Patter from Patti

Last post for 2007

Another year has absolutely flown by.  I've been busy working on sample dolls and my new book and have ignored my blog, and website.  Shall correct that before the year ends.

I want to show you the mermaid that Dorice Larkin has created for our  upcoming cruise.

The mermaid is pin sized and is all beaded.  A focal bead creates the face.  She's beautiful and I know those going on the cruise are going to love making her.  You can see details on the cruise on that page.
We'll have 4 full days at sea.  That means we'll get a lot of beading done.  We are all looking forward to seeing the destinations, too. 

Colon, Panama is a new destination and our ship will be one of the first to go there.  Shall be great fun.

Recently, I was in a wonderful group of artists from the UK where we created postcards and mailed to each other.  We all got busy, and had to stop for awhile.  Deena Beverly was the fearless leader and would come up with a theme each month. 

One of the themes was "A Tender Regard".  I used my favorite photo created by my friend Sandy Anderson in Photoshop.  This photo is the logo on my blog.  Because I like working in fabric, I painted Pelmet Vilene with Stewart Gill's Byzantium paint.  The photo was transfered onto fabric using my HP printer and Jacquards photo prepared cotton.  I machine sewed a design on water soluble stabilizer with synthetic organza in layers under.  When the stabilizer was removed, I used a soldering iron to burn away sections of the organza exposing the painted surface underneath.  This was then sewn onto the Vilene, along with the photo.

Another postcard was "Things my Mother Taught Me".  This time I drew a figure on white cotton fabric, colored it with Copic markers and detailed it with colored pencils and Copic's Multiliners.  I hand-dyed a piece of lace and machine sewed it to the body, which was sewn onto painted Pelmet Vilene.  Angelina film and fibers created the glitz.  Charms were used representing cooking, gardening, and traveling.  All things my Mom taught me to love.  There were many others things she taught me, but this was all I could squeeze in.

After the New Year, I'll put up a tutorial on how I go about creating small images on postcards and ATC's.  And, other bits.  In the meantime, have a terrific New Year celebration!

Girlfriends at play

Many of you know that several of us have been doing, what elinor calls, Flat Doll Days.  elinor peace bailey came up with this idea when we were all together in Sydney several years ago.  We've been traveling around the U.S. sharing our love of dolls and flat surfaces ever since.

This picture was taken last year at Piecemaker's Country Store in Costa Mesa, California after one of our Flat Doll Days.  Gloria McKinnon, on the far left, top row, had joined us from Australia. 
The others are top row,  Gloria, Sally Lampi, Barbara Willis
front row, Betts Vidal, me, elinor

We're kicking off another year of sharing the fun in Escondido, California.

January 22 from 10am to 4pm we'll be sharing how we do faces.  Joining us will
be Li Hertzi.  Li has written her first book "Art Doll Adventures" and has done flat
dolls for many years. 
Along with sharing how we do faces we'll spend the afternoon doing hands-on
exercises.  We're providing a light lunch, and heaps of fun and information.
The cost is $65.00.  Send your checks to me: Patti Culea,   9019 Stargaze Ave., San Diego, CA  92129. 
The cost includes our lectures, lunch, most supplies for the hands-on exercises in the afternoon, and six patterns for our projects.
The address for Bits & Pieces is:   426 West Second Street, Escondido
You must pay before the event so we know how much food to have catered.

Illinois & Bernina

This past week was quite interesting.  I flew to Chicago for the Bernina Teacher's Reunion.  I flew in two days early so I could go visit my Dad.  He and my uncle had decorated the house for Christmas.  Both are doing well and enjoying each others company.
The picture behind Uncle Duane is of the house they live in.  Uncle Duane had it built over 30 years ago.  It is surrounded by fields and is extremely quiet and lovely.  It is always a nice retreat for me when I visit.

The only dicey thing about flying to Illinois at this time of year is the weather.  I should have taken a picture when I was stuck on the I-55 for 90 minutes.  An ice storm hit and the roads were nothing but ice.  I saw dozens of accidents and one was so bad that both the north bound and south bound lanes of the interstate were closed for over an hour.  The normal 2 1/2 hour drive from my home town to Chicago took 8 hours.  But, I finally made it to Aurora.

Bernina is my favorite sewing machine.  I actually have owned 5 of their machines.  I presently have 3 that I use every day when I'm home.  Bernina hosts a teachers retreat once a year teaching us software, how to use various presser feet, and general knowledge of their product.

You get to know other like-minded individuals and here I am with Ellen Anne Eddy, Li Hertzi and Melinda Bowman.    Ellen is world famous for her incredible stitched quilts and wearables.  Her book "Stitch Magic" is a favorite of mine.

Last year I had met Ellen in Oklahoma City at my first Bernina Teacher's Retreat.  This next photo is of Ami Sims and Terri Chilko. 
We each, Ellen, Ami and others, were to bring someone we wanted to introduce to the Bernina machines.  I brought Li Hertzi, Ellen brought Melinda and Ami brought Terri.  Watch for these women in the future.  Li already has a book published "Art Doll Adventures".
There were 59 of us at the retreat this year.  We learned so much that my head will be spinning for days.

Yvonne Porcella showed us many of her wonderful painted and dyed pieces.  She even let us come up and play with some of her stuff.  Linda Lee had a wonderful trunk show, so it wasn't all learning software and presser feet. 

Now it is time to unpack and repack.  Kieran turns 4 this Sunday and we're going to fly to Orlando to help her celebrate!