Lego and Christmas

I have always wanted a Christmas Village, but:
1.  I don't have room for that
2.  They never seem to be quite what I had in mind!  LOL

So this year I bought and assembled a Lego Firehouse Christmas set.  It doesn't take up much space and had the bonus of being fun to assemble!

There's something very meditative about Lego.  😀

It will surprise no one that I have already started making up stories in my head about the Lego people's personalities and lives....

Hi? And Sasha...

So it's been....about three years.  LOL  Hi again, if anyone is still out there!

The hobby wheel turned, and the dolls have been quietly packed away, safe for whenever inspiration appeared.

Apparently, inspiration's name is Sasha at the moment. ;)

I really wanted a Sasha doll as a child, particularly one with brown hair.  I discovered them while looking at old "Golden Hands" magazines that my mother had.  (In fact, I still have those magazines!)  But Sasha dolls simply weren't available in Canada at that time, or not anywhere in our rural area anyway.

Then a few years back I saw Sharon's Sasha dolls at Sharon in Spain, and was charmed all over again!

So a few weeks ago, I went looking on eBay, and found a brown-haired, brown-eyed Sasha doll that didn't have the greatest pictures but was within my price range.

She's been here a couple weeks and I am so happy to have her!  Her hair and face are in great condition, and her stringing seems okay as well.  She's able to stand on her own.

But....at some point, she's picked up a rather strong mildew odour.   There are no signs of mould that I can detect, so I think the smell has just been picked up from wherever she was stored.   She's now been carefully washed following instructions I found on a Sasha website:

And her hair dried (I don't own a hairdryer, so I had to improvise!):

And she's spending a lot of time right now packed in a bin with baking soda:

But I've already started slowly working on an outfit for her, so by the time she's recovered, she may even have something to wear that isn't borrowed!

In the meantime, meet Sasha, in a borrowed dress that doesn't quite close at the back!  LOL

State of the Dolls

I have always had a distressing tendency to rotate through hobbies like I have commitment issues.  I cross-stitched everything that came in to reach for a year, then did no cross-stitching for 4 years.  Then I was devoted for two and a half years and haven't touched cross-stitching in at least eight years.

There is a real possibility that I may suddenly begin cross-stitching everything again either next week or twenty years from now.  LOL

The dolls just haven't been getting the time and attention they used to.  Part of it is that we've had a lot of big projects and overtime at work that leave me with less time, and to be honest, a lot less energy.  Part of it, I think, is that after all this time, I've really made everything the dolls could need!  And part of it is just my natural hobby-rotation... I'm not as interested in sewing or knitting right now.  I've been drawing and trying to learn Spanish in my limited free time instead.

But I love my dolls!

I truly cannot part with most of them. What I really want is to be able to enjoy them  more, rather than just taking pictures four or five times a year.

But I could part with a lot of their wardrobe, and a lot of the props.  I think having less for them will allow me to enjoy them more, and will give me more incentive to make them things!

So I think I've made a few decisions:

1.  Flake is to be sold. She's charming!  But having both her and Hope feels redundant. I know that there is someone out there who would adore having Flake and her pink wardrobe come to stay with them.

2. I'm only keeping the props for the "main room" set.  That means that Emily's bedroom, and the truly awesome furniture I purchased for the Pukifee nursery, will all go.  Extra stuff from the "Craft Room" setup will be heading out.  And a lot of the "little" props that go with those rooms.  

3.  I'm going to be doing a couple giveaways, to send off a bunch of clothing in Pukifee and Littlefee size.  That clothing might as well go to someone who will use it frequently, and Emily, Kipling, Cairo, and Samara will have wardrobes that only contain my very favourite of their outfits.  I'll likely do it through Flickr, and it will be done in 1-3 Lots, to reduce the costs of shipping.

4.  I won't be purchasing any new dolls in the near future.  The only doll-related spending I may do is to find an alternate faceup artist who favours very natural faceups (preferably in Canada) to do Hope's faceup.

I hate the thought of parting with anything, but I love the thought of the extra space I will have, and how much easier it will be to find what I want for the dolls.    I suspect this is one of those cases where, once I have less, I will be able to enjoy what I do have more.

...plus, once they no longer have giant wardrobes, I am much more likely to be motivated to make them something new! ;)

There is impressed, and then there is how I feel about this Spampy order!

Got my Spampy order this week, and I am beyond thrilled.  I got my basics for Kipling and Cairo, and they are all perfect, as usual.  I also gave her a picture of a skirt and a top for Kipling, and she did a really stunning job translating them into doll-size.

See?

I love it!

But my favourite part of the order are the items for Hope.  I didn't ask for anything specific, because having tried making some items for her myself, I know exactly how hard it is to get material of the right scale and drape. Instead I just sent her a link to my Pinterest board for Hope's wardrobe.

She sent me this:

I LOVE all three pieces! Individually and combined!

Perfect fit on that Pinterest board!  I don't know how she is this talented!  The lace on the dress is as soft as the material, and has a great drape to it. :)

Hope is still a most excellent helper. She's just a really well dressed one now... :)

I love all three items, but the vest is my very favourite, I think!  I love the colour, and it is just so charming layered over the dress. :)

Cats Complicate Everything (And You Wind Up Being Grateful)

Madeline was a pest.

She refused to let me sleep in on weekends.
She tried to steal my toast at breakfast.
She sat on my books when I read.
She tried to steal the yarn when I knit and the thread when I sewed.
She got herself shut into closets on a frequent basis.
She liked to watch you run around calling for her while sitting very still in plain sight.
She thought it was great when I was sick, and had to stay home.  (Because then I stayed in bed all day like a proper cat - she purred happily next to me all day.)
She ran in front of me and nearly tripped me at least once a day.
If I was taking a picture of the dolls, she wanted to be right there in the middle.  If I wanted to take a picture of her, she wanted to walk away.
She put all her toys in places she couldn't reach them, then meowed for me to get the yard stick to rescue them for her.
She wouldn't let any visitors over the age of about 2.5 pet her, and would happily enforce this by biting them.
It took twice as long as it should to get ready for work in the morning, because she demanded I stop and pet her, or took off with my hair elastic, or brought me a toy to throw (she liked to play fetch).

I had to have her put to sleep almost a month ago now, and I miss her so much!  :(

I miss her greeting me in the morning when I got up, and trying to steal my toast.  I miss her when I'm reading and she's not lying next to me (or on the book).  I miss her when I'm knitting, because I kind of got used to knitting in strange contortions to keep the yarn out of her reach.  I miss her when I get home from work, and she's not there at the door, delighted that I have once again managed to come home.

She was a pest for 14 years.  I wish it had been 50.

My Very First Ball-Jointed Doll

My very first BJD was stolen.  Well, I said rescued.  And I received permission after the fact.

This is Danielle*:

You can see she is not in the best of shape.  We're not sure if she originally belonged to my grandmother or great-grandmother, but my mother, the youngest of her siblings, remembers playing with this doll as a child.  She wasn't broken at that point. though her paint had been getting a little shabby.

Then along came a string of cousins, and without my grandmother around to teach them to play gently with poor Danielle...well you see the problem.  She is only composition, and that's not the sturdiest of materials!

I tried hiding her around my grandfather's house, lying on pillows and wrapped in blankets, but those boys always found her!  So I smuggled her home.

I did get permission once the deed was done, but honestly, I felt poor Danielle's well-being was at risk! LOL

So she has lived with me ever since.  She's wearing a hand-made dress, which was likely made by my grandmother, but no one is sure.  The Nephews think she's creepy, but Nieceling doesn't. :)

As you can see, her injuries have not slowed her down in the slightest!

I don't believe her strings have ever been tightened, but there she is, standing on her own, steady as a rock.  And that is despite having lost about half of one of her feet!

I haven't had much to post lately.  Work has been very busy, and I hurt my back somehow.  It is getting better now though!  Perhaps I will muster the enthusiasm to sew all those snaps on Hope's clothes.  She keeps me company at my desk, but would probably enjoy being in some  pictures too. ;)

~~~

*I'm quite certain that is not her original name, but no one could tell me what she was called earlier in her life.  Since I was three, and had a friend named Danielle, she became Danielle as well!  Actually, she's very lucky, since most of my naming choices around that age were things like "Pinky" "Browny" "Reddy", and "Mouse".  LOL  Mouse might have been taken as an expression of creativity, but sadly, Mouse was in fact a small stuffed mouse.  

On the List!

Or as spell-check auto-corrected, it, I'm on the "Lost!

When I got up Friday morning the first thing I did was send an email to Spampy to be added to her list.  Of course, that was at 4am EST, so it will probably be a few months before she gets to me, as she opened for orders at midnight!

That's okay though, it gives me lots of time to carefully think about the best items to pick for the Realfee.  ;)

I mean, if I had endless funds, they'd each get ten outfits.  Since I don't, I need to pick very carefully.  I spent a little time playing around on their Pinterest boards earlier...

I definitely need a pair of jeans, jean shorts, and overalls.  Kipling and Cairo can share those between them,  and the character of the outfit can come from their shirts and socks!  LOL  And then a couple outfits and of course they need pajamas!

I've knit quite a few things for Hope, but haven't sewed on the snaps yet (I know, I'm always saying that... I really hate that part!  LOL).  I'd still like to grab a couple sewn things for her from Spampy.