My Moonstruck doll won a challenge...

I am a little late posting this, but my sleeping Moonstruck won Mary Tressler's Moonstruck contest. It was by popular vote, so I was very surprised when I won. I am working on dolls for next April, as I want to make sure I have plenty of options for buyers. I have a huge book with all my patterns and pattern pieces and a list of exactly what I want to finish by then. Hopefully, I will be able to get everything done, as life has a way of throwing all my plans out the window. Till next time...

Okay, what is wrong with this horse????

Well, I decided I really wanted to make a horse after I went to the CIFI conference earlier this year in New Mexico and saw the wonderful work of Nancy Gawron and just had to make one of her horse patterns. I am finally working on my horse and I just really do not know what happened, but first off it looked like a dog face with a horse body and now that I have added needlesculpt to it we now have a T-Rex with a horse body. I know there is something wrong, but have no idea how to fix it other than seam ripping the head off and starting over, as I rather like the body, it is the head that needs help. Any suggestions? Till next time...

I received some wonderful news last night...

Hello all,

I am just not keeping up with this blog the way I need to, as my last post we were going to find out who are new president is, and now we not only know, but he is already appointing key people and getting ready to redecorate the White House. Well, I try to stay away from politics, but I did not vote for him, but I really hope he does a good job, so we shall see.

Well, with that out of the way, I found out that I was juried into the Ft. Worth Main St. Art Festival in April 2009. I scored enough points to be in the emerging artist category, as I have never done a street festival like this, so this is going to be a new experience for me. They are allowing me to display my dolls and purses. My challenge now is to have enough new items made to fill the booth plus some. I am right now working on making a couple different tiers of dolls, i.e. lower priced to my high-end pin-up girls. I am really going to be pushing my ability to design my own patterns and such instead of modifying other's ideas. I mean I love the way Mary T's body patterns go together, but if I am ever going to have my true voice I need to have my own look and my own patterns. I am so excited, but right now four months seems like a long time, but it is going to get here sooner than one might think and I sure don't need to be making 50 purses a week before the show, don't think that would work.

If you are interested here is the link for the show: http://mainstreetartsfest.org/

It is four days of art, music, and food. Now that is a good combination! Well, that is my ramble for today. I need to get some pictures done of what I am working on now and get better at writing my blog, as I think once a month is a bit long to go in between writing. Till next time...

Couple of dolls I just finished...

The dolls are from Mary Tressler's Moonstruck pattern/challenge. I didn't figure many people involved in the voting would come and see my blog, so decided to go ahead and post them here. I had 2 different ideas on how to go with the girls, so made my wild looking one and then my sleeping one. They are suppose to be witches, but turned out more fashion model to me. My dolls never turn out how I plan them, I guess that I why I like making them so much. Until next time and hopefully our new president is NOT Mr. O. Till next time....

I'm still here...somewhat...

Hello all,

Wow, I didn't realize it had been so long since my last post. It has been a rather bad last few months and I ended up getting a second job, so my dolls and art had to go on hold for a while. Here are a couple of things I have finished up. I am working on getting my pics together to enter a few juried shows next year, as I really want to get my work out there in front of people and see how it goes. I am going to start posting more, so keep watching. Till next time...

My newest doll...

Here is my newest girl. Her body is based on a Mary Tressler pattern. The costuming is all my own. This is one of the first times I have tried wefting a mohair wig, which I think it turned out pretty good. She is being given as a silent auction prize for a church we used to go to. They are having their big church birthday bash, so thought it would be fun to let them have her as an auction item. She is sitting on a gift box that can be used for storage. I hope you like her. Till next time. ~michelle lord

Need help naming my new dolls...oh and Good News!!

First off, I just found out that my two dolls that I entered in the state fair both won first place. This is my second year in a row for winning blue ribbons in both flat faced dolls and sculptured face dolls. I am so excited. Of course my poor wall hanging didn't even place, I thought maybe it would at least get an honorable mention for all the humor it brought to the people who helped setup the craft section of the fair, but no. ;o)

Well, I am needing help naming my new set of dolls. They are based on the famous picture by Edvard Munch called "The Scream!" Of course, I cannot call the dolls the screamers, screaming couple, etc., but am having trouble figuring out a good name that fits them, so I am looking for ideas. I really do like the picture "The Scream!" as that is how I feel half the time, well maybe more like all the time - LOL. What really comes to mind when I see them is "Mr. Bill" and his OHHHH-Noooo! he always says, but that would not work either. Here is a couple of pics of them:

Okay, what do you think? Let me know what you would call them. You can email me at msnotes@hotmail.com or just post a comment. Thanks and till later ~michelle lord

What I have been doing....

About 2 months ago I purchased a 9 needle Toyota commercial embroidery machine and one of my first jobs was a company that wanted embroidered leather pieces for purses. I was told by many a person to run from the job, but because I am one of those people that has a problem following rules, patterns, or anything else for that matter, I just had to give it a try. After several trials, different needles and backing materials, etc., I think I am finally understanding the process to embroidery on leather. It has been quite the learning curve and there were points where I was ready to throw the machine out the door, but I rather like sewing on leather. Here are a couple of samples of the designs:

I have seen the purses finished and they are soooo pretty. Once I have a picture of I purse I will post it. What really helped was finding a digitizer that understood leather, so I didn't end up with a huge hole in the leather instead of a design sewed onto it. Till later. ~michelle

Finally posting again and my trip to the state fair...

Hello all. I did not realize it had been so long since I have posted. My bad. Well, this past Friday I went to drop off 2 dolls and a wall hanging at the State Fair of Texas. Last year I entered 2 dolls and they both won first place, so I am hoping to do the same this year, but we shall see. I decided though to also enter a wall hanging. Well, the wall hanging was also part of a challenge from another group to do a self-portrait with the Omnistitch machine. That is my embellishing machine that has not been made in years and can really test you patience. Well, I have to admit that the face on the wall hanging looked absolutely nothing like me, but I still think it turned out pretty good. When I went to give the wall hanging to the lady who was signing people in she gave me this weird look and asked if the face was suppose to be somebody. Well, without even thinking I told her it was suppose to be me. At this point, she broke out laughing and said that it looked nothing like me and then proceeded to show the other ladies sitting around there, who all ended up getting a good laugh out of it. I was laughing also, as it really did not look anything like me, but at least I made every one's day. LOL. So, here is my pic and the wall hanging pic - what do you think?


I guess you can see now why they had such a laugh... until next time.

My entry for the Hoffman Accessory challenge...

I finally finished my tote bag for the Hoffman Challenge accessory
division. I decided to applique the challenge fabric onto the fabric with fusible web. I then used my Omnistitch machine and decided to sew over the design with different types of yarn. I think it turned out pretty cool, hopefully though the judges can tell there is challenge fabric under all the yarn - LOL. It ships out in the morning and will just make the deadline. Until next time...

My Hoffman Challenge Doll

I finally finished my Hoffman Challenge Doll. Her name is "Ibhaar Azhar" - Dazzling Flowers and is an original pattern, but the body was inspired by first doll teacher Mary Tressler. Fabric was embellished with an Omnistitch, which is a sewing machine that has not been produced since 1996, couching the yarn/fiber to the fabric. Till next time...

Cutting in the closet...

This is my first post to my new blog. I finally finished several projects and decided it was time to get to posting.

I am in the process of trying to refinance my house and found out in the process that my house that was bought as a 3/2/2 was really only a 2/2/2 because you have to walk through the middle bedroom to get to the back room. Something about changes in the law about 2 years ago, that you cannot walk through a bedroom to a bedroom, as that first bedroom becomes a really, really wide hallway. Well, over the July 4th weekend we got to build a wall and put down over 400 square foot peel and stick tile, as I did not have time to do the broke ceramic tile floor I wanted to do in my work room. So, we now have a wall and an official 3rd bedroom, but because of it my cutting table is now allocated to my bedroom closet - at least it is a big closet - LOL. I do love my cutting table though, as it is a drafting desk and I can angle it to make cutting very comfortable. So, believe it or not building a wall raised our appraisal from $90,000 to $128,000, so I guess it was worth it. Till next time.