Confessions of a Fiber Addict

Hello my name is Cynthia and I am a fiber addict. It's true; to me the lure of nubby yarns, silken embroidery flosses, crisp fabric bolts, and rainbow felts are completely irresistible. Wool, cotton, silk, they all seem to have a magical pull on me; enticing me to run my fingers down the length of a piece of fabric, to rub a strand of yarn against my cheek...I can't resist the siren call of a fabric or yarn shop...it's just beyond me. And don't even get me started on all the wonderful fibers and fabrics to be found online. I try to be good and to limit myself to things I know I'll use but sometimes it's SO hard.

Here's a bowl of my current yarn passions, two are wool/ silk sock yarns and the other two are alpaca (the brown)and angora (the white) for knitting bunnies. The wonderful blue gray sock yarn is hand dyed and from the marvelous Phiala. See what I mean about online supplies?


I've been knitting since I was a child but never as well as I could crochet. I've done scarves, mittens, hats, and the occasional stuffed animal but never the biggie...socks! Recently however, I've found myself in the strange position of teaching several of my friends how to knit. Since this is something they all want to do eventually (shoot, one of them has outpaced me already!) I decided it was time to take the plunge and finally learn to knit socks. It's been a slow process but I eventually found a great pattern and since then I've been making good head way. I love how organic it looks so far, like a creature found in a coral reef. I'll be coming up on heel turning soon...wish me luck!


In addition I recently made a trip to the mountains and of course had to stop by School House Fabrics...that place is so amazing...and added these to my stash.


Won't that bunny print be sweet on one of my felt bunnies? That and the pink print both have a wonderful retro feel.
Lastly, and since you've made it this far, I'll leave you with a sneak peek at the fairy I'm making to donate to The Night Garden. We had a vehement argument on the length of her hair, I wanted short, she wanted long...you can see who won.

A Sweet Tribute

These lavender babies found a wonderful new home. Check out this blog post to see how well their new mama is taking care of them!

New Lavender Babies

I've finally had some time to add a few little dolls to the shop. One set of solstice babies and one set that for some reason makes me think of an ocean boardwalk...blue skies, aqua water, and bubblegum. What do you think?
These lavender babies have a funny story behind their name. Way back in the day when I just made these dolls for my boys and their friends, I called them Spice Girls...with the promise that they would never sing! But once I started selling them I had to change the name of course. My older son, who at 12 was too cool for dolls ;) suggested "smelly girls". This was deemed not very sales-worthy and we instead went with the name "lavender babies". But I have to admit that we still affectionately call them the smelly girls around here.
So now you know their secret identities...but they actually smell divine...just in case you were wondering. :)

Here There be Dragons

What would fairy tales be without Dragons? I don't know about you but I have always loved the idea of dragons...the wise, the evil, the beautiful, and the slimy...I want them all to be real. So today's Fairy Tale Finds are all about dragons... "Unfold your flaming wings and cover out of sight The nets of day and night." - Yeats
Here there be dragons my friends....

A dragon Mirror from Lady Mudwerks

A blue cat back dragon by Creatures From El (one of my favorites!)

The Gray Sentinel by Unicorns and Dragons, another favorite...sensing a theme here?

A Dragon Mask from Merimask Designs

And wouldn't your tea or coffee be extra special out of this mug by R Honey Pots?

I hope you enjoyed this week's bit of enchantment. Have a wonderful weekend and as the White Queen suggests, try to "believe 6 impossible things before breakfast" it can only improve your day!

Little bits...

As I said before I've been busy with lots of commissions this month so I thought I'd share some with you, my loyal readers. Here's just a few bits of what I've been working on....

Mice Friends

Dorothy, from the movie version.

A Crow Lady in a very jaunty chapeau.

And here's a little one still in the shop that I just took some new photos of...she's so cute I just wanted to share.

Have a lovely weekend!

My New Table

I've been swamped with commission work this month and hence my blogging has suffered greatly. So I thought I'd at least give you a quick post and show off the completed cutting table my very wonderful husband made me. It is perfect for cutting, ironing, and (hopefully one day when I learn more about lighting) taking photos. I love it! The cool marbled paper propped on top was made by a dear friend of mine when I was at her house recently. It was a fantastic accident that occurred because the liquid was too cold...I love how it looks like sliced agates. We're planning on a fabric marbling session when school gets out, I can hardly wait! Oh and the drawing over the table was done by my sister and is one of my all time favorites. (It was supposed to be a loan but she'll probably have to pry it from my grasp...so shhhh.)


Speaking of commission work, I've decided to make some changes there. From now on I will only accept 3 commissions a month so that I actually have some time to design new dolls ( and play with other arty stuff!). I'm already full for June and July and have 2 for August, so if there is a doll you'd like me to make please plan to let me know a good bit in advance.

And here's a close up of the paper...gorgeous stuff!

Collage Fabric

I've been working on some collage fabric for the past few days. It's an extremely laborious process but, as you can see on my Wood Wife doll above, the results are amazing. Here's the results of many hours of work...

and some close ups...





and this is what the back looks like...

You can see that it's a LOT of sewing. I wish I could show them to you in person because the iridescence and subtleties of color just don't come through in photos. I'm planning on using the white for a White Queen from Alice Through the Looking Glass and the green for a forest fairy. Here are a couple more examples of how I've used it in the past...I save even the tiniest scraps to reuse...or to put in the next batch of fabric I make!

To make the collage fabric: I scatter glitzy yarns, fabric, and other fibers on a piece of satin; place a piece of netting in a matching color on top, pin the cloth and fiber sandwich together, run a few seams over it to hold it in place, take out the pins, and then go crazy sewing all over it with metallic threads using free motion embroidery.