First Batch of Dumpling Dolls!

Well look who we have here! Clockwise from the top: Charlie Crackman, Betsy, Frannie, and Emmaline. I'll be putting them up for sale in my Etsy shop at various times starting tonight. Catch these little babies while they're hot!

Darling Dinky Dumpling

Darling Dinky Dumpling,
Boil 'im in a pot
Give 'im sugar,
Cover 'im in butter
An' eat 'im while e's hot!

Something I picked up from a great grandparent when I was a child, but the reason for this post is that I have been working on some of my dumpling softies to put up in my Etsy shop.

They were named for my Brother, whom I gave the superhero moniker "Mr. Dumpling" as a child when he was in his kindergarten karate phase (the phase he never got out of, he had the trophies to prove it). They all share his wonderful spirit, his sense of humor in some, and I like to think that with each one I make, some little part of his memory lives on.

Hopefully I can get a few pics taken and get them up here to show off in the next few days!

Bug Bites: Meet Suki and Baby Wasabi!

I have been bitten by the Matroyshka bug ever since running across a blank set of wooden nesting dolls at Hobby Lobby on a supply hunting excursion. On the hour-ish drive home, I started developing the idea of my own series of little stuffed matroyshkas in my head, went home, did a quick little sketch in my idea sketchbook, and waited nearly two months to act on it.

Like most of my creations, my inspiration comes from the simplest thing and continues to evolve. Which came first? The chicken or the egg? In Suki's case, Wasabi came first. I am notorious for saving components of my crochet projects gone awry. I was cleaning out a box of said components when I came across the dismembered thumb of a glove (too many increases too soon, I blame the radio) that had the proportions out of whack. It looked to me like a little baby all wrapped up --- boom.

There went those gears churning out another idea. I started tinkering with a small Robert Kaufman "Chopsticks please!" fabric scrap (because I'm notorious for saving those too) and a piece of felt and shortly after we had a little baby whom looked like a little pea pod...in a sushi-themed fabric. My inner voice kept referring to him as Wasabi, so thus he was named. He looked lonely and needed his mama.

The next day, after working up a few muslin prototypes, being satisfied with the proportions and making out a pattern, I set to work on giving little Wasabi a Mommy. I machine-stitched her body in the same Kaufman fabric, got her stuffed and started the handstitching and embroidering of her details (face, hair) and props (apron). All in all, I was very pleased with the way she turned out. More of Suki's cousins are crawling out of the woodwork and they'll be making appearances soon!