Today

It's January and it's snowing, again.  These icicles were hanging from everything today, and I admired them on my way to the coop to check on the girls.  Even when hanging off the dusty edge of the chicken coop, they were pretty.  One admires what one can in January, when there are no flowers to be seen and no blue sky for weeks.

I even admired my snowy work boots.  They are so useful in the snow and in the coop, both.  And they're warm.

I visited the ducks in their pen, sitting comfortably in the straw and hay on the run floor.  I re-purposed the used straw and hay from the chicken coop, cleaned out yesterday, to put on the run floors for the ducks and chickens to scratch and play in.  I don't let the coops get so dirty that the straw is too dirty to play in.  It seems to be appreciated.  I never cease to wonder that the ducks do not mind the cold.  Even when it was -6 the other morning, they all tumbled out of the duck house and made their merry way to their water bucket to swim.  Little Duck (Daisy) is not in this picture because she was too busy trying to eat my camera cord instead of posing nicely.

This is what passed for afternoon amusement in the chicken coop today.  That's a cabbage there, hanging from a chain.  I've found the best way to hang it up is to use a nail to stick into the cabbage, which I wrap a bit of wire around and then hook the wire to their chain which is hanging from a hook on the ceiling.  The chickens really enjoy having a cabbage.  They swarmed around when I hung it up.  Their feathers are looking much better after putting on the pinless peepers, as seen on a few of them here.  The only ones that still look awful are Matilda, in the front, and Rhoda, just in front of Matilda.  They look terrible, not because anyone is picking them, but because they are molting!  I'm not sure what possessed them to molt in the middle of January, but they are staying warm inside the coop.

 

And this is what waited for me inside after checking on the ladies.  I had a nice cup of tea and read the last of my issue of Mary Jane's Farm, which I picked up at the farm store with the chicken feed the other day.  I wish I had room for goats and a nice small barn.  Now, back to my tea and relaxation.  Enjoy your weekend, all.

New personality

New personality
Originally uploaded by elizabeth's*whimsies

My Dollmore Narsha was just not right. I couldn't seem to like her, no matter what I had her wearing. So, I erased her face, again, and repainted her for the third time. I think the third time's the charm, because now I like her face a lot better!  Her wig is ordered from Dollmore and fits correctly because it's made for her.  It's hard to find things to fit this doll.  Her torso is similar in width to Bitty Bethany Kish's torso, but her limbs are much longer.  She can share some clothes with the Effner Little Darlings, but they are loose on her, which does work well for certain styles.  Below, she's wearing an outfit I made for Emma Leigh Addison, which I will be listing on Etsy very soon. 



Here's a full view of the outfit, without the matching coat.  More about the outfit later--I'll blog it with Emma wearing it.

A reminder of spring

The eyes of this doll just called out for a green themed dress and the color reminds me of springtime.  The flower seemed to be just the thing for her hair.  I asked Lana to leave the wig detached on this doll, in case I wanted to rewig her, but I can't imagine her in any other wig, so I might glue it down.  Her coloring and personality fit this particular style of hair.

The dress is made from quilter's cottons.  The jacket is, as well, and I happened upon the tiny buttons at Joann Fabrics and knew I would use them eventually.  The jacket pattern is actually sized for Bethany Kish but worked well on this doll.  It's fully lined and matches the dress.  She has little pantaloons underneath.

Another New Year

Another year has gone by and a fresh, unwritten year is before us all, waiting to be filled with whatever we want to fill it with.  It's time for my annual look back and look ahead.  Here are last year's resolutions:

1. Have a successful starting year for my new veterinary practice.

I seem to have accomplished this, thankfully.  The place is still afloat!

2. Make time to craft lots of things and keep my etsy shop stocked.

I haven't done too badly with this one, although I think all my etsy listings have expired!

3. Visit my family!

Managed to do this in March and at least one of them has come to visit me this year, too. 

4. Paint my darn craft room!

Hooray, this is done and I love the new room.

5. Work on my new dollhouse

I have made it to the living room.  And now I'm stalled...better get back to work!

6. Eat more vegan meals.

Well, I'm glad to announce that I have managed to eat almost entirely vegan.  I do still have a little cheese now and again, especially when I'm eating out, because there aren't too many other options.  I also eat my chicken's eggs, mostly in recipes, but I know they're spoiled and happy so I don't worry about the quality of their lives.

7. Continue to play my dulcimer. Perhaps get a new music book because I am bored with the few I have.

 I haven't played it as much as I would like, but I have picked it up now and again.  I need to get a new song book!  I'll have to add one to my amazon cart ASAP.


Overall, it looks like I've done OK with last year's resolutions.  So here are a few new ones.

1.  For the veterinary practice:  get the practice more into accordance with my own personal philosophy and away from the past owner's philosophy.  The good thing is that mostly, we share philosophies, but there are a few things that need work.  A new sign and logo will help to accomplish this goal, and I have an artist working on a logo.
2.  Be more open with my communications with everyone.  By this, I mean that if something is bothering me, I need to communicate about it rather than figuring out non-confrontational ways of dealing with things.  This should help my management style and my overall life.
3.  Continue to craft and sew and keep my etsy shop stocked.
4.  Finish the interior, at least, of my dollhouse.  The length of time that it's taking me to get this done is getting ridiculous!
5.  Participate in more craft and dollhouse swaps.  These are fun and a good way to motivate me to work on things for myself.
6.  Read more.  I think the lack of reading for fun is impairing my imaginative processes, and that in turn makes me less creative with things like my miniatures and dolls.
7.  Keep working on the dulcimer, as mentioned above.
8.  Sculpt some.  I haven't sculpted in a while and I was not so bad at it and miss doing it.
9.  Make some stuff for myself.  I always make things for other people, but I've wanted to make tons of things for me but I never get around to it.  I want a sweater, a garland of hearts for the mantle, curtain tie backs, etc!

So here's to a fresh new year and all the good things it will contain!

Emma Leigh Addison

Emma arrived on the same day as Willa.  Emma is painted by Dianna Effner and is #2 of 6 for Everybody Loves Dolls.  Her dress was made by Janet Wysong (owner of Everybody Loves Dolls) and she has the cutest little underthings. 

Tag Along Bethany

Tag Along Bethany
Originally uploaded by elizabeth's*whimsies

This is this year's new Bethany, produced by Kish and Company.
She's Piper's (14 inch Chrysalis) little sister. When I first opened up her box, I didn't like her much. I don't like the hard plastic bodies that are being used on these jointed dolls. I also thought her head was too big for her body, and didn't understand why they made the doll in this size when she's only about 3/4" taller than the Bitty Bethanies. And her face is different--why didn't they name her something else?

Anyway, after I made her a new outfit and smoothed her hair out, I like her a lot more. I wish Kish and Co would produce these dolls with a jointed VINYL body. The hard plastic is just unpleasant and irregular and the more you move the joints the looser they get. The faces are still beautiful, though, and the wigs are great quality and the painting is nice. The original outfits are of very good quality, too, although they are not the style I like my dolls dressed in, so I usually store the outfit immediately.

Her outfit is made with Bitty Bethany patterns. I lengthened the skirt very slightly. The jacket pattern is from an Ionker book. and is made from microwale corduroy.

Overall, I'll still buy Kish dolls, but only new faces. I so wish she would go back to the original all-vinyl bodies. Why mess with perfection?

Willa, Hand-Painted by Lana Dobbs

 

This is my newest Effner Little Darling.  She's hand-painted by Lana Dobbs and is just amazing!  Even her little fingernails and toenails are painted.  I have to make her a unique outfit, since she's borrowed Zoe's, but I couldn't resist photographing her.  She came recently, and actually on the same day as another Effner I had pre-ordered.  I will be posting about the other little girl, Emma Leigh Addison, very soon.

Katie Kitty

Katie Kitty
Originally uploaded by elizabeth's*whimsies

This is Katie Kitty, made from fleece fabric for my niece, Jewel. The pattern is from Wee Wonderfuls: 24 Toys to Sew and Love. Jewel has declared that she's great, but she wants a white dress, too. Jewel also has declared that she wants every toy in the book!

Ellie the Pink Elephant

Ellie the Pink Elephant
Originally uploaded by elizabeth's*whimsies

I've been quiet on the blog lately--I'm spending all my free time making toys for my nieces and nephew for Christmas! This is Ellie the Elephant Bag, made for Lily, my little niece, from a Wee Wonderfuls pattern.  The pattern is found in the book Wee Wonderfuls: 24 Dolls to Sew and Love.

Olivia, redone

Olivia had a face repaint.  Here is a link to a photo from before.  I didn't like something about her eyes and her cheeks seemed too dull, so I enhanced the face paint by repainting the eyes and eyelashes.  I reblushed her cheeks and chin, too, and now I like her better.  I made her a dress with an Ionker A-line pattern, which I lengthened.  I decided it needed embroidery and a hat to make it complete.

Here is a closeup of her face painting.  I also re-wigged her, as her original wig was not of good quality.  I used a mohair Heidi wig and overall, I think she's much cuter.

Luke in Overalls

Luke in Overalls
Originally uploaded by elizabeth's*whimsies

I made some new overalls for my little Customhouse Ange Ai Uri today. I love this photo. The lighting came out just perfect. I also photographed him reading a book (below). There are a few more photos on my flickr account.

Cuteness Just for Cuteness' Sake

Alice has a cupcake
Originally uploaded by elizabeth's*whimsies

Alice Cherry Blossom is just too cute. It's cold and dreary here this afternoon. What better to perk the day up than a scrumptious cupcake offered by an adorable piglet?

Bookworm

Bookworm
Originally uploaded by elizabeth's*whimsies

This little wormy is from the Wee Wonderfuls pattern for Evelyn Inchworm. Once I got her finished, I thought she would be a great gift for my favorite librarian, so into the mail she went, to my sister!

Home Economics at Cornell in 1918

I was browsing Flickr and realized that the Flickr Commons has a number of photographs uploaded from my alma mater, Cornell.  I was looking through, and stopped on this photograph.   Click on it and view it in the highest resolution.  These were some interesting ladies.  They posed for this photo right before women got the vote in the US.  You can read their biographies here: Faculty of Home Economics at Cornell in 1918-19 school year.  You can see the second row first lady on the left is holding her glasses in her hands.  I wonder if the photographer made her take them off or if she wanted to remove them for the photo?  There are so many details present in this photograph.  The laces appear so crisp and fresh and the expressions of each of the women make me wonder more about them and their personal stories.

I find this photo fascinating, not only for the glimpse into history, but for the character and personality of each of the women pictured in it.  There's some enlightening reading on the history of Home Economics in the US here.

"Canning peaches. Sewing a dress. Making perfect gravy. These are familiar images of home economics, but do they tell the whole story? So often home economics has been cast as a "conspiracy to keep women in the kitchen," an interpretation that has overlooked its impressive and diverse contributions. New scholarship in American women's history suggests that home economics was a progressive field that brought science to the farm home and women into higher education and leadership positions in public education, academia, government and industry."

Little Hedgehogs

 

I love this Japanese print fabric!  I still have a little left.  I only use it for special projects.  I made this dress for my sister for one of her ball-jointed dolls.  It looked so good on Dawn, though, that I had to take a few photos.  I also made a little embroidered felt jacket to go with it, but I didn't photograph that.  Dawn is just the cutest, even though she is factory painted rather than hand-painted.  She's a Let's Play Dolls exclusive by Dianna Effner for Boneka.

Bitty Belle by Helen Kish

 

Here's a girl who doesn't get enough attention.  I love her hair.  This is Bitty Belle by Helen Kish, about 11 inches tall and just as cute as can be.  I made her a new outfit, because she had been wearing her previous one for way too long.   The dress pattern is from a Rosemary Ionker pattern and the fabric is a small quilting calico from Fabric.com.

Riki with Puppy

Riki with Puppy
Originally uploaded by elizabeth's*whimsies

Riki, by Helen Kish, is snuggling with my Toby portrait sculpture by Barlee Rumburg. I made Riki a new outfit yesterday. She looked cold in her sleeveless summer dress!  Below is the full view of the outfit.  The pantaloons are made from a Londie Phillips pattern and I drafted the bonnet and top myself.  The top is wool felt.  The embroidery pattern is based on an illustration in a Dover book of floral embroidery patterns.

Before and After

After seeing one of the dresses I sold on etsy on a Narsha, I realized that I really needed to add one to my collection.  I found the one above (upper right photo) on Den of Angels forum and knew when I bought her she would need to be repainted.  I spent the weekend repainting her (twice!) and now I'm satisfied with her appearance. She needs new hair and eyes, though, but the ones that she has are OK for now.  Narsha is about 14 inches tall, but her torso is quite delicate.  I find that she can actually wear Bitty Bethany clothing, but it needs to be lengthened.  Items for the 13" Effners and 14" Kish girls fit her, too, but they're rather baggy around the middle.  I'm looking forward to sewing for her. 

So good to be appreciated

Here's my little old dog, Toby, curled up on the bed I made for him.  His old bed was pretty icky, so today he had a bath and while he was drying off, I made him this bed from some leftover fleece.  About five minutes after I set it on the floor, he curled up on it and he's been sleeping there ever since.  He's a sweet little doggy.  Those are appliqued hearts in the corner for him to rest his head on.

Oregon and Pennsylvania

Finally, I have finished a few more blocks on the State Flowers Quilt.  I'm resting at home for three weeks after having foot surgery, so I have time to embroider!  These are from Vicki's free patterns.  I should have taken the iron to them prior to photographing them.  They're not as uneven as they look!

Doll with Doll

 

April is playing with the 1:12 scale baby from my Edwardian dollhouse.  He is dressed in a little dress I knitted when I was crazy.  (It was really difficult to knit that tiny and I wouldn't attempt it again!)  April is wearing a dress similar to the one I made in Little Darling Effner size.  I was asked if I could make a similar dress in yo-sd size, and I did and it's already mailed out to the recipient.  I hope she enjoys it! 

Little Middleton Toddler

Little Guy Closeup
Originally uploaded by elizabeth's*whimsies

This is a little doll I redid recently. The head came with another doll I ordered, and once he arrived he needed some fixing up. I wanted to take him off the too-small body he arrived on, so I posted a want ad on Doll-Fan and a nice person sent me a standing toddler body for him. Finally today I reassembled him and I think he came out pretty cute. He had extensive re-painting. The whole original face was stripped and I redid his paint from a blank slate. I also re-wigged him. He's funny and he makes me smile!  He needs a name, though.

Today's Sewing Project

 

I've had a thing lately for drop-waist dresses.  I have a feeling there are more to come, too.  I will eventually list this one on etsy, but I want to make some accessories of some type to go with it, first.  My Rosen Lied Tuesday's Child Beige is modeling.  Her red hair seemed just the thing for this outfit.  It will also fit 10" Effner dolls by Boneka.

Zoe Effner in Blue

Zoe Effner in Blue
Originally uploaded by elizabeth's*whimsies

I made Zoe a new dress. We were going to list it on etsy, but the back of the collar came out a little off, so she's keeping it. That's a good thing from her perspective, because she needs more clothes!

Dennis Hopper the Bunny

Dennis in springtime
Originally uploaded by elizabeth's*whimsies

It's been a sad year for me. My bunny, Dennis, passed away on Monday night. He'd had a thymoma (large mass in his chest) that was diagnosed in spring '09. He had radiation to shrink it last summer, which gave him more than a year of extra, happy life. It grew back and he started to have a bit of trouble with it this summer. He was still happy and eating and playing up to Monday night when he suddenly became much worse and died before I could euthanize him.

Dennis was a good little bunny and a good little friend. Brother Cat liked to sleep in his exercise pen with him and keeps looking in his cage to see where he is. Dennis was always friendly, loved treats and carrots and had the softest fur. He was sometimes naughty and chewed up my woodwork, but that's what bunnies do when you don't watch them! His passing was not unexpected, but he will still be missed.

Kitchen Wainscot

dollhousekitchen
Originally uploaded by elizabeth's*whimsies

April Cottage, after a stalled summer of work, is under construction again. Yesterday evening I finished applying the wainscot to all walls of the kitchen except the wall with the door, which will have to wait until I install the door and the door trim. Next up is the parlor, which will be painted in a soft blue with stained wooden wainscot. I'm a little afraid of wiring this house, as I've never electrically wired any houses before, so we'll see how that works out!

Zoe Effner in Purple and Lace

Zoe Effner in Purple and Lace
Originally uploaded by elizabeth's*whimsies

I'm working on how to blog directly from Flickr and thought I would share this photo of Zoe, as well. She's easy to photograph!

Late Summer

It's getting cool at night and the local kids all go back to school in just two days.  This time of year always reminds me of stronger colors like dark purples and golds.  I made Zoe Effner a dress inspired by the season.   The lace is a lovely lace I found on etsy and the ribbon is silk.

Bunny!

I love bunnies.  I have had a bunny as a pet since my dad brought me home Butterscotch when I was four.  I still have a bunny, Dennis Hopper, who is now seven or so (old for a Netherland Dwarf) and still a happy little guy.  I have wanted Curo Bunny from Pipos since I first saw her and I finally broke down and ordered one and she came the other day.  She's so cute!  Her outfit is up on etsy, though--she told me pink is not her color, really.  She would prefer something in light carrot.  Or grass green...  She's so cute I can barely stand it.

Norah gets a new dress

Norah wanted something to wear for the end of summer and this is what I came up with.  The blouse is modified from a Rosemary Ionker bodice pattern and the jumper was drafted by me and is made from lightweight denim.

Lovely Day

Today was a lovely day, with dry warmth.  April thought it was perfect weather for daydreaming in the sunshine on the deck.  She also spent some time sitting with her friend, Luke.

These two are just so cute, I can't get over it.  I found the bench on clearance at Michaels and it fits them perfectly. 

The summer is winding down here.  It will be a cool night tonight.  The summer has been full of nice weather and the garden has grown well, producing lots of tomatoes, green beans and cucumbers, among other things.  The chickens are doing fine and Hazel is broody and thinks she can hatch the wooden eggs!  She looks crazed when she's broody, as she puffs up her feathers and makes a terrible sound, but I just laugh at her and send her out to play with her sisters.  Daisy Duck (aka Little) has decided that the call ducklings are OK and swims every day with them.  She daily has to put Roger in line, as he's a bit fresh, and she occasionally has to sneak a bite at Hattie to keep her in line, too.  Overall Daisy has stopped mourning for Millie and now she has friends to keep her company in the winter, so all is well with the feathered folk!

I made a dress for Candy Plusczok today, also, but I will show it tomorrow!