Hope Chests and Hexagons

Isn't that beautiful? My little sister has a new blog, Reclaiming the Hope Chest. She will be displaying lots of handmade items that she will use to fill her hope chest!

In other news, I apologize for the blog silence but it will probably continue until at least the first of the new year. I have been very busy buying a veterinary practice and the transfer date is Dec. 31/Jan 1.

Chickie Fabric Fun

When I saw this fabric at the fabric store, I knew I had to have it and I knew it would make a great pair of overalls. It's actually more dark red than orange. My camera had a hard time picking up the color properly. I'm also quite proud of the mock turtleneck I made. I hate using knit fabrics but FINALLY I seem to have gotten the hang of it, and so I present a non-bunched, decent-looking shirt! Simple, sure, but it does the trick.


I love this photo. Tompkin looks like a little kid from yesteryear, playing with his train. I used the sepia and soften filters on Paint.net to change my original photograph. Paint.net is a great program and it's FREE.

All Grown Up

My little chickies are all grown up now. The big floofy bum in the foreground belongs to Prudence, who laid her first egg in the middle of the garden on the weekend. So far she's the only Orpington laying, but she's laid one every other day since she started, and nicely in the nest box since that first one. I think it surprised her!

Super Cute!

I forgot how much I loved my Ringo until I got her out and made a new dress for her. She's just too cute.

Etsy update

I made a second copy of the dress I made for my Effner girl, but I embellished it more and put it on etsy. Hopefully someone will enjoy it for their Beige or similar-sized doll. I particularly enjoyed the embroidery on the petticoat (closeup below). I used an embroidery pattern from one of the Japanese craft books that I got in Seattle in July. I'll also be putting a cute little green dress for Ringo on etsy later on, too.

Coop Interior

The coop is insulated for the winter and I made the girls a new perch. As funny as it was to see all of them trying to crowd onto the top rung of their ladder-style perch, it didn't look comfortable at all. And two were roosting nightly on top of their food bin, and one on top of the nest box. Now they have a long roost that extends the length of the coop, and I made a ramp to it from the sunning shelf by the window.

April Cottage has walls!

April Cottage has walls and a partial roof so far. I have just placed an order for beadboard for the kitchen and wainscot for the living room. You can see my Edwardian House Style book sitting there in the someday-living room. I realized the other day that I have wanted a BIG dollhouse like this for such a long time! It's going to be great to finally have one. This one comes with pre-drilled holes for the lighting, too, so I have absolutely no excuse not to light it. And it's front-opening, so the cats can't get in, and hopefully that will also keep the dust to a minimum. I realized that another advantage of front-opening houses is that the wiring is pretty easy to do--you can put it all on the back! Fiddlesticks--I just realized I should have ordered the "slate" shingles while I was ordering the other supplies. Oh well--I think Earth and Tree will have more than one order from me in the near future.

For the kitchen floor, I am making flagstones, using the egg carton method. There's a great tutorial here: Victoria Miniland - 'Egg Carton' Stone Wall or Floor

I also plan to use similar "stone" to cover the outside of the house. Now, the only problem is that I have been re-using all of my egg cartons to hold eggs from my chickens! Anyone have any spares?!

Shiny Fall Day

Today is cold, a little windy, and very shiny and bright and sunny. The sky is perfect.

The leaves are changing and are fast blowing down to carpet the lawn.

The chickadees and all their friends have returned to my feeders. This one is waiting, eying me warily, for his turn to snatch a sunflower seed. They'll eat out of my hands sometimes.

Rosy and all her pals are foraging in the now-dormant garden. There is no better weeding/fertilizer combination than a hungry hen!

The little Orpington chicks have grown into big pullets, bigger than the Reds and getting ready to lay, probably in a few weeks.

It's nice to have a few minutes in a busy day to reflect on the changing of the seasons.

April Cottage Beginnings

I have this fabulous vision for my April Cottage by Dolls House Emporium. It's going to be a turn-of-the century (1900) cottage in Britain inhabited by a country veterinarian and his family: a wife, baby boy and little girl. The cottage was built in 1600 and was recently redone when said country veterinarian married his wife and started his family. Doesn't look like much yet, does it? It's lying on its side in the above photo. It will eventually have "stone" on the outside and a cute front door. I'm planning to electrify it, a plan made easier by the fact that the kit comes with all the holes pre-drilled and a plan available in the back of the instruction book. There's lots more to do yet, but I will try to periodically photograph the progress.

Tea Party and Dogs!

April is having tea with her toys.

And posing with Toby the felted dog.

My Hundredth Post and Some New Sewing

I just realized that this is my hundredth post!

I made my Mei Ling a new dress on the weekend. I was inspired by a dress made by Claudia, a member of the Effner Vinyl Dolls group. I also took some photos of my Rosen Lied Beige, but I will post those tomorrow or on the weekend.

A New Chrysalis Girl

I ordered Shea after seeing a fantastic photo of her by another member of the Kish and Company Yahoo group. I made her an outfit this afternoon. I reused some of the fabrics that I used in Sarah's Jane Market Bag. The colors are great, but my camera was having some trouble picking up the subtle colors of the top.

Rhoda Lays an Egg

Pretty Rhoda, concentrating VERY hard on making an egg. The girls are making me an average of 4-5 eggs a day; most days all of the reds lay one. What good girls!

Jane Market Bag Love

I adored this pattern as soon as I saw it! I had to make it! My littlest sister Sarah chose the colors, because the bag was made for her. I added the yoyo flower and vintage button. I just love Alicia Paulson's patterns and her blog. If you haven't seen it, check it out. It's one of my favorites.

Turquoise Jumper for Song

Song needed a new outfit, so I made her one with some leftover turquoise fabric, and I think she is looking lovely!

Matilda the Mischievous

I just love this photo of Matilda. She's always curious and into trouble. She's the one that chases the ducks and also chases the little Orpingtons around, just for fun. She likes to make them squawk. And she's the one that will fly out of the fence when they're in their temporary fencing grazing. She figures out how to fly over and just jaunts off by herself, eating delectable grasses.

They're making great eggs! All five of the Reds are laying.

Adapting Patterns

When I was in Seattle, I bought a copy of Marie Claire Idees in Barnes and Noble to read on the plane ride home. I can read a bit of French, but mostly I looked at the photos. I was enchanted by a little baby bubble outfit. I'll have to photograph the page later. Anyway, while I was looking at the pattern in the back of the magazine, I realized that it looked basically the correct size to fit An Mei Kish, without enlargement. When I got back, I measured and slightly tinkered and this little outfit is what I came up with. I think if I make it again I need to enlarge the area where it buttons just slightly because the button holes (done by hand) were infernally difficult to do. But all in all, I was happy with the end result. The hat pattern I drafted completely by hand. I want to make a scaled-down version of the knit vest that is pictured in Marie Claire Idees to go with it.

Scottie Tote Bag

This is a gift for a very nice lady who brings us Scottie Dog Black Liquorice Gummies at work. She has a Trader Joe's where she lives, and whenever they visit this area, she sends them in for us. Isn't that nice? I hope she likes this bag. I made the Scottie with an embroidery pattern from Sublime Stitching. The rest of the tote bag I cobbled together. I used a vintage reprint Scottie fabric that I purchased from Dorothy Prudie Fabrics on Etsy. My lovely sister Sarah is the fabulous model. :)

They laid an egg!

At last, my chickens did what chickens are supposed to do! Here is the treasure in two different lights and backgrounds. I think it was either Rosy or Hazel who laid it but I'm not sure. It appeared during the day yesterday and I found it last evening when I got home from work, neatly placed in the nest box next to the wooden eggs that are in there. Good chickens!

Roses of Summer

Who would ever think anything could be so lovely and perfect? These are a few of my miniature roses, which are just riotously blooming along my front walk. They are all from Noreast Miniature Roses, which unfortunately is no longer selling directly to individuals, and only to nurseries. I bought these before that policy.

This is Innocence.

This is Peaches and Cream.

Seattle Scentsation

Looking a little tattered but still gorgeous is Raindrops.

I have two more varietals (Incognito and Child's Play) but they are not blooming right now. They have tons of buds, though.

And here is the Brother cat, with some early-morning snuggling in the chair.

Coop Repaired and Other Matters

The coop is finally fixed. It just needs a spot of paint and it's done. So much for the tree crushing it! It's been re-shingled and the broken boards have been fixed so the girls will stay clean and dry.

The little girls are getting to be big girls but the big girls still don't care for them, so they get locked out while the little ones get to run around inside the coop for a while.


Here are the big lovelies, almost ready, I hope, to lay. They are getting nice big combs and wattles and are sitting in their nest boxes occasionally.

And here is the new home for the duckies, who are big and smelly and need to be OUT OF MY HOUSE! We have to move it into place. It was just delivered yesterday. It's very heavy and needs to be pulled with the lawn mower. Hopefully the duckies like it!

Seattle in Summer

I was a tourist for most of last week. I went to the American Veterinary Medical Association's annual convention that was hosted in Seattle. We had a GREAT time. The parts I enjoyed the most were the food, Pike's Place, walking all over, and the Asian bookstore Kinokuniya. There's little me in the middle of the craft book section. I bought a bunch of books and I'll share those later.


This photo was taken at Pioneer Square, which was a unique district. There was a great antiques store that we muddled around in for a while.

We walked to Seattle Center and saw the Space Needle. We didn't go up, though--the line was ridiculous.

This is the fountain in Seattle Center. It was hot and sunny that day and those kids were having a GREAT time!

On one of our last days, we went to Viretta Park, where there's a memorial of sorts to Kurt Cobain. It's hard to believe it's been 15 years since he died. Here's his bench.


I'm glad we went. It was very restful and such a crafty sort of city. I hope to go back again sometime.

DS Travel Case

I'm going to Seattle for a conference next week, and my DS is coming with me. It needed a cute pouch for travel purposes, so I made one up today. I bought the fabric from Etsy (Mountain of the Dragon).

Sewing Cute Dolly Clothes

This is An Mei, by Helen Kish. She's 8 inches tall and is the little sister of Song.

Baha, always pretty, no matter what she wears.