The Poisoner by Stephen Bates Book Review

 I decided that it would be fun to have a record of the various books that I am reading, and since I just finished this one, I wanted to review it while still fresh on my mind.

The Poisoner - the Life and Crime of Victorian England's Most Notorious Doctor - by Stephen Bates

This book had everything it needed to catch my attention and pique my interest. Poisoner? Victorian England? And add to it a delightfully ghoulish cover, I was hooked. I didn't know anything about William Palmer - who is the subject of this book. 

The book is 318 pages long and packed with information regarding the Palmer case. The author doesn't waste a single paragraph. This book is not a hard read - its written well, in an organized and easy to follow manner. But its not a book you can read in a borderline stupor to simply pass the time. No, you have to pay attention. You can't zone out for a minute, or a vital piece of information might be missed. I did at times find it a little repetitive - but, it is easily forgiven when you understand the method in which the book is written.

Victorian England's most notorious Doctor was William Palmer. His crimes came about in an era where newspapers - thanks to a recent removal of tax on them - hit a new high of popularity and accessibility - and therefore, people were thirsty for sensationalism. And a crime involving poison - and a new poison in Strychnine at that - and a doctor, was just the thing to cause a national stir wild enough that even the Queen herself followed the news. In order to understand this case and what it meant to the public, the author sought to recreate the era for you in the areas that mattered in relation to this case - horse racing, the press, even how the law itself was practiced - all to give you a very real and living picture of life in mid Victorian England.

In this sense, the book almost serves as a history lessen in and of itself. I learned a great deal. Did I necessarily care about all of it? No,(I admit to skipping the last few pages about horse racing.) I wouldn't have minded a little less information in some sections. It sometimes felt like information overload - so don't read it when you are really tired! 

But, when you get to the end, it all comes together so well, I was highly appreciative of the amount of information given. The author successfully brings to life the many different characters involved with this whole ordeal - before, during and even after the trial. You get such a strong sense of who these men were, and the role each one played, be it for better or worse. You get to witness the trial itself - the poor handling by the defense and the masterful precision of the prosecution. You get to read the witness testimonies and see how they were examined and cross examined. Or not. It is a really fascinating view into the Victorian courtroom. And one more point that I want to point out - the author keeps a very neutral attitude about the controversial trial and the character of William Palmer himself. Was he indeed the master of poisons, the cunning, evil serial killer that he was painted out to be? Or a desperate man painted into a corner through bad judgment and a poor moral compass? Did he or did he not poison his victim - was there more than one? And did he use strychnine like the prosecution believed? Read the book and form your own opinion!

Happy Easter 2021!

 It's technically not quite Easter yet but since we did our celebration on Friday, the holiday is pretty much over for me. Friday was pretty fun. I swapped my normal Friday activities with Sunday's which gave me the day to just chill and enjoy the festivities. We did gifts this year. I got an adorable Calico Critter baby bunny in a basket Easter with cute little Eastery accessories that I wanted really badly. 

I still have not yet opened my Critter set. It's so cute I almost hate to take it out of the box. Once I do that it's going to have to be stored away so that I don't lose any of the pieces. But I also can't wait to play with those little eggs that the baby bunny comes with! :D Too, too cute. I will save this for a rainy day, I think. 

Later on in the afternoon, we dyed Easter eggs! I haven't dyed eggs in years, so this was a lot of fun. We just got the plain dye this time, no fancy stuff. I think the plain boring dyes can be more fun in some ways as it is a lot of fun to dip eggs from one dye into the next to mix it up and create some really cool colors. I managed to dye one of my eggs an olive green! I'll have to take pics of them really soon. There is no room in the fridge for them so they will be food for wild animals pretty soon. I am always sad to throw out my Easter eggs. While I don't get quite as attached to them as I do my pumpkins every year, it's still sad. Silly maybe, but I can't help it. 

Fun fact - you can bake brownies using PEEPs as a sweetener. We ended up with several packages after a mix up of who loves which candies, so I decided that I wanted to experiment and see if I could make a batch of brownies with no sugar and just melt these nasty mothers (that nobody wanted to eat) down to sweeten the brownies with.  My thought was to melt them down via a double boiler and then add them into the dry ingredients. I added some (almond) milk into the bowl to encourage the melting action that showed no signs of happening the first several minutes of this experiment. I was thinking that I might have to scrap this whole thing - I mean,  those things could outlast the apocalypse! After awhile though, they began to soften and turn into a sticky, sweet, bubbling mix of goo. I used peanut butter instead of regular butter, and I added that to this bubbling mixture so that it would melt. I honestly added a little too much, and it was the all natural ground up at the local health food kind, and therefore, I ended up adding just a pinch more sugar to counter balance the lack of sweetness that a Jiffy peanut butter would not have had. Overall, they turned out pretty good. Maybe a little bitter, which likely came from the coffee that got spilled in the batter. But not bad, considering I just threw ingredients together and hoped for the best. I've got 2 more boxes of PEEPs to melt down and eviscerate so next time I will make some frosting to accompany the next batch of brownies I make. :) That was fun. It was fun to experiment to see what could be done. This has probably already been done, but given how much Google sucks any more as a search engine, I couldn't find any recipes that used melted down PEEPs as a sweetener. 

Over all, it was a good holiday that ended with eating some of the yummiest pizza that I have made in awhile. I topped it with finely chopped leftover London Broil, red pepper, tomato and green olives. Delicious! 

Of Winter Storms and BJD wigs

 So this has been quite a week for the bulk of the country. First we had Winter Storm Uri come through and tear things up. Then we had Winter Storm Viola come through and wreak further hell on us. (And here I was blaming it all on Uri.) Luckily for me, my area survived just fine. We had our ice storm. Nothing really came of it except a thick coating of ice on the trees and other surfaces. The roads were fine pretty quickly after the initial ice storm.

 Then we had the snow come through with more cold temperatures. The morning after some snow came along the previous night with the threat of more coming, the humble space heater that single handedly heats the space where I spend 90% of my time died. Wanna talk about some fantastic timing, geez. We raced off to town on borderline sketchy roads before lunch with the hopes of finding a replacement before the weather got worse. And wouldn't you know it, not a single freaking store had one in stock in the entire town!! Where did they all go?? As a last ditch effort we went by our storage building hoping we had one stored away in there and lo and behold, we did. Whew! No freezing until the one I ordered finally made its way here or they restocked in town!

That was the extent of any real drama for me during this rotten stretch of weather. It's been cold, but nothing that bad. We never lost power. We never had the roads completely shut down. They weren't always perfect for driving, but I was surprised to see that finally, FINALLY, the local government figured out how to prep the roads for the incoming weather AND take care of them during it all! I feel really fortunate as it seems like all of the surrounding areas were hit pretty hard. Though nothing can compare to the horror going on in TX right now. Those poor people. 

Speaking of TX, I had some wonderful luck this last week. I am in desperate need of wigs for my BJDs. Desperate. I don't want to buy anything from China right now. Domestic shipping can be challenging enough. No way I want to gamble with any potential drama with overseas shipping. And that, of course limits my choices by quite a bit. Especially now the Monique is going out of business. So, I decided to check Den of Angels MP like I periodically do and I found a really nice looking fur wig for really cheap! So I messaged the seller ( who, you might have guessed is in TX) and lucky, lucky me! She had a bunch of wigs that she had been meaning to list that she said she would give me a deal on if I wanted any! Yes, please, don't mind if I do! I picked out 6 fantastic fiber wigs (one is a gift for a family member) and she let me have them all plus the fur wig I had originally inquired after for $45! OMG! What a fantastic deal! It might be awhile until she can get them in the mail but it's totally fine with me. Thankfully she is doing okay as I heard from her today. That's the most important part. My dolls can just wait until everything is safe for trips to the post office. :) I'm just so thrilled to have been given such a wonderful deal. All of my big dolls will have a wig! It's like winning the BJD wig lottery!

Once my wigs get here I will attempt to do a proper photo shoot showcasing each wig. Eep! Exciting stuff!

Day 1 Critter Challenge

 So I was recently challenged to a Critter a Day sewing challenge. This means that I must complete 1 piece of clothing a day for MY Critters. It doesn't have to a complete outfit. But it must be one piece and it must be photographed and posted about to complete the challenge. I have no idea if I can do this but it would be good for my self esteem to actually be able to complete something like this. And it would be wonderful to make items for my own Critters instead of spending 100% of my sewing time on projects for others. I've been struggling with completing anything at all lately. And maybe taking a little bit of time for mine but refill my creative tank that has been near empty for the last half of the Year that Must Not Be Named. Any ways, here's to hoping!

First piece completed is this Newsboy hat for my Caramel dog. His name is Heart Valentine. This is technically my first run of the hat pattern so I might do some tweaking on the next one though I am actually happy with it. 

The rest of his outfit will be a white shirt with a red bow tie and red pants with chocolate brown suspenders. Going with the whole Valentine's theme here! :D Tomorrow I will make the shirt. 

Look who joined the family

 So, here I am back on Blogger after looking for much greener pastures on Wordpress. Thing is, Wordpress is a little tricky to use, for those like myself who are technologically challenged. I had forgotten that I had started a previous WordPress blog years ago that I hadn't touched in ages and it is giving me no possibility of linking the 2 accounts where I can easily switch back and forth between them. The trouble really began when I forgot my password (I swear to always write down that new password and this is what happens. Every. Single. Time. Some mistakes you learn from. Others you keep repeating!) I used to be able to sign in via my Google account but since it suddenly booted me back into my old blog, I now cannot access my new Drowning in Dolls blog. Who knows if it'll switch back or not? So, for the time being, I am locked out of that blog. 

Now that that rant is over, guess who joined my doll family yesterday? Why only the lovely vintage Miss Revlon, of course! Here's a bit of a back story....

Back in the mid 2000's I briefly had a beautiful brunette 18" Miss Revlon doll. I ended up parting with her, though it was with some reservations. I figured if I missed having one too badly, then I can always take to eBay and find myself another one.

Time went on and I would occasionally think about that doll and wonder, not only about who ended up with her and if she was loved in her new home, but also if I really should have ever sold her to begin with. "Should I get another one?" I would think. I would even look at some on eBay now and again. But that practical voice in my head that likes to criticize every new doll purchase would always talk down the greedy insatiable doll collector in me who would shriek "you need at least 6 of them!" and I would put this doll out of my mind.

A few weeks back, a booth at my favorite local Flea Market got several Miss Revlons in. When I saw them I got so excited. There she was! Right within my grasp! I looked at them and that old voice kicked in "you don't need yet another doll!" And since every one of the dolls had chopped off hair, I obediently listened and wandered off in search of more ponies, barbies or MH.

And now let's fast forward to Saturday, which at the time of my writing this, is yesterday. I woke up from an impromptu "it's the weekend so I can" mid morning nap only to suddenly come to the soul thudding realization that I just HAD to have one of those dolls, chopped off hair and all!

My confidence fueled by a quick Google search resulting in 2 interesting but not helpful in the least bit blog posts related to restoring Miss Revlon, I was off to the Flea Market! I unfortunately suffered a bit of a sprained knee just a few days ago (all in the name of rescuing my cat) so it is lucky that the booth that held the Miss Revlon dolls wasn't all the way in the back. It still took me some doing to get back there, at least for me, being a habitual speed walker. As I slowly lumbered up to the shelf I was surprised to see that only 2 dolls remained. Both were red heads with blue eyes, both wearing some sad clothing. They stood leaned into each other, and gave off an air of being really good friends. As it didn't seem right to separate them, I snatched them both up. After all, it was the morally right thing to do! One was for $15 and the other $13. The $13 one had a gouge on her nose and upper lip, the other a couple of smudges or missing spots on her eye brows. All fingers were in place and their limbs were tight. 

I decided to cut all the way across the store to look at a booth who has sold vintage and antique dolls and accessories from time to time in the hopes that I would find some shoes that would fit them. No luck, unfortunately! Regretting my decision to even bother, I hobbled up to the check out. I was so pleased with the dolls that the lady who checked me out asked if they were good finds. I told her I thought so!

Now, my plan is to reroot these lovelies. Trying to find instructions or tutorials or anything that gave me an idea on how to remove their heads was a bust. I got on Facebook and joined the Ideal doll groups that I could find and posted my inquiry on how this was to be done. A couple of people were quick to help. And now I am seriously intimidated. If either of my dolls is a later release then I will be able to avoid this bit if not, there is this big ass wing nut holding tbe head on. People do this successfully, but it does scare me a bit to have to stretch that old vinyl over it to take the head off.

We will see how it works out. For now, Peggy Sue and Marilyn (as I have named them) will just have to keep their chopped off hair until life settles down long enough for me to work on them. 

I think I have found the magic solution for my 18 inch dolls!

Spring seems to have arrived! I was awoken early by a robin singing loudly outside the window, and it was a glorious sound and a wonderful way to start my day. Well, I didn't really start my day right then as I dozed back off for a bit, but it is a sign that today is going to be a good day. It's grey and overcast and we are likely to have rain, but its warm and full of the sounds of life. :) 

Yesterday I decided the time had come to once again go through my 18 inch dolls and try to bring some order to my collection. Since falling down the rabbit hole of Our Generation dolls last year, I have added several of those, and my collection began to lose direction and make me once again feel overwhelmed. I know - this is a subject I seem to keep blogging about. I get up to 30 or so dolls, feel horribly overwhelmed, try to cut them down, sometimes achieve it, and then, my collection would bloat back up because, let's face it, I have no power to resist the cuteness. It is frustrating though to seem to lose all control over my  collection, due to my inability to maintain self control, because in the end I stop being able to enjoy what I have. 

My solution in the past was to always just clean out the numbers of dolls that I had. Which, as you can see, is not a real good solution for me! Finally though it dawned on me what exactly I needed to clean out. I needed to prune down how many time periods I want to collect and create with my dolls. I love history and I love sewing. I also love dolls. Put these 3 things together and what I ended up with was a long list of all of these eras I wanted to create. Which is A LOT. If 18 inch dolls were my only collection, then this wouldn't be so overwhelming and also quite doable. But they aren't.

So basically, what I did, was I took some time and thought long and hard over what time periods are actually my favorites - not only for sewing dresses, but also hair styles, accessories and furniture. And that was a no brainer. The 30's and 40's. I also really like the 50's. I thought I liked the 60's, but truthfully, I only like the first like 3 years before the mod look came in. Basically, when the dresses changed from the 50's form, the decade loses me. 

I seem to love the Julie collection, and its been a consistent love since I first saw her collection. For some strange reason, her furniture and accessories were some of my instant favorites. I have her plates and cups and they are some of my most favorite things. Also, the clothing of the 70's while tacky and crazy just tickles me. I love the Julie doll. So, Julie and the 70's stay, the 60's go. 

I have a Mattel Felicity (from probably 2005/6), and I was lucky enough for find her wooden guitar for a steal, and also got her Shrewsbury Cakes Kit. If you were to ask me which doll embodies the magic and soul of Pleasant Company/American Girl, I would say Felicity. I adore her collection. As beautiful as the Elizabeth doll is, she really isn't a part of this perfect Felicity world, so Felicity and her collection stays, Elizabeth goes.

I have wanted to make a 1920's doll forever, and I have researched the era a lot for that fine day when I actually have a chance to start recreating it. I have several of Rebecca's things that I just cannot part with. I mean, her BF meet hat is just amazing! I figure that these 2 eras - 1910's and 20's, while not as favored as the 30's and 40's are enjoyable enough and close enough that I will keep a couple of dolls in these 2 decades.

As much as I have enjoyed (off and on) the 1800's, these eras have just not been as exciting for me, so they have been eliminated as well. I have sewn a lot of MG clothing for commissions, and that was fulfilling enough to just remove them completely from my own dolls. I'm also not doing anything Victorian. While I might do some Puritan era clothing for Felicity just for fun, I am also removing anything Tudor or medievel fantasy or historical. I have also cut off Lolita and everything modern. And eliminated goth and boys of any style/time period. (I have plenty of boys to dress with my BJDs.)

This feels amazing! While I did cut off a couple of dolls that I really never felt much of a connection to, I still have 19 of them, and it actually does not seem like too many. So it isn't so much the doll body count (within reason, of course. I will not allow myself to get any more than 24 total, and I don't know if I will ever reach that) but for me, it was all the plans of what I wanted to do with them that was frustrating me. I guess I have to admit that as much as I love creating, designing, pattern drafting sewing, etc, there can actually be too much demand on my creativity to be able to enjoy it without stress and strain.

So, basically I have one doll in the 1770s book ended by one doll in the 1970's. I have only 2 dolls sharing the 1910/20's. Everyone else is lumped into the 30's/40's/50's. And its perfect. Now I can make one pattern and I can dress 15 dolls with it instead of having to make 15 different patterns for only 1 outfit! 

The 'oh snap I thought it was done!' project

I have already posted the finished pics on both Facebook and Instagram, but I am just getting to actually blogging about it. This is an outfit that a friend of mine asked me if I would want to make. Her fiance pretty much designed it, and it is for their character named Daisy who is shelled in a pukifee. This is the first of several of Daisy's outfits that I will have the honor of bringing to life. :D The example she gave me was done on a computer, and it always presents an interesting and fun challenge to create a computer image in fabric and make it look like the outfit stepped out of the image into the real world.

The fabrics for this were very specific and needed to be shiny. (Shiny always means high maintenance to work with and also means an inevitable head banging moment of "whhhhyyyy?" for me at at least one point along the way. :P) I found the burgundy for the sleeveless tail coat (or tail vest?) in a lux cotton, a fabric I never had used before. (And the nice lady at the cutting table warned me it would ravel easily. She was so right.) The coat needed to be lined in gold, and I found that in a thin but what would prove to be too wiry to fold over the edges of the burgundy for a thin edging. (Number one head ache of the entire project. O.o) For the collar, the only thing I could find was a satin in cream, as I couldn't find the shade that was the actually bronzish color the outfit was designed originally to have. For the blue shirt, I had a satin that was woven in such a way that gave the color a tonal dimension to it. Next time I go back to the fabric store I am going to look back at what it is called precisely. And the pants I was lucky enough to find a shiny blue with glitter in the costume section. I didn't think it would go, but I snapped a pic as a just in case to send to my friend, and it was the perfect fabric! I went ahead and bought that before even hearing back from her on it in my first sweep of fabric searching as the bolt was close to being gone and it would have really sucked to have let it get away, just in case!

A little time went by as life happened, and when I went back to purchase the rest of my fabrics, to my utter horror, the beautiful blue fabric intended for the shirt was gone! Luckily, I made a trip to a town 45 minutes away that had it in stock. First tragedy avoided!

This outfit really had some sort of disaster mark on it. I always carefully put my current project fabrics in a container where I know where everything is. Well, when I went to find the glittery blue to sew the pants, that fabric had literally disappeared. :O I started working on other parts of the project and finally the fabric reappeared where I thought I had put it.

The pants were quite easy to make and went quickly. The sleeveless coat was pretty tricky. I literally spent hours figuring out the best way to sew it. I first had shoulders seams, but then I felt it was adding too much bulk, so I removed that. Then I had the issue with trying to fold up the lining over the raw burgundy edges to create that thin edging effect that I mentioned earlier. I had done this same technique on a coat for a 70cm doll, and while tricky, it was successful. It didn't work out quite so well on such a tiny tiny outfit. There are a lot of corners and tips that were too much of a challenge to do neatly. The parts I did manage to sew looked okay until I put it on the doll and noticed the wiriness of the fabric was causing it to bunch up in an unseemly manner. That was not going to work! So, I set it aside for a little bit to let it simmer in my brain to figure out a solution.

Next I worked on the shirt. I hand painted all the stars on it, and oh, it looked so pretty! The next step after putting the shirt together was to do the cuffs. These cuffs are made out of the burgundy with a cream ruffle and a gold embroidery. I sent my friend pictures of the embroidery stitch options, and she said she would confer with her fiance to see what he liked best for Daisy's outfit. Until I knew what embroidery stitch to use I wasn't able to test out the fit of the shirt as the sleeves and sides weren't sewn up, and I also wasn't able to see if the coat fit over the shirt correctly until I had a finished shirt to try it over. (Yes, I had done test pieces, but with certain types of fabric you can only truly tell when the pieces are sewn in the right fabrics.) I felt pretty certain though that I was nearly done and all I needed was to do the embroidery which was going to be oh so simple and then boom! Done! Right? Well, unfortunately, noooo. When they decided on the perfect embroidery stitch I set out to get it done quickly. What happened quickly was my discovering that the way I had planned to sew the cuffs didn't work as Lux cotton is temperamental (I really want to add an expletive here, but I won't..), and so I had to put more seams in it that I had originally wanted to which was my initial attempt to lesson the bulk. So, I had no choice but to redo that a few times until I thought that I had it right. When I tried it on, nope! The sleeves were too narrow to handle the thickness of the cuffs and so once I had it turned inside out (which nearly tore my nails off to do so) I couldn't even get them over my dolls hands. So, instead of trying to take the cuffs off the sleeves, I just cut the sleeves off as I swear there was no turning those sleeves inside out again. That meant redoing the shirt with all my hand painting as trying to take the cut off sleeves was not an appealing option and I also figured I would make a couple of minor readjustments that likely weren't even necessary. (The more I work on a project the more "mistakes" I imagine and that's when I need an intervention.)

Happily, redoing the shirt was actually not a big deal. (After I had to find that fabric as well that hid in the exact spot I knew I had put it in for a couple of days. :/)The cuffs went on with no drama. The coat finally came together in my head how to go about doing it, and as luck was *finally* on my side, I was able to find a tiny gold trim which my friend loved to go around the coat. :D The final thing was that ruffled collar. I honestly thought it would come together lickety split, but no. :( It had its own tricky kinks to figure out. It took me a few times of doing and redoing, but when it finally came together, it was magical!

 

The final step was closures and that bright red bow at the throat of the collar. Of course a little more suspense was due me in those final moments of creation. I didn't have the 1/8th red ribbon that I was going to use for it, which also was a happy mistake. I ended up take 1/4 inch ribbon and sewing the bow together from different pieces of ribbon - each tail was a separate piece, etc, and in the end it came together perfectly.

I was a happy, happy panda when I finally got it out in the mail! I was nervous and excited for her to get it. I was honestly a little terrified that something wasn't go to fit right, which of course I would have fixed. My bliss upon hearing that it arrived and seeing on Daisy herself was indescribable! Even though this one was a rough journey, I am looking forward to sewing for Daisy and her human keepers again. Only this time, I am going to be a little more aware of tricky fabrics for such a small scale and be much more prepared. :)

We decided it would be a good idea to just take a break from Flea Markets for awhile, kind of cut back on getting any more things. Just for awhile. That resolve I am ashamed to admit lasted all of 2 weeks -maybe - at the most. Not only did we go to one Flea Market this weekend, we went to 3. On Saturday we went to the one across the river. I struck out on anything MH or MLP, but to my absolute shock and delight I found a black teddy bear exactly like one I had gotten way back in 2001, if my memory serves me right. How often does one find a black teddy bear? I remember I had cut off that ugly bow it came with, replaced it with another one (whether I went with red or black, I don't remember), and sewed little felt vampire fangs on him. Unfortunately, he got ruined a few years later, and so I got rid of him with a heavy heart. Imagine my shock when I saw one in nearly perfect shape for all of $6? He does have some sticky residue on his legs, but nothing that a run through the washer can't fix. Dracubear is back! :D You bet I plan to resew on some fangs.

And then today we decided to get out of the house. It was a beautiful day in the 60's and it would have been a waste to spend it inside all day. At the first flea market, I did find a MH Jane Boolittle with great hair. She didn't come with any of her original outfit or accessories, but I went ahead and grabbed her since her hair was so good. Once I got out to the car and got to looking at her I noticed that her neck was broken at the very tip top :/ It was repaired with some sort of glue, so she is fine, but drat! Oh well, she was only $3, and since the neck repair was successful, I still got a nice doll. The only pony I could find was a hammered g3 (which I just googled to discover that its the 25th anniversary Toola Roola) paired with a g4. I went ahead and got it, though the poor pony needs some help.

Sorry for the big hand over the ponies - couldn't help it!

After a moment's debate we decided to go ahead and go to the other Flea Market which we seldom go to. We've gotten some good stuff there, but its usually pretty boring, so we pretty much just stick to the Consumer Mall. The first thing I found there was a 13 Wishes Cleo. :D :D :D. She has everything except her hair piece and her wrap. She's in great shape, and I can happily add another Cleo to the hoard! Next I found Twyla's pet Dustin. We were nearly done and I had given up on finding any more ponies (though it had already been a good weekend of flea marketing) when....drum roll....a stash of ponies was discovered! 4 bag fulls, to be exact. A mix of mostly g1s with some fakies and g3s as well. For $5 each! Now, I may or may not have smashed into a family member nearly knocking them to the ground before catching them in my thrill and mania of finding ponies. But, if that did happen, in my defense I WAS dodging a person and her cart who was in the way, and there WAS a bucket in my path that made me stumble just a wee bit before the collision occurred....If it did, that is. In the future, should another opportunity present itself and another treasure trove of ponies be found, I solemnly promise to handle myself with a little more measured calculation so that no innocent person be Teddy Bruschi-ed (as it was later called) again.

Bad pic, but here are my ponies right before their spa!

We ended up with quite a few ponies, though some of them were pretty stained up. The g1 s were: 2 Bluebelles, 2 Cotton Candies, 2 Mintys and a Snuzzle and the ones that I took - Steamer, Fifi, TAF Sundance, Sundance, Firefly, Twisty Tail, and a Dance and Prance pony DJ. The G3s were Wisteria, Daffidaisy, 25th Ann. Toola Roola (in fantastic shape) Princess Peppermint, and the ones that I took - Coconut Cream, Star Catcher II, and Piccolo. We split the fakies as well, and I ended up with a sitting lanard who I am crazy about, an early 2000's (maybe? Will research) Lanard and 2 other ones of unknown origin. I do like some phonies, so I think they are a fun addition.

Okay, this blog is getting pretty long already, but I have to share a little more about my new G1 additions. Steamer, Fifi, TAF Sundance, Twisty Tail and DJ all have numbers on their forheads, chests, rump and sides. It's a shame too because some of them aren't otherwise in too bad of shape. I had gotten a bag of ponies from that same flea market several months back that included 2 BBE babies, a ballerina pony, a flutter and a summer wing. All of those ponies except the summer wing had numbers written on them as well. Same style. I joked that these ponies were rescued from being a Cult sacrifice, and I wanted to find more of them. Imagine my surprise that I actually did just find more of them! I'm really thrilled. The highest number I have is '25' written on my TAF Sundance. I really hope there aren't 25 ponies damaged like this. One of the Minty's that I did not keep had a very thin black small number written on the chest, but none anywhere else. My Firefly also has a light number on the chest, but that was it as well. I would love to find the rest of them, but who knows if there are any more out there, if I missed more bags at the flea market, or if the rest of the ponies were sacrificed in flames decades ago. I'm going to get out my other Cult rescues to see which numbers I have and take a note of it.

And that concludes a week of some good solid Flea Marketing. Now, back to no more buying for awhile!

Whew! The 40 Critter school uniforms are done!

I mailed this a few days ago, but am now only getting to blogging about it! Back in the Fall I got this massive order for 40 critter child size school uniforms. I was so excited - I have gotten big orders, but never anything quite this big! In my naive excitement, I saw myself getting these done in like 3 weeks. Well, that didn't exactly happen. My customer - being the super sweet and very patient person that she is - assured me not to worry about how long it takes, having a much better handle on just how long making 40 uniforms would take. :'D It really would have taken a shorter amount of time had this not been the cold and flu season of hell as well as the holidays, but there is no real way that I could have gotten them done as quickly as I had hoped.

There were to be 20 girls outfits and 20 for boys. Each shirt would be white, with a black tie, and the pleated skirts and boys pants would be a lovely charcoal grey. I started working on the shirts and got them about halfway done before I worked on the other pieces. I think once I hit 20 shirts I was like "Oh god, and I've got how many more to do?" Jokingly of course. This wasn't a project of drudgery, I would just wear out after making 2-3 shirts in one sitting. The good thing (or bad thing sometimes) is that I always have a myriad of projects going, so when I get a bit exhausted on one project, I can take my mind off of it and work on another.

The boys pants went really quick - I think I even made 9 in one night (sans velcro.) I didn't start the skirts until I was finished with the boys pants. I made 5 of them and showed a pic of them to make sure my customer was happy with them. (She was!) I set them aside for awhile, and just worked on finishing up the shirts. I had decided to save the velcro for all 40 shirts until the end - a decision that I was worried would come back to haunt me. I was dreading doing it, and so why not save it to the end, right? :P The relief that I felt when I discovered that sewing on the velcro was going to be quick is indescribable. I think it only took me maybe 2 hours tops to sew it on every shirt. Next thing was sewing 40 little ties made out of 1/8" black satin ribbon. That also only took me a couple of hours to complete as well.

The remaining girls skirt I was determined to cut out and complete while watching the Super Bowl. It didn't exactly happen, but I came pretty close. I think I got maybe 8-9 done that night. The good thing is that I only watched the Super Bowl because it was on, and while I was curious to see who won, I was pleasantly disinterested. (The last few NFL postseasons have been exhausting, being a Patriots fan. I was relieved to just not care this year!) The game was good enough to watch, but not so good I was at risk sewing my fingers. I finished up the remaining skirts over the next couple of days.

Next came the daunting task of trying to take pics. I'm not really set up for taking good pics, but I do my best. It took way longer to get the pics of it than I expected. I think the whole shoot took 45 minutes, which was mostly time spent on changing the clothes! I only gathered up 20 of my child sized critters and so I put the girls clothes on, then changed the skirts to pants, or the other way around, which was rather tedious at 11:30 at night. It was so much fun though seeing an army of Critters in school uniforms! :D I just wish the pics had turned out better, but at that point I just wanted to get it done. And then off they way to their rightful owner!

First pony purchase of 2020!

I went to the Flea Market yesterday as I hadn't been in awhile and was just in the mood to go. The fabulous 60 degree weather we had over Xmas has departed and the weather gods have reminded us that it is January with the gloomy grey and cold. I wasn't sure if the weather was going to cooperate with my plans as it was sleeting pretty heavily at 10 AM, but that slowed down pretty quickly and the sun even broke through when it was time to leave.

Flea marketing has been pretty much more misses than hits lately, but I figured since I had some good luck a couple weeks ago at a flea market about 45 minutes away, so I was due a good run at my local one. At first it didn't look like I was going to find a thing. I was hoping - desperately hoping - that I would find a My Little Pony. Any pony in any condition (well besides g3.5 and g4 :P), be it one I already had, one in need of repair, etc. There's a booth there that is kind of a catch all of cheap toys, usually McDonald's type of toys. Most are in bags and piled up on 2 large tables. I have found some good things there - like a really cheap MH Gooliope. At first glance I didn't see anything there, but my collector Spidey senses were tingling. So, I did what any self respecting collector would do, and I started digging. (Apparently with such gusto that the family member with me was wondering what I was doing over there.) As I got down to the bottom, I spied one!!! A g3 white unicorn that I later learned is named Sweetie Belle. And it was in really good shape! A few marks, but nothing that was either not removable or live withable. (I'm not a picky collector.)

Feeling fueled by one success I dug with more energy (or frenzy, you could possibly say.) And I found more! Next was a Baby Moondancer that was pretty filthy. No matter though! Glancing up all of my digging had dislodged a G1 Windy which I greedily snatched up. My efforts landed me a few more ponies - another g3 pegasus, a baby Lofty, Baby Cotton Candy and Firely. 6 ponies in all! The g3s are in really good shape, but the vintage ones are in varying levels of stains and filth. Their hair though is all pretty good. And each one was only 99 cents!

I am excited to do the pony spa. I was all set to do it last night, but last night was spent watching the Patriots game, and a game you are that invested in isn't the right moment for a pony spa.

I'll probably watch the Saints/Vikings game tonight, but since it's not a game I care a whole lot about, that will be just fine to have on in the background. I will be sure to take before and after pics of my ponies. I had taken a picture of my finds yesterday but I deleted the pic off of my phone right after I posted it on IG so I need to retake one to post on this blog.

I've fallen so completely out of the habit of blogging that I'm not really sure if I should bother to even try to keep up with this blog or just let it go completely. It's strange because blogging is something I used to love doing. I like writing, and writing about completed projects or other fun collecting "high points" used to be very satisfying. I've had so many computer problems over the last 2 years that all of that time of not having access to a computer, not having a functioning camera and other less relative to mention but equally bleak things in life has just left me almost out of love with blogging. (I did get a new camera earlier in the year, I'm just out of the habit of using one, so that excuse doesn't work now...)I won't ever get rid of this blog altogether, just because it is a fun thing for me to look back on. So really, whether I keep updating it or not is probably not even a decision worth mentioning.

Despite my uninspiring last year - 2 years, I have had a lot of fun projects that I am really proud of and would have enjoyed documenting them for my own satisfaction. I'm not sure whether or not I should play catch up and post about old completed projects? I suppose I will start with my latest and go back from there, posting the projects of which I have pics that I can actually use. With that being said, I will stop my pointless ramblings and post something enjoyable to read.

I don't think I mentioned it on here, but through a unexpected to turn of events, I ended up getting back into the Pullip hobby. It all started with the poor Dal Charlotte who had been sitting on the shelves of my local Tuesday Morning for probably a year. I decided, what the hey, might as well get the poor dolly, as she was marked down 20% off,  and if I really didn't like her (I never had a Dal before) I could sell her to someone in the doll collecting groups who would treasure her. Through a miscalculation of time, I ended up NOT getting to Tuesday Morning on my intended day to buy her before they closed. (Which they did 15 minutes early.) I ended up unexpectedly going to Evansville the next day. The original plan was to go by the store on the way there, but we left later than planned I think, and had to just head straight there. I did though make it by Tuesday Morning before they closed on my way back to the house after leaving Evansville. And what to my wondering eyes did appear? But a 40% off sticker on Dal Charlotte AND an extra 20% off as well! I got that doll for I think about $27 something in the end. So my seemingly bad luck by missing her the previous night turned into super good luck! :D  The lady at the check out was relieved that someone finally bought the poor doll. She thought she was so pretty. And she really is. I'm so pleased with her.

I quickly named her Macaroon, and dreamed up all sorts of things that I could make for her on the drive back to the house from Tuesday Morning. I ended up not opening until a couple of weeks ago, so she sat on my shelf for a few weeks, just being admired from a distance. After I opened her, I did just put her back in her box until I can find a safer storage solution for her.

I ought to do a more thorough review of her. I'll try to do that if I can ever get good enough lighting in this dungeon. Here's a few things of note to mention:

Her hair. I love, love, LOVE her hair. I didn't realize it until I actually took a good look at her in the store, but it has a pale pink mingled in. The curlets and the braids of her hair style are very pretty and will prove to be a challenge to store safely.

Her dress has a lot of detail and I do like it. I'm always a sucker for Rococo. But, I have some issues with it that do bug me. I'm just really finicky with doll clothes. First thing that bothers me is that the dress really doesn't fit her through the chest and shoulders. It's really big on her to the point where it comes down way too low and its just baggy. The other thing that I don't like is they way they finished the over skirt. While I applaud their success in avoiding the pesky back seam, I just think the way they used small hooks and eyes to attach it to the front just results in an awkward looking fit as the over skirt edges don't stay where they need to and it ends up skirting up to the middle of her waist. It just looks awkward, though I don't have any suggestions of how they could have otherwise achieved this. I honestly would rather have the seam in the back and the over skirt fitting cleanly at the waist. But that's just me being really nit picky. Jun Planning always creates beautiful and quality pieces for their Pullip and Family dolls.

I'm really looking forward to sewing some fun stuff for Macaroon. She will be all sweet, pastel, rococo/lolita goodness!

Since getting my Dal I added a MIO Pullip, who, while named and planned out is still in her box, a Pullip Nanette, and then was recently gifted with another MIO Pullip, who while also named and planned out is likewise sitting still in her box. Hopefully I will have a chance to work on those dolls and will post about them when I do.

Yesterday I finally was to the point of being able to do a fabric test run of the carry case I have been commissioned to make for Bitty Bitsu sized dolls. I will be making 4 of these, and I designed it - as requested - to hold the doll, a roll up futon mattress, a blanket and pillow, a pocket for clothing and a small pocket for some accessories. My customer requested there to be a see through window so she can see the doll and that the case be the base for the roll up mattress, which is brilliant, I think! I have never made anything like this, so this is a very interesting experience for me. 

I drafted the whole thing on graph paper, which is really great to use, made all of the calculations making sure there was space for the lining, etc, and then after I checked and rechecked, I cut out some test fabric and test felt to fill in for the lining which I plan to use. It went pretty well. I had to make a couple of small adjustments which was no surprise considering I was having trouble getting an accurate measurement with my measuring tape going around my curved pencil lines. I fear I might have one small issue, but I won't know for sure until I can get to town and pick up a zipper and run another test.

Since there was nothing more I could do on it today, I set that project aside and worked on a MH project I started last night. I made a pair of denim pants, and today I made simple tee shirt to go with them. That took only a few minutes since I found (yay!) the tee shirt pattern I had made a couple of years ago. To complete the outfit - I am going for a modern hippie look -  it needs a suede jacket, so I started that pattern. I got as far as the front, back and sleeves before taking a break on it. I need to figure out the back collar, pockets and lining to complete it. 

After a snack break I sat down and wrote down the measurements for the 16 inch Disney animator doll comparing them to AG. I had done a commission some time ago for one of these dolls and measurement adjustments were a breeze. I just don't know where I had written them down! I will be making a Nell outfit from The House on Haunted Hill tv show.After getting all the measurements down on paper, I was able to figure out how much fabric I will need for each piece. So barring any wretched stormy weather that we just might be having tomorrow, I will go into the fabric store and get  total for the supplies we this project can finally start. I am only now standing the thought of working on yet another chiffon project as I have been chiffoned out this last year. (I can't believe how much chiffon I have worked on.) I also decided on a line or not to line solution to the robe that I have been debating over since volunteering for this outfit. 

To end my sewing day, I got out my Gene doll and began drafting a pattern for her. It's a drop waisted 50's design, and one I have already made for AG. It's not possible to resize the AG pattern (for me at least - resizing is confusing, starting from scratch is easier), but it is going quickly being that I know the way the pieces are meant to go together. I made really good headway on it - I just need to do the sleeves, cuffs, collar, sash and lining. It's wonderful seeing my doll in a dress I am making just for her!

Tomorrow is going to be a fun project day! 

Meet the Appletons (Sylvanian Families Kennelworth Dalmatians)

One of these days I will blog about the recent lot we picked up last week (it was a fun adventure) but for now I want to just talk about one of my newest acquisitions that came in the aforementioned lot - the Sylvanian Families Dalmatians. :D (I just learned their name is Kennelworth - though is that the UK name for them? I truly cannot hold onto their official names. You pick your battles.) I adore this little family. I am lucky to have gotten all 4 plus the twins, all in excellent shape. My plan is right now to NOT buy any more Critters and to just bond with the ones I have gotten. They all need names and stories and I would like to make them new clothes. Considering the residents of Happy Hollow just doubled and then some, I think I will be happily occupied for some time! But back to the intended subject of this post, the Appletons.

"The Appletons own the Apple orchard of Happy Hollow. They are Big Brother MacIntosh, Big Sister Gala, Little Brother Braeburn, Little Sister Goldie (short for Golden Delicious) and Twins Crispin and Honeycrisp. The Appletons are proud of the many varieties of apples they grow and love to take care of the trees, picking all the juicy apples after they ripen in the sun. (In Happy Hollow there are always apples ready to eat!) When they are not out harvesting apples and tending to other orchard related activities, they love to bake delicious desserts like pies, tarts and turnovers. Their treats are a big hit at the local bakery. Even Baby Crispin and Baby Honeycrisp want to participate! They love to help shape the little apples and leaves that decorate the tops of the pies. When baking time is over, all of the Appletons are happy to help with the clean up. The quicker they get the mess cleaned up, the quicker they can get to another favorite activity - playing checkers! The Appleton checkers tournaments can go on for hours. Each member of the family keep a careful note of scores. After all, each winner gets to choose a pie for themselves! (Not that they ever keep the pie to themselves - it always tastes better shared with the ones you love the most.)"

I have sketched out some ideas for some simple outfits for each of them. I'm definitely going to play up the apple theme and will try to make felt appliques work somewhere on their outfits. I would love to to make Baby Crispin and Honeycrisp little rompers with apple hats. If I can get that to work somehow, I will be thrilled!

The Sewing Project Basics round is done!

With the extra stress of playing catch up to get back on track for this last year finally subsiding, I am finding I have time for more projects. (It's amazing just how much added weight stress adds to anything.) Den of Angels has monthly themed sewing projects that members can join to just do for fun. The last time I joined and completed any project there was probably 2016, the Dark Mori round. I've just been too busy with other projects/other things, and that 7th circle of Hell known as the Catch Up ring to justify joining in. I decided "why not?" for the February  project since I was seeing the end of my present commissions in sight, and I figured a little 'just for fun' sewing would be really good for me. It went fairly well, so, with even more work accomplished as the March project started, I decided to join in again!

This month's theme was Basics. Who doesn't need basics, right? True to form, I over planned, wanting to make outfits for 4 of my dolls. That didn't quite happen, but what I did end up finishing was a hoodie for my little Dearmine Bean I named Roseus and another outfit for Honeysuckle. The project time ended before I got his pants done, but I can always squeeze them in some other time.

There's his hoodie. I still need to decide how I want to close it in the back. I love the colors for him! :D  His pants will be out of a purple. I still want to make him a tee shirt. I had picked out a peach knit, with the intention of painting some sort of candy monster on it. It'll still happen though - he can't live in a hoodie when Summer hits!

And here's Miss Honeysuckle. Not the best pic - I was a little rushed. I need to take a better one to show her outfit more clearly. Her peddle pushers have cuffs and bows that match the floral of the shirt. I think though, she'll be able to wear them with other things just fine. I was debating whether or not her blouse needs bows at the sleeve cuffs and I pretty much settled on not going with them. Her kerchief needs to be rethought out on how I close it in the back. It ended up too loose. Overall though I am pretty happy with it.

The next month's project will start soon, and its theme is once again Dark Mori! Honeysuckle is going to sit this one out (I haven't broken the news yet to her. She's not going to be happy) as she still has the outfit I made her last time. I've already started some design sketches. This month's muse will be my WS Juri06 Bree'an, who has not had a single thing sewn for him since I got him back.This is going to be exciting!

I have spent most of the day today going through my vintage pony collection. I had already written a detailed list of who I have and who I need to complete each year (up through at least year 6,) but, as this seems to happen a lot, I have no idea where that particular notebook went to. I'm guessing it was collateral damage from the last big clean out of papers, notebooks etc that are no longer needed. Or it might show up somewhere. At any rate, I have started over and have everything written down through year 4. I'm working on reassessing my collection goals, so this new list does reflect my new focus. (Not that its terribly different, but a new list for a new year is actually refreshing after all!) I started out by getting each pony out of my containers to admire as I wrote them down. Oh, the MLP smell is a deliriously delicious scent of pure blissful intoxication! It was nice to see each one as its been awhile since I took them out to mess with. After a few series, I just wrote down who I had without digging them out. I need another container. The recent expansion of twins has made it harder to unbury a specific pony.

I haven't bought new ponies for awhile. I did trade some sewing for a few, and fell into the fortune of a family member cleaning house (thus the twin expansion), so there's been that bit of awesomeness. Even with that, I am craving going on a pony splurge! But for now, I am going to just reorient and refocus my goals and let it all fall into place as it goes along.

I'm going to transfer all of my collection notes onto this blog in my pony section, with what I have in regular text and what I still need to complete with an asterisk next to it. I will put what I am not planning on getting from each year in italics. I will have some ponies to sell, some duplicates and what not. Its hard to part with duplicates. I can't quite let go of my second Powder or my second Sky Flier, but I will try to do it at one point. I stayed strong yesterday and left behind a Sparkler at the Flea Market that I didn't need. While I admire and agree with the "no pony left behind" rule, I just don't follow it. I was so very much hoping to find some G1s to get for my collection, but alas, all that they had (that weren't priced ridiculously) were ponies that I already had. :( Though I did find a castle in its box with Majesty and Spike at the cash only place for $60. Once I get some more sales that give me unspoken for money, I might see if its still available. I'd want to see if they'd let me look inside the packaging to let me see what all is there before buying it. If its just the castle bones, I'm not sure if I'd want to pay $60 for it. It all depends on the condition, I suppose. Though I seriously doubt if it will stay there for too long!

Tomorrow is the SUPER BOWL!!!! And my cool buy 2 get 2 free at Spencers...

I spent tonight getting everything together to head out to the motel tomorrow in TN (it's a 2 hour drive) we booked (cat friendly, so the furballs are going too) so we can watch the Super Bowl! Why drive 2 hours? It is a place we do like to stay, though in reality, the rental site switched locations from the town in KY that is 45 minutes away to the place in TN. Maybe it's because we stayed at that very same hotel before, so it just switched it? I have no idea, and its no big deal to drive a little further to stay there. Otherwise, we would have canceled it.

One draw of going to TN is there is a particularly delicious Mexican restaurant we love to eat at, and we had planned on going there before the game. Then the stomach flu hit me pretty meanly on Wednesday, and that plan changed. In the end, I just fixed a roast here at the house and cooked it with Mexican seasoning that we'll just take. (Thankfully it was one of the first things that sounded good to me, otherwise I have no idea what we would have done. I'm not quite back to regular eating, but getting there.) It's amazing how much stuff one needs to take for a simple one night stay when you are bringing cats and food. O.O I mapped out what I hope is a thorough itinerary of everything needed to be packed, etc., and so far, so good. Just have to double check the list tomorrow before leaving to make sure we have it all. I hope I didn't forget something! I'm hoping to be out the door by 10 AM, get tacos at Taco Bell for lunch, and get settled in the motel by 1. (And crossing my fingers I feel like Casey's mocha latte too.) And then, count down is on! I'm not all nerves yet, but that'll come as the clock clicks down to gametime.

And now to my amazing buy at Spencers….Originally I went to the mall to get some more sage smudge, which they sell at one store that I can't recall the name of, and also at Spencer's. Well, apparently the one store closed down, and they didn't have any at Spencers. (Drat, might have to order online...) But, I did find that their jewelry was buy 2 get 2 free. I lucked out! That was the very last skeleton hand they had, and I have wanted one of those for quite awhile. These are what  I got on sale: (The 2nd free piece I got I gave as a gift.)

The final piece I got - I really couldn't believe my luck!! I had been wanting one of these for quite awhile too, but was too cheap to fork out $30 for it. But there it was, in the $2 bin!! I should have bought the second one too, but didn't really think about it until after I left.

Kitty photo bomb!

I need to get myself to unwind so I can go to sleep, but I am so keyed up! I'm excited for tomorrow, yet nervous at the same time....

For the love of Critters!

I have a new addiction. This bug, this irresistible, death by cuteness bug bit me HARD in November of last year. (That's still weird to say 'last year' over 2018. I'm still getting used to 2019.) I had seen these adorable Calico Critters for years, of course. I used to admire from afar at the amazing displays and impressively detailed items at TRU (rest in peace, TRU.) But I never dared get into collecting yet another thing that I knew I would go nuts over. But finally, I took the plunge. I got a blind bag baby, and that was the end of all resistance. Little Henry Sweetpea with his baby sized drum and drum sticks had done it. I had to have more.

All of this hit conveniently when Walmart was offering their Christmas layaway services. (Insert gleeful grin here.) While we don't celebrate Christmas, we did want to celebrate Winter, so why not have some presents? I picked out the Hopscotch rabbit family, and put 2 baby playsets on layaway as well. I didn't get any houses, as none available really suited my slowly forming vision of what I wanted for my Critters, although I did get the tree house. (I also lucked out, and found 3 beach playsets at Tuesday Morning, so I ended up returning initially the 2 playsets I had on layaway. I got them later.) It was fun having wrapped gifts under the Gothmas tree.

We didn't wait until the Solstice, and had our celebration more like on the 18th or so? It was a lot of fun. I made some of my special hot chocolate for those who want it. (I never drink it, nor taste it as I make it, but somehow I manage to create quite a yummy hot chocolate, which is just plain weird.) Along with my Hopscotch family,  I got the Splash and Play Whale, the Seaside Merry Go Round (OMG, the little fish seats on the ride! Yep, death by cuteness,) the Seaside Treasure set (I didn't keep the kitty figure) and last but not least, my tree house.

After opening all of my presents, I decided that these were so neat, I needed to make room for more by cleaning out everything that I liked, but didn't love. This was quite an endeavor, and I can say that I cleaned out probably half at least of everything I had accumulated over the last couple years. All of that can be a subject for another post if I want to go over the boring details. It felt really freaking good to clean out so much stuff. I enjoyed everything I had, but parting with it doesn't make me sad one bit. It gives me more space, cuts out a lot of clutter, and gives me some extra spending money for my Critters.

At this point, my Critter collection is off to a very healthy start! I'm going to create a Critter page on here so I can have a collection list, and I also plan to review all of my Critter items just for the fun of it. These little figures are so magical, they really do brighter my day. For the love of Critters!!

My knitting project just can't seem to take off!

I've been wanting to knit an AG sweater forever. Sometime last year I bought this adorable cardigan pattern. It suited my purposes for a cardigan that my 30's/40's dolls could wear. Time moved on, and this project got pushed so far down on my priority list that I actually forgot about it. This year, as soon as October hit, I got bit by the knitting bug again. (I get in a knitting mood when the weather gets cooler every year, whether I actually do any knitting or not!) This hit during my laptopless stretch of time, and the only way I could access anything online was via my phone. I don't have the Etsy app, therefor, I could not pull up any purchases I made on there before this year. :/ So, I couldn't access this pattern. (I could have down loaded the app, but my phone does not have a lot of storage, and I am constantly micro managing cached data and unneeded photos to keep it working properly. Its not fancy, but its a great phone for me.)

Still being eaten alive by the knitting bug, I looked for another sweater pattern to get. I had this vision of making a pale pink sweater with a floofy skirt of some sort. Maybe a yarn with a tinsel affect. I found the perfect sweater pattern and got it.

 https://www.etsy.com/listing/618154903/pdf-knitting-pattern-ss2016-k16-sea?ref=related-4
 (Link is to the WW size, not the AG one that I bought.)

Strangely enough, I had a hard time finding  pale pink yarn. I guess it isn't in vogue this year? That actually happens to pale pink? I finally found a color I liked in the appropriate weight at Hobby Lobby. It's a fuzzy yarn (but no tinsel), so I think it will make an adorable sweater. :D

When  I got my lap top fixed, I was all set to pull up both my cardigan since I can find it on a computer unlike my Etsy app-less phone and the latest sweater pattern, burn them to a disk and print them up. But, strangely enough the patterns tried to open on Windows Word, my subscription  of which has expired, so I wasn't able to get to them. It's really weird as in the past any down loaded patterns from Etsy have never opened with Word. They wouldn't as I only got the program with my new laptop last year. Maybe I am missing something. Not unlikely since I am just so darn computer smart and tech savvy. So, back to having to pull up my latest purchase on my phone to be able to use it! I'll email it to myself and print it up at the library if I can.

Since I had an afternoon today to just relax, I figured, no time like the present! I pulled up the pattern and carefully wrote it down on paper. (The first 12 rows, that is.) I don't have the right size needles in circular, so I just went with my double pointed needles, figuring that they would work almost as well. I know multiple needles can be a pain, but they've always been my preference. Well with this project, I think I need the circular kind! I was so busy trying to hold onto all my needles, I am not sure what I was doing, but the double ribbing the pattern was telling me to create was not what was forming on my needles! I took it out after the third row, admitted momentary defeat, and will just pick it back up when I get the circular needles.

I know this sweater will be fun to make. The instructions, as far as I read at least, are easy to follow. That is not always the case! I hope when I get into the project that mine comes out looking as good as it looks on the cover of the pattern. :P

WIP American Girl Victorian Dress

After having been laptop-less for quite awhile, its nice to be able to blog again! This post's subject is the WIP Victorian I started some weeks ago. Between my ribbon conundrum and life happening, its just been sitting there for weeks.

This is my inspiration pic.

The salmon color is quite hideous. I didn't want to make an exact copy, so I went through my fabric hoard to pick out what I thought would be a good fit both for the pattern and also for the intended doll, which happened to be my beautiful Nicki I got as a gift on Halloween. I went with a floral pattern on white. Since white lace would just be lost on the white fabric, I decided to go with a pink ribbon and do some sort of fancy ribbon work for the trim. Ribbon work isn't something I really do, so I had to decide exactly how I wanted the trim to look, and then find a good tutorial that explained how to accomplish it.

First I went with a darker pink - not dark dark, but more I guess of a medium rose pink - ribbon an inch wide. I really had a hard time trying to find any decent tutorials searching on my phone. Now on a laptop, I can find quite a few of them! What I originally tried to do did not work. Not only was I not pleased with the affect of my sad attempt at a fancy trim, I wasn't really liking the pink color of the ribbon. So, back to the store I went and got this time a paler 1/2 pink. The simplest thing to do, I decided next, was to simply pleat the ribbon. I love the affect combined with the fabric of the dress. :D

So far I have the ribbon on one cuff and the bodice. I started adding it last night to one of the top curved collar  pieces that surround the pin tucked yoke. Its a bit of a challenge to neatly curve it while keeping the pleats steady. I have a feeling that I am doing this the hard way. There's probably a technique to this that I am not using. I'll have to do more research to see what I can learn on the proper way of doing ribbon work. Here's all the pieces I have left to trim:

I went ahead and sewed the pin tucked yoke to the bodice piece before I actually needed to, but I wanted to see how it looked. I will take it back off, and add the other pieces to it, then sew it all back together.

In a true confession, I think I rushed the drafting/testing process with this dress. I'm seeing a couple of issues where I didn't think it through as carefully as I should have, where I should have been more cognizant of bulk, etc. Hopefully though, everything will go together neatly, and I'll be happy with the finished process. If it all comes together right, my Nicki is going to look absolutely gorgeous in it!



 

Going through my BJDs

I decided to take my Sunday and spend some time going through my BJD collection. Quite a few of them had been put in the "Rehome" box, and they have been there for quite awhile. Some of my dolls when I got them, due to being busy with other things and a lack of clear direction, have pretty much been stored safely away waiting for that creative click. (I'm afraid some dolls have been waiting a long time to have me come up with an idea for them!) I've added several more anthros lately. It'll be fun to see just where my doll family is right now. (I'll be dodging a sleeping Mansfield in my lap, so I might not move too quickly!)

Fast forward a few hours later, and all dolls have been sorted. I am keeping everything I had put up for sale. The ones I did part with earlier in the year, I am very glad that I did. I'm also very glad that I did not sell any more. It's nice when things work out that way!

With the lack of creative click, I concluded that for whatever reason, I was trying to achieve too much variety in the styles I dress my dolls in. Not sure why, but there you have it. I favor gothic, whimsy, circus, lolita and Victorian. I should just stick to what I like and not worry about some of my dolls being dressed too similarly! And with that conclusion, I suddenly went on a design kick and have plotted out 3 outfits, and got the first rough pattern draft for Grinsen's clown inspired outfit. (More like the latest IT clown inspired outfit.) Then I got a nice Jester outfit drawn out for Punch, and a Victorian inspired suit for Grim.

I don't think I am going to keep the cyber goth bondage pants I had made for the LTF Juri (at present named Hazard.) I don't really like that style on the little guys. I'll have to think about what to do with him as he has a sort of hot pink and green streaked wig and watermelon colored eyes. (I love those eyes.) And I like the wig a lot. I just have no idea at present what style of clothing would work with the colors.

I don't have names for everyone yet. The above mentioned Hazard might have a name change. My Volks doll is now Grinsen, which is German for grin. (Thought that was appropriate given my fun plans for him.) My Pipos Pang is Grim. My Delf Elf Yder is now settled in as Tenebris. I still don't have a name for my Soom red Trachy. He's a tough one, but I am getting some ideas for his clothing, wig and eyes.

Speaking of wigs, I am short a few. Thankfully I learned from my last wig buying experience not to buy another wig until everything was definitely set. (Those 2 wigs luckily ended up having a use for my soon to be customized MH Frightfully tall Gooliope.) Trachy has no wig. Hazard's wig is up in the air. Lucian (5star Jesse) had a lavender fur wig I was not completely happy with that unfortunately ended up going to the laundry mat. :/ It's a little worse for wear now, and I am not sure if he can even still fit in it. Tenebris stole Coal's (Elf Chiwoo) black and silver wig, and Grinsen has nothing but the ill fated hope that I will make him a yarn wig. So, I got on DoA to see if I could find anything perfect. I know I want Coal's wig to be long, but not too long, and plain black. I found a seller who has one that fits the bill. She has another I think would be perfect for Grinsen. I am eagerly awaiting her response, as I made on offer for the 2. (It's as exciting as getting a new doll! :D)

I'm not sure if I will try to do any sewing today. I might just see how far I can go with designing and  just plan on getting some stuff sewn for mine next weekend.