Life in Layers

We could be talking about chickens that produce eggs today, but that’s not what this is about.

I wanted to show you some beautiful quilts from Vintage Stitchers, and they come in layers, which need to be sewn together. The Redwork quilt above is Barbara’s masterpiece. She asked the quilter for heavy custom quilting. I won’t say how much it cost, but let’s just say that Barbara is now missing a couple of useful appendages. Here’s the back.

We had a nice meeting at Marilyn’s. She has so many lovely quilts…

…and pieces of embroidery. (She provided some nice food, too.)

Speaking of layers, she has some nice pieces suitable for Easter.

Rebecca is back to sewing after a surgery-related hiatus. This was a kit.

I finally got the binding on my Kaleidoscope quilt and am working on the hand sewing.

Daphne Jr.’s birthday sweater is done. It can be worn as a pullover...

…or as a cardigan.

I have the pants for Daphne Jr., but I wanted to make a dress and summer top to wear with the sweater, so I went to my “in-house quilt store” and found a small piece of fabric with pretty much the same colors and a larger piece of this great purple fabric left over from my Kaleidoscope quilt.

The top is reversible, also fabric from my fabric stash, and it looks great with the pants.

The Gotz Katie arrived at my house right on schedule. She came from My Doll Best Friend in London, but I understand I got the last one. (I've seen her on eBay, though.)

The first thing I did was get her into some warm clothes. It made me cold to look at her. Fortunately, the Aran sweater I made for Gabi fit her perfectly, as did the pants I got from Silly Monkey (on sale because they were too tight for American Girl dolls).

I changed her name to Amanda, because she looks like my niece when she was a child. I’m calling her Mandy, though, as all the other girls have nicknames. Something else she needed to be like the other girls. (She uses the glasses for reading.)

Gotta love stick-on rhinestones. She will be modeling for more outfits for Hannah. Right now, Vroni is acting as my model for a summer shell to go with the Kitty Cat : 1 outfit from My Doll Best Friend. This one is called Kitty Cat : 2. I have a good start on the front. I made a skirt to go with it using compatible fabrics.

The snow is melting here. We’ve been for some nice walks. It’s great when Dusty is worn out and has to nap for a while.

I hope everyone had a happy Easter, a happy Passover or just a nice week.

What's on my needles: Hannah’s “Kitty Cat : 2” shell.

What's on my Featherweight: More doll clothes.

What's on my loom: Still waiting.

What's on my wheel: Stanzi also still waiting.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson. On the Kindle app, I’m still reading Dying to Read, The Cate Kinkaid Files Book #1.

What's in my wine glass: Crane Lake Malbec.

What's my tip of the week: When cutting out pieces for doll clothes (or person clothes, for that matter), the process can be speeded up a bit by using your rotary cutter and ruler on the straight parts. I usually use freezer-paper patterns, so pins don’t get in the way. Once they’re ironed on, they stay put, and the two layers stay together, making it easy to cut out.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals were harmed during the production of this blog post.