I decided to try retake my "Y" photo at the Yacht Club this morning. There aren't many boats left in the water, but there were enough to get the idea across. I like this image a lot better...

Today is one of those "drop whatever you are doing, and take advantage of the opportunity days". It's very warm for November, so I'm going to take the opportunity to wash all my dirt pots and urns from this past summer, so everything is nice and clean for next spring. Tonight the temperature plummets back to freezing, and I sure don't want to wash anything at that temperature! So, bring on the warm soap suds and the mountain of dirty pots! 

We went to the lake today to shoot the last two Iplekids Alphabet photos....

"Y" is for Yellow - for girls in Yellow dresses playing at the Yacht Club, with Elin and Nami arguing, Yanking on the Yellow Yarn, while Byuri plays with her Yellow Yo-Yo

and "O" is for Nami in her Orange dress, handing an Oar to the Outrageous Octopus getting ready to sail across the Ocean in an Orange boat full of Orchids

So, now that's done!  I just have to finish Asa's pantaloons and some tights and slips for the new yellow and orange BID dresses, and then it's on to the next commission.

My pupils are dilated and I can't see very well, so there's not much I can do other than painting. 
I had bought a big spray of small creamy white orchids, but don't want them all the same, so am painting them so there's more variety. What am I painting orchids for, you ask? Well, it's for one of the last two alphabet photos - and not the "Y".  Next step is to pot them all up.

Here's a Zany "Z" photo of my girls with all their zebras, including one big borrowed one.

Now there's just two letters left - the "Y" and the "O". Hopefully I can take them this coming weekend, and then I can move on to some projects for the upcoming holidays.

Today I need to pack up the Tedros outfits and take them to the Post Office. I also need to make some underwear for my Asa so she can safely go on a stand (without getting scratched) and then into the cupboard with her friends to wait until I have time to make her something special. Then there's props for the last two alphabet photos. I don't know how much I'll get done as there's just a few hours before I have to go see the eye specialist for some special scans of the backs of my eyes in order to determine exactly how bad my macular degeneration is. Those drops they put in to dilate the pupils will leave me blind for the rest of the day.

An X-tra big, X-tremely colourful Xylophone!  The girls are very happy with the beautiful xylophone we made for them.  Now if they'd just learn to play some actual tunes on it!

Another new week with lots of things on the go. My goal for today is to finish taking Tedros costume photos - after I make a small change to the way the over-sleeves are attached. I sewed in hooks and eyes, but the hooks are very tricky to hook into the eyes and they slip out way too easily. Someone on DoA suggested sewing ribbon ties onto the tops of the under-sleeves. I had thought of that originally since that's how separate sleeves were historically attached, but I didn't want to try inserting eyelets into the shoulder seams of the tunic. I think if I leave the eyes from the hooks sewn where they are, that will work just fine instead. 

This week I'd also really like to get the last four alphabet photos taken. I have props under construction for two of them, one letter has everything done but still needs the photo taken, and the last letter needs quite a few props gathered or made yet. I'm really looking forward to that project finally being done.

Then it's on to my next commission - a set of "Hobbit" style costumes - basically like Maya's outfit, and Narae's Jennet - for Kaye Wiggs Tobi. I don't have a Tobi, but Nelly and some of my MSDs can stand in together to make it work. 

Now that everything in the garden is dead, leaves off the trees and the flowers frozen, it needs to be cleared out before winter sets in, so I'll need to address some of that this week as well.

Well, I better get to it - a week flies by before you know it!

One last Hallowe'en photo - of my two little witches heading home after Trick-or-Treating.

We took Tedros to the Guild Ruins Gardens for a photo session in his newly finished commission outfit. He fit in quite well scale-wise with many of the ruins, but he's just such a pain to pose - he's so big and heavy, and won't stand on his own. I got some great photos though, and will put together a Favourite Photos album with all the best ones. Here's a few of my favourites....

I wanted to go to the Guildwood Ruins Gardens and take photos of Tedros, but decided to take along Hope and Layla as well for some last chance Hallowe'en photos of them with their Jack-o-lanterns. The two little girls in their witches costumes looked great, although most of the ruins were too big and out of scale for them. Here's a few of my favourites...

I'm going to put together a Favourite Photos album with a lot more photos from today.

I took another "V" photo today - my camera was co-operating at the time - and I even 
figured out how to change the image to "sepia" so it looks like an old photograph.

Elin is wearing a dress and hat she borrowed off one of my old porcelain dolls. I adjusted it to fit her better, as the doll it really belongs to is a bit taller. I'm thinking when Lonnie comes I'll steal this outfit permanently for her, since she's the same height as the porcelain doll.