Free Pattern and more

As promised: a free pattern for Sprite. This pattern will also appear in Cloth Dolls and Animals Magazine eventually.

I promised them a bunch of new patterns to publish...maybe I'm trying to get too many ready at a time. I so easily get overwhelmed by ALL THE POSSIBILITIES!!! How does one hone so much down into What's Possible without losing one's mind?

One of my major criteria these days is that the projects I take on should be things I really enjoy doing...and if they bring in a bit of extra cash, all the better! Things like washing the kitchen floor, keeps being sent to the bottom of the list. Exercise HAS to be a daily habit, so I can stay healthy enough to attempt to tackle the rest.

I keep reminding myself to BE GRATEFUL for what I do have: a job that supports me, a nice place to live, wonderful family and friends, and TOO MANY ideas, rather than too few.

Before I post the pattern, let me tell you about a few of the EXCITING upcoming events for me:

Teaching Three-Dimensional Doll Design and Working with Found Objects in Corvallis, OR, May 1-3, 2009, and I hear there may be a class space still left. Contact: Terry Weiss or Reel Dolls at: tweiss@cmug.com The cost is VERY reasonable, and the class should be a Lot of Fun!

For shorter classes on the Beautiful Olympic Peninsula, check out the North Olympic Fiber Arts Festival, the first weekend in October in Sequim, WA, the Lavender Capital of North America. There will be a variety of fiber arts classes on Sunday, October 4th. I'll be teaching 2 hours of Paper Dolls and 2 hours of stick dolls...a Real Deal at $25 apiece.

For my fans in the Northeast US, I'll be showing at Wayne Art Center in Wayne, PA., ART DOLLS--EXHIBITING DIVERSITY OF FIGURE AND FORM, May 31-June 29, 2009. A whole range of my new and affordable work will be available for collectors.

One more REAL DEAL: My book, A MOMENT OF PURE JOY ON AN ORDINARY DAY IN A COUNTRY WITH 37 DIFFERENT NAMES FOR RAIN will be on sale for the month of April for the Low, Low price of $18.00. Now is your chance to complete your collection of all 4 of my books, including the Paper Doll Book, the Transformative Doll Making Book, and the New Edition of my Designing a Doll and Making Faces book.

And now: SPRITE: Should fit on 8.5x11" printer paper.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I know that back in Burlington, VT, the revelers are thronging Church St. Here in Port Angeles, there are probably more Scandanavians than Irish, so things are pretty quiet.

I got my doll, CHILL, back from the photography session for Linda and Opie O'Bien's new book, WHO'S YOUR DADA...can't wait to see it! They kept the stuffed paper doll to the left for their own collection...one can do Wonders with Weldbond glue...and it doesn't give out toxic fumes.

I think you've seen CHILL before, made around an antique post office box and on the cover of my newest book: THE SECOND EDITION OF PAMELA'S DESIGNING A DOLL AND MAKING FACES BOOK. He stands so much better since I discovered Aves Apoxie Sculpt, which attaches Anything to Anything...just about.

I've been working on mixed-media pieces lately and will have two in the Strait Arts show at the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center, opening Sunday, March 22, 2-4.

Artist's Tools, using a bone, one of the pit-fired clay heads I made with Anna Wianko-Chasman's assistance, old tinker toys (what a find!), drill bits, a rubber disk and paint brush I found on the ground in one of my daily walks, and a silver hand I found in my Christmas stocking.

The Gold Queen is a darning form, gear, thread
spool, with fabric and paint. I experimented
with Golden's new fabric stiffener for her
dress, then realized she needed even more
structure. I'm learning more about engin-
eering as I go along. I should be pretty
smart by the time I teach in Corvallis in May.

I've been playing with fabric construction since
I was five, but the harder materials are not quite as comfortable to me and I am grateful not to have to hammer and saw, because I can't seem to get the edges straight...Fabric is MUCH more forgiving!

Do we all find our most comfortable media and stick to them? able to tease out more exciting combinations and stories when we have the presentation skill we need?

The Transformative Doll Making class on Joggles.com is still going. Although all the lessons have been posted, there is still lots to talk about. Things like learning from our mistakes in love and doll making. Being kind to ourselves when we don't rise to meet all the expectations of family, community, and ourselves.

My brother, David, tells me that an online presence is imperative in marketing these days...I can get lost on Facebook, and get confused with what I've posted where.

I'm working on a group of patterns to send to Soft Dolls and Animals, so it's probably time for me to post another one here...next time!

Time Shifted

Time raised its head and shifted suddenly today, waiting for no man…or woman…to emerge slowly from the winter’s darkness and slow progress. Time is a construct, and the others have decided that it’s Time to Wake Up, Daylight Savings Time…so, I have to get up in darkness again...and at the end of day the outdoors calls again…end of slow musing, painting, inventing. Everything shifts.

Blizzard with sideways snow yesterday, then it melted and snowed again today.


The crocus are READY! Like me, pushing through snow to blossom and get on to the next phase.










By afternoon all the snow is gone...and I'm back to projects in the studio, woring on patterns for Soft Dolls and Animals Magazine.


Why do I feel that I have to be PRODUCTIVE
ALL the time? We need time to play and to
feed our Creative Souls. That's why taking time out to
walk and to play are SO IMPORTANT!

Yesterday I went back to the travel journal I started on my trip last EAST summer and enjoyed hours In the Zone, pasting pictures and making patterns, and remembering all that we did.

I listened to a tape of GOD SAVE THE SWEET POTATO QUEENS, which is very philosophical and all about enjoying Life and telling our friends we love them. Even though my costumes are usually much less flamboyant than their hot pink and sequins, I do have a Tiara in my bathroom, and a red feather boa in the closet.



Being 62 years and One Week Old, I am trying to Set a Good Example for my Self, most of all, but also for my family, friends, students...and anyone else who might be stopping in. Finding our True Selves and being true to that Self and Helping others as much as we can...Also stopping to listen and see what they actually want help with...that's a Worthy Mission for the next several decades, don't you think?


I celebrated my birthday for two weeks, saw two plays, two movies, two beaches, and went on a day trip with two friends, Sally and Katie, to celebrate Katie's first day of Retirement.

Along the way we saw this troll fence...along with a troll castle and several other troll-themed homes in the same small neighborhood. I had such a good time, I forgot to take any more pictures!

I must say, I do think that creating an entire neighborhood of trolls is a worthy way to spend one's life!!! don't let me get too serious about completing all my self-imposed chores!!!







Check out Margi Hennen's new website:
www.margihennen.ca

Every time I see her dolls, I go "WHY didn't I think of that!!! But it's really no good to be jealous of our friends' creativity and successes. On this International Women's Day, it's Very, Very Important to Celebrate Women Everywhere and all of the wonderful things that we do.

Commercial Message: Please buy my books! http://www.pamelahastings.com/gallery