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! ;)

Little bit of progress?

That whole "making time to do the things I love" resolution is harder to keep than you'd think.  LOL  But Thursday night I cast on a pattern I'd wanted to try:

This is the Rainbow variation of Kristin Maw's "House Sweater for Littlefee" pattern. It's actually done now, and being blocked.  It didn't take very long, even with me making a couple minor errors along the way (peril of working on something in the evening).

Yesterday I finished off the bricks for the back wall of Parker's attic, and today I gave it the first coat of paint.  I'm not too sure if I like it yet, but we'll see what it looks like after the next coat, which should add more depth.  I figure if I don't like it when it's done, I'll give it a "whitewashed" look with the white paint!

I do love the texture of the bricks - the egg carton does a great job of mimicking real bricks from that point of view!

The pictures are courtesy of my brand-new second-hand iPod Touch.  LOL That is, new to me!  I've been using my old iPod Nano for the last...erm...wow, must be about 12 years?  It was back in that day when all an MP3 Player did was play music.  I'm having a lot of fun playing with this fancy new version!  I don't have a "smart phone", but the iPod Touch seems to do pretty much everything but phone calls. ^_^

Parker's Attic

Otherwise known as the Very Slow Project:

This is where I am so far.  Not far, as you can see!  I'm done her bed!  It was a little crate something came in, and I sewed (rather badly) a mattress for it, re-used a little pillow I'd sewn in the past, and her blanket is done now as well! :)

Today I printed out the Clock-Window, and cut the hole for it in the back wall.  It looks a bit weird right now because you can see the outside parts - that back wall will eventually hopefully be brick, and only the circular part of the clock face will show.  That's what the egg carton is for;  making the bricks!

The goal is to complete this project buying as little as I can. So far it is kind of fun trying to think of what I can re-use to create the items I want.

I'm really pleased with the way the Curio thread from Knitpicks worked out for Parker's blanket, it's very light and crisp, and has a pretty good "drape" to it.  It's usually intended for use with crochet, rather than knitting.

Parker herself is still a work-in-progress, so she won't be appearing in photographs just yet...

Playing School...

While I was out today, I found this perfectly adorable little chalkboard/whiteboard combination at Michaels (Craft store), that was just perfect for Emily!

In other news, I have typed up the "final" version of my Laceweight Top Down sweater for Littlefee pattern, so the next task is getting all the pictures taken to illustrate the steps.  I hope to get that done by the end of the month.  I'm really not a fast knitter, and there's lots going on this time of year.  LOL

Make Your Own Stairs...

How neat is this tutorial, here, for making stairs/staircases for dolls?

I tend to fail (badly) at working with foamcore.  I'm not sure if it's my inability to draw a straight line  or my inability to cut in a straight line.  Combination of both, maybe? 

But those stairs rather make me want to give it another try....there are also some truly amazing kitchens and bathrooms made in a similar fashion at the site.   In fact, just go to the tutorials section and admire!  :)

It seems to be all 1:6 scale, which doesn't work for me since the "adults" are 1:4 scale, but it does look very adaptable.   And really, making stairs looks like an awful lot of fun....  Even making a kitchen looks do-able when you see someone else doing it!

Labour Day...

Today is Labour Day, so I have an extra day off work.  Three days in a row, hurrah!  The weather here has been rain, rain, and then some more rain just to be sure we got the message that summer is over, so I'm spending this day as I've spent the last two:  catching up on little jobs that have been put off.

I've replaced a hook on the bathroom door, fixed the screen in the dining room window, made a header for my blog (finally!), and re-organized the front hall closet.

Much more fun, I'm continuing to work on Claire's craft room, which includes painting some scrapbook embellishments that look like picture frames.  I've been meaning to get around to that one for years.



I pulled out my fabric scraps I've been saving, and wrapped them around bits of balsa wood and cardboard to fill one of the drawers of Claire's craft table with fabric.  A lot of the time my first idea for things like this does not work out...but this time it did! The fabric drawer looks exactly the way I wanted it to.



You have to imagine Claire going around to all the fabric shops and convincing them to donate fabric that didn't sell even on the discount table, so that is how she gets them still wrapped on the cardboard!  LOL

I started working on the first prototype pattern of what I've been calling "the Wabi-sabi dress" in my head.  The edges on all the ruffles are left to fray, thus the name. I envy those people who do the math, chart out the pattern, and have it turn out the way it should the first try, but I am definitely not one of them.  Also, muslin is not the best fabric for making doll sized double-fold bias tape.  It'll work, though!

P.S.  This may very well be the most awesome ball-jointed cat in the history of ball-jointed cats.  Seriously.  Check out her whole photostream!  <3

This and That

Ever have your weekend planned out and suddenly have all those plans overturned?  So frustrating! LOL

But I've still got time to do a couple of the things I wanted!  I found the most adorable miniature Cabbage Patch baby at Target for just over $1 recently, and I had time this morning to take some pictures of Emily with it.

It's hilariously cute, right down to the miniature box and "birth certificate!"







I started on some of the sewing for Nieceling's birthday present yesterday.  I have a lovely pattern called "Carousal," and I'm trying out the dress pattern in a pretty blue.  If it turns out I'll probably make a second one from some pink floral fabric I salvaged from an old dress.  I'm not bothering with the vest though...too fiddly for her, I think!  Maybe when she is older.

I have the day off tomorrow, and hope to get a little time in the morning to take at least Kipling outside for some pictures.  It has been absolutely beautiful out so far this weekend, so hopefully that will continue.