Big Cookie, Little Cookies

Someone's birthday is near and so it was time for a big cookie. Hopefully that someone does not read this blog :)

These were made using the Nestlé Toll House cookie recipe on the back of their bag of semi-sweet chocolate morsels. Once you make up the cookie dough, divide it in half. One half goes in a buttered 9 inch round spring form pan and bakes at a slightly lower temperature, 350 instead of 375 degrees, for a longer period of time, about 25 to 30 minutes. I found this suggestion in The Family Baker by Susan G Purdy. It's a fun cookbook full of traditional treats.

The other half of the cookie dough is baked according to the package directions. This way, even though the big cookie is leaving for a far away place, we still have a plate of chocolate chip cookies to enjoy here.

You know you're a nerd when...

...you spend the better part of a perfectly beautiful morning inside at the computer, making animated GIFs for no better purpose than to decorate your MySpace page. But, hey, aren't they cool? I never tried making one before. It's kind of hypnotic. Yes, I am a bit of a nerd :)

Okay, actually, according to this test, I am 69% nerd:

"Your Score: Pure Nerd

69 % Nerd, 13% Geek, 26% Dork

For The Record:

A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.
A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.
A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.
You scored better than half in Nerd, earning you the title of: Pure Nerd.

The times, they are a-changing. It used to be that being exceptionally smart led to being unpopular, which would ultimately lead to picking up all of the traits and tendencies associated with the "dork." No-longer. Being smart isn't as socially crippling as it once was, and even more so as you get older: eventually being a Pure Nerd will likely be replaced with the following label: Purely Successful.

Congratulations!

Thanks Again! -- THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST "

"Clara", Izannah Walker-inspired Art Doll

This is Clara, the doll who was waiting so long for a dress and then new shoes. Finally, she has it all.

This is my same Izannah Walker-inspired doll dress pattern I was describing in my last post, done in a pink cotton fabric with little pale pink chrysanthemums. I sewed two pin tucks and a three inch hem at the bottom of the dress, which makes it stand out nicely. A sash ties in a bow at the back to gather in the fullnesss of the dress.

Clara herself is made of 100% cotton fabric which has been gessoed, hand painted with acrylic paint, and sealed with matte varnish for protection. Her head was made with a combination of Creative Paperclay and Li-Qua-Ché pourable papier mâché, which was also gessoed, painted and sealed the same as her body.

Her hand-sculpted ringlets go all the way around her head, and little pin curls cover the top of her head. Clara is a one-of-a-kind original art doll. There is no other like her. I'll be putting her up for adoption on eBay. More photos of Clara can be seen on Flickr.

This is a view of her dress, untied, with its sash.

Astronauts, unclothed

These look to me like of a group of astronauts who just stepped outside their space station for a little floating exploration. I'm thinking their first thought must have been, "We'd better stick together."

That, or they are a pile of dolls drying on a piece of black plastic. I kind of prefer the space version. Someone pointed out to me that it is interesting that I frequently create things with wings, or creatures that exist in space or in the sky when I myself have never even flown on a plane and am resistant to the idea. Perhaps I just prefer the fantasy.

These are the pattern pieces for an Izannah Walker-inspired doll dress like the pink one I made before. I made the pattern myself. It is not terribly hard to draft if you have some pattern-making familiarity. I drew the yoke by laying tracing paper over my doll pattern, at the neck. I drew a neckline, then added a line below it, equidistant from the first line from the center front to the shoulder seam. I added a little ease at the shoulder seams. The front and back and sleeves all dip very gently to match the total dip of the yoke from the shoulder points to the center front. It is symmetrical and the same in front as in back, except for the added seam allowance in the back to allow for an opening and an overlap, and so it can be drawn in quarters, then folded and traced the rest of the way.

There is a raglan effect on the sleeve, which is done by making a curve down from the top and then out toward the side seams on the front and back. The curve on the sleeves turns out and down, and then up and out as you draw from the top of the sleeve to the underarm seams. Dress length and sleeve length depend on the doll, but extra needs to be included for hems, casings, or pin tucks. Widths depend on the amount of fullness you want.

I add casings to the wrist area of the sleeves for gathering, and sew the sleeves to the front and back. I then do the hemming and pin tucks if I want any. I finish the back opening and sew a seam about halfway up from the bottom of the dress. I interface the yoke, and sew it together at the shoulders. Then the whole bottom of the dress is gathered onto the yoke. I sew a yoke facing on at the neck edge, sew the back edge of the yoke, turn it right side out, turn the bottom edge of the yoke facing under, and hand stitch it down.

I add snaps in the back and make a sash or a band similar to a cummerbund to gather the fullness of the dress in, and that is about it. Whew.

Where did June and July go?

I realized yesterday that I had posted seven blocks-of-the-month, and that September made nine. I fished around and unearthed June and July. How did I miss both June and July? I must have been in a time warp again.

So, here they are, June and July, no worse for the detour.

Blue and Yellow Quilt, continued

This is the September block from the block-of-the-month class I've been going to this year. I'm glad to say I've been keeping up with my homework this time. I know I will get behind as soon as it is time to put it together, as I have reworked the entire layout, adding two extra blocks, a big hand appliquéd center piece, and I don't remember how many little squares all along the outside edge. I'm sure it will be glorious, if I finish it before I am elderly.

I have been very busy lately, editing photos of art dolls and scans of art for Max, who is coming out with a new line of prints. I still have much to do, including finishing some dolls who have been extraordinarily patient about receiving their wings, clothes, paint, etc.

Hopefully soon I will get a gazillion projects of my own finished. Well, that is always unlikely, as I start ten while I'm working on any given one. Hope is good though.