Patter from Patti

Dolls and Tomes

Last December I held my 2nd "in house" workshop. We all had a great time. We worked with all kinds of silk fibers and created dolls that were hand dyed, dressed in silks and embellished with beads. She's also a workshop I'll be teaching throughout 2007.

Another project I love are Tomes. A Tome is a journal, a work in progress. My Stargaze Stitchery Tome has been a huge success as a pattern series. I've taught other pages and will be adding them to my Stitchery Tome.

Each page has a different technique. The Hawaiian hula dancer uses paints, Tyvek and beadwork. The Japanese women includes painting and free maching stitching.

I really love making these flat things. I made a fiber photo album for our granddaughter, Kieran.

Quilting Arts magazine had a project for Coffee Cuffs in a recent issue. I had to try it out and used a couple of my rubber stamps and fabric collage. These are fun and easy and make great gifts.

More Family Stuff

Many of you know how much I love my family. Recently, John and I helped move my dad back to the farm. I thought you'd enjoy seeing a picture of the farm Dad grew up on. It is now a historical farm as it has been in the family over 100 years.
My grandparents raised six boys in that house. Dad and my Uncle Duane shared a bed. That is the two of them by the sign in front of the house. That's me bundled up. This was taken in January when the temperatures dropped down into the teens (fahrenheit).
One of my cousins found a truly wonderful picture of several of us when we were children. This is the Illinois bunch. We're missing the California family and this was also taken before more than half of my cousins were born.
My friend, Sandy, captured the picture of me and using her magic with Photoshop placed my favorite doll, Radical Rachel, behind me. You'll see it used often in my website.

Recently we had a mini family reunion here in California. Two of us were in the photo from the late 40's, or early 50's. Can you guess which two?

Actually, there are 3 of us in the older picture. My aunt is in both pictures. Hard to tell which one is our aunt/mom. She's ageless.

The Grandchildren

March 3-10 was the 3rd Soft Doll Art Cruise. It was a bit different this year as we didn't have enough for our own cruise. We joined a quilt cruise. But, 13 of us had a great time. We had two people from England and one from Australia join us this year. And, we even made mermaids.

After the cruise I visited our daughter, JB, and her family in Orlando. Our granddaughters have grown up so much.

Kayleigh is now 7 mos. old. Her sister, Kieran, is 3 and loves having a little sister.

When I was in Jr. High we left the farm in Illinois and moved to the gulf coast of Florida. I took the girls to the beach, and you can see that they had a great time. Even Kayleigh loved playing in the sand.

It was hard leaving, but I had to fly up to Illinois see my dad. We spent one afternoon trudging through the woods looking for an old pioneer cemetery. Dad is now living with one of his brothers, Duane. Hard to believe that these two men are 90 and 88 years old.

New Pattern & face stamp

Many people seem to fear drawing a face on a doll. Several doll makers have come out with rubber stamps that can be stamped on dolls faces. I decided to join them. My newest pattern "Jiliana, a 21st Century Boudoir Doll" now has a stamp you can use on her face. Strictly optional.

The doll has two options for clothing. Silk or velvet. But, you can make her in any soft fabric of your choice. She's designed to sit on a pillow with her full skirt covering the pillow.

As most of you know, I don't have a website with a shopping cart right now. If you are interested in purchasing Jiliana ($9.00) or Jiliana with the stamp ($15.00) or just the stamp ($7.00) email me your phone number (if you live in North America) and I'll call you. If out of the U.S. I'll email you with options.

Changes at PMC Designs

No. I'm not neurotic. Yes, this is the 2nd time I've been at TypePad. I tried another blog system, but came back here because it is easy for me and easy for you.

The MerMiniTome shown is the project that we'll be doing at the Creative Festival in Cincinnati, Ohio in June. But, first, I'll be at The City Quilter in New York City at the end of April and at the Manhattan Doll Guild in early May. You can check out my web site for that information.
This is a short post just to let everyone know I'm back blogging away. There will be more added soon so come back often.