New Chihuahua Poco Diablo

I really enjoy making these little patchwork dogs. Diablo is my newest piece in this series. He's also the
first chi I've done with an open mouth.

I re-did the head a couple of times to tone
down the facial distortions. The mouth was more time consuming than I thought it would be. The fact that this dog design needs 2 eyes of different sizes made things more difficult.

Monkey Business

I've been watching that old tv show Lancelot link and I was inspired to make my own monkeys for my Pet Shop of the Old Ones line. of the Old Ones line.

I had fun designing these monkeys or Mojo Minkeys as I 'm calling them. Minkey is the word I'm using cause I love Inspector Clouseau and he called monkeys "minkeys". I like the way the 2 words sound together.

I made one minkey in the style of my Hex Cats with only one eye, but I'm undecided about whether I like her or not.

I find animals dressed in human clothes creepy, but I liked the variation of famous names
that the Lancelot Link show used for the characters. I gave each minkey a famous name. Elvis,
Albert, and Bette are some of the names I'm choosing.


I found that working with the curly soft plush was messy and difficult, but it looks great when the figure is complete.

First Half Doll Design For My Book

I've been working on my first dollmaking book and I just finished the first example of what you could do with a basic half doll design.

I like to use a half doll to make ghosts, fairies, angels, or demons. Actually, anything that floats, flies or is in the process of appearing or
disappearing.


This first piece is a poor unfortunate ghost who loved not too wisely, but too well. She's in her watery grave, but I'm going to write a dark amusing poem about her ruining "His" fishing trips every season. I've always been an Edward Gorey fan and I had a blast writing the last 2 story poems for Poor Sad Mary and Autumn Leaves.

I like the names Maud, Rachel or Edith for this figure. If you'd like to suggest a name feel free.

Little Poot

I love all my cats, but Sniffles holds a special place in my heart. She and her siblings were so sick when I rescued them I was scared they would die.

She was the one who got my attention that spring afternoon. Her eyes were still shut, but she was wandering about sounding like an ambulance siren.

After their respitory infections started clear up, the kittens eyes opened and Sniffles eyes were amazingly huge and lovely. She became this wild little streak playing so hard that she would just fall asleep in the middle of a run.

She was the first to learn to use the litter-box, but she plays so hard that she runs to the box and jumps in already in squat position. She's such a smart little thing she learned how to snap the oven light on and off yesterday. I thought a kitchen light was going because of the flickering light I saw from the living room. But no, there was the Wild One standing on the stove, popping the switch on and off.

Her only flaw are her killer farts. She gets all sweet...pet my head and you pick her up and WHAM! I swear her farts are worse than ... I don't know what!

Aw man!!! She just jumped in my lap and got me again.

Writing a How To Book

In my quest to expand my Chat Noir lines, I'm now venturing into writing. I was an Art Teacher for 5 yrs, so writing and planning lessons was second nature to me.

I'm working on directions for a half doll like "Autumn Leaves", but on a smaller scale. I'm also going to show 3 or 4 variations like sculpted, beaded, or embroidery floss hair or maybe even a headdress.

I hope to be sending out trial booklets to my testers soon.
I only have one problem though, every time I finish a section, I find I need to start a new section to expand on new ideas.

I'm worried I may overwhelm my intended students....that's why I asked for people to test the finished lessons. I'm looking forward to hearing their ideas.