I've chosen the group of kids who will be going away on a trip. Four are newer, and arrived since our last major road trip three years ago. Well actually, Paige, Olivia and Cookie, have been to Niagara Falls, but nowhere else. And Ringo and David have never been anywhere.

I put together some multi-shots to showcase some of the costume combinations. Bianca has two complete separate outfits, and all the pieces can be mixed. These are some of the combinations....

She also has another brown cloak, and an apron.

​Rex has just one basic outfit, but it can be accessorized in several different ways...

Well, I'm almost finished with everything for Rex and Bianca, so had to take some studio shots of the two of them in their various mix-and-match outfits...

I'm continuing to work on doll stuff - it's the horse's turn this week - as well as trying to get ready for a birthday/farewell party Saturday, and then going away for a few weeks. So there's cooking meals for the freezer - it's handy having an RV with fridge and freezer - and tomorrow it's cake and party food time.

I've not been able (or even inspired) to take any new doll photos, other than the occasional ones that I'm working on, as I'm focusing on trying to get everything done for our trip. Plus it seems to be raining most of the time anyways.

​I finished four cloaks (two for each person), and dirtied them up....

I'm in the process of labelling the boxes for the dolls coming along on our trip. Jan made me two new boxes, since Rex is too tall to fit in any of the existing boxes, and I needed a second KID size one. I always print out new name labels so it's easier to know who is in which box. Saves having to take them all out of the overhead compartment and opening them all to see who is inside......

I still have to label two more boxes, but wanted to make sure I actually had them here. I picked Olivia and Cookie up at Charie's last night (they were getting blushed) so now I can proceed.

As I said, it's been 'horse week' all week, and I've been working on 'Buck' and 'Morgan'. Buck needed some hair and tail trimming, and both horses needed some shading with paint. I shuffled everyone's saddles around, and shaded them as well. Then Buck needed a new bridle (bright green was just not going to do!), and I spent much of yesterday on that. Today I tackled the saddle blankets, and now Buck is more or less done....

I'm quite happy with how he turned out, and I think Rex is too, as he's been standing around in the kitchen, supervising all week....

This evening I get to embroider Morgan's saddle blanket, and finish his leatherwork. There's still bit of paint touching up to do on both horses, and then all they will still need is some saddlebags.

I still have to make another belt for Rex, as well as a fur collar. Once everyone is completely finished I will take studio shots. It would be nice to take some photos outside, but it always seems to be raining these days, and the next four days are supposed to be all rain as well.

*Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has been commenting on my Blog.  For some time now I have not been getting any email notifications when you comment. I am supposed to.  It's not too bad to go look at the most recent posts to see if anyone commented, so I can reply, but it's virtually impossible to tell if anyone commented on an older post - or asked a question. Without the email notifications it's impossible to know, since I'm obviously not going to go scrolling through ten years worth of Blog posts every day (if ever).  I've contacted Weebly, and they said I turned it off myself, but I didn't. I didn't do anything. They said they fixed it, but I still am not getting any notifications. They said they'd look into it further, but I've not heard back from them. 

​So please, do still comment, and hopefully I will see it.

June 13th is National Lobster Day, and since I don't have anything new to show, I'll just share some Special Days from the past....
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​Elin is not too sure about the way they are looking at her.....

Today is also National Sewing Machine Day, and I really like these photos from 2015....

Willie saw Winston up in the crabapple tree, and wanted to go up and join him. But she was unsure of how exactly to get up so high. So Winston came down to help her.
​"Just hold my hand, and you'll be okay..."

"It's quite the view up here..."

"So this is what it's like to be a bird.......or you..."

"Do you want to go check out the other tree with the white blossoms?"

So Winston took her up into the white blossoms...

"Wow, it's so beautiful up here!"

Winston loves all kinds of flowers....

I'm home again, after another long weekend away.  Before we left it occurred to me that with Rex looking so realistic, he needed a different horse - a brown one. I didn't feel like painting one of my white ones, so took a look at the Our Generation stuff online  to see what was available. I knew there was a brown horse with bright orange hair, and if there was nothing else, I was prepared to get him and replace the mane and tail.

But I and they also had a great dark brown horse with black hair. Perfect!  I was hoping that one of the Mastermind Toy stores nearby would have one, but didn't have time to go check them out so let "the fingers do the walking" (remember that jingle?) and phoned them up instead. No luck!  So we looked up every Mastermind store in southern Ontario along the 401 corridor, since we'd be heading out that way Friday, and the Mastermind in Guelph had one!  So we reserved him, then stopped by to pick him up on our way to visit our daughter the next morning. Turns out all the Our Generation stuff comes with price tags already on it directly from head office, and the price tag was $10 lower than what the cash register scanned him in at, so they had to give him to us at the lower price. Plus all the OG stuff was on 20% off sale. So it was a great deal!

​Here's the new brown horse - the Our generation 'Buckskin' Horse....

I'm going to touch him up and give him a bit of shading with some paint, so he doesn't look quite so 'plastic', and he's going to need a new bridle (turquoise plastic just won't do) and he needs some work on his saddle. The shape is fine, but part of the 'saddle blanket' is molded on and has been painted peach and pale turquoise. Which totally won't do.

So this coming week I have to address the horses for Rex and Bianca, touch them up, shade their saddles, make leather bridles, and saddlebags, and do the finishing touches on the last bits of costuming. There's four cloaks to stain, and a tricorn hat to make. So I'm going to be busy!

I took several dolls along to photograph in the crabapple blossoms last Saturday, and it's a good thing I did, since the weather has not cooperated since, and now the blossoms are mostly gone.
​So here's Paige among the blossoms....

It was a sunny day with lots of clouds, and I took photos in both conditions, so I guess this can be a lesson in outdoor photography. Here's the same shots, first in hazy sun....

Note that the photo on the left is definitely 'warmer', with golden undertones, whereas the photo on the right is 'cooler' with more of a 'blue' cast to everything.
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One of the trees had a section with white blossoms, and Paige had to climb up.....

Again shot in hazy sunshine ....then partly shaded by a hand....

...and with cloud cover...

Paige wanted to pick some of the blossoms....

..and I photographed her in the sun....and again with a box lid shading her....

I like both.  I used to avoid shooting in sunshine whenever possible, but am finding I'm actually growing to like it. It certainly can add more interest, as long as the sunshine isn't too harsh.

I did some staining and painting down of Rex's coat this morning. I wet the coat along the edges and wherever I thought it should have a more 'worn' look, then let some very diluted beige paint seep in. I used a stiff brush and my fingers to smooth out the paint, then let the coat dry....

I also discovered that a single 'lazy daisy' embroidery stitch would pass for a 'buttonhole'.

I finished knitting his new (third attempt) arm warmers last night....

...and made him a belt this morning....