On TDIPT tonight!

 Ophelia the harvest gatherer!

And Happy Jack!

A tabletop pumpkin!

AND, during the month of OCTOBER, my pattern 

DOROTHY and TOTO is 

ON SALE 

at my website and my Etsy Shoppe!

How to paint a pumpkin head!

 When autumn comes I always feel like making a pumpkin head doll! I love to work with my favorite colors of paint, deep green and olive green, yellow ochre, burnt orange, some pretty reds!

Oh its so much fun!

So I thought I would show you how I do the underpainting on one of these dolls, to get the wonderful depth of color and tone that every vegetable girl should have!

LOL!

The idea is to under-paint highlights and low lights. The cheeks and forehead I have painted with yellow, then I have come in with deep green where the shadows might be.

Here is the face and shoulders:

The side and back of the head:

Coverage is not important. 

You will worry about coverage when you do the top coat.

Right now you are just getting in the highlights and low lights.

The same goes for the arms and legs:

Next,  you will  go over everything with a top coat. I used Terra Cotta. I am just using the 2 oz. cheap paints from the craft store.

First you block in the color, the eye whites, the color of the irises and pupils. When this is dry, sand it all over with 220 grit sand paper. This is what brings out your underpainting, and give the doll that aged patina-almost like leather!

All of the details are done with colored pencil:

Here is another one-just the head!

Beautiful Wools!

 

Aren't they yummy? 

xx

~Annie

Baskets and Wreaths

Here is a sneak peek of the project I have been obsessing about lately!

Each block will be 8" square. I think I will sash it with a batik fabric, but I'm not sure yet. I have changed the flowers so many times to get them to coordinate,

I could probably make another project just out of the rejects!

 

These are all wools, and once I get them all set I will begin to 

sew them down with Valdani's #12 perle cotton. The background is a lovely faded-out looking black flannel that I bought from Connecting Threads (love the lower prices there, perfect for staple fabrics like that). Click to enlarge the photo and you can get a better idea of the background fabric. This photo is a little dark, I apologize. I was playing around with the tungsten setting on my camera!

Sew what have you been doing?

xx

~Annie

New Pattern and a PDF BOM!

 

 Remember this guy? Well it is now available at my Etsy Shoppe as an instant downloadable Block-of-the-Month! You can download 1 pattern or all of them right now! And best of all, no shipping!

 I love that, don't you!

And Pumpkins and Squirrels is now officially a pattern. Available on my website today!

SO...after a busy week of pattern writing and PDF converting, I am now ready to start a new project. Hmmm...what will it be? Probably something quilty, but I am also thinking about Halloween home decor. 

What are you working on this fall?

Three Tokens and crushed walnuts!

Happy Fall!

Three Tokens is a quick and simple little pattern consisting of 3 designs that you can use however you wish! Stitchery, embroidery, wool applique, punchneedle, the sky is the limit! This is an instant download available at Etsy and on my website.

And...

 If you decide to make yours into a pincushion, I am also offering crushed walnuts for your filling! Crushed walnuts make the *BEST* filling for pincushions! It is heavy which gives such a wonderful vintage feel, plus your pincushion stays where you put it. No more traveling around your sewing table! 

Crushed Walnuts come in a handy 1 cup size, the perfect amount for a 5 inch pincushion.

I am offering them here at Etsy.

Enjoy!

xx

~Annie

New Autumnal Offerings!

Finally! LOL!

Sorry if the title seems hoity-toity! 

I just love using the word"autumnal"!!!

Any-whooo! Here are my 2 newest offerings on TDIPT this month!

First is a little pincushion that I designed. It is actually a proto-type for a new pattern that will have 3 pincushion designs in it. The pattern should be ready some time next week.

It is all made of wool-do you like it?

And next is an awesome table runner, also soon to be a pattern. I am super excited about how this one came out! It really was fast, I did it in like 2 days! The pattern should be out week after next. It is called Squirrels and Pumpkins.

Isn't it great! To see more details visit the TDIPT website.

Thanks for looking!

xx

~Annie