Rose in Fall Jumper

Rose in Fall Jumper, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

Little Rose Red, by Dianna Effner for Boneka, dressed in a fall jumper. Rose Red is rewigged by me (her original wig was an unnatural red color). Her outfit is from a pattern by Designs by Jude that was made for the 12" Chrysalis Bethany doll. It fits Rose Red perfectly!

The outfit will be the prize for a Fall Fashion Photo Contest on the EffnerVinylDolls list I moderate on Yahoo.

Willa's Party Dress

Willa has a new dress, made of a pretty grey and pink cotton with a silk ribbon rose on a velvet ribbon sash!




Here's the full view:

Allie models her new dress

Chrysalis Bethany in blue dress, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

This is my 12" Tag-along Bethany from Helen Kish's Chrysalis Collection. Isn't she cute in her new dress? The dress is from a pattern by Designs by Jude and was very easy to make up. I combined the sleeves from the top pattern with the dress instead of making it sleeveless.

I have also never shown a photo of my little Kishlet that I got as a prize for one of the contests in the Kish newsletter. She's a little blond Kishlet and is much beloved by Allie (Bethany).

All locked up

All locked up, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

I have been on vacation since Sept. 10 and it has been very restful. I visited family last weekend but otherwise I have been just hanging around home, catching up and enjoying my sewing room and my pets. Yesterday was a big chores day! I spent three hours cleaning out everyone's house for the fall. The chickens got a good thorough cleaning, including dusting down all the cobwebs in the corners and cleaning out their nest boxes, which greatly offended Amelia, who walked into the yard and ba-GAWKED about it for ten minutes. She said she was going to lay an egg and it was very rude of the maid to be cleaning her nest box while she wants to use it. After it was clean, though, she laid a lovely brown egg for me.

The duck house got a good cleaning, too, but since it was smaller it didn't take so long. There is a paper wasp nest inside under the eaves that I need to take down but I will wait until winter when I'm sure the wasps are inactive. It's a BIG nest, about 6 inches across. I don't see any live wasps, so I think they might be dead or gone, but I'm not going to risk it.

The goat girls needed their house cleaned, too. It was pretty dirty since their favorite hobby is to leave any hay they don't eat all over the floor and lay in it. They were very "helpful" for the whole process, boinging from the wheelbarrow to the bales of shavings and then head-butting in joy that there was some activity. Anza got out when the gate was open during my last wheelbarrow run and capered around the yard and would not let me catch her. I tried grabbing her tail but she was too wily for me! So I got the jar of treats and she immediately came back in the pen. Naughty Anza!  I took this photo after I locked her back in the pen.  Notice her smirk!

Stripey Sets

Ante and Sage, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

Littlefee Ante and Rosen Lied Sage are modeling a little set of overalls and a jumper I made. The overalls are exactly sized for Littlefee, so they are a smidge short for Sage but I wanted to show both outfits together!

Tricycle Fun

Tricycle Fun, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

Boy, was this ever hard to pose! She fell off at least three times!

Littlefee Ante

Littlefee Ante Closeup, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

I had fun with creating some overalls for Littlefee Ante today. I also made her some little slipper-type shoes. Those were not as hard as I expected them to be, but I think I could use a lot more practice in shoe-making!

Suchin and Sasha in hanky dresses

Suchin and Sasha in hanky dresses, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

These dolls are beautifully painted. They are hand-painted Suchin (12 inches) and Sasha (6 inches) by Helen Kish, one of my favorite doll artists. They're just pretty! I admire them daily. I made Suchin's dress from a vintage hanky with instructions provided by Sissy Lingle (she has the directions for sale, send me a message if you need her contact info). Sasha's dress is my own design, also from a vintage hanky. I made it several years ago for Ellery Kish. Sasha is the same size as Ellery and I'm so glad Helen made her. I was waiting for years for more friends for Ellery, and it's great that Helen is offering these six inch all-vinyl babies as companions for her 12 inch girls. They look great as dolls for the 12 inch girls but also can go live in Riley's World whenever I would like them to!  It's always a bit difficult to get good photographs on August afternoons.  The light is so golden.  It's lovely light but makes for yellow photos.

A little cute for today

Realpuki Soso, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

Sorry about the quiet blog lately! I've been busy settling a new veterinarian in at work. I have completed a few doll things that need to be photographed! I have a new plum-colored knit dress for my Pukifee Ante (Madeline) and I have a nearly-completed hanky dress on my Suchin. I am hoping tonight to have time to sew on a collar and button to that dress and then I will photograph it whenever I get a minute.

Pictured here is Bobbin (Realpuki Soso) wearing her wig from Beachgirl Nikita's Guys and Dolls ebay shop and her dress made by me. I scaled down the free pattern I used previously for Ante's dress. Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong when I'm knitting that the stitches don't come out nice and even? I think I am using different tensions for my knit and purl rows when I'm making stockinette stitch, but I'm too inexperienced a knitter to be able to diagnose the problem. Help?

Installed the Electric Fence

Electric fence around chicken yard, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

Take that raccoons! ZAP! I have installed an electric fence specifically designed to keep raccoons out of my chicken and duck area. With all the other normal precautions (sturdy coops, covered and locked runs) we will hopefully never have another incident involving raccoons again.

In other news, Princess is settling in very well and is pals with Roger and Hattie. They swim together in the pool all day, monopolize the best straw pile to sleep on and make ugly faces together at Little and Pearl (this is the usual way of things with Roger and Hattie).  Aaron says that Princess's name is really Princess Maisey.  He insists on calling her Maisey!

As an aside, I really need to paint the shed!

Princess the Miracle Duck

Princess the Miracle Duck, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

Meet Princess. She came to live with us on July 28. Sadly, she is the sole survivor of a raccoon attack. She is related to Roger and Hattie and came from the nice lady who gave them to me. Princess has quite a personality! She already rules the duck yard and has claimed ownership of the food bowl, the best straw sleeping spot and the kiddie pool! She likes to fight the bachelor boys through the fence and has put Roger in his place quite nicely! Hattie is put out and pouts in the small shelter all day, Little Duck just ignores her and Pearl picked a fight twice but got walloped so she has decided to leave Princess alone.

In other news, we have ordered an electric fence to keep raccoons from going anywhere near our chicken and duck area. The fence arrives on August 2 and I'm so happy it's coming because I hope to be able to sleep better after it arrives!

Zoe's Dress

Zoe's Dress, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

This dress is from a pattern for Bleuette. The very kind blog owner, Beth, offered the pattern on her blog. I had heard Bleuette's patterns will fit Little Darlings, so I made one today. The crochet thread is Aunt Lydia's bamboo and it's so soft!

Sew-a-thon outfit

Sew-a-thon outfit, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

This dress and bloomers set is made from a pattern at the Ourlittledarlings yahoo group (a group for Dianna Effner's Little Darlings dolls). It originally was conceptualized as a top and capri pants combination, but I made mine into a summer sundress with bloomers.

Sewing Again

Red headed friends, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

I made three dresses for the Effner Little Darlings these past few days. I had two days off in a row and put them to good use! Anne of Green Gables is modeling a petticoat-style dress in vintage rose fabric and Willa is modeling a circle-yoked dress with tiny embroidery on the border of the yoke. Both are my own design. Emma is modeling a yellow dress with dark brown embroidery. I used a pattern in the Storybook Costumes for Dolls book by Londie Phillips to make this dress. It was a productive few days here!

New Dress

New Dress, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

Madeline, Pukifee Ante, is modeling a new little dress I completed last weekend. I will add it to the etsy shop soon. It will fit Pukifee, Pipos Junior Pi, Lati Yellow and most likely Alice Cherry Blossom.  Edited to add: it definitely fits Alice.  I just tried it on and it's super-cute!

Suchin, Hand-painted by Helen Kish

Suchin Full View, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

The lovely Suchin arrived yesterday. I ordered mine with as a hand-painted set. Suchin is 12" tall (Chrysalis line) and jointed. She is sold with Sasha, a little 6" baby that will fit with the Riley line of dolls or can be used as a baby doll for Suchin. In the photos, they are both wearing their original outfits. There are a few more photos on my Flickr account.

Pine Trees!

For the girls' fans.  This is what trouble they get into when they are allowed to eat the pine tree.  Notice how Josie uses Anza as a step-stool and Anza tries to knock the tree branches down to her mouth with her front feet!

Bobbin helps

Bobbin helps, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

We've decided her name is Bobbin. She helped me finish up the monkey I was making for my nephew, Noah.   The monkey is from the book Amigurumi World by Ana Paula Rimoli.

Realpuki Soso

Soso in Dahlias, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

This is my new little sewing fairy (Fairyland Realpuki Soso). Her name might be Bobbin. We haven't fully decided yet. It was dark and dim in the sewing room so we went outside to explore the flowers on the deck! I also have the "sleeping" face which I will photograph soon.

Ugh, a bug!

Ugh, a bug!, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

I snapped the camera at just the right time. Miss Anza was not impressed with this bug! She turned 1 the other day! In August I will have had her for a whole year!

In sad news, the Bad Bandito (raccoon) from the photo in a previous blog post killed Bonnie the chicken the other night. It was dusk and I had not locked them up yet. I heard a commotion and the raccoon was in the coop. Bonnie was broody so she was not roosting on the roost. I feel very badly about it and wish I had closed the coop earlier. It was 90 degrees that day and the ladies were hot, so I left their door open for a little while longer. It just goes to show that in 15 minutes, tragedy can happen. So we are now extra vigilant with the ladies and they are getting locked in at 7:30 whether it's hot, cold, raining or what. They are good chickens and we want them to live a nice, long life and hopefully die of natural causes. At least Bonnie had a happy life and was much loved.  It happened on May 28th, Memorial Day, at about 8:30 PM and only a few days before Bonnie's third birthday.  I have been too sad to mention it till now.

Rest in peace, Bonnie Belle.

Janie Wearing Sunsuit

Janie Wearing Sunsuit, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

I finally had a little time to sew something today! I got some new patterns from Nedra and made the sunsuit and sunhat seen here. The hat took a while to make but was worth the effort.

Sisters

Sisters, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

My two Dollmore dolls. Left is Mia's Babydoll Aga, who I apparently still haven't given a name to! At least, if I did, I can't remember what it is. And right is Astrid, Dollmore Narsha. I tried her with a different wig this time. I usually don't like bright blond but it looks fine on her!

Today will be beautiful, I think. It's my day off and I'm happy to have such a beautiful day to enjoy. I am remembering to take time every day to think about all the good and positive things in life. It does wonders for one's outlook. I have also discovered recently that if I am cheerful at work, despite other peoples' sour attitudes, other people also become cheerful and then everyone is much happier! So onward with the positive attitude! :)

She has a name and a sweater!

Ante in pink sweater, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

I decided her name is Madeline. I made her this cute pink sweater from a MyFairDolly pattern. It was easy to follow and only took two episodes of Dr. Who to knit! Probably for fast knitters it would only take one!

The little dress underneath is a petticoat-style dress with ribbon ties on the shoulders. There is a picture of her without the sweater on in my Flickr photo stream.

Bad Bandito!

Bad Bandito!, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

So this is what has been happening to my bird feeders every night! Now I know! He or she came by at 7 PM tonight while it was still light so I could get a good look at the culprit!  Also, note the clothesline in the back and how it's DOWN.  I just put it back up and it was down again the next day.  Naughty beast.

New eyes and hair

Ante in Spring Flowers, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

I like this combination better! I didn't really like the blue eyes very much. I like the brown much better!

I'm considering having a contest to name this little one.  Anyone interested?

Pukifee Ante

Ante with her toys, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

This little elf moved in a few days ago. She is Pukifee Ante and look at her little pointed ears! She's very small. I redid her face as I did not like the original, but I may send her faceplate out to a painter and have it redone again, since I'm not sure I like my own painting job. It's very hard to paint something that small evenly! Her dress was made from a pattern HERE and her toys are from Target.

Picnic table fun!

Picnic table fun! a video by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

The goats are not even a little spoiled....I don't know WHO could have bought them a picnic table to play on!

A little early for strawberries!

Amelie in Spring Overalls, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

But Amelie doesn't think so! I made her some little overalls. I tweaked the pattern from a Rosemary Ionker one but I think I need to re-tweak it before I use it again. It works fine for Amelie, though! I attached a felt strawberry to the bib and used embroidery to accent it.

Zoe's New Dress

Zoe's new dress, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

I have been hoarding this bird fabric for quite a while! I finally decided what I wanted to do with it. It worked out nicely for a dress for Zoe. The pattern is my own.

Josie's Evening Greeting

Josie's Face, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

One goofy goat face to brighten up your evening!

Bachelor Pad for Ducks

Bachelor Pad for Ducks, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

My drakes from Little's hatch last year were being terrible and fighting each other for the attentions of the females.  I came to the conclusion that the only way to stop this was to separate them.  I tried to give some of the boys away, but alas, no one wants drakes.  So now, the boys are separated from the girls (with the exception of Roger, who could never be separated from Hattie without a terrible commotion). I built the boys a bachelor pad to stop their endless fighting. And it's working GREAT! I separated Nathan, Mark, Charlie and Edward into this new run and cut another hole in the side of the duck house. The inside of the duck house now has a removable wall to separate it into two parts. I also installed drains into their pools and attached them to hoses which end in the ditch behind the duck house. All is well in duck world! Hooray!  Below are Roger, Hattie, Little and Pearl with their new pool setup.  PS:  Note to self, even though ducklings are bewitchingly cute, NO MORE!  I found Hattie's kids a great home, but the responsibility of finding an excellent home for duckies is just too much!  So many people don't take good care of them and they end up fox food.

A little hike today

Beaver Pond in Upstate NY, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

The beaver used to live about 1/2 mile downstream from us. Last summer, they moved upstream and started to clear out the brush behind our house. They now have a large, shallow open pond and they have built a lodge in it that is about as tall as one story of my house!  The pond attracts a large number of Canada geese, Mallard ducks, Wood ducks and various other wildlife.

 
 I took a closer photo so you could admire their handiwork.  They chewed down this tree and ate the bark.

 
 A closer view of the end of the log.  See how much they chew?



The beaver have been around here for a long time.  This is the decades-old remains of a tree they felled last time they were up at this end of the stream.

When we moved here seven years ago, there were no beaver in the stream at this end at all.  They were all upstream.  They moved down a few years ago and now even closer.  I enjoy having them around, although I must admit it takes some time to get used to hearing the CRASH and SPLASH of trees falling in the night!

Version one of the dress

Emma by Dianna Effner, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

And this was the first version of the dress I was trying to make for Classic Bethany. It fits Emma Effner perfectly but is much too broad for Bethany across the shoulders. It's from a Rosemary Ionker pattern in the book A Closetful of Doll Clothes. Maybe I didn't make it right, but it did not fit my Bethany the way I wanted.

Pretty Doll, Pretty Dress

This is Basic Bethany, by Helen Kish, and I added her to the household a few months ago.  She is a "Classic Kish" meaning that she was made in the pre-Riley days of Helen Kish.  She's all-vinyl and 12 inches tall.  Her dress was a second attempt.  The first attempt was made last week, from patterns specifically made for this doll and it was ill-fitting, in my opinion!  The dress was too broad across the chest area and too loose overall, so I donated it to Emma Effner and tried again with a different pattern.  This attempt came out much better!

Josie's Birthday

Josie's Birthday, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

It was Josie's birthday on April 6th (goat on left) but Anza wore the hat! Josie would not wear the party hat at all, and when I went inside to get the camera some new batteries, I came back out and Josie was galloping around the run with the hat in her mouth, trying to scare Anza with it. Anza wore it for the photos, but only after a generous treat bribe. After the ridiculous hat-wearing session, they were both frisky and head-butted a LOT! It's nice out and they're enjoying the weather today.

Here's a good action shot:

  

And Anza demonstrating that goats like to view their world in different ways (she does that a lot):