CATCHING UP WITH...AUDREY ?

Well ok not Audrey but Ginny!

Ginny's seen some photo's on the internet of a lady called Audrey and she thinks she's lovely and very stylish, so wants to be just like her.

She even asked if she could have her hair cut into a very short pixie style! I explained that if she did that she's not be our Ginny any more !
Ginny thought about that for a while and then she'd like to still be our Ginny but with Audrey's style...

So I suggested a photo shoot and Ginny agreed!Normally she's very shy and only like to be in photo's with her sisters or brothers.

"Take some without the hat Mum !" says Ginny

x

"Where did you find the hat Ginny? "
"It's the one you bought off Auntie Brenda at the Chat n Snap last year "

" I cannot see your face!" I say when Ginny pulls the hat down at the front.

"That's better " I say when she moves it back.

We change places in the garden

x

Another new place ! " Make sure you get Dad's new plant in !" Ginny tells me.

"Look Mum ! The sundial's wearing my hat!" she giggles.

"Well Ginny, you have been very good , what would you like as a treat ? "
She thinks for a while.. " Maybe a black short wig? " she says hopefully
" I was thinking more along the lines of a glass of milk and a penguin biscuit ! "
Ginny smiles shyly " Well I'd like that too"
Smiling we go indoors in search of some milk and biscuits...



*******************************************************************************

Hope you enjoyed this change to the Sunday catch up, I am now having to start doing things for the coming Chat n Snap, so the Sunday Catch will have to go o hold for  a while!

TIME MOVES ON!!

Well I for one cannot quite believe that October's just round the corner and galloping towards me!
I worked out that in 29 days it will be The Chat n Snap ! Lovely that it will finally be here and so nice to be meeting new people, seeing old friends and trying to decide what to spend my money on!

Of course my display should be nearing the end of construction , so that I do not need to burn the midnight oil and leave my house looking like it's been burgled by a pack of monkeys on speed!

But so far it's all in my mind..... but it will be fine.. I have twenty eight days ( must finish early) to get it sorted.......

I have been receiving some beautiful raffle prizes and cannot wait to see it all displayed for everyone to see and enjoy.

The latest arrivals can be seen on the Chat n Snap blog, I have more to add and I apologise to those who have sent something that's yet to appear!

A sneaky peek at one of the prizes yet to be shown ..

The wonderful talented designers and craftspeople out there have been very generous to our charity raffle.

Last week I redressed a couple of my girls in some outfits I had bought with my birthday money back in July!

They are dressed in Ruth dolls pleated skirts and blouse sets.

I do have another set which is on one of my other girl's but she's upstairs so missed joining the group photo.

Sansa's is the only one wearing a Karen Warnaka swiss jacket because she went out visiting but now the days are getting cooler I'll have to find the others some, just hope I have a matching colour!.

So we have Winter, Sansa and Martha all redressed ,so a few more to go!

With the chat n snap coming up , I must make a list of things the girls/boys or babies need and stick to it!! Yeah right! I make even myself laugh with that statement... :)


*********************************************************************************

TO STAY OR NOT TO STAY

that is the question... I have been asking myself this for the last month as I sort through the boxes and bags of wool/ yarn I appear to have... everywhere !

Let's start with how many knitting bags does one person need? in my case it would appear three! I would not mind except I have been taking my latest project to and from work in a plastic bag! While these have sat about just filled with.....

inside the bags... wool/yarn...

bag one..contents...

lots of needles and buttons and scraps of wool! Why have I not just dumped those scraps in the bin??? Two little spoons I bought for the Sasha's about three years back!! A tape measure , something I am always looking for!

For some reason I missed taking photo of bag two  but it was pretty much along the same lines!

Then we come to a heavy duty shopping bag... the contents are shown below

Yes a finished but not sewn up Sasha sweater, some clothing for a baby Sasha and yes , you are not imagining it ! that is the head of a Sasha! So I know this bag's from last September! I took that head away with me on holiday along with  the head of a No navel red and spent the week I was away re rooting the no navel in the evening and this girl got started but then came to a halt! mind you she does not have a body, so she's not exactly in a hurry!

Her head is now sitting on a shelf , so she'll not get forgotten again!!

then back to knitting bag number three!

Yet more wool and half started sweaters for a Sasha/ Gregor.

So I spent time sorting out these bags and deciding which balls to keep and which needed to be sold on.

I put a few ball of similar weight, 4ply  or sock wool etc together ,

Double knit etc

and listed quite a few different bundles on ebay and I am pleased to say it's been selling well. It's also listed on my sales page.

In fact in this last month I have sold to date 90 , yes  90 !  balls of yarn !

I can hear you all saying , well that must have helped reduce her stash down to about one box!

If only that were so... but the life of a wool a holic is filled with wondrous balls of colour and texture!

These are the boxes of ball that at present are staying.... I say at present as I am hoping to be harder and reduce these even further!

This is my box of cotton, it's quite small compered to the wool boxes but is also full! But I will start using this for hats etc soon.

Now my aim I have decided is to get down to just one box of wool/yarn by the last day of this year..... can it be done.... we'll see...

Now on to my next love FABRIC...... if you read yesterday's post you will know I found yet another box of fabric, this one is at least ten years old I think!

Well I got the larger pieces out and hung them on the line to air...

Seeing it hanging on the line I remember I purchased most of it to make a quilt that would match in with my bedroom colours in my last house.

some large squares already cut out.

So what to do ? These colours will no longer go with my new bedroom, so should I try and sell these half metre's on ebay? or keep it all and try to get round to actually making the quilt? But let's bare in mind that I already have two other quilts waiting to be continued.....
This is another decision that I need to make before the end of the year!

 I am beginning to think I should have owned a fabric and wool shop, that way I could have been surrounded by the wonderful fabrics and yarns without having loads of it sitting waiting in the house to be used.......

Well the quest to down size my hoards continues......



*********************************************************************************

20TH SEPTEMBER SUNDAY CATCH UP.

Well I don't know where this weeks gone! We have been off work , so have been out and about despite the rain, only changing our plans for Wednesday due to the amount of rain forecast and the fact that we were wanting to go to Norfolk to a couple of places.
But that meant that we achieved some things indoors!

I have spent some of this last week listing and selling things on ebay or the Sasha Bazaar, trying to reduce the amount of Sasha or doll things that are filling this house to the roof! Well yes that is not quite true but it could happen!! :)

On the wool front I would love to say this now means I have less boxes and am down to just one but it would appear that my house is a black hole linked to a wool shop! and every time I begin to make a dent in the wool stack I find another couple of bags with several balls of wool in each!
* see the up coming post Confessions of a Woolaholic***


One of the dolls I nearly sold was Hildegarde but luckily I came to my senses in time and kept her, I did sell her much younger sister , so do feel good even thought I would now like to get another one some time!!! Nightmare...

This is one of the reason's I need a nice big glass fronted cupboard to place the dolls that need some protection from dust etc where they can be admired and appreciated ! Poor old Hildie and her sister were in a glass cupboard but down low and Hildie was behind several Sasha's and Gregors , so they did not get any attention. So now a Big full sized Glass fronted cupboard is back on the must have list!

At least having this clearout made me look at Hildegarde and realise just how dusty/dirty she was and so, she's had a clean and her clothes have been washed and repaired and she now looks much happier I think?

Her after clean up photo... so brighter ! I have had to repair her dress in a couple of places and I am hoping to get her a new one and will put this original dress away.

Now If I could just clean her hair? I thought it was mohair but after a chat with another Pongratz collector we decided that it was probably real hair, so she suggested washing a tiny area and seeing how it went.
So I did this yesterday, decided that yes it was real hair , so washed the lot! It was filthy! I was fairly careful and the amount of dirt coming out was a sight to see. Once washed I carefully brushed it, she did lose a small amount of hair but then she was very matted in places but today her hair is looking so much better! It could probably do with a second wash but the poor girl's been through enough for now.

Yes It's Blonde! Not grey! Paul says she does not look like an old lady any more!!

Such a difference! Just shows what a little TLC can do for a doll.


We have spent some time working on the garden and moving things about , which meant that I looked at a couple of boxes that had been left on the gazebo for Lindsey to sort through, I found this one.

Only to find it's one of my boxes of....

Fabric .... love that blue on the top! so this is now in the house and needing looking at! I would not mind if I'd actually managed to clear a lot of the last box of fabric I found but I have only listed and sold a small amount of that box.... so now I have two... my plan is to get it down to one! That's my plan........

We have also been out and about which always makes us come back with fresh ideas for the house or the garden.

We visited East Ruston Old Vicarage Gardens as seen in the post before this one and I would love that little garden room from the walled garden but no chance of that happening any time soon!
But we have done work in the garden , moving plants about and increasing a border here or there.

Cannot believe that my two weeks are over and I'll be back at work tomorrow, getting ready in two weeks for a big refit of my workplace and a totally new way of working!

Well I am off to check out that box of fabric and all the wool I have now found.....

Have a great coming week and enjoy your Sunday .


*********************************************************************************

OUT AND ABOUT

Today we went out to visit a garden nursery in Norfolk called Urban Jungle, it was full of wonderful plants. There was also a dog called Lunar who greeted us when we parked and then went and found a cone and dropped it at Paul's feet being dog owners we knew what he wanted, so Paul obliged and threw the cone which he retrieved then dropped at Paul's feet again, so Paul threw it again.... until we got to a gate which said Lunar who bring a cone for people to throw, so would people please NOT throw the cone because they were trying to break him of the habit!

Lunar was not impressed when we stopped throwing the cone!

Well a purchase or two was made and a lovely lunch was eaten in their greenhouse jungle cafe and then we moved on to East Ruston old Vicarage our place on the coast!! :)

We were soon parked and wandering around the garden enjoying the lovely afternoon sunshine.

Loved seeing these enormous Brugmansia's.

Sansa had joined us on our trip.

The planting at the Vicarage is big and plentiful.

A feast for the eyes and food for the soul.

Gorgeous sunshine making our visit perfect.

In a corner of the Walled garden is a lovely little room.

A beautiful Fuchsia sits in a lovely old clay pot.

A certain young lady was enjoying a rest at the driftwood table.

She wondered if Paul or I would just pop back round to the tea rooms and bring her a piece of cake!

This wonderful plant was climbing up the wall outside the room.

Despite not getting her piece of cake Sansa followed us from beautiful room to beautiful room around the garden.

Amongst the Fuchsia's

It was a long walk for little legs from the house to...

the summer house..

I did suggest that this would make a great Sasha house in the garden! He did not say yes but then he did not say no.....

Inside Sansa found herself a small chair to rest in.

 further on we came to the fountain garden

Sansa loved being up high and looking down at all the plants.

 Lots of great plants in this garden area

Sansa stood on the side of the pond.

Then on a post at the side.

She refused to stand on the fountain pond or she'd get wet!

After we'd had afternoon tea and cake we left to head home.

Sansa complained about the flowers growing over the doorstep ! Saying there was soft planting and there was causing an accident! Children!

We'd had a lovely day, so I offered to drive the car home.......


*********************************************************************************

There are more photo's of this beautiful garden on our garden blog, click on side bar to view.
But not til later today...