Dolls for Houston Quilt Show 2015

Here are my dolls for the Houston Quilt Show this year.

The theme for the Gypsy Challenge doll this year was "Witches, Angels, and Demons". I chose to make a witch doll. This is Owleena Dawn...

And this is my original entry for the invitational part of the show. She is the "Life Gardener"

They returned successfully from Houston only a little worse for the trip. We straightened them out:

Dyna and Sadee go to Mardi Gras... 2014 Gypsy Challenge.

The 2014 Treasure of the Gypsy Challenge at the Houston International Quilt Show does not have a gypsy theme this year.
The theme is Mardi Gras.
There are a couple of ways to go with this theme. I chose to go with Fun...

Here are Dyna and Sadee. They are proof that you can have fun at any age:

Green and Purple look great on them and they have wonderful hats...

Dyna

Sadee

Here they are at all angles:

They can stand on their own although Dyna is a little top heavy but since they have to travel so far we added some stability

 Earlier I made and stuffed their bodies and sewed their pants and shirts but put them away and decided to concentrate on the Native American doll. Then the night before the deadline they decided they wanted to go to Houston too - they didn't have hair, faces or accessories. I stayed up all night and several hours the next day but got them mailed on time. My husband was shocked and pleased the next morning to meet them and their personalities.

They are on their way to Houston...

Celebration of the Doll Exhibit - Skye

I was pleased to be invited to show a doll in the Celebration of the Doll exhibit at the Houston International Quilt Show this year.
I thought about it for several months and I decided to make a large Native American doll in full pow wow regalia. I considered the fancy scarf dance but decided I wanted to make a Jingle Dress. I enjoyed researching and making the doll and regalia.

Here is Skye:

Skye is named for our angel granddaughter, Teagan Skye Walker.

Her feather fan is made from molted feathers from my sweet departed parrot, Nick.

The medallion on her dress, leggings, purse and hair is inspired by this necklace my husband gave his mother 45 years ago. 

The dress took a long time to make. All 200 cones had to be ties onto the little ribbons then glued and sewn onto the wider ribbon then onto the dress. My husband tied most of the cones to the ribbon. I really appreciate his help.

Here is a picture of Skye as I am sewing on her hair before her dress is even made:

And here is a close-up shot of her:

2012 Gypsy Challenge Doll

This year's Gypsy Challenge Doll is finally on the way to Houston. This year I made a dragon for the first time and my gypsy, Lady Cascadia is riding the dragon. The dragon, Myrrlyn is charmed with a special necklace that Lady Cascadia was able to get on him somehow.
This was a hard project with several setbacks. We've been out of town so I only had a few weeks to finish. The first doll I made was too large to ride the dragon. So I made a smaller doll which was harder to style. At first I made the dragon with a green lamé stomach/contrast but even with a medium iron-on interfacing the lamé came apart at some of the seams when I stuffed it. So I took the dragon apart and remade it with a knit contrast fabric. If I use lamé again I will use one-inch seams instead of 1/4 inch.

The doll and her dragon turned out well. I really enjoyed making the dragon. I think I will make a few more since I bought fabric for dragons last year and never did that project.  (And, yes, that is a run in the fabric under his ear.)

Here are my granddaughters, Emily and Josie, holding the dolls so you can see the size of the dolls...