Daisy and her Ducklings

Daisy and her Ducklings, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

Daisy is a good mama. She loves her little duckies. They're just impossibly adorable.

In other news, I will be a goat mama later in the summer.  This is Anza!  Her photo was taken by her breeder, Marla. 

Daisy Duck Has Babies!

Mallard Call Cross Ducklings, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

Daisy has five children! I don't think any more will hatch and I think at least three of these are actually hatched from Hattie's eggs, but that's OK. Daisy doesn't know the difference and she loves them all. She lets me pick them up but no one else. She makes ugly mama duck faces at everyone else who tries to see them. Ducky babies are SO CUTE!

Someone is coming today to see my older set of ducklings.  I will be sad to see them go but they have grown up well and will be happy duckies!

Peony in June

Peony in June, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

These peonies are part of what I love about June! They smell so nice.

Wistful Astrid

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

Part of the fun of ball-jointed dolls is seeing how they look with different hair and eyes or eye positions. This is Dollmore Narsha in a different wig than her usual red one. It makes her look completely different. I have also found it's very difficult to properly photograph her red wig in natural light! The sun makes it appear too brassy.  For comparison, click here.

I made a new dress for Astrid. She needed something of her own. It's basically impossible to find any dress patterns that fit her, so I drafted my own. In width, her torso is similar to Bitty Bethany's but it's longer and she's a lot taller. I will see whether this dress also fits Bitty Bethany sized dolls--I suspect it will but it will be long on them.

I love the summer months. It's much easier to photograph dolls!

Ahh...summer at last!

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

Willa is relaxing in the morning sunshine after picking a little wildflower for her hair. I made the dress from a pattern I drafted myself to fit her. The hem is embroidered with chicken-scratch embroidery, which looks so pretty but is very time consuming to do. I made it through nine episodes of Lost while working on this embroidery!

Here is a close up, just because she is so beautifully painted.  Lana is painting me another Little Darling, I'm happy to say!  She does such beautiful work!

And another photo just because.

Just Ducky!

 

Miss Daisy has informed us that she, too, would like to raise a small family.  She is sitting on seven eggs, some of hers and some of Hattie's.  I have possible homes in the works for babies so I'm letting her sit on them.  They will be half Mallard and half Call. 

Roger and Hattie's children are getting very big.  I was gone for the weekend and they sprouted right up!  They are getting feathers.  In about two weeks they should be ready for new homes; just about when Daisy's children should hatch.  Anyone need a bitty baby ducky?

Carrot Embroidery

My Curo is modeling a drop-waisted light green cotton sleeveless dress with a wool felt embroidered jacket. I made two of this dress and put one on etsy, but the one on etsy has a blank front. Whoever purchases it can specify what they would like embroidered on the jacket front.

Charlotta Plusczok

Charlotta Plusczok full view, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

Here is my Charlotta, by Heidi Plusczok. I redressed her in a dress made by Janet Wysong. She's a beautiful doll and has the new joints that Heidi made for this year's line.

We are 3 weeks old!

Baby Call Ducks at 3 weeks of age, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

My little ducklings are growing fast! They are now three weeks old and they have to come inside at night because we separated them from Roger, since he decided they were competition and that he needed to bite them. Mean Daddy! He will visit with them through their pen fence, though. Mommy ducky still loves them. They now take two hands to lift up! They grow visibly day to day, and sometimes even from morning to evening! They are just starting to get tail feathers. I will get nicer photos sometime if it ever stops raining around here.

Clarissa Joy

Clarissa on a garden bench, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

My niece, Jewel, asked me to make her doll a little friend for her birthday. I used the Wee Wonderful's Chloe, Kit and Louise pattern to make a new little doll. Her name is Clarissa Joy and she enjoys playing outside, nature walks and looking at butterflies!

Video of the Kids

Duckling a video by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

They are just too cute!

And then there were four!

 

The little dark brown one was hatched sometime during the night.  He's cute!  They all are.  I don't think that the two remaining eggs will hatch.  Hattie is still keeping one of them warm, though, so we'll see.  She has rolled the other remaining egg out of the nest.  The babies have already gotten into trouble--one popped through a tiny hole in the fence and was wandering around with the chickens and squeaking.  Luckily I was outside when that happened.  I'm not sure what the chickens would have done to him.  I've found all the holes now and there should be no more episodes like that.  Roger is not sure what to think of the babies.  If they run at him, he runs away, but other times he tries to push them around with his beak.  Daisy just ignores them and keeps out of their way.  It's too much commotion for her!  Here is the family when Hattie came out to get something to eat and drink.  Such a cute little family!

More ducklings!

SO CUTE!  I adore them!

Three more eggs are left and obviously, one is in mid-hatch right now.  That little guy is moving around nicely, so I expect more kids soon.  These little guys are just so cute.  I will try to post a video at some point.  They bounce around and scare the big ducks.  It's hilarious.

Duckling!

There's a little duckling this afternoon in the nest!  Hopefully he's healthy and will do ok--he's peeping.  Hattie won't let me look at him much, but he's pretty cute.  Sorry about the poor picture!  I didn't want to disturb them too much.

Rosen Lied Arina

Rosen Lied Arina, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

She arrived and she's so pretty! I got this doll from a fellow collector who was letting her go. She's perfect and has beautiful face paint. She's posing here with a little felted kitten I made.  Her name is Samantha.

Hattie

Hattie is expecting.  She is sitting on 7 eggs.  I'm not sure if any of them will hatch, or who on earth I will give them to if they do hatch, but I didn't have the heart to throw them out.  Roger has been very devoted to Hattie and here is trying to protect her from the camera.

What you can't see here is that Roger is quacking his head off at me!  And his head has some sort of dirt smeared on it; don't worry, it's not blood.  He just likes to be dirty and had his head in the mud this morning.

And here is Daisy's opinion on it all.

A New Rosen Lied Doll

Xander side view, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

I just adore all of Rosen Lied's Tuesday's Children. This is the model Poppy. I named mine Xander. I also received Arina the other day, too, and will be posting photos as soon as I have a few minutes to make her an outfit. A kind person on a BJD forum was selling the two and I snapped them up! I'm so glad I did!

Finally, It's Spring!

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

After an absolutely unending winter (who knows, it'll probably snow again next week!) we finally have crocuses up. According to my camera photos from last year, we had crocuses a full two weeks earlier last year! But they're so pretty, whenever they decide to poke through the landscape. They provide a bright splash of color on the brown and muddy lawn.

The chickens have churned their fenced area up into a giant mud soup. I used temporary fencing today to block them out of their mudhole and re-seeded it so hopefully we will have some grass this summer in there! Naughty ladies! They also unplanted my peas and spinach only 24 hours after I planted it! Luckily, I will be making a taller garden fence to keep my flighty birds out!

Thrifted Goodness and a Sad Quilt

I went to the thrift store today while Aaron was at physical therapy and I came home with some great things.  Our thrift store is very iffy--sometimes I get great stuff and other times it's a wasteland.  I found this fabulous teacup on my second pass down the dishes area, and the crocheted doilies were hanging clipped together near some place mats.  The doilies are very finely done.  Can you imagine the time someone put into them?

 

I found this quilt, too.  It made me so sad that someone took this beautiful quilt that this lady lovingly made for a family member and donated it to the thrift store.  I wonder why?  So many hours and such beautiful colors...it was made in 2007 and was signed by the original quilter.  It will have a good home with me.  I'll appreciate every stitch.

Regency-Inspired

Full View of Regency-Style Dress, a photo by elizabeth's*whimsies on Flickr.

Emma Leigh Addison is wearing a Regency-inspired dress that I finally finished last night. It's made in white-on-white cotton print and there are little matching pantalets beneath. The pattern was modified from a pattern in Storybook Clothes for Dolls by Londie Phillips. I made the neckline deeper and the waist higher. I hand-embroidered a little line of rosebuds along the hem, the bodice and the pantalet cuff.