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.

Someone's Sewing Box

The Rescue Mission had a tent sale last weekend. I wasn't intending to go in, but we stopped next door at the hardware store, and when we were done there we stepped into the tent. It was pouring rain and the rain was leaking under the tent edges and making everything damp and gloomy. We wandered up and down the rows of cheap tables, looking at what was mostly junk. I was about to leave and saw this basket. It's not the nicest basket; the handle is damaged and the trim is coming off. But it was full of vintage patterns. And at the bottom, there are vintage notions--buttons and rickrack and ribbon and thread. I couldn't leave it there, so I got it for 3.99. I brought it home and sorted it, and now I'm feeling sad for whatever lady used it. It's obviously well-used and full of patterns for ladies' clothing. There are a large number of maternity clothes patterns. I imagine that the owner of the box took up sewing when she was pregnant. There are later fashions that are Misses sizes and look to be from the 1970s. There is a scrap of grey and red plaid pants material at the bottom of the basket, and a fluorescent felt heart-shaped needle book with all the hallmarks of a child's first awkward sewing project, given to mother or grandmother and carefully preserved in her sewing basket all those years. For whatever lady used this basket for all those years until it ended up at the thrift store, I'll sort, clean and keep your sewing things, and think about you every time I use them.

Rosen Lied Beige

At last! I had time to complete her dress and photograph her. This was what I was working on Thursday when the trees came down. This is April, by Rosen Lied. Her model name is Beige. She's going to be lots of fun if I can ever have time to make her more clothing.

Whichever way the wind blows

Don't worry, the chicken ladies are ok (and so are we), but we're all a bit shaken up. There was a thunderstorm here, and while we didn't get much rain, the wind was unlike anything I have ever experienced. It blew so hard, it blew a tree onto the coop. The roof is somewhat damaged and has a drip if it decides to rain. The ladies can't see out their front window, and my garden is SMASHED. I climbed into the mess and salvaged my tomato plants (I broke enough branches away that I think they'll be ok). There's a gap in the corner of the ladies' coop on the left, and as long as a weasel doesn't get in tonight, they'll be alright. The tree guys have been called and they will be here at 8 AM. They are dealing right now with LOTS of other people who have trees on their houses.


We are incredibly lucky. Two trees also blew down in the front yard and they missed the house by INCHES. They hit the gutters in the front. And they mis-aligned the satellite dish so we have no TV, but no windows are broken. My bushes are trashed, but I climbed under the mess and freed my rosebushes and I think they'll be OK with some pruning. My front yard has two giant craters in it. And one of the trees is across the power line and keeps slipping, so I'm not sure how long we'll have power for. The power guys have been called. My landscaping around under the base of those trees is destroyed. The Bergamot is uprooted and my azalea is on its side. :(


All in all, though, it could have been worse. We're lucky that the ladies are still alive and that no major damage was done to anything.

By the way, I am now also on Twitter.

Bye Bye Boys

My boys have all gone to new, good homes. Alice is now named Pooka and lives with tons of girlfriends at a home nearby where he'll take good care of them. Here's a picture his new chicken-mom took of him with his new girls, and one by himself. He's a good guy and I hope his new family enjoys him!




The other four went to a lady in Spencer who has a small hobby farm. They will be chicken daddies at her place.

I'm never buying straight run chickens again! It's hard to get attached to them and then have them leave, but at least I feel like they're in good places where they won't be dinner! :O)

Not sure how this happened....

This was not in my plan! Yesterday morning I had no ducks. And somehow, now I have two!

Last night, my boss called me and asked if I knew how to raise a baby duck. I said I thought they were raised similarly to chickens. And he asked if he could bring the one over that his neighbors just gave him. Sucker that I am, I said sure...and the poor little guy was really lonely, so we checked Craigslist today for a companion and found a singleton duck in the next town over who was only a "little" older than my guy....however, I think he's a LOT older! Look at the size difference! So they're getting acquainted through hardware cloth. Hmm...I didn't plan on ducks, but I guess we can accommodate them with the chickens. We'll have to make an extension to the run. Or maybe they can have their own house on the other side of the yard.

Here are three of my girly Orpingtons today. They are in the scraggly stage and apologize for their scruffy appearance.

A Little of Everything on a Sunny Sunday

It was lovely today. My chickies are growing nicely and have graduated up to the kiddie pool in the house. This was them during last week on the lawn. They're so cute!




My larger chickens are 10 weeks old now and the boys are quite handsome at this point. I need to find them homes! So I took a few pictures of them individually to try to get them re-homed. The girls (all the reds) are staying. This is Alice, in all his fine glory, tolerating being held.


I also finally made some dresses for the Annette Himstedt dolls I have had for a while. The one on the left is Gitta and on the right is Margie.