to learn all the wonderful silk ribbon work that Gloria does.

The exhibits at the show, as I said earlier, are all breath-taking.  Below are some miniature hats that simply blew me away.  All are made of fibers, even the strawberries on the hat towards the front.

Yes, that is a shark attacking the straw hat.  He's made of fibers, too. 

Jan Beaney, Jean Littlejohn, Maggie Grey, Val Holmes, Richard Box and so many others were there with new work.  I didn't have time to see everything as I only had 3 hours.  I then took the tube to Kings Cross then to St. Pancras, collected my luggage and took Eurostar to Brussels and then another train to Rixensart to see our youngest daughter and her family.

More on that next time.

Cancer doll update

Today I felt like I was on Project Runway.  John and I have been redoing two bedrooms and my Making Ends Meet Breast Cancer Doll was sitting with no clothing and her face wasn't detailed.  From 11:30am to 3:30pm I worked on getting her outfit made.  We had a wedding reception to go to at 4pm, but back home by 6pm and I worked until 9pm.                                                                                                                           She still needs sleeves, embellishments on her corset, heat-set crystals here and there and a hat.  I've had more fun today working on her clothing and can't wait to get her finished after church tomorrow.                                                                                To detail her face I used Copic's Multliner SP's with the brush tip inserted.  She needed bolder features so the brush tip worked the best.                                                                                                            Her clothing was made from silk fabric I purchased at Making Ends Meet in Shelbyville, Kentucky.  The trim you see on her corset, and by the machine, is also from the shop.  The shop is the one sponsoring the fund raiser for breast cancer research.                                                                                              Because I was playing around with stencils and Shiva Paintstiks I didn't want to cover her chest.  I saw a documentary on tatoo's and several women who had had double mastectomy's had their chests tatoo'ed.  You can't see it but I outlined her iris' with Copic's Glitter pens, and the vines and flowers.  All was heat set with an iron to guarantee she won't fade.  When I get her finished I'll post a photo before she is mailed to Kentucky.  She's due on the 15th, so I must get her in the mail Tuesday.  I've not named her yet.  That will come before she's shipped off.

Doll design week

Today I worked on Ms. Maddie Hatter's socks and knickers.  What fun I had.  I'll be posting a few pictures soon.  Who is Ms Maddie Hatter you ask?  She's the doll I'll be teaching on the next doll cruise.

Right now she's pretty naked, except for her socks and knickers.  The hat she's got on in the photo is not what she'll be wearing on the cruise.  In fact, she'll have several hats.

Part of what we'll be doing on the cruise is making several hats.  She's a hatter, you know.  She must have many hats. 

We'll also be working with silk cocoons adding all kinds of embellishments to them to add to her hats and to her purses.

It will be great fun.  Hope you can join us.  Here's the website for more details:

http://www.clothdollcruises.com

Today the September/October issue of Soft Dolls & Animals arrived.  Scott Publications does a terrific job of putting an issue together.  They like to include projects for all levels of doll and animal making.

But, there was a blatant copyright infringement in this issue.  Coco, the Jester Clown that starts on page 44 is a direct copy out of my "Creative Cloth Doll Making" book.  The person who made the clown didn't even bother to remove the markings from the pattern pieces.  All my publishers markings are shown in black and white.  So, afraid both the magazine and doll maker will be getting a nice little letter from the attorneys.  Glad I'm not in their shoes.  It won't be pleasant.

The project, Coco, the Jester Clown, used the pattern I designed for the cover of the book.  If you are going to copy someone, you certainly shouldn't use a cover girl.

But, no one should use someone's pattern and claim it is their own design.  I love it when people use my books and patterns to create dolls to sell, give away, keep.  But, you can't photo copy the patterns and use them in another publication and claim it is your own design.

Just a little venting on my part today.  Later this week I'll get back to fun stuff.

Happy doll making, and I do hope you send me pictures of the dolls you've made from my designs.

Tea with the Queen

  Last Saturday I had my 2nd tea.  This year I called it Tea with the Queen.  We all made Fascinators, which were great fun to make and very easy.   More on that later.

First we had our afternoon tea.  Last year I had done a Mad Hatter Tea Party with a long table.  This time I had smaller tables.  We always have a wonderful time talking and solving the worlds problems.  But, we also laughed a lot and grew closer as friends.

After the tea we gathered in our family room and went to work on our Fascinators.  My idea was to make them then raffle them off to help raise funds for my friend who does the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Walk for the Cure.  Karen has to raise $2500.00 each year and this will be her 4th year.

I've been going through my stash and clearing out.  I had all kinds of silk flowers, leaves, feathers, ribbons, birds and glitz.  I purchased hair clips and a couple small hot glue guns.  I had gotten rid of mine ages ago as I work almost exclusively with needle and thread.  But I knew it would go quicker if we had glue guns.

As you can see everyone got into the fun of making their fascinators.  A couple decided to do brooches instead, which looked terrific.

 

 

It doesn't matter what age you are.  Everyone loved making the Fascinators.  Here Lisa helps Jennifer clip hers into her hair.  Jennifer's was the most elaborate one made.

To the right is Susan who is a breast cancer survivor recently.  Of the 18 people at the tea, four are breast cancer survivors.   

The picture of the gal with the green Fascinator in her hair is Karen.  She's the one who will be doing the 3-Day for the 4th year.  Karen is very passionate about walking for breast cancer awareness.  I'm thinking I need to get into training and do some of the walk.

Anyway, the tea was fun, and we got Karen started with her fund raising.

I highly recommend getting together with family, neighbors and friends and having afternoon tea.  We all get so busy we lose touch with each other.  Not good.  So, brush off that furniture and uncover the tea pots and cups and saucers and have a small afternoon tea.

Grandbaby and Prague

First things first.  I must share new photo's of our latest addition to the family - Theo John Michel Dechief.  Yes.  I keep putting his whole name, but I love the sound.  

These pictures were taken on Feb. 24, the day before I had to fly home.  He was making some of the cutest little sounds.  Almost like he wanted to tell Heidi something.                                                                       

                        Afraid I'm having real problems with Typepad today.  None of the photos and text are going where I want them.  Sorry about this mess.

While in Brussels I had the wonderful opportunity to fly to Prague, Czech Republic to teach a class to a group of doll makers.

My hosts, Bohdana and Mirek, were truly amazing.  They made sure I saw as many places in Prague as I could in the short time I was there.

They knew I love Art Nouveau.  For those of you who have been to Prague you know what a breathtakingly beautiful city it is filled with Art Nouveau style  architecture.

The building to the left, I hope it is on the left, is one of those  amazing Art Nouveau places.

Below, hopefully, is a window in the gothic style cathedral on the castle grounds that was painted my Alfonse Mucha. 

Bohdana and Mirek took me to the Mucha Museum, where I learned that he started drawing beautifully at the young age of 7.

Below is a photo of Bohdana and Mirek in their lovely home.  The quilt behind Bohdana is one she did for Bernina.  Like me, she loves Bernina sewing machines and is one of their top educators for eastern Europe.
  Don't ask me what happened to the photo quality.  It was perfect in Photoshop, but certainly didn't translate well here.

      

Bohdana runs a Creative Center in Prague where she hosts all kinds of wonderful fiber classes.  This is where I was privileged to teach. 

Nine fantastically talented doll makers were in the class.  Most speak little English so Bohdana arranged for an interpreter.  Dana isn't in the picture as she was taking it, but she  also owns a quilt shop so knew what I was talking about and was an excellent interpreter.

This is just a short  post on my wonderful time in Rixensart, Belgium with our new grandson, and my amazing time in Prague. 

I am so blessed to have the opportunity to travel and share my love of doll making, and to see my children and grandchildren as often as I do.  That is also one reason John and I will be moving from California next year.  We want to be closer to our grandchildren and California is simply too far away.

Until next time, God Bless and keep you,

Patti