After Leona and Holly left, Iris thought it might be nice to just go for a walk, and get some fresh air. 

Most of the flowers had already frozen, but there were still a few hardy ones left, and it was such a nice day.  Best to take advantage of it while they still could....

Lisa wanted to push Sena in her carriage...

...while Nyssa pushed her doll buggy...

"It's so nice to go out like this...."

Eric and Nyssa were gathering red maple leaves....

All in all, a nice afternoon walk in the park....

I'm all excited about Lawrence's costume and have been making good progress on it.  

After making the sleeves, I had enough left over to make some hang out from under his surcoat. At first it was just a flat strip, but it seemed a touch too long, so I removed parts of it and turned it into a pointed edge.....

I wanted to see him with a sword, so borrowed one from Macbeth, in the display case. I figure he won't mind, as long as I give it back....

I was working on his wrist guards yesterday, but changed my mind twice.  The ones Kyle has have black edges on a medium brown background, and it didn't look good to have the black edging against the black chainmail. So I switched the colours.  I even made a lighter brown belt to match.  But they just looked too 'orange', and very much the colour of his hair (my camera blows out anything orange). so today I started over again with a darker brown edging, and the original belt...

I just wish the metal filagree pieces I'm using were brass instead of copper, since my camera makes them look rather 'orange', but it's all I had, and I can't get the other anymore.
So they will  just have to do.  I may consider toning them down by 'antiquing' them with some paint. I'll decide later.

Steve took the baby....

"Thank you so much for coming."

"It's time to go, Mom..."

'I'm really going to miss you!"

"The Time Machine is waiting, Mom...."

"Well, it's time to go.  Good-bye....until next time!!"

It was finally time to go, and everyone gathered to say 'good-bye'....

"Give my love to Owen and the kids..."

"I'm really going to miss you!"

"Well, time to go...."

"Good-bye sweetheart..."

I've been making good progress on the two black 'leather' surcoats. Yesterday they both had their shoulder seams sewn, and the first trim sewn on....

Today I'm working on finishing Lawrence's surcoat.

I've hand-stitched the brown picot edging all the way around, and have started sewing the filagree with hook fasteners down one front edge. I also thought the gold trim needed 'something', and I had some silver studs the perfect size.

Now comes the hard part - sewing the hooks and filagree on the opposite side in exactly the right places.  And then comes the chainmail.  Unfortunately the black mail I wanted to use for Lawrence's outfit does not have the same flexibility as the stainless steel mail - he wouldn't be able to bend his elbows -  so both outfits will get the stainless steel one.  I just have to figure out how to make four sleeves and a collar fit out of the two pieces I have.

My Mini Hope finally arrived yesterday!  And what a journey she had!  

​I really like the smaller size Kaye Wiggs dolls, and thought it would be nice to have a threesome, so was on the lookout for one at a reasonable price.  I found Hope on Halloween, paid, and started working on her outfit right away.

It took almost a week before she arrived in Canada, but instead flying through Customs, she got stuck in " Processing" for several days.  Then it was Remembrance Day and Canada Post wasn't working.  Finally at mid week she was released but sent to Scarborough, instead of our own Post Office. She was supposed to arrive that day, but the Scarborough office sent her to Oshawa instead

She sat there for two days, and I wondered why they just didn't deliver her to our post office, maybe a ten minute drive away.  But no, they sent her back to the main Mississauga postal centre back at the airport, and they sent her back to Scarborough again.  Then she was supposed to be delivered "Friday by end of day", but tracking never showed her out for delivery.  

But at 5:30 I got excited to see the Postal truck parked out front, and thought maybe they'd forgotten to scan her, and that she would be delivered any minute. I even turned on the front lights and got out my credit card.  But 45 minutes later the truck was gone. So now it would be Monday!

Jan came home from his trip late Saturday night, so we had several errands to do on Sunday.  In late afternoon I thought I'd check tracking again to confirm there would be a delivery the next day.  But tracking said "Notice Card Left".  What the??!?!  I didn't realize they made deliveries on Sundays, so had never checked tracking any sooner. If I had I wouldn't have gone out!!

So yesterday morning Jan had to get his snow tires put on, and afterwards went to the Post Office to claim my package.  But the truck was late and the packages weren't there yet.  So he went back again late in the afternoon....

Leona had come to help her sister with her delivery, and had brought Holly along with her, but it was finally time for them to go back home. They were back in their regular clothes, and their bags were packed and ready to go....

But first they needed one more cuddle with baby Sena....

"I'm really going to miss you...."

The costumes for Baron and Lawrence have stalled.  I was having nothing but problems trying to sew the black leather that I bought recently at Michaels.  It seemed thin enough at the time, but it turns out that it's a bit thicker than the leathers I usually use. But I was determined to try.

I just cut out one tunic, intending to see how it would turn out before starting the second one. I usually prefer to do them all at once if I'm working on more than one of something, but with the leather seeming to be too thick, and Baron and Lawrence being different sizes, I thought I would be better off doing just the one first.

I had to use chalk to trace the pattern templates onto the back of the leather. When I tried sewing it on my machine. the stitches just weren't catching, and the leather was slipping. All I got was a row of holes through the leather.  I tried another of the three leather needles I had, and then the thread broke after just two stitches. I guess there must be some sharpness inside the needle eye.  

I thought it might help if I basted the leather pieces together first, which took some time.  Then I tried the last leather needle, and it sewed just fine. So I basted on the black cotton facing, and because you can't exactly use pins when working with leather, I used paper clips....

I used a contrasting colour thread so I could see it better to remove it afterwards.  After I sewed everything on the machine and turned it right side out, it became clear that the leather really was too thick. The shoulder seams especially were way too bulky, and it had been hard enough to hand sew through two layers of leather, and would be even harder through four. So it was time to give up and move on to something else - either a thinner leather, or some faux leather.

In the meantime Baron and Lawrence did have their brocade tunics almost finished.

 They still need their chainmail sleeves, but now I'm thinking, because the black chainmail, I want to use for Lawrence, is rather stiff and doesn't much like being bent, as when an elbow bends, I might be better off sewing a leather strip around the top of the chainmail sleeve and having it attach with snap fasteners to the under-sleeve, up under the brocade over-sleeve, so he doesn't always have to wear the chainmail.

​Anyways, I'm hoping to get some black leather or faux leather today so I can continue.....

Nyssa and Elin were having a tea party for their dolls....

Elin was handing out some tiny candies...

While Nyssa poured the imaginary tea....

"My doll would like some tea too, please...."

While Nyssa and Elin were playing with their dolls....

She knew she had to go back to the future soon, so she wanted to spend as much time with her new cousin as possible...