Zelda's ready to party!

I told you awhile back about the doll class I took from elinor peace bailey, and I showed you some of the pieces in progress: http://sherriequilt.blogspot.com/2012/09/zeldas-babushka.html.

Well, the pressure of upcoming end-of-year sewing group show-and-tells finally pushed me to finish her today.

Here she is, decked out in some of my old jewelry just minutes after her completion. The jewelry was the last step, after tacking down the babushka that kept sliding off and taking in the waistband of the underskirt so it would fit better.

Then I took her downstairs to introduce her to the rabbit. I thought Bunners might run and hide, but she was very interested and sniffed every inch of Zelda.

Here is how I created Zelda's face: I had elinor draw it on in class! Easy as pie. That's elinor holding my finished Zelda head, and here are some of the other faces she painted for us:

 

She has a big stash of pens and paints that she uses for the faces, and below you can see the beginning steps of how Zelda's face magically took form under her expert hand. (The fabric isn't really that sickly shade of green; I had the camera settings wrong.)

These are just a few of the crazy, colorful dolls she brought to class. They ranged from prim to bawdy:

elinor (she lower cases her name) is a gem of a lady who has been a colorful fixture in the quilt and doll worlds for decades. Sadly for us she's retiring, but she will live on through her patterns, books, and -- hopefully -- a few more talks here and there.

Here's the link to elinor's online journal:  http://epbdolls.typepad.com/
And here's the link to her store, where you can buy her doll patterns, supplies, books and other good stuff (maybe some stocking stuffers for yourself?): http://shop.epbdolls.net/main.sc

And here is where Zelda finally settled in for the holidays -- the living room chair right beside my computer. Bunners is just steps away, so now I can talk to everyone at once.

Have a colorful day!