Mood Rings and Magic Carpets

We had a yard sale over the weekend on Saturday and it sprinkled then poured rain throughout the day despite a weather forecast of partly cloudy with 20% chance of rain. It may have been May 31, but we and all our early arrivals were all in long sleeves with hoods up, and shivering. Our first sale was for .50, a scrap of silk from an Indian sari I'd sewn into a scarf.

One of our early customers was a woman of approximately my same vintage, in a mini van who was particularly interested in the antique hand-knotted wool Hamadan 2'10 x 9'7 hall runner on sale for $200. The price was too high, it was early in the day, so she left without the rug and I forgot all about her.

Relocation Fund

SOLD on Ebay!

See more here!

Why I Write

Because I can't paint.

White Girls

#WhiteGirlsShouldPlaywithBlackDolls
UPDATE:

White child, Doll of Color (DOC). 

UPDATE:

Doll, complete.

I had a little trouble attaching Dolly's head to her body discreetly. However, after learning that the neighbor child loves orange, I added a scarf of the same color around where her neck should be, and voila! 

UPDATE:
I never did end up at the toy store, locally owned or not; what happened is, I decided to whip up a cute little black/brown doll myself. She is pretty much complete except that I haven't yet attached her head to her body. In other news, her hair turned out really well! The crudeness of the execution is entirely down to my lack of rag-doll making skills though I must say, her beautiful brown eyes do shine, and that big gorgeous smile is definitely happy. Her name is Ailema, and I think my little neighbor will like her very much.

Doll, posing.

Doll, up close.

I plan to consult with Boyfriend about how best to attach head to body. He is a tinkerer at heart and the parent of a very artistic and creative daughter with whom he has collaborated on many such projects; I have every confidence that we will be able to attach the head to the body in a minimally invasive fashion.

UPDATE:
Just printed this pattern:

From Make Baby Stuff

ORIGINAL POST:
I'm inspired by the article, Should White Girls Play with Black Dolls? to which my answer is a resounding yes! I am going today to get my nearly two-year-old neighbor a black doll today, and also a brown one. My mother sewed a brown doll for my (now) nineteen-year-old nephew back in the day; I will do the same if I can't find one I like. In other words, the doll must be black and/or brown but cannot embody gender-based stereotypes, so no pink clothing or princess crowns or pro football-themed dolls. I will avoid anything from Disney or other brands with questionable politics because I'm not a huge fan of the movie tie-in product lines for one thing and for another, well, like I said, politics. Off to the (locally owned) toy store - possibly followed by a trip to the fabric store if necessary. The question then becomes, sew by hand? Or drag out the sewing machine?

Pictures later.

Time Cover

"Beyoncé, Time magazine's Most Influential Person of 2014, covers the issue in what appears to be a bathing suit covered by a sheer shift. That's annoying on many levels. Why is the most influential person of the year half-clothed? As Brogan Driscoll at Huffington Post observed,

"Thigh-high boots, corsets, the teeniest of short shorts may be Beyoncé's look du jour, but do they really have a place on Time magazine's cover?...Bey says Time magazine's recognition is important 'because it's not about fashion or beauty or music; it's about the influence I've had on culture.' So why does she have to come half-dressed?"

There are three other alternate covers for the Most Influential Person of 2014 issue: Robert Redford, Jason, Collins, and Mary Barra, all of whom are fully clothed. I could not resist painting them all with the same brush, so to speak. Below is Bey's cover.

Bey's cover style modeled by Jason Collins

Bey's cover style modeled by Robert Redford

Bey's cover style modeled by Mary Barra