Two New Girls

Now there are three girls. Blondberry and Alicia showed up today. I had two requests to make a little girl with “pigtails” and shorts. I took it under advisement and figured out how to do braids. I used black embroidery floss for Alicia’s braids. I came through the back of the fabric hair with nine strands of floss on each side. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. I think she looks very cute.

To see all the little people click on the label below “paper pieced people.”

Where are the boys? I hear them in the background.

The Sewing Room Floor

Here rest two unsuccessful little girls (from the Paper Pieced People series). They just didn’t look right.
My husband kept telling me “little girls have narrow shoulders.” How would he know? I narrowed the foundations and here is Emily.
Later, I asked Robert how he knew this. He told me that long ago when he was working with newspaper boys and girls, he saw that the boys could handle the big canvas newspaper bags, but the bags slid right off the shoulders of girls the same age and size.

Here are Davis, Emily, and me:

Daddy Will Do It

This morning Robert grabbed a struggling bird from the cat’s mouth. He placed the bird on the screened balcony to give it a chance to recover away from the cat’s attention. Sad to say, the bird did not perk up and after a few hours it died. Robert gave the bird a decent burial.

My father was the only one capable of picking up mousetraps and disposing of them after they had done their work.

Robert has dug graves for several of our dogs and placed them gently in the ground. He drove many miles with an anxious mother cat and her brand new kittens when we made a move from Berkeley to Santa Rosa.

We just expect dads to do things like this for us. Thanks and happy Father’s Day.

It's Getting Hot

The temperature around here reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit today. My little “studio” was quite warm with the machine light, the side lights, the iron on, and the sun shining in the window. I was worried about spoiling this new little fellow with drops of sweat. (My father used to say “men perspire, horses sweat, and women glow,” but I was doing more than glowing.)

I’ve been studying men in my travels around and I’ve noticed that there are many of them with high foreheads. I decided that my little men needed to be representative of the population at large so this one has a new hairstyle. My father had a very high forehead but I never saw him in shorts. His idea of “casual” was to take off his tie and unbutton the top button of his starched white shirt. This fellow is named Davis, after my father.

Scroll on down to see more of my little men and women. I think I’m addicted to making them. I still want to make my DH and Kate’s date.

Little Men

Here are the first two little men to go with the little women. Their names are: Bill Gates and Sharky. The paper pieced men are 9 inches tall, finished. I'll have to find some little glasses for Bill. Sharky has blue suede shoes. I don’t know if any of the little women will be interested in these guys. (Scroll on down the blog to see the little women.)

I’ll make a few more of these fellows and then get going on the paper pieced children.

Just One More: Jackie

I remember the first time Jackie Fleming walked into our newspaper office in 1979. We had a weekly paper, the Bethel Island Beacon. I could not believe how beautiful she was. She announced, “I’m Pat's mother" and handed us an ad for Pat’s marine equipment business. I was stunned. She did not look old enough to be his mother. I don't remember what she was wearing, maybe a red top with white shorts. Quite a first impression. Then, I asked her if she could write an article about the new boat toilet regulations and the new Coast Guard rules. I’ll never know why I asked her that question. But she wrote the article and it was interesting. It was a life changing encounter.

We have been friends ever since that day. She soon became a reporter for the Beacon doing lots of feature stories and a weekly column. Most people grabbed the paper when it came out on Friday and turned right to Jackie’s column. She was more popular than the obituaries and that’s saying a lot for a small town paper. She knew everything about the island and wasn’t afraid to tell the stories.
Here she is on the bridge of a freighter on one of her many trips around the world.
Jackie moved away earlier this year and the place just isn’t the same without her. Thank goodness for e-mail.

Kate

I just finished another little woman. Her name is Kate. She worked at the local fire department and was so smart and friendly. She helped me find a lot of information. I remember the year of the Firemen's Ball and Kate looked so beautiful. I miss her very much.

I want to do one representing my DH. Today he was wearing his favorite shirt. It is teal colored, but it is wearing out around the collar and cuffs. I told him I would have to find some fabric just the right color for his "person." He said that if the elbows wore out soon, I could have his actual shirt. That's a good idea.

My Little Women

I have been having so much fun. I have not had time to post – just play, play, play. I’ve been sewing these people. They are 8.25 inches tall. (Click on the picture to see a little larger image.)

From left to right: Post Office Woman, Tyra, Me (I love black and white and polka dots and I have red shoes), Michelle Obama, and Lady Cauliflower.

Tomorrow I will start working on companions for these lovely ladies.