BLOOMING ...MARVELOUS

In amongst last weeks sadness was a little couple of glimmers of light. One I will need to wait awhile to share and the other I am sharing here today.

Rosie Bloomfield is back ! and she is making her marvelous shoes for Sasha's again !

I am a big fan of Rosie's Sasha shoes. Like all things Sasha when you first discover these lovely dolls and you starting seeing their photos everywhere and they are wearing gorgeous clothes and gorgeous shoes, noone tells you where you  can get these wonderful items!
They would say "She is wearing Rosie Blooms shoes, she is wearing Vintage Sasha coat etc...". but no details! These crafts people were kept close to their chests !So It was that I first saw Rosie's shoes on others Sasha's. Well I finally found out who Rosie was and just where Rosie sold her wonderful shoes.

and so I set about building up my collection of Rosie's wonderful shoes.

Claudia is wearing a lovely pale yellow pair of Rosie's shoes.

Rosie's shoes remind me so much of the Clark's children's summer shoes from the 60's onward.

Finding out she was back in the shoe business I quickly went to her website but alas I had missed the first batch. But not one to give up easily I kept checking and then another batch appeared and I was able to purchase the two pairs you see above. A beautiful mid blue and a wonderful pale green.

as you can see Rosie's shoes are definitely blooming in the garden !

There are, of course, other wonderful shoe makers out there but for me, Rosie is the one, a little like someone liking Jimmy Choo's or Gucci, you'd buy both but one's your favourite!

So I am hoping I can add a few more to by collection now Rosie's back but she is very popular so it will be hard going.

So here is most of my Rosie Bloom collection, I do have another two pairs, a deep green and a lovely different style brown pair given to me by a dear friend, but I did not have time to find them for this photo shoot.

So wish me luck in adding a few more colours to my collection in the future. I truly thought that I'd only ever get more if they came up for sale on the second hand market, (which they rarely do) and I managed to get to them first!

Oh and as much as I would like to keep her details secret , I believe in sharing this information on our great crafts people, so her web details are on my info page.



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Kendal's girls Rosie Bloom shoes, which are very similar to the brown ones a friend gave me.

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SPRING IS HERE

Well Spring is officially here ! The clocks moved forward on Sunday morning, the sun shone and the day was clear and bright.

So Liberty went out into the garden in her spring outfit.

Liberty or Libby as we call her, was our first ever Sasha and came from the USA , hence her name.

She is standing on one of the flower garden covered seats which is showing signs of it's winter wear.

She is wearing a pleated skirt set with shoes by Ruth Hartley matched with a Swiss style jacket in blue by Karen Warnaka.

Libby is a Pintuck limited edition with real hair wig and her eyes have darkened from the bright blue to this brown, which I think looks lovely with her blonde hair. Her eyes have always been brown since we've had her.

Libby made the right choice wearing the KW jacket with her clothes, it's only just Spring and there will still be plenty of bright but chilly days ahead.



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CATCHING UP FOR SUNDAY

Well pretty much a terrible week all round.

At work this week I had a totally unreasonable customer who was also rude but I was not, only following the bank processes. I have to say that 99.9% of our customers are usually lovely people who behave well even when they have an issue.

Then the terrible happenings in Westminster, with people losing their lives in a violent and tragic manner. But this also showed the best in people, who rushed to help those injured, or to protect others.

And the the passing of our dear little Izzy. It was time but time seems so fleeting when these things happen. For those who don't know,  Izzy was diabetic in her last few years and had lost her sight. She coped with her sight loss wonderfully but in these last couple of weeks she'd seems more confused about where she was, when making her way about the house,or garden, especially when she'd just woken up. But on Thursday she woke and was poorly, unable to get her baring and just laying down and not wanting to drink.
Just before she was due to be taken to the vets , she rallied and got up and had a drink and seemed to recover.
The vet said that her liver was starting to fail and was releasing toxins into her brain which was why she was more confused than before and it was agreed that it was time to say goodbye , for her sake , as she was such a little fighter , she would have carried till her last breath.

So now she's been buried in our flower garden.

We have placed her in the sun as she loved to lay outside with the warm sun on her before moving into the shade if it got too hot.

She is close to the bench where we sit and have a cup of tea after a hard days work or gardening and also where I take photos of the dolls for the blog. When we sat here , she would sit on the concrete base under the seat and watch out from between our legs, there is usually only the little angel statue underneath. Izzy loved the garden and you would see her sniffing the flowers when they were in bloom.

We still have her Brother Hamish with us, which helps as there is still a dog wandering about although we still feel that something is missing. Izzy would always follow me out into the kitchen and sit or as she got more tired and frail lay by the doorway awaiting to escourt me back into the living room once I'd finished whatever I was up to. Same as she would always come with me when I went to hang the washing out and would turn to go back in as soon as I picked up the empty basket.

We also have Archie my daughter Lauren's Westie who stays here when she's at work as Paul works from home so he's not left on his own. Archie is the one on the left of this photo.Could I get them to both look at the camera at the same time?

This is me trying to get a photo of the pair of them together, Archie sits as requested , he does like having his photo taken , While Hamish , who is going deaf, pretends to be totally so!

Despite being ordered to sit Hamish keeps coming!

He paused long enough to let that young whippersnapper know whose the elder here! So that's the best one I got!

So now we have two of our dogs buried in the garden, Jasper our Golden retriever who passed away aged 12 back in 2005 and now Izzy, so looks like we'll be staying even if we ever win that lottery!


On a happier note, the sun is shinning today and although the breeze is cool it does seem like Spring is making herself felt. When the sun shine we tend to head out into the garden and those jobs that have waited over the winter come to the front of things to do and the house takes a back seat while this happens. So the hallway will be on hold for several months while we go outside to keep on top of all the garden jobs. I will finish with a photo of our Magnolia Stellata and the hopes that your week ahead is a good one.

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A SAD AND HEAVY HEART

Today my beautiful little West highland white Izzy had to be put to sleep as her health was failing and this was the kindest thing that we could do for her.

We were proud to have had this sweet, yet feisty little dog in our family for the last 14 years and the pain of not having her follow us around the house as we move from room to room is unbearable.

If only she could still be here safe with us, but for her sake it was not to be. Tomorrow we will find a spot in our garden to lay her to rest , so that she can still be near her family.

You will understand my silence for the next few days.

                                                  ISABEL ( IZZY ) MACBETH OWEN
                                                   30/06/2003 TO 23/03/2017




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SPRING IS HERE BUT SO IS THE COLD

The day , Sunday, is rapidly cooling as the wind picks up and the clouds gather.

Sophie Elizabeth is feeling the chill but determined to get her photos done!

Sophie is wearing a more recent Ruth Hartley double smocked dress that I bought from her site a couple of years back , she's wearing it with a pair of grey jean jensen shoes.

The wind is blowing Sophie Elizabeth's hair across her face!

She is also up by the miniature Japanese cherry tree but on the other side.

Sophie Elizabeth is coping well !

from a distance

The sun is slipping behind the clouds and the chilly wind is getting chillier!

Come along Sophie Elizabeth , let both go and get some hot chocolate.....


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SPRINGING FORWARD

Next is Paige. She's right up at the top of the garden, sheltered by the fences and trees and shrubs.

and there she finds some tiny cyclamen peeping through the leaves.

She loves this quiet hidden part of the garden, but should have worn a coat or a cardigan as it's still quite cool.

a little closer view.

maybe you should climb out of all those plants so we can see all of you?

come along, move forward

Lovely, now we can see your  vintage outfit by Ruth Hartley which include the shoes. I do love these double smocked dress sets Ruth makes and always try to buy any of her earlier ones that come up for sale but they are very popular, so rarely manage to get them. So was very happy to get this one last year.

You'd like to go get some hot chocolate? off you go then! I wouldn't mind some myself but still need to finish up.


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SPRING IN HER STEP

Winter chose to have her photo taken down by the miniature Japanese cherry tree, which is in full blossom.

Winter knows to wear a coat in Spring!So she made sure to pick a nice warm one with a hood.

The Cherry tree is just outside of the Lychgate , which at this time of year is sheltering plants in pots, so an awkward place to try and get photos from.

Winter who is wearing a dress and jacket by Karen Warnaka and Jean Jensen shoes is quite happy as she is nice and cosy.

Looking down at her from the Lychgate.

However the knees are beginning to feel the chill wind , so she to returns inside to share some hot chocolate with her sisters who are already finished.



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SPRINGS COLOUR CHART.

Next to step forward was Meredith.

Meredith found a lovely colourful place on the raised bed at the back of the garden.

Meredith is wearing a purple gingham dress by Ginny of A Passion for Sasha and Jean Jensen purple shoes.

There is a little more shelter up here but still quite chilly for a girl with no coat or cardigan!

The tall Hellibores in deep pink with the Primroses and forget me not's fill the area with a lovely splash of spring colour.

The Hellibore's bathe Meredith in a pink glow!

Meredith inspects the flowers

Meredith asks to go join the others as she's quite cold now! Of course I agree and she rushes off!

Have a lovely Sunday.


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