Houston International Quilt Festival!

The International Quilt Festival is in full swing!  With beautiful quilts:

Best of Show winner Janet Stone with her beautiful quilt "Ewe Are My Sunshine"

More gorgeous quilts

Beautifully handcrafted garments:

And of course, the best part, the doll exhibits!

I have two dolls in the show this year.  "In Celebration of the Doll" is an invitational exhibit, with dolls coming from all over the country (and around the world).  I feel very fortunate to be included with these wonderful artists.  My "Celebration" doll this year is

"Handmaid of the Sacred Heart"

This is my interpretation of a Santos figure, in cloth of course.  Her torso, arms and skirt are felted merino wool.  Her apron and headpiece are hand dyed velvet, with machine embroidery and beading.

My other doll is in the Texas Association of Original Doll Artists exhibit "Block Party 3".  Each doll in this exhibit features a quilt block.  The one I chose is the farmer's daughter quilt block, which inspired the piece.

"The Farmer's Daughter"

Her dress and poke bonnet are constructed from a vintage Liberty of London cotton print.  Her cotton apron features the farmer's daughter quilt block on the bib. Her hair is Tibetan lambskin.  In her arms she holds a basket of hand felted heirloom tomatoes in shades of red, yellow, orange and green merino wool.

It's always an honor to exhibit my dolls at the International Quilt Festival!  And I'm so lucky to live in Houston and be able to attend this show every year.

The Making of the Quilting Queen - Part 2.

Last week I posted photos of the making of the quilt blocks for the Quilting Queen.  Here are some photos of the details that finish this piece.

Making the shoes:

shoe parts

attaching to foot; painting grommets to match

her sensible shoes

Auditioning hair:

Every queen needs a crown:

and the tools of her trade:

needle and thread

And scissors, of course. I bought a pair of vintage Barbie scissors on ebay.  They were wonderful – they opened and closed just like real scissors.  When I tried to place them in her hands they broke in two places. 

:-( 

So I had to make my own.  I started by tracing my own scissors, then shrinking them down.  I cut them from cardboard....

 Then foiled them silver.

The last step was to make the base and label.

And she is complete!

And I am happy to say she has found a home with one of my very favorite collectors!

The Making of Quilting Queen - Part 1.

Last fall TAODA had an exhibit titled “Block Party” at the International Quilt Festival in Houston.  The idea was to use a quilt block somewhere in the doll.  I immediately thought of a ‘quilting lady’ proudly wearing her creation.  I thought she should be dressed in a garment using multiple quilt blocks and that’s when the “Quilting Queen” idea was born.  Now, I am not a quilter so this was definitely a challenge.

I found lots of help on the internet.  I decided I should use a technique called paper piecing, which made working with these small pieces of fabric do-able.

The first block I chose was log cabin because I read it was the easiest one to begin with.

sewing from the back

log cabin in progress

I made 32 of these and they formed the bottom tier of her skirt.

The next block I chose was spools.  Another 32 of these will form the top tier of her skirt.

         you can see my queenly inspiration on the bottom right :-)

The middle tier of her skirt:  32 pineapple blocks

quilting "in the ditch"

Her sleeves consist of fan and Roman square blocks.  There are 44 blocks in the sleeves.

It's coming together:

Her bodice is a single floral appliqué block.

Every queen needs a mantle, right?  Her mantle is 76 blocks of Ohio star (24 star, 52 plain).

And the finished mantle:

In total, there are 165 patterned blocks in the Quilting Queen's ensemble.  In the words of a popular song: Does that make me crazy?  Possibly…..  ;-)

Next week I'll post photos of the little details that finish the piece.

International Quilt Festival 2013

Another Quilt Festival has come and gone.  This year, with so many shows in the month of October, I only managed to get two dolls made for the International Quilt Festival.  One for the "In Celebration of the Doll" exhibit

"Sim Shalom"
("Let There Be Peace")

and one for the TAODA "Block Party" exhibit

"Quilting Queen"

This doll has 165 patterned quilt blocks in her outfit.  I used Log Cabin, Spools, Pineapple, Fan, Roman Square, Floral Applique, and Ohio Star.

Ohio Star quilt blocks on the Queen's mantle

Check out the TAODA blog for lots more pictures of the dolls.

Preview night is always the most fun.  I added to my Elise Peeple doll collection

and made some nice purchases of fabrics and trims

Just for fun, I took a ribbon dyeing class with Christen Brown

Here are some of the ribbons I dyed in class using different stitching and folding techniques.

Another successful Quilt Festival!