Isis called Nyssa and Eric to show them one of the new pillows.... "What do you think? Now you can both have a new needlepoint pillow..." Nyssa took the gold floral pillow..... ...while Eric clutched his favourite.... "Now that you both have one to yourselves, there shouldn't be any more fighting." "This one is MINE, and you aren't touching it!!"
Apparently I'm not the only person who does needlepoint fast, since Isis had both pillows done in no time at all... "They turned out really nice..." "I can't believe how fast they went..."
Isis decided that she wanted (needed) to make another pillow, and was looking through her needlepoint patterns... "Hmmm...I like both of these, but which one do I do first??" "I like both, but think I'll start with this one...."
Yesterday I caught Nami and Byuri sitting on the sofa with all the umbrellas in the house.... "What are you two up to? It's not raining inside the house!" "It's 'Open an Umbrella Inside' Day. It's supposed to be the only day in the year that it's safe to do it, so we are testing it out, and opening them all...."
My favourite time to go to Niagara Falls is in the dead of winter when everything is frozen over, but I don't like the extreme cold. And with Spring approaching, it was now or never, and Saturday was a nice sunny day with temperatures right at freezing. So not too bad. But weekends are extremely busy there, so we had to park at quite some distance. I had brought three dolls (in boxes) and headed over to where the rainbow was brightest through the mist.... Problem was, the wind was blowing from the east, blowing the mist directly at us. It was actually 'raining'. I had to wipe my camera lens before and after every picture, and there was no way I was going to take my dolls out in the rain. The railings were caked with ice from the freezing mist.... As were all the trees in the 'mist zone'.... ...and all the bushes beyond the railings were covered with ice.... The falls themselves were already free of ice. It was March after all. Olivia was quite impressed.... It was all very beautiful.... The girls were amazed. They'd never seen anything like it. "Let's go back to table Rock House to see the brink of the falls..." It was mesmerizing watching the water rush over the brink.... "Don't get too close!! And stay off those railings!!" "That is an awful lot of water!!"
Yesterday I painted Phairby's wings. It's getting more and more challenging to see what I'm doing, but I thought they ended up looking pretty good.... I can't paint a thin line to save my life, even with a super thin, narrow brush, so it's a good thing that the lines on female monarch butterfly wings are a bit wider than those of males! And I checked to find out if those dark spots in the middle of the lower wings were on male or females. Can't paint them on if they aren't on female wings! Turns out they aren't. Just on males.
So now to spray them with sealer, let them dry, and finish them off as a unit so they can snap onto the back of her dress. Then tackle her wig. Saturday afternoon we went for for a little drive to Niagara Falls. I took along Paige, Olivia and Cookie. I figured those two little girls had never been anywhere yet, and having originally come from Egypt where it's always hot and dry, they might appreciate seeing a huge waterfall in the dead of winter. Well, maybe not 'dead of winter', as it was almost mid March. When we go to Niagara Falls, we always get off the highway and go to Niagara on the Lake first.... It's a quaint old town pretty much directly south of us across Lake Ontario, on the mouth of the Niagara River. We parked and got out to explore a park along the lake... The Spring thaw was well underway.... But there was a very strong, cold wind blowing in from across the lake.... "What's that over there??" asked Cookie... "That's an old Fort. That's the United States over there, and they built that a couple of hundred years ago, in case the British up here might decide to invade. We have a fort on our side too, a bit further along the river, right across from them, on the other side of town." "So I guess we weren't always friends with the Americans then?" "Not back in the early 1800's." Next stop was Queenston Heights, where there is a monument to Sir Isaac Brock, commander of the British forces, who drove back the Americans in the War of 1812. "If it wasn't for him, we would have been part of the United States." Queenston Heights is high up on the edge of the Niagara escarpment, with a view down over the Niagara River.... "Let's get back in the car. Next stop is the Falls!"
Just a few photos of Paige and Peach in their new denim skirts that I made from a baby sundress. I wet both skirts to make them crinkle in scale. Both girls are wearing tops made from baby onesies, and black leggings with striped socks. Paige was watering my cyclamen for me... I recently bought some glasses, and tried them on Paige.... Jan says she looks like our eldest granddaughter like that... But I don't think she will keep the glasses....
..and I still have to tame her wig with conditioner.... Making the bodice for Phairby's Butterfly dress has been quite the challenge. The sleeves of her purple dress are almost impossible to get over her hands - it's a HUGE struggle - so I enlarged the armholes a bit, and decided to use a stretch fabric for the sleeves this time. The dress is using three different black fabrics; a plain weave for the bodice itself, a black tricot for the sleeves, and black crinkle cotton for the skirt. Each fabric was chosen for its specific qualities. Everything needs to be basted before sewing, and in bright daylight, since I can't see the details in 'black' (or any dark fabric) at all by lamp light. I sewed petals around the neckline, and added a lace ruff, then did some beading. I even figured out how to add a lace ruffle at the wrist without losing the stretch of the sleeve. But I couldn't bead the sleeves. Even my tiniest beads were too big, plus I was wary of impeding the stretch of the tricot, or having thread loops on the inside of the sleeves that could catch her fingers. So I pinned the bodice flat onto a placement, and dotted white paint on with a toothpick. After sewing the underarm seams, it was time to try it on....and the new technique was a success! It was so much easier to get her hands through the stretchy sleeves! No struggling at all! I think she's looking rather elegant!
Now to finish her overskirt, and start on her wings..... Ringo was reading the Tale of Peter Rabbit, with Rags on his lap.... ..when Rags started to get restless... "Hey, get your tail out of my face! I can't read if you won't sit still!" "It would be so much easier if you could talk..." "What do you want?? "You want this one??" "The Tale of Tom Kitten..." "You want to read this one instead???" "Okay then...." "No wonder you like this one.." "Tom Kitten is just as naughty as you are..."
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AuthorMartha Boers is an award-winning Canadian doll maker and costumer specializing in fantasy and historical-style costumes. Archives
May 2024
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