My cousin’s daughter is becoming a Bat Mitzvah this weekend. I found this really bold and beautiful fabric at my local quilting store, added some embroidery, crystals, and a label with initials and date of bat mitzvah on the back. This truly was a labor of love.
The hebrew means “Shabbat.”
I thought it would be nice to welcome my mother on her recent visit to my home in Florida by making a doll. She has always remarked how a doll was her first toy. She has also collected several dolls over the years.
My dolly fabric doll was made in a day! First, prepare your photo image and transfer to a fabric sheet, then add fusible web, cut, and sew the face onto a piece of muslin to give extra support. Next, trace a doll shape onto muslin, fuse fabric to the shape, fuse the face to the front, and add any other embellishments of your choice (keep it light weight) to the doll before you sew it together.
I added a wonderful quote “A fair face will fade but a beautiful soul will live forever,” to another piece of fabric and then I sewed it to the front of the doll along with fabric ribbon for shoes and the headband, and added a pair of hands (scrapbook embellishment). I traced a second doll shape on muslin and fused it to some pretty fabric for the backing. Then, I placed the front and back together and sewed around the shape leaving a small gap so that I could fill it with a little batting to give it some additional shape and weight. I tied a pretty bow around the neck and my dolly-a-day was complete.
In honor of Mother’s Day next Sunday, I created these fabric postcards. I embroidered a Jewish proverb on two different fabrics and used a family photo of my mother and grandparents at the beach with some cool bubble stippling.
Have you noticed that birds and bird cages are quite the rage in design for fabric and scrapbook paper? Just when you think you can’t stand to see one more bird related thing, my eye was drawn to this bright and cheery bird and floral fabric. I re-purposed two rosettes from my daughter’s horse show ribbons and put them together with a pretty teal colored flower by Prima. I also added some beads, lace trim and fused a bird here and there to complete this bird inspired quilt.
The artwork of Shelley Kommers, a mixed-media artist from California, is my inspiration for this 12 x 12 quilt block. The sky and grass were sewn to muslin, then a light green shading stitch was added at the horizon. The butterflies and the boy were cut from different fabrics and fused to the top. I free form stitched the kite lines. Amazing how a simple visual can inspire. Go fly a kite today and have fun!
My friend Susan sent me a beautiful card in 2004. I love the hands and the bright colors, so I decided to create a quilt based on the card. I used my own hands as a guide, fused the hands and hearts, appliqued in gold metallic thread and added the embroidered phrase “create the life you imagine.” It’s hanging on our front door. Thanks Susan!
