Autumn Gardening

This time of year is often when I have less dolly time as the garden needs some attention. Earlier on we pulled out all our lavender shrubs as they were getting woody and infested with red mites. This left spaces that needed to be filled, and fill them we did!

We planted a dozen azaleas which are looking quite lost in the space but the three colours we chose will hopefully look like this when they flower.

ANNA KEHR

CLIFF'S CHOICE

RED WING

We also planted lots of these colourful leaf plants under the trees. They are shade lovers so hopefully we will eventually get some decent ground cover where we find it almost impossible to get anything to grow.

Can't remember the names of these plants, but the burgundy leaves should make a nice contrast with the light green leaves on the plants along our fence.

   Well that's about all for today, be back again in a few days!
Hugs,
X

Consolidating

Over the past few days I have been mulling over the future of my blogs . . . and I have a few! However, I have decided to combine them all into one, so you will see much more of what I sew and knit for the many dolls I own, who will become my store models.

Hannah's two way jumper/cardigan and pinafore is AVAILABLE NOW!

I've also spent many hours, days even, looking for a platform to sell my dolls clothes that didn't sell mass manufactured merchandise, but there's really nothing. Both Etsy and eBay are now inundated with stuff from China. In the mean time, you can always contact me through the contact form on this blog if you see something you are interested in.

-oOo-

Now for some other news . . . Smug Mug has bought FlickR, so I have given them the flick and have decided to store all my photos on my own external hard drive, which I will have access to when ever I wish, without paying someone else for storage.

So there you have it in a nutshell, until next time, have a wonderful weekend everyone!
Big hugs,
X

Making it a Trio

I've a little dolly news for you . . . Liz Frost of Wizworx has these darling dolls up for pre-order today. Lunette and Lukas are smaller versions of Liz's Luna, and the same size as my Mia Mary and Fifi Muffet. They will be available in Fair Skin and Light Tan and you'll find them HERE!

PHOTOS POSTED WITH PERMISSION from LIZ FROST
WHO RETAINS the COPYRIGHT.

After bringing home my gorgeous light tan girls and being absolutely thrilled with the quality of Liz's dolls, I have decided to add a fair skin Lunette to my collection. Lunette will make a wonderful sibling for Fifi and Mia, bringing my Liz Frost dolls up to three (I dislike even numbers).

Here are a few close up variations of the fair skin Lunette, however there are more gorgeous photos on Liz's website, so please pop on over.

I quite like the dark haired girl the most, though they are all beautiful. As I have Fifi as a redhead and Mia as a brunette, I really would like my lovely Lunette to be a blonde this time . . . but we will see when she arrives. :)

Waiting is going to be the hardest, as it could be as long as six months before she arrives home, and you know how impatient I get waiting for a doll to arrive. Boy am I going to be antsy around October this year! GULP!

Well I have much more to attend to today, so I'll catch up with all your blogs on the weekend.

Hope you all have a great one!

Hugs,

X

Friendship

A little poem dedicated to the many wonderful friendships which are formed through blogging and just to let you know, I am thinking of you.

When good friends walk beside us,

On the trails that we must keep,

Our burdens seem less heavy,

And the hills are not so steep,

The weary miles pass swiftly,

Taken in joyous stride,

And all the world seems brighter,

When friends walk by our side.

Author Unknown

The Monarch courtesy of James Browne

Wishing you all a marvellous week ahead!

Hugs,

X

Inspired by Dolce and Gabbana

Some of you maybe aware that I made teddy bears for many years, long before I began collecting dolls. It was a wonderful creative outlet and one that I enjoyed for almost 16 years. Often I would look for inspiration to create something new and exciting. However, sometimes, no matter how hard I looked, I could not always find it.

Then there were times when inspiration would simply arrive when I least expected it, often in the strangest forms . . . it may have been a colour, a fabric, a piece of music, a beautiful poem, a child's book or as in this particular case, it was a couple of wonderful Italian designers.

I kept the little clown on the left (Dulcie) and the other (Gabanny) found a new home overseas.

Hope you're all feeling inspired this week. :)

Hugs,

X

Vintage Style for Ivy

I do enjoy sewing, but there are times when I look at my fabric stash and think "Where do I begin?" However, sorting out my storage has helped me focus on something I have wanted to do for a long time and just kept putting on the back burner. In my stash I have some beautiful tana lawn, pretty gauze in pastel colours and lovely dotted Swiss cotton, all of which are perfectly suited to vintage style dresses.

Anyway to cut a long story short, I made another dress using the same pattern I had used for Fifi Muffet's and Mia Mary's dresses. This time adding more lace, a few pintucks, some hand dyed silk ribbon and velvet flowers.

I'm reasonably happy with the way it and her bloomers, have turned out and think the outfit looks lovely on Ivy my Narsha Zihu. What's more, it's inspired me to finally give her a long awaited face-up, which if all goes well, photos will follow shortly.

I may give her a hat or bonnet and a parasol as well, to complete her look. The only thing I am not happy about is her shoes, she has a rather large big toe that tends to stick upwards, which makes finding the right style of shoe to fit, a little difficult. If only I could remember where I purchased these gold ones from, I would order more in other colours.

Well that's about it for today, I'd better move my butt if I want to make this girl come to life. :)

EDIT 4.50pm: Well move my butt I did, but I am so frustrated with the darn eyelashes. Does anyone else have a problem with them? I think I need to try some different ones to the ones I'm using, they just don't curve nicely and I am really p****d off  that I managed to get glue on the face-up, so Ivy now has shiny spots on her face. Looks like it's gonna be off with this face-up and a fresh start another day (when hubby's not around to keep interrupting me with cups of tea).

Hugs to you all,

X