Well, the craft show went really well.  I can't believe it's taken me a month to get back here and tell you about it.  Saturday was pretty steady all day long.  Sunday had the after church crowd and was a bit slow after that.  I think next year we need to add 2 or 3 additional vendors.  We didn't use the bedroom we had planned to use, so we would have the room to add people.

        I didn't take photos (dopey me!) so I'll share with you an older one.  This pic is of a face that I made on a cloth covered button, then used to embellish a mini purse.

        This pic is the face of Master Ferryman.  He was designed to sit on a string mohair turtle and he would carry a fishing rod with a snail on it.  Together the piece was called, "The Hurrier I go the Behinder I get."  The turtle had a weird combination of colors: purple and yellow, pink and green for starters.  I didn't have any fabric that would go with it so I made my own using FME (Free Motion Embroidery).  I layered small scraps of fabrics and fibers on one piece of fabric and stitched over all of it in random patterns to lock everything down.  Then I cut the jacket pieces out of the new fabric.  He had hand sewn leather shoes, beadwork and lots of lace as well as facial hair.  A woman came to the show and only wanted my doll and not the turtle.  She paid me more that I've ever made on a doll.  So here is Master Ferryman.

   Lastly, I want to share Heliotrope.  There was an alphabet challenge with the on line doll club called, "Doll Street".  I was given the letter "H".  I created the letter by using the doll's arms and legs, and after dressing her in purple, called her "Heliotrope."  She sold almost immediately at my next show.

3 Days

Hey it's only 3 days to the Craft Show at Skeelhaven.  All the goodies have arrived and boy oh boy are you going to love shopping! No pics- I just encouraging you to attend.  We've got jewelry, oh have we got jewelry!  Buckeye jewelry, too. We've got home dec goodies and we've got mushrooms- you won't believe the mushrooms but you'll just have to have one!  Of course I'll have some dolls as well. And of course there is more!

I am working on displays today and having fun moving these delights into different locations, then rearranging to make it look better or basically to make me happy.  Anywhoo, I hope you will join us.  Sat. and Sun., noon to 6., 6881 Tussic Street Rd., Westerville, OH 43082.

There Be Gnomes at Skeelhaven!

       So I'm getting ready for the Craft Show at Skeelhaven and I'm currently making gnomes.  I still have some hand sewing and beards to apply then I'll have 9 of them.  If I should actually find the Mache cones I bought forever ago for a class that got canceled when I was recovering from Sepsis, then I'll make a bigger family, but just now, it's 9 gnomes.

       

        Years ago someone gave me a bunch of fabric and stuff.  I mean like 2 trash bags and 2 paper boxes full.  Some of it was country not my taste, which makes it perfect for craft show stuff because I can make things with fabrics I don't care for but that shoppers might love.  It wasn't ugly fabric, just not my taste.  Included in that hoard of goodies I found very thick wool felt and I wondered what the heck would I ever do with that.  Well some of the different colors went to some if the gnomes.  Also included was a bag full of partially done snowmen, everything was precut and ready to go.  Several of the snow men were already made, some had their legs pinned on but there were probably about 20.  She had done shows before and was moving so needed to downsize.  Yea for me!  I have several friends give me things.  A huge box of leather and several boxes of jewelry that was either damaged or only one earring, or grandmas stuff and no one wanted it.  A box of evening gowns was given to me with lots of bead work that I could use for embellishments (if I can convince myself to cut into it.)  And of course, I've been given loads of fabric.  I am blessed with generous friends and students.

       So, I need to get back to creating.  I can finish sewing the base of the gnomes while watching TV, then do the beards.  The beards send fur EVERYWHERE!  I'm wearing a navy shirt today and it was practically covered in white just from doing one beard.

       I haven't decided if next come the snowmen or bath bombs.  I'll have to think on that one!

Last Week

      

My friend and mentor, Inez Brasch

        I missed posting last week, sorry.  A week ago Wednesday I left for Chicago for the Windy City Doll Workshops, which just so happens to be 20 minutes from my sister Kathy in Romeoville, who I met for lunch on Sunday.  I went a day early and enjoyed the quiet, room service and someone else making my bed.  I hooked up with my new friend, highly talented Gayle Wray, one of the new teachers.  Returning teachers were both fabulous: Dawn Schiller and Inez Brash, who doesn't have a web site of her own.  There's only so many hours in a day, right?

       I took Inez's workshop to make the character Roxie from the movie Chicago, played by Renee Zellweger.  Well it was an intense class!  Quite often there was complete silence as we layered batting and created muscles, knees, butt cheeks and such.  Then we hand sewed these layers in place.  Eventually we started gluing but then the "skin" layer came and I chose to hand sew rather than mess up with glue.  That meant my doll never got a head, breasts, the wonderful mask face Inez had in our kit and so my doll is not worth photographing yet.  I won't be touching her until after the craft show in November as I need to focus all my time on getting the new studio presentable for the craft show and make more stuff.  My doll is however very neatly sewn!

       I made a calendar spelling out when I work on what for the next few weeks. Today was the first day and I blew it.  I went back to bed instead of changing sheets and doing laundry.  I was also going to work in the studio while waiting for laundry, but instead I created fliers for the craft show.  This afternoon I will help Craig get the stray items in the studio upstairs.  there's odd things still there like my desk chair, a work table and the cool containers I have for supplies like paint brushes and such.  Again, there's only so many hours in a day.  Sigh.

       For some reason I cannot control the font size in this blog.  There seems to always be a wild section that wants to do it's own thing.  I try resetting the font, but keep failing.  If anyone can help me out here I would LOVE to hear from you!

The Big Move

       So Saturday we did it.  The Big Move.  Family and friends showed up to move my studio from the walk out basement room to three rooms upstairs; living room and 2 bedrooms.  What a day!  Craig hitched a 4X6 foot trailer to the riding mower and they just kept bring more stuff.  And more stuff.  And more stuff.  

       These two pics show one very small room.  There is a larger bedroom full of plastic drawer sets piled 6 1/2 feet high except at the two windows.  Closets are packed in both rooms.  The living room is twice the size of the two bedrooms and will need 1 six foot table for sewing machines and 2 six foot tables for classes and my own work.  Things will fit a little better after I rearrange like boxes and totes with each other.  Still, there will be extra boxes on the floor.  This particular room above will have all my books (two 6-foot shelves full) into it so the shelves will be empty for the craft show in 7 weeks.  But now I have my supplies where I can get to them to begin getting ready for the show.  I have a handful of finished dolls that will just need pulled from totes, a double handful that just need embellished and lots of little odds and ends.  I won't be sure until I get through all the box labels since I didn't touch everything while packing.

       So am I diving in to "unpack?"  Heck no!  I leave for the Windy City Doll Conference in a day and a half.  I've got other things to do.

My Life Is Flying!!!

                          

     My life seems to be flying at me.  Saturday we move my basement studio to the first floor as I have trouble getting down the stairs and want to create and teach again.  BTW- anyone available who would like to pitch in we begin moving things around 10 am, doughnuts and pizza for payment.  Then I prepare for a doll conference and I leave Wednesday.  That will be great fun as I am a student not a teacher, however I will know where nothing is for packing as it will all be in boxes that I hopefully labeled well. Before leaving I need to gather goodies to make at least 1 auction basket, print a single page pattern for their welcome bags AND I want to put something in the bags that advertises me in a way that they will all want to buy my patterns and take my online classes. 

              THEN when I return home Monday October 1st I have to start working on my craft show that will be here Nov. 10 & 11.  I need to unpack the studio so I can find stuff I already have in stock to sell, find supplies to make new stuff, and all the fun stuff that goes with planning the event.  At least there is a month before that is due.  Then it will be Christmas in about 5 minutes and Parker will be entering high school in ten!  I'm exhausted already, but the conference will be great!  I have the hotel room to myself a couple nights so I can hand at the bar with the girls or veg in my room with cable TV.  No cooking no unpacking, no making my bed.  Ahhhhhhhhhh... I need this!

Tape Measures and Scissors

       Where did all this stuff in my studio come from?  Honestly, I'm thinking that it mates at night and leaves me with multiples of almost everything.  Lets not even think about the fabric.

       I once asked my husband, "Just how many tape measures do you need?"  His quick retort was "How many pairs of scissors do you need?"  Well of course I tried to justify it by saying, "I buy extras for students to use.  There was sort of a hrrump sound and then we began a new conversation.  Actually I really wanted to know how many he needed.  Since there was no specific answer I asked everyone, I mean EVERYONE to get him a tape measure for Christmas.  I guess he learned my questions about building things sometimes do have a purpose after he got more than a dozen tape measures for Christmas.

       As for the scissors, yes, I have many.  Many for fabric, many for tiny cuts of fabric, several for embroidery, several for paper including the ones that make the fancy little edges and I could go on.

      Then, this past year for Christmas he bought me a set of scissors.  There's like 5 or 6 of them - I'm not sure because I've never even opened the box.  I don't even know if they are for paper or work on fabric.  I'll break into them when I start teaching from my home studio again, hopefully in January.

       So, I am very excited to attend the Windy City Doll Workshops at the end of September.  I am actually taking a class with Inez Brash, who only lives 15 minutes away.  When we get together we tend to do lunch and no dollmaking, which is a shame because there's so much more in her head than I could ever learn and these days I'm sure I'd forget more than half of it.

       So, to make a long story short, (I know, too late!) I just looked at the class supply list.  Guess what?  What do you think she wants us to bring?  Not one, not two but THREE pairs of scissors.  And where are my scissors?  Packed up and somewhere between the 2 studios.

So, I just ordered a new set of scissors from Amazon.

 

     

Bit by Bit

       Mega thanks to my son Shawn!  As I pack the studio he carries stuff upstairs.  Of course currently it's all staged in the living room with an exercise bike in the middle of it but it's great seeing at least some of my stash upstairs in what will be the new studio.  I'd move a lot faster if I wasn't having trouble with migraines that wipe me out for the day!  No fun at all!

        Anywhoo, Shawn guesses this is about one tenth of my stash!  Currently there is more on the opposite wall, and the exercise bike.  I still have a lot to do.  Tomorrow while I'm at Doll Club I hope the guys can bring up the empty pattern cabinets.  Then I can fill them with fabric, emptying more totes and boxes to refill in the basement.  I'd like to start classes in October, so I need to get on the stick!  And I'm thinking about a craft show in November if I can find enough stuff to sell and include other vendors.  More on that later.

Re-drawn

       After conversations with Shawn, my son and Craig, my Dear Hubby, they convinced me that certain pieces of furniture would never fit through the turns to a hallway to get to the two bedrooms.  So I spent yesterday afternoon redesigning each room, this time actually using a tape measure. I think I can fit everything in. I do have 3 closets available to me.  One has shelves on one end so I can add a 36 inch wide storage shelf inside.  There is a closet in the living room with shelves that I think will house all things that are paper crafts except rubber stamps.  We'll see.  I am likely to change my mind several times before it is all said and done.  LOL!

Fabric

         Wow! two posts in one day!

        I decided you need to see just how much fabric I am talking about here.  This is the fabric that has made it upstairs so far, except there is two additional totes that were too shy to pose for the photo.  The apple boxes hold a lot more fabric than you can imagine!  There is a lot more fabric still in the studio, including the box of all the great stuff I have bought in the past two years but not used.  It's a BIG box, too.  Can you see I easily need to make at least 40 new dolls?!  I don't even open emails from Michaels, JoAnn's or Hobby Lobby anymore!  There is definitely no room at the Inn.

       Like  I said... this does not include all the plastic drawers full of the fabrics I "like best."  Most fabrics are 1/4 to 1/2 yard pieces to begin with, and I did come across many smaller pieces which proves I do actually create with fabric.

So... It's Wednesday...

       I have been trying to post every Wednesday for the past few months so here I am again.  My son Shawn is completely moved in (home from 5 1/2 years in Chicago) and when I work on packing up the studio to move upstairs he carries boxes and totes right away so I get instant gratification.  Craig and Shawn discussed some of my cabinets and such and are trying to figure out how to get them where I want them.  I want to use 2 bedrooms for general supplies and then the living room as my classroom with all the little bits of stuff I use all the time like pens, pencils, beads, tools, the sewing machine, and whatnot.  But now I have to re-evaluate and start imagining all over thanks to small doorways and sharp turns with very little space.  Rah.  I went over all this in my head many times and had everything exactly how I wanted it.  Now, I get to do it again.  Shawn took measurements for me so maybe I should start there.  LOL!  You can tell I have the artistic mind as I should have started with measurements and not dreams.

       So, I'm beginning to think about weekend workshops and weekly classes as well as new on line classes.  What would you like me to teach?  I am currently wanting to do another mixed media canvas based piece like The Harvest Queen, below.  

       I want to choose a different color theme, of course, and I'm kicking that around.  I think it might be for the bathroom students would use, so that may help me figure things out.  We'll see.  The Harvest Queen currently hangs in my kitchen, which is painted pumpkin with dark green counter tops.  I think she looks great there amidst my Green Man shelf and my Green Woman head sculpt.

        In packing I emptied two cabinets full of fabric.  These are pattern cabinets from when Sew-Fro closed about 100 years ago and I have always had fabric in them.  So I touched every piece of fabric as I packed and OMG!  Wow!  Do I have a lot of gorgeous fabric!  I have absolutely have no excuse not to immediately make 40 dolls!  Then there are the additional drawers with the "good fabric" and there were two smallish boxes full of the fabric I bought from E-Quilter over the last two years because their newsletter enticed me.  Their advertising is very effective and that's all I have to say about that.

        My current patterns and online workshops are all available at my ETSY site as well as Craftsy, Doll Street and A For Artistic.  What I want to know is what do you want to learn now?  For live classes I can teach techniques and/ or complete dolls.  For on line classes I believe a finished item is the best option.  The great news about on line classes is now that Shawn is back home he can set me up to video my projects and edit them instead of me taking photos at each step along the way.  I'm very excited about that as I've wanted to for years, but my first son, Brian does sound not video, so he couldn't get me going.

        So, what's your desire to learn?  Hit me with your best shot.  Challenge me!  I can't wait to dive in, except first I have to get things upstairs and put away.

Oldie But a Goodie

       Here's an oldie but a goodie I just adore.  Something about the large brown eyes and orangey-blonde hair that makes me sigh just to look at her.  Another doll I wish I kept!  Her name is Elizabeth Anne Golden and her body is from my Embellished Angel pattern but her face and costume are her own.

Here's a full view.

       Sorry my weekly post is late.  We spent last weekend in Chicago collecting Shawn, my 31 year old baby boy and are trying to settle him in here with us.  We are thrilled to have him here, and he and my husband are project buddies which probably means sometime there will be more drywall dust in my future.  There's nothing needed or planned, it's just inevitable!  Lack of need has never stopped the two of them. 

       The studio move has slowed.  I over stretched something in my hip and now stairs are more unpleasant than ever.  I'm considering driving around from the first floor garage to the ground level entry to the basement studio just to get back to work.  I really want my studio upstairs and to get back to teaching!

Patterns

        So you are probably getting sick of me telling you about adapting all my patterns.  It's become a big job and distracts me from packing up the studio to bring it upstairs.  But I figure since Son # 2, my baby Shawn comes home next weekend to live with us I will have live in help in packing and moving.  So clever of me, eh?!  He doesn't get the original Master bedroom until I'm completely unpacked and out of that room.  We have the new bedroom that Craig built on a couple of years ago for the two of us so #1 son and his wife could live with us, but they moved out in February and have the loveliest house.  I'm happy they are only 10 minutes away and that Shawn is moving in.

       Anywhoo, while working on my "Lucky Penny Pin Doll" pattern I did a nice visual tutorial on eyes and eye makeup.  Tell me what you think.

       The funny thing is all this detail is for a tiny doll head.  Well, okay, not tiny, but small enough to wear on your lapel.  Just when I think I'm almost done (I'm currently in the "W's"), I think of a cool way of doing something and want to go back and re-do it in every pattern.  I may never finish this project, but it's great that I'm enjoying the journey!

       Have a love rest of the week!

Dream Come True!

       My baby boy, Shawn Thomas Skeel, will be moving home after 5 years.  He went to Chicago to follow a girl with no money and no plan one Thanksgiving Day weekend.  He worked several jobs in retail and there was always a problem, such as being full time for Radio Shack as they slowly went out of business.  Now he wants to come home and go back to school.  A dream come true for this Mama!  He encourages my art, he lets me know what's missing when a doll needs just that little something, and his own love is working in leather, making corsets and such.  Needless to say I'm thrilled out of my tiny little mind.

       This photo was taken and edited by my lovely Daughter In Law (Wife of #1 son, Brian).  You don't see much of Shaw's face but it captures the essence of who he was at the time: a Ren Faire junkie.  He made the leather belt and you can see the artwork on the back.  He has several swords and daggers and even a whip, which he used to stand in the back yard and crack for what seemed like hours.  I can't wait until August 4th when we collect Shawn and his belongings and after two nights at my sister Kathy's just south of Chicago we will bring him home.  Sigh.  I love you Shawn!

Stories

       

         We had friends over last night for our monthly "Music Night" where folks with instruments bring them, folks that sing bring their voices and anyone else can bring their ears and listen.  We do a potluck dinner as most friends work till dinner time and we want to make sure they don't have to gobble down fast food before our fun evening.  We tend to get a little chatty and start singing later than planned but everyone has a grand time.

     

           I was telling a few stories to friends about changes in our home through the years including Craig convincing us it would be a great idea to raise the house 4 feet and turn the crawl space into a full basement.  He bribed me with an art studio that would be 12' by 24'.  Though I drooled over that possibility I still have no recollection of saying yes.  It turned out to be a larger project that we planned as the house fell a couple times, once it pivoted when it fell and one corner was 21 inches from where it belonged.  We had a house raising company raise the house and Craig managed to lay all the block in 30 days.  It all turned out great in the end but the stories along the way seem endless and quite humorous now.

     

          Needless to say, as I regaled the various stories a friend suggested I write a book about everything we've been through.  Maybe someday - who knows.  All I can think of for a title is "With love from Skeelhaven," which is of course the name of my doll business, too.  I wish I had saved all the emails that went out to friends telling them about events daily.  Should I decide to write this book someday I'll have to count on my failing memory and the memories of the rest of the family.  But it sure could be a fun project!

           I'm still packing my studio.  It feels like it will take forever.  I have church friends who have volunteered to help with the move, but I have to get it packed first.  I never realized just how much stuff I have!  When I moved to the new room in the basement, same size as the one before but with the patio doors to allow sun in for a bit of cheer, I purged a bunch of stuff, such as  dolls I was embarrassed to claim I made, though I still have the very first, which is a leprechaun playing his fiddle (maybe this move will help turn up his long lost bow!)  

         I had all three bedrooms planned out in my head for how furniture would get arranged with all my drawers and cabinets, shelves of creating books, more shelves for tools, paint brushes, and drawing supplies, my life size mannequin, and all the other stuff.  Where in the world did I get all this stuff?  

         Anywhoo, yesterday Shawn, my soon to be 30 year old baby announced he would like to move home and go to college.  Though I'm thrilled beyond belief that he would finally return from Chicago where he went to follow a girl years 5 ago I realize I have to give up one of those bedrooms, and of course it should be the largest, since it is adjacent to the bathroom and what the hey, he deserves the best.  So now I get to rearrange the furniture in my head and get things planned.  I will have the living room for the daily use tools, tables for classes, sewing machines and what not, but still need somewhere for everything else.  And there is A LOT of everything else!  I guess Dear Shawn will have to help me move things room to room and unpack if he wants his own room upstairs and not the dark guest bedroom in the basement where he will start out until I am organized. Meanwhile, I am back to the drawing board for room arrangements.  Sigh.  Never a dull moment at Skeelhaven.

        

Paisley Praise

     I have revised another doll pattern.  This one is Paisley Praise, a beautiful angel.  You can find her at my ETSY site.

     When I was in the hospital several years ago with severe double pneumonia I was afraid I might die.  Then one quiet evening I was resting in bed with my eyes closed and I felt hands on each leg and each arm.  I opened my eyes to see who was there, but I was alone.  I closed my eyes and immediately felt the hands again.  I believe it was angels comforting me and letting me know I would be all right.  And then of course, I was all right.   The experience invited me to create this doll.

Here is a pic of the pattern

I made another version, though she is just Lady Paisley as she has no wings.

     Here is a close up on Paisley's wing.  The wing is made of two sided fabric, cut into strips of feathers, stitched using Free Motion Embroidery to add details to the feathers then attached to a wire to make the wings pose able.

     I really enjoyed making this doll.  Choosing all the complimentary fabrics was fun!

New Pattern!

       I have dusted off and rewritten the text for an old pattern.  "Lucky Penny Pin Doll" actually has a copper penny tucked into her gathered bosom.  

     

       This pattern has detailed step-by-step needle sculpting and face coloring details.  She’s the perfect size for a special little gift.  Years ago she was published in a pattern book by my local doll club, the Guilded Lilies.  Her instructions and pattern templates filled one page.   Now, years later, Penny has her own pattern with ten pages of instructions.  I hope you'll visit my ETSY site and check out Penny and my other patterns and workshops!      

Step One for the New Studio!

    Today I finished painting the living room.  In itself it's not a big deal, but now I can start packing up my studio and moving it upstairs to the living room.  I want to go back to teaching from Skeelhaven and once I'm moved and organized (okay- that's a relative word for an artist!) I can start to set up classes and find students again.  

     I'm still working on editing and revising patterns.  This week I finished a few. 

Joy! Celebrating Life

     Middle aged Joy, with her widened hips and saggy breasts celebrates waking up every morning and all the simple joys of her life through dance.  Boldly dressed in vivid colors, including her hair, she loves to draw attention to herself because she knows she is still beautiful, as all women are inside.  This doll may choose to sit or dangle from the ceiling.

Embellished Angel was the first and here's a page showing drawings that step by step show dressing the doll.  I'm pretty pleased that I drew it all on the computer!  

Here's a drawing of the same costume completed.

Both of these patterns are available at my ETSY site.

Still Working

I am still working on revising doll patterns.  This week the main focus has been on the Dragonfly Rider.  The Elf wears a cod piece, a silk Tunic and leather gloves and boots.  Seated he is about 6 inches tall.  He also sports real hair eyelashes and brows.  The dragonfly is just under 2 feet long with acetate wings that can be colored with markers as desired.  I made one dragonfly where I fully beaded the tail in a random format, which, by the way, is much easier to do than any other type of beading.  The whole piece can be set on a stand so he appears to be flying, or he could be hung from the ceiling.

I cropped a photo to give you a close up of the Elf's face.  I added brown hair to his eyelashes and brows and you can see them in this photo.  Sadly, I can't enlarge the photo any more as it gets pixilated.  If you look closely under the hair on his forehead you can see the brows.

All in all, I think it's a pretty cool pattern. I just posted it at my ETSY site if you are interested.

More revisions

       I am still working on pattern revisions.  In working on the Dragonfly Rider I discovered it was a pre-class pattern and missing a TON of information.  How embarrassing!  Now I have the complete Dragonfly Rider ready to offer.  He is at my ETSY shop.  Here's the new cover for The Dragonfly Rider.  It includes the Elf Rider and the Dragonfly who can sit on a table, or hover above a stand or even hang from a ceiling!

       I still have a few more doll patterns to revise before I take a look at my workshops.  

      I am also working towards bringing my doll Studio upstairs to the old unused Living Room from the current walk out basement Studio.  It's nice down there but I've been fighting the stairs too long and not going down enough- actually almost not at all so the move will get me away from the steps and if I use one (or two!) bedrooms for supply storage I will be able to hold classes again!  Oh how I have missed teaching!  I'll post photos of the Studio progress but first I have to finish putting the family room back together after remodeling.  One room at a time!