I love the look of masses of dandelions, as long as they aren't in my own lawn. Since herbicides and weed killers have been banned here for a few years, every roadside, boulevard and park turns into a carpet of yellow each spring. On a sunny day, it truly is a wonderful sight.

I like to take a few dandelion pictures with my dolls each spring, and there's three areas I know where the soil is poor enough that the dandelions stay reasonably short. Unfortunately one of them - the high school - seems to have gotten permission to use weed killers, so the numbers of yellow flowers are WAY down. The Baptist church has an amazing short carpet of them, but it's their back-up parking field and it's all gravel right under the surface, so i can't push in my doll support wires.  That leaves just the one old age home. Earlier this week,the dandelions were perfect, and the weather was perfect, so I packed up my dolls and off we went. But they were mowing the field! Gone were all the lovely yellow flowers!

But in a few short days the dandelion flowers were back - not quite as thick as the first flush, but good enough. So the dolls were packed up once again, and off we went again.

Winston came along too.  I had several photo ideas...

I took a few photos, then my battery died. I always carry a fully-charged spare, so switched it, but the camera claimed it was dead too. So, after just a handful of photos, we had no choice but to pack up and leave. At home when I was going to recharge both batteries, only the one was actually dead. The second one was charged - just like I thought it was. I don't know why the camera thought it was empty. 

​Anyway, now it's pouring rain, and getting very cold again, with a chance of flurries for tomorrow, so these few pictures may be all there will be this year.

The first sari that I wanted to turn into a ball gown for my Carina, is so big that I will be able to make two complete gowns out of it. Both long edges are finished with different prints, and there's just one section with the black and red print, so the two gowns will be very different. The first bodice is just about done....

This gown will feature the black and red print in the overskirt. The underskirt had to remade, because it was just too messy at the top. I made the mistake of trying to gather five yards of fabric onto a 10" waistband. Didn't work very well, so I cut the skirt off, cut a new waistband, and redid it by pleating all that fabric instead. Then in the end, I decided it wouldn't work with the black and red over skirt after all, so now it's been reassigned as the underskirt for the second gown.

I feel like I haven't done hardly anything so far this year.  Well, I did make Winston in January, and the Native regalia in March, but not much else. All the health issues have been ganging up on me, so I've not felt especially creative.  But then it dawned on me that 'today' could very well be the best it's ever going to get, so I better just try move on and start to do something again.

So, to start with something 'simple' I want to tackle some fancy ball gowns that I've been wanting to make for years now.  I have several boxes full of secondhand scarves and saris, and if I make the gowns to fit an Iplehouse EID, then I'm guaranteed to use up a lot of fabric and maybe make a dent in my collection.

I've gone through one box and pulled out the fabrics that currently 'speak' to me. Some would make a spectacular Rococo-style gown, but that's too much work right now, so I won't use those.

I think I'll start with the red and black sari with floral print edges (upper center)

My EID Carina will be my model, so I stripped her down, and used the
"paper towels and tape" method of designing a bodice pattern for her.

After drawing on the seam lines with a Sharpie - being careful not to get any on the doll -
the tape and paper bodice was carefully cut from the doll, and cut into pieces

The pieces were numbered to help keep them straight, and then I traced one side away from centre front - from 1 to 4 - onto paper to make the test pattern. Then traced those patterns onto iron-on interfacing, which was ironed onto white cotton, then cut and sewn to make the test bodice...

Looking good so far.  Now to make the bodice out of the sari fabric...

"Everyone makes mistakes. Just don't do it again." Everyone else agreed...

The whole story of Milo's Birthday, is now up in Favourite Photos 2016.

Winston felt really bad about his behaviour, and begged Milo's forgiveness....

"I'm so sorry!  I totally embarrassed myself, and I won't ever do it again!"

Mr. Toad didn't really feel much remorse, but figured he'd better just play along....

Well, Mr. Toad, who has been known to enjoy a drink of a sociable nature from time to time,
​has found himself a buddy....

"Cheers!"

Winston has even taken the crown from the buffet table, and put it on his head...

I think they are both in big trouble....

I know there's lots of curious minds out there - you know who you are - wanting to see what's really going on when I take my doll photos, so before starting on today's photos, I thought I'd just drag the tripod around and take some 'anatomy of a photo shoot' pictures.  

​Here's the view from the hall into the dining room.  Everything is set up on my dining room table facing the bay window which faces west into my backyard. There's a piece of wooden trim nailed onto the top of my decorative pillar, from which I've hung all the balloons, and decorative banners that I borrowed off of my daughter's Barbie castle that's in the basement. All the chairs have to be pulled way back so they don't appear in the background on the wider shots....

Then there's the view from one side of the bay window. The photography light is standing there in case I need it to get rid of harsh shadows from the light coming in the window. The chandelier above gets conscripted occasionally when extra light is needed from above....

And the view from the other end of the bay window, with the front hall in the background. You'll notice the fabric on the back of the French door. That's to hide one of my supply cupboards where I keep several boxes of most-often-used fabrics and supplies, as well as all the extra doll clothes. There's an entire room full of shelves with supplies in the basement, but the boxes with the currently, most often used fabrics get stored behind this door, and in the front coat closet where there's another shelving unit.

And the photo studio when it's back to normal, pretending to be a dining room....

Everyone gathered round when Milo was presented with his gift - a brand new sword....

Meeting new friends....

Enjoying the treats....

Catching up with old friends...

Sharing new delicacies...

"Yummm! Cake and watermelon!"

"These cupcakes are fantastic!"

"Would you like my gingerbread man?"