Dawn Nichols' Designs

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

I made some pillow shams and pillows out of matching material from a completed patchwork bedspread designed and crafted by my sister-in-laws talented sister JoAnn Rotato in New Jersey.

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About me

I am originally from New Jersey, now 33 years in Beautiful warm south and central Florida. As a single extremely proud parent I raised two of the greatest children in the world, now both college grads, UF and UNF, and home owners, then both married wonderful people with wonderful families and the icing on the cake, my son and his wife gave me my beautiful twin, now year old, grand daughters. I 'm soo looking forward to my daughter having children too. What more could you ask for! My heath?, strength? , thank God I've got that too : D Wrinkles, so what, i'll be 63 this month, still 25 mentally, I think : ). I am very very Blessed. And of course all my awesome family up north, their the best! I also have my cat named Tux, {because he looks like he has one on}. I made him a black bow tie for his collar to top it off. He loves me but not too many other people, ok, he's mean, but not to me. :D {My personal Blog will have much more on my family : D} I have found precious memorabilia and pictures of my family five generations back but that's a whole nother Blog. I hope to remember and make a list of all my work for my grand children to look back on. :D My mother taught me to sew when i was twelve. She was an awesome seamstress and made many mother-daughter outfits i was so proud to wear. The first thing i ever made was a lined wool tweed two piece suit. She didn't make it easy, : ) but i loved it. My fifth grade sewing teacher almost failed me because i was so frustrated making a sleeveless cotton blouse for two months,she was soo slow! I started on my grandmothers old Singer featherweight sewing machine, wish i still had it. I began making clothes then mixing patterns, then designing my own. i use to get the "Womens' Wear Daily" fashion newspaper from NYC for ideas as well as from looking at many designers. I had hoped to go to Pratt in NYC but life happened and here i am, and all the better for how my life has worked out. {my kids : D} I love Vogue and Lillie Rubin designers. This led me to large costumes, adult and children's, {such as characters from books, I designed and made a giant cooked turkey, {one of my favorites},giant fire hydrant, giant red vinyl lobster with huge beautiful tail, a giant building, playing cards, m & m's,santa and helper costumes for dept. stores, all the Disney characters, and many from children's books, full length lined patchwork skirts, painted table cloths, "Gone With the Wind" type eight hoop royal blue satin dress full of scalloped ruffles and many big bows, many prom dresses i designed , tailed tuxedos, wedding gowns, many groups of brides maids, {of my original designs}, a mermaid,poodle skirts, and i've probably recovered a hundred couches and chairs, stripped to the wood frame, upholstery from antique pieces filled with horse hair and old writing on the linings with square headed nails, {i recovered one of Neapolitan's dining room chairs, long story, another time, : ), to recliners, benches, car, van ,truck and boat interiors, and crafts of all kinds, that's another days list, I hand painted many head bands for Bertie Higgins of "Key Largo" fame, he gave some to Willie Nelson. : D I've made many dolls, many Et dolls i designed, beautiful French clown dolls i designed, making dozens at a time, with painted faces and long thin bodies to arrange sitting, or laying in attractive positions, tiny and large doll clothes, once covered an antique Emit Kelly doll and antique baby dolls. Years back I found in a garage sale a doll my sister was given as a child, called "Poor Pitiful Pearl", i researched her at the library ,redid her clothes and mailed it to my sister, she then drove around with it in her truck. : D I've also done home decor items, and curtains,fully lined, for homes,{ pinch pleated, Austrian, Roman shades, valances, and puff to name a few styles i've done} Many cow,baby, and of course Gator rooms full of complete themes sewn and painted. , painted and craft type pillows of all sizes and shapes, purses, curtains for restaurants and for Disney World in Orlando,( 300 for them to be exact, from 6' to 22' long}, to name a few things. In the art field my love is miniature paintings from stamp size to 5" x 4". ,with beautiful frames, some done by pointillism but mostly with acrylics and 2 hair brushes and a lighted magnified glass. I was taught in a class a short time with the famous Joan Willis of the RMAS, Royal Miniature Art Soc. {England}, I painted some on ivorine, made from elephant tusk dust, for their translucent effect on paintings. One of my best, and i wish I knew who owns it now, I sold that one to the Adno Art Gallery in Largo, fl., was a 2 1/2 x 2 inch painting i did of people picking cotton, : D I think all of my family inherited artistic talent from my father, he went for twenty years to Cooper Union night school in NYC and was a commercial artist for Esso at Rockefeller Plaza for over thirty years. He did many beautiful ink renderings of famous buildings ,such as the Belleview Biltmore in Clearwater fl., and many historic and beautiful homes,such as the Mary Brown House in Clearwater and many restaurants in that area. My mother also played with portrait painting. My brother Chip was a fabulous modern artist, masters from UK, my sister does stained glass and paintings, she has a show in Nov. in Pa., and my self taught brother Art in N.J. can build a million dollar home from the ground up. : D I was a member of The Florida International Miniature art Society. I've combined sewing and painting on such things as doll faces and material sculptured crafts. I've also done silhouettes, caricatures, ceiling and wall murals, painted on cars, cloths, ceiling fans, saws, baskets, window screens, rocks, sand dollars, chicken and goose eggs, many pictures on furniture, and mirrors. At this point I can't remember everything but i'll get to them. At present i'm painting homes and apartments with beautiful crown moldings. I'll be finding and posting a lot more pictures in the near future. Seems new ideas never end : D There's never enough time in a day. For now please enjoy this first brand new blog of mine. Thank you, Dawn.