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Planting Bulbs

11/30/2014

I've been buying scilla bulbs to plant in the grass in a corner of my backyard. I figure the scilla orchard on the edge of town is getting so overgrown with dog-strangling vine, that soon it will no longer be usable for photo shoots. So I'm going to try grow my own. Problem is, it takes years to fill in a large space, and I should have started years ago. But better late than never.

Scilla bulbs aren't widely available, but I found a few more packages this week. Yesterday was warm enough that the ground wasn't frozen, so Nami and Efreet went out to plant them...

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"When can I have my Hair and Clothes back?"

11/29/2014

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Poor Narin! When I took all my Kaye Wiggs girls out of the cabinet to model the Christmas dresses, I saw him standing there rather self-consciously. Oh yes...... Owen is still wearing his wig, and shirt, and Leona has his vest. I still need to give Narin his clothes and wig back!

Today he ventured out of the cabinet to inquire about when he could expect his things back. Even with a brand new furnace, it's still a bit cold to be standing around naked in the winter.....

I don't have any spare clothes for my MSD-size dolls, so had borrowed Narin's wig and clothes for Owen and Leona for our fall road trip. But when we got home, I was immediately distracted by Halloween, and now the Christmas dresses. I guess I better hurry up and finish them so i can get to my other dolls, and give Narin his wig and clothes back. Poor guy has been standing around naked long enough.

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A Purple Pair

11/26/2014

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I'm making good progress on the three purple party dresses, but my fingers and toes are getting mighty cold. We are getting our furnace replaced today, so that means no heat, and it's freezing outside. I don't know how long it's going to take before the new furnace starts working, but I expect it will get a lot colder inside before then. So I'm going to go out, and maybe when I come back it will be nice and warm again. But I did promise a photo today......

...so here's Nelly and Kayla in their purple taffeta dresses....

All three of Nelly's dresses will be getting fabric and lace ruffles along the bottom, since
all of the scalloped self-edges of the fabrics were used up for the smaller MSD dresses.

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Sock Yarn Sweaters

11/25/2014

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I'm guessing everyone is expecting to be seeing the purple party dresses by now, but I've hit a 'road-bump'. The weekend getaway, as nice as it was, put a real crimp in my momentum on the taffeta Christmas dresses. It also didn't help that I brought along some knitting in case I had some free time - which I had plenty of while we were babysitting Elliot and he was napping.

Last week I picked up several new balls of sock yarn at Michaels. They were on sale, and I need to make at least three more little sweater sets - for Ringo and the two new little BIDs - so I chose four colours. Knitting these tiny sweaters is very pleasant work, so it becomes very addictive. The first sweater I'm knitting is from a variegated yellow, green, blue and purple yarn called "Sapphire" by premier yarns. I suspect it will be for Ringo.....

Because I was having difficulty getting back into sewing the dresses, I thought I better just cut out the Nellie dresses and work at them at the same time, or else I may not want to start them at all. It was a huge challenge trying to fit all the pattern pieces out of the leftover fabric, but I managed after making a few design changes. At least, I've managed to cut out the purple and pink ones. The blue fabric is still waiting on the cutting table. So now I'm sewing the purple Nelly dress simultaneously with the other two purple dresses. Saves having to constantly change the thread on my sewing machine. If I manage to resist the knitting, maybe there will be pictures tomorrow. After all, every minute not spent knitting, is an extra minute to spend sewing.

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My Other Little "Ringo"

11/23/2014

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We spent the last two days visiting our daughter and her family in Windsor. Our grandson is just so adorable. He's getting so big and doing so many new things. We see such big changes every time we visit, because unlike our other grandchildren who live very close, visiting with Elliot requires a five-hour drive each way, so we don't get to see him that often.

One of his newest things is making faces. This past week he's learned to pout. It's not that he's unhappy or upset - he just likes to stick out his lower lip......

It made me laugh, and reminded me of a certain little doll I have...my pouty little Ringo.

There's a bunch of things needing attention today first, and then I have to start on the purple party dresses. I also need to try one of the dresses on Nelly, to see where to make adjustments to the pattern, so i can start cutting out her dresses as well. I'd love to be done them all by next weekend, but we'll see how fast it goes.

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Pink Party Dresses

11/21/2014

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The next two Holiday dresses are finished, and Miki and Layla wanted to model them.....

I'm loving these jewel tone taffetas with the black velvet. Theses magenta pink ones are a little different because I had wine and gold lace which I wanted to incorporate. Next will be the purple ones, and then I'm thinking of making a larger size party dress for Nelly out of the leftovers of each colour. I'll have to come up with a different treatment for the bottom of the skirt however, since I've already used both decorative self-edges.

It's been almost a year since I ordered any new dolls - Ringo was the last. I've been waiting all year to see what Iplehouse was going to come up with for their annual Christmas Event. Well they've released a brand new BID for Christmas, and she's so cute, I couldn't resist. Her name is Bono, and I think she has quite a family resemblance to my Lonnie. I think she's beautiful, so I've ordered her.

I decided to get her in normal skin, just like my Lonnie, and as much as I love her face up, I've ordered her blank. With the Christmas Event special discounts and all the points I've collected all year from their photo contests, I also ordered Coco - a little boy in real skin. Also blank.

I also ordered some more tiny jeans for the little boys. After all, I hate sewing pants.
Now the wait begins! Hopefully it won't take too long. Some time in January maybe?

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First Snow

11/20/2014

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We've had our first snowfall of the season - winter has come early! Some of the girls decided to take the puppies out for a walk, but I don't think the puppies knew what to make of it....

I love snow, and it sure looks nice outside, but.....I bought a lot of scilla bulbs a few weeks ago, and they still need to be planted. So I'm hoping the snow melts on the weekend when the temperature is supposed to go way up. After the bulbs are planted in the grass, it's welcome to snow again.

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Blue Christmas

11/19/2014

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I've finished the first two Christmas dresses - the blue ones. I've made three hair clips
for each dress - two with ribbon and lace bows, and one with a big matching fabric bow.
Hope and Kayla are modelling...

The pink and purple dresses will be the same style, although the pink ones will get a bit of lace. What I'm finding very interesting, is that even though all three versions have the exact same black velvet bodice, the black velvet is picking up the colour of the the rest of the dress, and in the case of these blue ones it looks like dark navy instead of black.

Now to go cut out the pink and purple taffeta.....

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the First Maple Leaf Flag

11/18/2014

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There was a story in the weekend paper that I found fascinating. A part of our flag's history, but something I never knew. Most Americans know about the origins of their flag - how the first one, consisting of thirteen stars and stripes, was made by Betsy Ross for George Washington - but I doubt many Canadians know that we had our own 'Betsy Ross". Her name is Joan O'Malley.

*The following is copied from the Toronto Star, November 22, 2014

50 years later, woman recognized for sewing first Maple Leaf flag
by Terry Pedwell, the Canadian Press

When most Canadians contemplate their national flag, their thoughts might naturally turn to Canada Day, July 1.Historians and others may think about February 15, the day in 1965 when the modern Canadian flag - bearing the familiar hallmark symbol, the Maple Leaf - was first raised on Parliament hill.
For Joan O"Malley, November 6, 1964, will forever be the birthday of Canada's iconic red-and-white banner, the day her father asked her to do an impromptu sewing job that she will never forget.
"For Me, it's my 50th anniversary," O'Malley told a small gathering of friends, family and political dignitaries Friday on Parliament Hill, where she was presented with the flag that flew from the Peace Tower on November 6 this year.
With her original Singer sewing machine on display, O'Malley described the night her father approached her to ask whether she could sew the three prototypes that had been chosen as the finalists to become Canada's new emblem.
A November snowstorm had fallen over the capital and O'Malley was just home from work with her husband Brian and expecting to spend the evening indoors.
But O'Malley's father, Ken Donovan, an assistant purchasing director with the Canadian Government Exhibition Commission, called his then-20-year-old daughter with an urgent request.
That afternoon, Lester B. Pearson had asked that the three flag prototypes that were under consideration be delivered to 24 Sussex Drive so he could see them hoisted on poles at the prime minister's Harrington Lake retreat the next day.
Pearson had come to office with a minority government under a promise made in 1963 that under his leadership, Canada would have a new flag. The final three designs had been picked from a list of entires that totalled more than 3,500.
Pearson's preference was a flag with three red maple leaves on a white background and blue on either side, a design that became known as the Pearson Pennant. But O'Malley said she knew her favourite right away as she saw the prototypes sprawled across a makeshift table of plywood on top of two sawhorses.
"I remember when they first put our flag on my sewing table. I said, 'That's the one that would get my vote,'" she said, "It was nice, clean looking."
The flag she liked most was, in fact, one designed by historian George Stanley and submitted at the last minute.
The debate over which emblem to choose was a raucous one, pitting Pearson and his design team against the Conservatives. In the end Pearson's Liberals voted unanimously with the Conservatives in favour of Stanley's now-familiar red-and-white design.
At the time, O'Malley didn't give much thought to the significance of what she was sewing.
"I didn't think it was history in the making at all," she said. "I just knew that they had to have it done and I needed to help my dad out."
Democratic Reform Minister Pierre Poilievre said he's not yet sure where O'Malley's now-famous sewing machine will be put on display, but promised that it would be retained by the federal government as a historical artifact.
"It will be preserved as a national treasure," Poilievre said before presenting O'Malley with the Peace Tower flag.
Unlike Betsy Ross, who was paid to produce flags and, as legend has it, sewed the first American Stars and Stripes banner, O'Malley didn't receive a cent for Canada's original flag. Receiving recognition for her efforts 50 years later, was thanks enough, she said.
"Now I think I'm paid in full," O'Malley said tearfully as she received a standing ovation.

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Christmas Dresses

11/17/2014

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Well, Santa arrived yesterday, the radio has switched to non-stop Christmas music, and it's snowing outside. The Christmas Season is officially here! And with it comes the annual party dresses for my Kaye Wiggs girls. Black is not an easy colour for me to see detail in anymore, but I need to get through a lot of black work before I can start with the colours. I've completed all the black tights and half the lace slips. Bodices have been lined and I'm currently in the process of beading the necklines and cutting out the main dress fabrics. Three of my girls are currently modelling......Miki will be joining them soon as well. They make a rather somber bunch all in black.....

But that should be remedied soon, and the only black left will be their velvet bodices, and a touch of black lace peeking from underneath their skirts. I have three lovely embroidered taffetas; a magenta pink, a cyan blue, and a purple...which have been waiting for well over a year now....

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