Dotee Doll For A Friend & Anniversaries

I made this Dotee Doll today for my very good friend, Karin. Yellow is her favourite colour. Karin and her hubby have lived in an RV (motor home) for the last two years, travelling all over the United States and Canada. They both love the nomadic life. I often wonder what it would be like to experience life like that and could I do it? I think I could.

Today (October 3rd) is the 20th anniversary of the date we took possession of our house. Back then, it was a little cottage. Over the years, we built an addition and did extensive renovations. The place looks totally different now. At first the house was our weekend getaway from the city and then in 1994, we decided to move up to the country permanently. In spite of having lived in a big city all my life, I discovered that I'm a country gal at heart.

Tomorrow (October 4th) is our 23rd wedding anniversary. I remember feeling really special on our wedding day and being so happy to have found a man as wonderful as my husband. And now, 20 plus years down the road, I am only beginning to realize what a gem I married. It makes me wonder how much more I will appreciate and love my husband in another 20 years (God willing).

Brown Dotee Doll Finished

Beginnings of a New Dotee Doll

I spotted a piece of tea dyed muslin in my studio this morning. I'm sure I must have dyed that fabric about 10 years ago. Just for fun, I picked up a brown Sharpie and started drawing a face. One thing led to another and the next thing I knew, I was cutting out a new Dotee doll. I haven't made a Dotee for months.

I will finish her up tomorrow when I have some more time. Instead of the usual beads for the tail and loop hanger, I'm going to use some beautiful textured brown yarn.

I really like this little gal. I guess I had forgotten how much fun they are to make.

Trilliums

This is my last Dotee doll (for a while). I made this for a swap with a local theme. We had to embellish the doll with something representative of the city, state or country that we live in. I live in Ontario, Canada so right away I thought “Trillium”, the official flower of the province of Ontario.

Well, I had a devil of a time with the trilliums. I lost count of the number of flowers I made. Nothing was working with this doll. My house is littered with a trail of trilliums. :(

Finally, I just had some petals and leaves growing out of her head. Not what I envisioned in the beginning but the best that I could come up with this time.

My house has been a construction site for the last week or so. We ripped out the bathtub and replaced it with a fully tiled walk in shower. We also built a wall to wall closet in the bedroom. It's been difficult to do anything creative with all this going on. It's nice to have had the break. Now I'm itching to get on with some more fabric art.

Recent Work

Easter Dotee Preview

Here is a preview of the Easter Dotee I am working on. I wanted to photograph it flat, before I sew on the back and fill it with batting, because I will use this image for my Easter Card. Now I can finish up the doll and mail it out to my swap partner tomorrow. The background is scrapbooking paper.

All I could think of for the Easter theme was a regular Dotee with bunny ears. This lovely tightly woven cotton is from my late mother's stash and I am absolutely in love with it. It must be anywhere from 30 to 50 years old. Just perfect for Easter.

Shabby Chic Dotees

The Shabby Chic Dotees are ready to go to their new homes.

Preview - Shabby Chic Dotee

Here is a preview of the Shabby Chic Dotees I am working on for a swap. I adore this fabric. This is the fabric that Dot used to wrap up the Dotee Doll she sent me. There is enough to make two dolls for my swap partners and one for me to keep.

Shrinking Dotees

After studying Dot's Dotee Doll, I got out my ruler and found that her's measures just shy of 4 inches. I started out making these babies 6 inches in length, then 5 1/2 inches and then 4 1/2 inches. You know, I like the smaller ones better so I made this one a mere 4 inches. I think I'll stick with this size and maybe reduce the width a little too.

This one is for another swap. I still have a number of swap committments to fulfill which I hope to finish by the middle of next week. Then I must get on with other things.

The Real Deal

This, dear readers, is the Dotee I received from Dot, the creator of the Dotee Doll. Click on the image for a larger view. Isn't she wonderful? I am so pleased to welcome her to my growing collection of Dotees.

Not only did I receive the doll, but Dot sent me some beautiful fabric swatches and beads. I am so grateful. Thank you, Dot.

I have made a Dotee for Dot too and will post a picture once she arrives at her new home.

The guy from Staples office suppies showed up at my door this morning to deliver the art supplies I posted about a few days ago. I am impressed. They delivered when they said they would and everything I ordered was in stock. I am itching to try out all the colours of my new ultra-fine Sharpies.

Polka Dot Dotee

I should have waited until she was completely finished. She's near enough done that I thought I'd share her with you now. She just needs a back and some stuffing and she's good to go.

This is for a swap that I've been looking forward to doing for a while. The theme is polka dots and rather than use just one fabric, I used three different polka dot colours from my stash, burgundy, black and moss green.

All of my dolls so far have been completely hand sewn. For this one, I used my sewing machine and played around with some of the decorative stitches. I added a few beads that my friend J got for me from that mega bead store that I am scared to visit myself (in case I bankrupt us).

Now that I've actually dug out the sewing machine from all that mess on my sewing table, I will use it more often for doll making.

I've been sorting through my sewing patterns and am really itching to start on some spring and summer clothing. In fact, I am going to use that green fabric on the doll to make a top. I love that shade of green and it seems to love me right back.

Fabric ATCs For A Swap

These fabric ATCs are going in the mail to my swap partners. The purple one at the top employs some more of that wonderful quilting cotton that my niece gave me.

The bottom card is a tiny Dotee. She's got some beads around her and a bit of glitter paint. I'll have to do more of the Dotee ATCs as they are quick and fun.

Ugly (Tacky) Dotee Two

This is the second Dotee doll for the "It's So Ugly, It's Cute" swap. Again, I used some fabric which I'm not sure I would want to use for anything else, those awful plastic dollar store teardrop thingys and the cheap beads. To complete the tacky look, I backed her with a very, hot, hot, pink felt. And then as I was photographing her outside, a gust of wind blew her away and she got a bit wet and dirty.

Ugly Dotee One

OK, I don't think she's all that ugly, at least not her face. I seem to want to draw pretty faces. A better term to define this one, I think, would be "Tacky Dotee".

Here's what's tacky about her. 1) The fabric. I cut it on the bias to make it visually more interesting. 2) The yellow plastic teardrops at the end of her earrings and tail. 3) The yellow and blue beads on her hanger and tail.

I had bought the plastic (yuck) teardrops and the beads from a dollar store when I first started making these dolls and learning to bead. I didn't know what to buy and of course it didn't take me long to realize that those purchases were a mistake. Once in a while you can find something of some quality in those dollars stores but you have to be careful.

My second ugly/tacky Dotee will be posted here tomorrow.

Robin's Winter Dotee

Here's a Dotee I received from my swap partner, Robin. I absolutely have to smile every time I look at that face. :)

Dotee Express

These dolls are ready to go to my four swap partners. The theme for the top set is Creativity. I don't know how creative I was here but I had some beautiful black quilting cotton with tiny gold stars that I thought would be nice for the body. I decided to make these "artsy" dolls entirely in black and gold so I painted the faces and the background for the lettering, gold. The letters A R T are rubber stamped.

The theme for the second set is Winter. The only thing I had in my stash that fit was some navy blue cotton with a snowball print. I painted their faces silver to give them a wintry feel. I particularly like the look of silver and will definitely use this colour again for future dolls.

The "tails" are gold and silver wing charms.

And now, to finish up those troublesome Icicle Dolls that I have been telling myself to complete for the past three weeks.

Tallulah's Valentine Dotee

I want to share with you the Valentine Dotee I just received from Tallulah in France. She tells me this is the first Dotee she ever made but I can tell from the neat little embroidery stitches that Tallulah is no stranger to needle and thread. I love how it's all nicely co-ordinated, the fabric, the beads and the ribbon loop and, how clever to give her a wink and a heart-shaped mouth.

Thank you Tallulah. I'm glad I ended up having you as a swap partner.

You can visit Tallulah at her colourful, well written blog - Hoola Tallulah.

Mini Dotee

I found a very small piece of cotton among all the fabric scraps that my neighbour gave me. It was too small to do much with and too pretty, I thought, to toss out. My Dotee dolls are usually 5 1/2 inches long but to be able to use this little scrap, I had to make a smaller doll. I thought I'd try and see what a 4 1/2 inch figure looked like.

I had drawn the face awhile ago and was just waiting for the right fabric. These two seemed to suit each other, so here it is. I actually like the smaller size better. It's somehow cuter.

I am going to finish up one of my Icicle Dolls tonight and hopefully will find some time to post it on what will be a very busy tomorrow.

Red and Gold

The Valentine Dotee doll was finished today. I only needed to add a few embellishments because what I chose already had enough sparkle. I added a red/gold ribbon loop at the top and bottom, a red/gold button, red seed beads around the face, a gold feather at the end of the tail and a few red sequins in the body. I really "made up" her eyes and gave her luscious red lips.

I worked on her while listening to Berlioz' opera "La damnation de Faust." I mention this because I'm planning on making a series of opera diva dolls. This has been in the back of my mind for a while and the more I think about it, the more ideas spring forth. It's all still in the sketching stages right now.

Swap Dolls

These are the beginnings of a Dotee Doll and an Icicle Doll that I have committed to making for partners on www.swap-bot.com. In fact, I just reviewed all the swaps that I've signed up for, and the grand total is eight. Five Dotees, two Icicles and one Goddess Doll.

I have lots of ideas floating around in my brain and am looking forward to making each one.

Up until now, most of my photos for this blog were taken outside in daylight. Today is so cold. I really didn't want to stand out there freezing. Why I didn't think of this before, I don't know. I took this shot from the warm side of the patio door off our bedroom. Lots of good natural light there.