Today is "Straw Hat Day", the day to get out those straw hats and wear them with pride. It's also "National Chocolate Chip Day", the day we are encouraged to put chocolate chips in or on everything we eat today; cookies, ice cream, sandwiches, cereal, coffee, everything! So Lonnie put on her lovely straw hat and went out in the garden to enjoy some chocolate chip treats. And judging by the size of that cookie and that huge ice cream sundae, I'd say it's a good bet today will also be "Upset Stomach" Day. Probably "Alka-Seltzer" day as well.
I'm making good progress on the tops and now have to sew snaps on all of them. Then it's time to cut out all the slips. I'm really liking the gingham combinations - red, blue and black - all with red, yellow and white accents. Here's Elin in the blue combination..... The red sundress will have a white top and red tights, and the black gingham sundresses will have yellow striped tops and red tights. Next decision will be the colour of lace on the slips. I've pulled white, light blue and red lace. I'll see which combos get what colour.
It's been crazy weather the last few days! Yesterday it was so windy, and the dark storm clouds showered us with ice pellets and wet snow, and the night temperatures are down to freezing. On Mother's Day! That's definitely a first - at least as far as I can remember. Delicate flowers are having a hard time. My lovely irises that were open yesterday suffered from the ice pellets. Fortunately, the crabapples are still mostly buds, so they shouldn't be affected..... ....and the late tulips haven't suffered either. Thankfully tomorrow we start heading back up to more normal temperatures. Doll-wise things have been less than ideal as well. I'm continuing to have issues loading photos in Weebly - except here in my Blog. I've gone to their "Help" site and did the things they suggested, but to no avail. I contacted Weebly Support and they thought my problems were really strange, so suggested I make a video of me trying to make a doll page. I thought for sure nothing would happen while my efforts were being recorded - isn't that always the way? - but all the problems I've been having materialized and were documented for them to see. But then I couldn't upload the video so I could give them the link and see it. Okay, then contact my son on the other side of the continent, who is still connected to my computer by Internet. He made a link to the video. So this morning I thought I'd try finishing the doll page I'd been having so many issues with, and everything worked just fine. What a relief! But it was short lived. Buoyed by my success, I had started another doll page, and when I loaded the second photo, the first one magically disappeared, and the second one popped into it's place. I hoped it was just a glitch, so tried again, and made it all the way to the end. Then dragged in a text box, and poof! All the photos except two disappeared leaving just empty image icons, and the two photos that were left had moved around. Okay time to quit. Next thing to try is a new browser, but I don't know how to do that, so will wait until Jan comes home this evening. Computers! It's a "love-hate" relationship!
And then there's the sewing. I'm working on eight little long-sleeve T-shirts to go with the sundresses. The light and dark pink ones are done, so that meant white and yellow ones next. I thought the yellow with white stripe fabric would be easier to sew than some of the other tops which were of stretch jersey almost as thin as Kleenex. But I was wrong. The machine ate the nice sturdier fabric. I replaced the needle with a brand new sharp one, and it got a little better, but the fabric wanted to stretch so badly as I sewed. What is it with stretch fabric?? I've never been good at sewing it. You'd think my $2,000 sewing machine with special stretch stitches and a stretch needle installed would sew stretch fabrics nicely - but you'd be wrong. Sigh. Anyway I got the eight tops mostly sewed, but need to do all the finishing and hemming by hand in order to avoid too much distortion. And that, of course, takes WAY longer. And after I sew those I have eleven slips to sew out of nylon tricot - more stretchy fabric! I can't wait until I'm done these sundress outfits. Then I'm going to make a nice easy Victorian outfit for Peach for when she comes back. Give me those rows of pleats and fancy hats any day! I hate stretch fabrics! Kayla has picked a bouquet of dandelions for her Mom for Mother's Day.... For me, nothing epitomizes the innocence of childhood like a bouquet of dandelions. They are such happy flowers. Right now my whole town is yellow with them. Ever since the ban on herbicides a few years back, dandelions have completely taken over. Everything is a carpet of yellow - the roadsides, the boulevards, the parks and schoolyards, and many people's front lawns. It looks very beautiful. Soon they'll all be white puff balls ready to spread their seeds to any remaining empty spaces, so next year there will be an even denser display.
The other day when the weather was still so nice, the little girls decided to take some of their favourite dolls and toys outside for a little picnic in the garden. Last night I brought away Peach, Soa and Nami. Peach needs a faceup to match her body. Soa needs her body drilled so it poses better, and then a body blush, manicure and pedicure. And Nami went to finally get her body blushed and be given a manicure just like all her friends.
I was waiting anxiously all morning, since the last time a parcel came, the doorbell didn't work, and even though I was home the whole time, I missed the delivery - which meant picking it up at the Post Office the next day. So I stayed in the front room all morning after tracking said my parcel was "Out for Delivery". I saw the truck pull up, and was rather shocked at the condition of the box.....so took some photos of it before opening it - proof in case I needed it. It looked to me like the "airspace" above the actual doll box had been squished in, so I was hopeful the doll would still be okay. I was right - the worst damage was to the empty airspace above the doll box, but it was damaged on one end too. I thought "please, let the doll be okay". I carefully took her out, and examined her. She looked weird, as expected, since it's a little girl head on a young woman's body, but otherwise she seemed perfectly fine. Thankfully Iplehouse has the most amazing way of packaging their dolls, so even with some damage to the box, the doll inside was still fine.
So I started "playing dominoes". Asa's head went back on her own body, Peach went on the KID body, and Soa went on the new JID body. It's amazing just how pasty and lifeless a resin head looks without a faceup, but I think Peach will look wonderful painted. She looks like she even has a touch of a smile. Definitely a pretty young girl. I took a quick photo. I'm not keen on the eyes Iplehouse puts in their dolls - they are always one size too big for my tastes, but I left her original 12 mm eyes in for her first portrait. They are an interesting olive green, but I much prefer the smaller 10 mm eyes. Good thing I have lots to choose from. Everyone gathering around to admire Nami's new little baby doll.... Actually, I took the photo to give a sneak peek at some of the new sundress ensembles I'm working on. These are the three different combinations made from the half yard of pretty Valentine fabric I bought way back in February. I've just crocheted the last hat, and have to finish them all off with ribbons and flowers. I've also cut out all the tights and tops - for the heart ensembles and the gingham - so now it's time to put in the "stretch" needle and sew them all.
Hopefully I'll be able to put them up for sale next week. It's just I can't make any new photo pages at the moment, and that includes Galleries, For Sale, or Favourite Photos. my "tech support" says there's issues with my Flashplayer, and I need to install and upgrade several new systems. Like what? That's totally over my head. Hopefully Jan can take some time on the weekend to look at it and fix stuff. In the meantime I can only post a photo or two in my Blog. I'm hoping Peach comes today. I've been anxiously checking tracking several times per day, and overnight she was "processed at local delivery facility - Scarborough". At 6 am she was "processed at local delivery facility - Pickering", so here's hoping. And what a surprise! Bo Peep could hardly believe her eyes! Seems her sheep had had other plans than to spend the rest of her life browsing on grass in the fields, and being subjected to the annual embarrassment of being sheered stark naked, so she had run off and joined the National Ballet, and was practicing her dance moves in a far meadow - in full costume! Today it's Layla's turn to be Bo Peep, and I had been thinking it would be so nice to have a sheep or lamb for her. Then I realized I did have a sheep, and it had been dancing over my sewing machine for the last 20 years. I'm not sure of the artist's name, but I bought the sheep from him at the very first Canadian Doll Art Show in Hamilton way back some time in the last century. I loved his Paperclay fairies, but could only afford one of his "Baaa-llerinas".
I'm in the process of crocheting hats to go with each one of the sundresses. Hats are kind of fun, but they take a lot of supplies. My workspace is piled high with large rolls of different colours of crochet thread, and smaller skeins of assorted pastel and vibrant accent colours. Then there's ribbons, and tiny flowers, the sundresses I'm matching colours to, the dolls to model everything as I go along, and the piles of stretchy fabrics for tights and tops. I actually made the first top today - and three pairs of tights. I'd be a lot further, but had to go to the dentist and get a crown installed, and that interrupted my momentum.
Yesterday was "No Socks Day", the day to put on some sandals and go sockless - or barefoot. I find I'm falling behind, playing "catch-up" a lot these days. There's just so many special days, I thought I'd skip "Sockless Day", but Miki wanted to run barefoot through the dandelions, so I brought along my camera. "Do you think it's possible to tan the bottoms of my feet?"
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AuthorMartha Boers is an award-winning Canadian doll maker and costumer specializing in fantasy and historical-style costumes. Archives
April 2024
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