Update on My Izannah Walkter Workshop Dolls

Least any followers think that my Izannah Walker dolls are languishing somewhere half made, never to see the light of day, rest assured, slow and steady progress is being made.  I was about to antique them one evening this week, only to read the directions on my antiquing to learn that they should be sealed with a matte sealer first, so I did that instead.

Here are my girls before antiquing.



What do you think?

Their arms and legs are all ready to be antiqued as well.  Maybe on Sunday.  Then the fun of attaching legs, making and attaching the body covering and sewing on arms!  I love to see a doll come together - and once they are together, the delight of making their clothing can begin!  I do hope to complete it all before August is out.  Time is flying by, I best get busy!

Back from Vacation

It has been about a week since we've gotten back from our wonderful vacation at Caswell Beach on Oak Island in North Carolina.  It was a wonderfully relaxing time to catch up with some family that reside closer to there than here, to spend some quality time together, enjoy the ocean and just relax and rejuvinate.  On the drive there and back, I began working on my hexie flowers for the October Small Quilt of the Month.  I finished the final 2 on the road trip home.



We enjoyed amazing views and wonderful beach walks. The view from our rental condo's deck:



We could see two lighthouses from the beach, and there was no competition for space at the beach.


As a general rule, I don't post family pictures on the web, but here are my kids on one of our evening beach walks!


We got to do a little sight-seeing in the vicinity.  Here are a few photos of some things that I found interesting and related to my interests.  This was one of the displays in the Visitor's Center at Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson.  They told the history of this Colonial town that ended up being the sight of a Civil War Fort.



I found dolls at the NC Maritime Museum in Southport!


And there was a 19th century sewing machine there, too!


We really loved Oak Island, especially the Caswell Beach area.  It is a very relaxing, refreshing and rejuvinating place to stay!

July Small Quilt a Month Challenge

I think this is a new record for me, and probably not one I will beat this year - my July quilt is actually pieced, quilted and bound and it is only July 8th!  Not too shabby, considering that the July quilt wasn't announced until 7/2!

This month's quilt is from Kathleen Tracy's first book, American Doll Quilts.  It is called Indigo Blue and White Doll Quilt.  I was nervous about this one - all these triangles - how many points could I get nice and sharp - and meeting nicely with it's neighbor?  Well, I am satisfied with how it turned out.  I was tempted to go onto the web to find true "indigo" reproduction fabrics and shirtings, but I stuck to my stash and used what I had - lots of blues, but the lights are mostly not shirtings, and the darks aren't all indigos!  It was fun to do a 2 color quilt.