(Inside A Black Apple)

Three Boys, a Girl, a Ghost, etc...

I was finally able to photograph all of the dolls that are completely finished. So, you guys can get a look at the "boy modification" of the regular small-dollie pattern:

Cute n' Handsome, right? Those girls have been needing some company. I think the little gingham-guy on the left is my favorite...but maybe that's just 'cause I favor the raven-haired.

Also, here is a one-of-a-kind girl doll  I've been working on. She is lucky (and cool) enough to have a pet ghost (who can be attached or detached to her arm by way of a little loop of felt on his backside):

She has "legs for days", as the saying goes. I'm really happy with the way she turned out...there might be more in the future, with a few minor tweaks here and there, but for now, she is the only one of her kind.

And here is a little "Hollywood Squares"-ish peek at the girl-dolls that will be in the update on Wednesday:

That's all for this doll-happy post! See you tomorrow with more goodness for the update.

xoxo

The Rabbits have a message for you...

As the creepers said, there will be a shop update a week from today (Wednesday) with loads of dolls and new paintings. Huzzah!

Also, here are a few more photos of the two new creeping rabbits I made over the weekend (I'm so crazy about the peppermint-striped flannel that the new red one is made from).
As always, you can click to make the image much larger.

It's a beautiful, nice day around these parts. Oh, the mildness of Spring...how quickly you give 'way to the brutal Summer. That just means I have to appreciate it while it's here!

I hope everyone is having a nice week, and Spring is treating you well.

Doll Parts

Happily, I seem to have found about 13 or 14 homes for my new tags over the last couple of days...

My stitching finger is feeling a little sore today!

If you peer closely at the top right-hand photo, you'll see some black/grey pants and some olive pants...'cause this time around I made a few little boys to keep this gaggle of girls company. And they are really cute, and it was simple to alter the pattern.

Also, I made a few creeping bunnies yesterday, and the pattern I drafted last week seems to work splendidly and reliably. That also means (for those of you who wrote to inquire) that a couple will be creeping into the shop update that's coming up soon!
Woot!

While I'm on this sewing bonanza, I think we're going to investigate getting a new machine for me today. Very exciting! I've had the same Brother model for about 5 or 6 years, and while it was a great machine to learn on, it's not the most precise or powerful of machines. And the tension is allllllll jacked up. So, let's go make an investment for the future of Black Apple sewn projects, shall we?

Tagged

I'm really nerding out over these new, cool Grandmama-style tags for the dolls and other sewn things.

Are they fancy? No. Do they delight me? Most certainly.

And it's the end of the week already? Goodness.
Hopefully I'll fill my weekend with making more things to sew "An Original By" tags onto.

Happy Friday!
xo

Creeping Rabbit

For the last few weeks, I've been compulsively sketching these little guys:

I finally got the chance to draft a pattern for one, and after a few questionable trial-runs, I managed a 3-D realization of the lil' creepers that had been creeping around my sketchbook. It's not often that I can make a doll or a soft thing look exactly the way I'd imagined it in my mind (and in my drawings), but this time it worked like magic:

I used flannel, wool felt, this beautiful blue ticking I got on our trip, cotton (for some details, like the inside of the ears, and the collar), wee red buttons, and a bit of coffee stain to make him look a little aged.

I'm not sure yet if they're something I'd enjoy making for the shop, but I'm working on things for the next update, so maybe a few will creep in there.

xoxo

Just in case (re: the Dolls)...

I thought I should make a mini-post about this, since it has come up quite a few times in the last few days. Of course, if you're reading this, there is about a 100% chance you're too considerate to need this clarification. Given that, I just felt like I should get it out there.

Please keep in mind that the pattern for the dolls featured on Martha is for your private use only. Make them for yourself/your children, make them as gifts, but please don't sell them (or make a teeny change to the pattern/template and then consider it saleable).

I have been so, so thrilled to get all of the emails with wonderful photos of the completed dolls (maybe we should start a flickr group for them?).
They make me so happy!
However, nothing would make me feel worse than, say, an Etsy shop that has opened, and is selling my dolls, or some approximation of them...which I know you understand.
xo

EDIT: To address some of your concerns, let me be clear that I know the dolls aren't groundbreaking...of course not. The shape, the generalities of the structure...all simple, nothing new. I don't labor under the delusion that I invented the ragdoll. What I'm afraid of is copyright infringement: people taking the exact pattern + instructions I designed, drafted and made available and creating exact replicas of my work and profiting from it. Nobody wants to share their ideas (and ideas that they make their livelihood on, might I add) in the spirit of goodwill and have somebody turn around and try to turn a quick buck.
However, I would love it if more people designed and made their own cool cloth dolls (like Fanja's Babettes I've blogged about a few times)...I'd be at the front of the line to buy them! Anybody interested in getting into the doll-business, I say A.) Get out a sketchbook and dream up some cool dolls B.) Make yourself a pattern and C.) Commence to sewin'!

EDIT PART TWO: I have closed comments on this post (for the first time in the history of this blog, actually) because there were too many folks posting multiple comments using psuedonymns, and really, I should've left the comments closed in the first place, but didn't think to. This was intended as a "bulletin", simply making the (common) request that no one use my pattern/template, which is provided on the Martha website, for commercial use.

Doll Party!

I'm about to go update the shop...and I have to say, I think it's one of the best updates ever...maybe the best? Above are some of the super-sweet dolls that will be included today (excepting that one in the top-right corner with the black apple dress, she is all mine).

There will also be the limited edition of dolls from the Martha segment, little "mini-Marthas" and "mini-Emilys", tagged with a wee number:

 

Hurray! Off to the shop.

The Cat is out of the bag...

Well, we are back...safe + sound.
Some of you guys figured it out way before EtsyRob's appearance last Friday on the leap-year show! Clever devils...my secret waaaaaas

It all happened so darn quickly...originally I was going to be on the Martha Stewart show with Rob + Matt (of Etsy) but then it evolved to where I filmed my own two segments last Thursday for a show that will air on March 11th! Very exciting!

There was so much work + so many stressful hours, but I think it all went off so well on Thursday. And I guess we'll all find out how I really did on the 11th! You'll get to watch me and Miss Martha make some really sweet little dolls that I drafted a pattern for just for the show. They're pretty similar to the dunce dolls...here are some of the drawn-out steps:

There was so much cutting and ironing (I had to enlist the help of Ms. Sara with the cutting/pattern tracing)...

So. much. cutting.

And, so very, very much sewing of course!
It's some of the hardest work I've ever put in.

The taping itself was probably one of the most relaxing things about the whole shebang. We had a fun time, and afterwards Josiah and I toasted with celebration cupcakes:

And now my studio looks like this:

We were busy bees pretty much the whole time we were in NY, but we did have one very perfect day which I will tell you all about soon.

And it's not that we got married.
(You guys keep trying to marry me off!)

More Cuties...

I've been having a busy, but busy never-leaving-the-house weekend...which is a curious thing indeed. Josiah was out of town, so it's been much quieter than usual. He'll be back very soon, though, and I will be very happy and Miette will be jealous that it's not just the two muskateers anymore.

Two more cute dolls wanted to drop in and say hello, as Sunday draws to a close:

xoxo

Top Secret

I'm sorry that I've been kind of scarce this week, and that the scarcity will probably continue for another week or so! It looks like Josiah and I will be flying to New York early next week to do something that is,  for right now:
A.) A Secret
B.) Nerve-wracking
C.) Amazing

I'm going to be working, working, working my fingers to the bone all weekend long, and it all has something to do with that cute little doll up there at the top.

Happy Weekend, my sweet applets! And thank you for all of the sweet comments about the podcast from the last post...I'm so happy that people found it interesting/helpful/entertaining!

Dolls (in the Daylight)

Happy Tuesday!
Me and these dolls have an update to run in just about 20 minutes.

Doll Peek

There will be more and better pictures tomorrow, but I wanted to give you a little peek of the dolls that will be part of the update tomorrow (new knee socks and all). There they are, sitting in the night-time window.
I heart them pretty hard.

Babette!

I am really, really crazy for my new poupee that just arrived from the amazing shop Le Train Fantome.

I am equally crazy for the beautiful, beautiful packaging she arrived in.
Stamping on cloth is so cool (as is that bandit sticker).

Dang.
I love it when people humble me like this. It is one of my most favorite feelings.

Happy one-week-til-Christmas!

Applehead-ish, Creeping, Doll-filled Update Day!

Don't those applehead ornaments just kill you?! They kill me...all lined up like that.

Well, lots of festive, sweet and creepin' things just flew out of the shop! Thank you so very much for all of your sweet words, support, and love of The Black Apple.

All the Winter Sophies...each dress is made from a repurposed bit of clothing, and each is sporting a little scarf!

Creeping Dunce Red    11"x14"x1"   Acrylic on canvas

Creeping Dunce Grey    11"x14"x1"    Acrylic on canvas

Again, at the risk of being maudlin and gushy, thank you to everyone who came to the update today, and everyone who sends their words of support and love.
And for anyone who missed the update, I have a few tricks up my sleeve that will be landing in the shop next week, in plenty of time for Christmas shopping (or yourself-shopping)! The two label packs will be restocked, also, along with a brand new one.

Anyone in the area, come visit tomorrow at ICE Atlanta! Josiah and I will be there with our wares (although you guys nabbed most all of the original stuff today ;).

Happy Friday, and again...

I wanna live with a Cinnamon girl...and Nutmeg. Oh, and Licorice, too.

These are the three fall sweet-peas that will be for sale in the shop in a few hours...Licorice, Cinnamon, and  Nutmeg.
They are all dressed in their autumn finery, with brown dresses all 'round!

See you soon, and Happy Friday my sweet applets!

Creeping Dunces

I'm posting a shop update next week, on Tuesday at 2 ET (New York time). If anyone needs any help with the time zone thing, here's what looks to be a helpful converter. I'm going to have quite a few originals (in addition to The Quiet Room, Illustrated Girl, and the Outlaw Diptych, I have some other new paintings that will be ready to show over the weekend). I'll also have a big batch of Sophie dolls (my other weekend project) aaaaanndd a gaggle of those little guys pictured up top.

These are the project I was alluding to mysteriously the other day.

I'm so very happy with these. I love the old duncies, and I'm sure I'll make more in the future, but I wanted to make a doll that was a bit more soft-sculpture. They are free-standing, weighted with a bit of rice, and comprised of wool felt (caps and backs), red and black striped quilter's cotton, and this beautiful, printable cotton that is so soft and really doesn't betray that it's printed (the faces really look painted).
I have this great vision of there being a whole herd of, say, 20 of them the next time I have a proper art-show. I'm going to finish two more black-capped ones for the update, so there will be three of each.

Happy weekend, my dears!
xoxo

A blossom of buttons

This little embroidered number (I'm SUCH an embroidery novice, so don't chuckle) is wool felt with vintage buttons mounted on an old brooch that had an unfortunate cabochon.

I made this little brooch late last night after a fun + exhausting dinner & movie (I made this summery, chicken + rice dish with a crazy-good sauce). The sauce is one of those things that can't help but be delicious because it is comprised of such tasty ingredients...white wine, chicken broth, cream, onion, garlic, lemon...mmmm.
We went to see Superbad (along with every person under the age of 20 in the Athens area, by the looks of the packed theater and obnoxious lines) which was mostly funny and good. Not Supergood...but who doesn't miss George Michael now that Arrested Development is no more? I know that I do.

I also finished up this little girl yesterday:

She's a gift for a very lovely lady and some equally cute little girls in the UK, who did a very special favor for me, and she'll be jetting off to her destination soon.

Enjoy the tail-end of the weekend!
I'm trying to figure out how to spend it...

Lotsa dolls and lotsa books

Redhead: "I TOLD you it wasn't a good idea for all of us to try to squeeze into this cardigan!"
Blondie: "But I was hoping it would bring us all closer together."
Ms. Black-hair: (Rolls eyes) "Oh, what does it matter. We're going off to different homes soon anyway."
Pinkie: "Don't be so cynical."

A batch of new, pretty, personality-filled Sophie dolls for the shop update tomorrow! Remember, it's 2:00 Eastern time (I think I said EST, but we all know I'm just a forgetful Fran and it's actually EDT).

Also pretty:

I could no longer resist the stack-of-books bookshelf from Design Within Reach (or as I like to think of it, "Design Mostly Way Out Of My Reach"). I thought about it a great deal, and I was so pleased when it arrived today. I really love the illusion of an enormous stack of books, while also maintaining the function of, well, actually being able to get to one's books without having to un-pile the enormous pile..

Josiah says it looks like we have some sort of magical books, and I heartily agree

Rascally Sophie Dolls!

Look who I woke up to find sleeping (or rather, drowsing) in my bed today!
What rascals.
They must've run out of the studio on their quiet little feet and hopped in when nobody was looking. It is very treacherous for dolls outside of the studio (as there is a little cat-moster on the outside named Miette waiting to carry them off), so they must have really wanted to see me.

They will be waiting for you, safe and sound, in the shop update today.
2:00 pm eastern is right around the bend!

No Sleep Til' Brooklyn (yeah, I said it)

I stole your post title, Meg Rooks.

Well, after SO. MUCH. WORK. I think we're really almost ready for Renegade Weekend.

I've got my magazines (both respectable and trashy) and comics for the trip...

I'm running on very little sleep, due to packing,
errands,
last minute-making,
shipping 4 days worth of shop orders,
errands
and a minor car wreck (!!!) with an irresponsible teenager who backed into my beautiful little car all in the last 24 hours.

But. Despite the fatigue, I did manage to eek out some very cute duncies this afternoon.

I will be back one week from now, with loads of pictures, hopefully some good stories, and a big update that will include a big new batch of ADORABLE tees, a few of which I'm taking to Renegade (hint: I've got around 30 kids tees! And some grownup sizes. Hooray!).

In the mean time, wish us luck...we're off in the wee hours of tomorrow morning, with lots of little hostages in tow:

Have a good week, my little applets! See you soon.
xoxo

Things come and go so quickly here!

Thank you so very much for all of the sweet words + appreciation of the cameo pins yesterday! They sold out very quickly, but for everyone that emailed, sad about the quick vanishing, don't worry! I'm planning on trying to keep them semi-in-stock after Renegade, so not to worry at all. There will be more, I promise.

I've got a gaggle of cuties hanging out (the owners of the legs we saw a few days ago):

They look like some pretty sketchy characters to me! Look at those shifty eyes! Just kidding, I think they're pretty flippin adorable. The one with the pink hair + eyebrows kills me.

Here are those cute legs again, now shoe'd, to wish you Happy Friday + A good weekend!

To spend my days in the company of Dolls

A trio of new Dunces for the update...

And two bigger dolls:

Plump little Nina (with a Nara button proudly pinned on her chest!)

&

Sophie!
A new, in-between-size doll from new pattern I just drafted. I rather love her, and plan to make many more friend-Sophies (hopefully some for Renegade! It is creeping up on my so quickly!). This may spell the end for the larger, chubster-doll style (not that I am anti-chubster, not at all).

All these sweet girls will be for sale at 2:000 pm EST on Monday!

Somebunny loves you...and me...and my mom

I made my mama this little one for Easter:

Actually, it looks like somebody loves the bunny, too! Or maybe Miette just really wanted to smell those paper flowers...

I had SUCH a nice little break, and now am ready to be busy, busy, busy (which is good, because I need to be!). I got home yesterday evening to find a very big package on my doorstep. This is where "somebunny loves me", because this is what my sweet friend Kate sent to me:

A  print Gocco! And supplies!
Oh my goodness...I have been wanting one of these guys for so long. I cannot wait to try it out and make all manner of Black Apple-ish things with it...I'll be sharing my mishaps and (hopefully) triumphs with it here! My awful screen printing "experience" will not get me down. No sir.

She enclosed this insanely lovely Carson Ellis card (who I know is her favorite artist). Actually, I think it was Kate who informed me that Ms. Ellis is, in fact, a girl. I previously thought she was a boy. Silly.

Maybe the best part of the whole thing was the way she addressed the package.

YOU are "Incomparably Lovely", Miss Kate.
Thank you so very much.

Well, happy Spring/Easterly/Rabbity times, my dears!
Because of the cold snap, it is about 40 degrees here right now and I'm going to be full of soup for the rest of the weekend.

Truth be told, I'll actually be full of more than a few jelly beans by the end of tomorrow.

Inchworms, etc.

A few new items from the shop update today:

A big fat hedgie, in a dapper tie...

A chubster with pink pigtails:

Two little inchworms:
 

...and a felted foxlet:

Thank you so much, from the core of my black apple being for the amazing success of today's shop update! It is an overwhelmingly lovely feeling to see everything snapped up so quickly by sweet peas like yourselves. Also, it seems like many folks managed to get just the thing they had their eye on, and that makes me so very happy.

I'm going to take a day or two away from the computer & do some visiting with the real-world! I'll be back soon, with a new postcard set for the shop and other goodness!

Adios & xoxo

Honey Bear

Another sweet pea that will be part of the shop update tomorrow at 2:00 EST. Her hair is made of a beautiful light blue merino roving (there will be another little chubby doll who also has roving for hair...of a nice cotton-candy shade of pink!).

I've been sewing all day today, and am feeling a teensy bit overwhelmed about tomorrow's update...because I've accumulated so much over the last few weeks that needs to be included. Plus I've got my regular shipping to do, all of which is making The Black Apple a kinda hectic place of employment these last few days (and I'm sure tomorrow will be that way, too). It certainly is ideal about 90% of the time, but then I pull several days of "15 hour" shifts, and I really do start to feel like an employee. And an employer.
However, there is lots of goodness to show for it...a handful of paintings and drawings, a small army of needle-felted creatures, and 6 or 7 dolls of different varieties. Whew! Sometimes I feel like such a slacker when I see what my pal Heidi has accomplished in a day or two (piles and piles and piles of plush) but on days like today, I feel pretty un-slackerly.
And that feels so good...even if I also simultaneously feel like an overworked employee of myself.

(insert happy + tired sigh here)