Fairies

Around here, fairies are a favorite. Miss E received a very cute fairy book for her birthday, and every time I read it, I think, "Hmm. I could make a doll like that ..." And one day, last week, it hit me. I could NOT suppress the urge to create, so here is Harmony the Peace Fairy, as she turned out. I still need to work on the pattern for face and neck joining to body, but ... Miss E doesn't care. Harmony now hangs out with Poppy, the first fairy I ever made, and they are quite chummy.

She's only about 7 inches tall, and those arms, legs and braids were ... um ... a royal pain, putting it mildly. Turning those was an art form. Or something. But I managed to get it all done, and she's pretty cute.

Presents and presents and presents and ... presents!

Where did the last two weeks go?! Let's see ... prior to Thanksgiving, I made this adorable little purple fairy for a girl named Violet. I named her Iris, another purple name, and added little pink hearts on the back of her wings. She loves strawberries, just like Violet, so she took a little strawberry with her. Violet thought she was pretty sweet.

Now, my friend has my business cards and a banner all ready for me; I just need to get my Etsy site set up. I'm beginning to sound like a broken record; where is the time?! I've got so many things to make for Christmas that I think I'll have to set up after the holidays, not as I initially planned, but I'll get there someday. Last week, my time was spent being really sick with a horrid cold, which unfortunately, most of the family, including those visiting, came down with. I'm still coughing up lungs, I think.

Oh yes ... and I made this amazingly cool 14-inch pizza with olives, sausage, mushrooms and tomatoes. All in felt, with quilt batting for thickness. It's for my 4-year-old nephew for Christmas, but since my sister knows and he doesn't log in on his own, I can safely talk about it. It's really awesome, and boxed up in a Mangia Pizza box from right here in Austin. However ... I forgot to take pictures before sending it home with my mom, so photos will be after Christmas. Oops!

After that, what? I made a really cool ... um, wait ... can't talk about that until after next week. It's for a crafty gift exchange with friends next week. So, er, that will be posted later, too. That is the problem with making Christmas gifts. I spend my time making but can't show and tell yet!

Right ... I made a really cute pirate cat for my niece's 6th birthday, which is really this coming Monday. She has named her Captain Kitty, and if I ever get around to pulling pics off my camera, I'll put up photos of that, too. She rocks, with all of her skull fabrics, and a backpack, just like my niece. My brother said I scored major points with her on this one, and that makes me proud!

So there you have the last two weeks in summary ... lots of ideas, very few photos! I have a feeling that's the way it will be for the rest of the month, so my apologies in advance! Happy holidays to all of you jolly readers! :)

Mirabelle, the garden fairy

I'm about a week behind in posting pics and the story on Mirabelle. She's the second of the tiny garden fairies, all in greens and browns. Her little butterfly wings have a zigzag stitch around the edge and will fray gently over time. She's even got a tiny flower in her hair to match the flowers on her dress! Initially, I had to wait to make sure she got to my mom before I posted anything.

My grandma died a little less than three weeks ago, and I wanted to do something for my mom, who is 1200 miles away. Gram moved in with them two years ago, at age 93, after living alone for years. We celebrated her 95th this past June, and had a wonderful visit with her. Unfortunately, she fell a few weeks later and never fully recovered from hip surgery, medication, and trauma. Mom and Dad spent nearly two months driving to and from the hospital and nursing home to check up on her, and it was a stressful time. Since I couldn't be there, I had to do something, and lying in bed one night, I came up with Mirabelle.

Mirabelle, like Miss E, loves all green and leafy veggies ... and chocolate, of course. What girl doesn't love chocolate?! She is full of hugs because we loaded her up before shipping her off to Mom. (Reports say she flew out of the box and delivered hugs immediately.) It sounds like she'll be hovering around the kitchen now, watching the birds and flowers out the window and passing on a bit of sunshine whenever it's cloudy.

Fairy

Miss E has this really cute growth chart behind the door in her bedroom, and every time I look at it, I want to smile. It has three adorable little fairies on it, and each has a pretty floral dress and gingham wings. I've been wanting to create little plushies like them, so last night, I took an hour or two to get one started and then finished her up this evening.

As prototypes go, there are things I'll do differently next time, but I think the pattern is a keeper. I started with the pattern I've been using for the dolls like Chloe, reduced it 60%, tweaked the hair (next will have longer hair) and added some butterfly wings. Wings were a bit of a challenge, so Miss E has the first one to play with. I decided to leave them to fray, much like the bits and pieces of fabric on the front of her dress. The wings are made from muslin and lined with flannel, making them incredibly soft yet stiff enough to stand out. Her dress has a little collar and pockets (sorry, fake) to match her sleeves; the last little bits of that gorgeous Amy Butler Gothic Rose. (I really might have to get more. Love it.)

I practiced my embroidery on the face, and it's not half bad. I'm signed up for an embroidery class in early October (yippee!), hoping to improve my doll faces. I've got at least 20 faces sketched out to try as I go, but Miss E loves the sleepy smiley look on this little fairy. She makes me smile just looking at her.

She's tiny -- maybe 7 or 8 inches, head to toe, at most. I should measure her, but she's currently sleeping in Miss E's arms, so that is not possible. Turns out, she and Chloe are BFFs, and both are being hugged tonight. I wasn't sure how the small size would be for a toddler, but she seems to just adore the tiny size, so it's a hit! I like the size because it's easy for her to carry around, and small enough that I can stash her in my purse if Miss E gets tired of carrying her. I was toying with the idea of calling them Pocket Fairies, but haven't researched to see if anyone else has those already. She's a bit too big for a pocket, really, but so dang cute! I'm ready to make more! :)