Completed Project-Knitted Doll

My cousin just had twin girls last week and in addition to getting them some useful things, I decided to make dolls for the babies. I found the cutest knitted doll in this book:
It kinda reminds me of a doll that I had when I was little, my mom made it and the head of the doll had different faces on each side and it spun around so that you could show different emotions on the same doll. It sounds a bit possessed but it was fun when I was little.

The doll that I made is called the "Upside Down Dolly" and the best part is that it is two dolls in one. The doll is a take on Cinderella, where one side of the doll is Cinderella pre-fairy god mother, and the other side is Cinderella after. One doll is completely done and it turned out GREAT! Mine turned out to be 15" high, which is a bit bigger than the pattern, but I think I like the bigger version better. It was really easy to knit because everything was knitted flat and then you sew up the parts to make it 3-dimensional. I didn't do as much embroidery as in the pattern, but I think that is o.k. too. I also thought that this doll is perfect for twins!!! Now I just have to get the other one done.

Never say never.....

I went to an auction this weekend and I was pretty much just along for the ride. My husband was going to look for coins for his and his brother's collections and that was about it. While he was trying to look at the handful of coins that they had, I walked my 2 year old around just to see what else they had. It wasn't until the second time around that I found it!...... An antique sampler hidden behind glass, jewelry and other more sought after items. So I quickly signed up to bid and realized that it was in lot # 411, which means there was 410 items to be auctioned before the sampler. Well, to make a long story short it was 4 1/2 hours into the auction before the sampler was sold and it actually worked to my advantage because at that point there was only 1/4 of the people there. AND it is mine!! I only had to bid against one person and I got it. I am not quite sure how old it is because there is no date but I think that if I wanted to research it I could probably get an estimate ( I am too worried about that). It is also not in the best condition, but I think that it looks great and I am still in shock that I actually have an antique sampler!!

Completed Painting

The painting is DONE!!! WOOOHOO. Sally really wanted a pinup in the picture and I think that it turned out to be more of a naked cowgirl than a pin up, but I still think she is going to like it. I still feel as though there is more that could be done on this painting and things that need to be improved. But if I do that it will be over worked and I will have to spend even more time getting it back to where it was.... so I have learned the hard way that this is my stopping point.

I have done my fair share of life drawing (and at the risk of sounding like a prude) this painting was pretty racy for me... my usual subject matter tends to be a bit more 'G' rated. I am not the best at portraiture, but since this portrait was abstract, I think that it turned out o.k. I did really enjoy painting her face, so I think I might end up doing more portraits after all. And even though this painting is a decent size at 24"x36", I tend to work a lot larger than this. I think that I am going to really challenge myself on my next painting and paint super small!!!