Arctic Storm in Shilo Basin

Here in the Shilo Basin, the Portland area and SW Washington we have had an unusual artic storm that brought snow into our area. this part of Oregon and Washington does not get much snow and when it does happen, the media loves to make a huge thing out of it!!

I could not resist taking some pics as it will probably be gone next week and really wanted to capture the beauty of my own front and back yard in the snow.

KWG 8 in Portland was asking for viewer pics to be sent in and the one of Bear in the snow was aired on Saturday. He does not even know he had his 10 seconds of fame!

Best Friends Gypsy

As many know Pamela Armas of Treasures of the Gypsy carries many of my patterns. For each of my patterns in her line, she sends me the fabrics and I make a sample doll for her booth.

the latest of my patterns to be added to her line is Best Friends, so I have been working on her sample for Pamela.

I am accustomed to the rich and very textured silks she carries and have learned to use a lot of fray check and zig zag as soon as you cut.

But the body fabric used in this doll could not stand up to the dollmakers stress test, and dart and side seams blew out after the piece was completed. (of course!)

We have to be resourseful as dollmakers so I welded the seams together with Fabri-tac, used fray check around the sites and then ironed the area with my little Clover iron for strength. All the sites were then cleverly hidden from view by the doll's accessories. You cannot see any of the blowouts!

If this were a doll for sale I would have had to start over or at least take her apart entirely and make a new body.

I do LOVE Pamela's fabrics!