OLIVER AND OLIVIA

 

Olivia is so thankful she didn't get the same hair as Oliver ! 

They don't hang out much together but they always know if one of them needs the other.

A WINTERY SUNDAY

 Yes wintery but luckily none of that white stuff down here , but poor Scotland and the north have received lots. We have had the winds from storm Arwen ( Fairy Princess from Lord of the Rings ) but nothing too bad. It is cold especially when the wind is blowing but today Sunday the sun is shining but its quite bitter.

I'm glad that Paul put all the plants, that needed protection, away safely or covered them up , so we didn't have to rush about moving any last pots etc.

So I have been sheltering indoors , getting on with things, like reading the paper and doing the crossword but I have also spent time working on the dolls wardrobe. I have papered the inside of the lovely 1930's one and since I was doing that one, I went and got the small wardrobe my neighbour kindly gave me.

It needed the top of the little drawer section re-glued to the side, since Paul was out I did that myself , then was able to wallpaper the inside of that wardrobe  too. When Paul returned he made me a shelf to go over the drawer ( there should be two drawers but only one still with it ) then today I gave the outside a polish and assigned the wardrobe to Isabella.

She's already put her clothes inside.

Alas she's not got much to wear !

Isabella is a Xenis all wooden jointed doll, who I was selling but then someone asked about if she had leg joints. I got her out to take some photos and was reminded of why I had bought her in the first place because she is beautiful and needs to stay with me for a good while longer. She stands really well and is very poseable and at 12 inches easy to carry around for photo shoots out and about. Plus she doesn't take up much space.

The 1930's wardrobe is having the hanging rail fixed in and then that too will be ready to use. While we  ( Paul ) has the glue out, he is repairing one of my doll tables he knocked off the side a good while back and two legs broke off and also repairing a dolls wooden chair again a broken leg.

No dolls have left and none have arrived this week, however dolls clothes have been arriving. Some clothes I bought from a Russian Etsy seller arrived for some of my other dolls and also a red dungaree set I bought second hand from Gill.

Ollie the only boy still in need of changing was the lucky child to get them , so he is finally out of short sleeves and shorts !

I'm due to have my booster tomorrow, so am expecting to be out of sorts for a day or so. Then hopefully fine. I have quite a few things on the go, some sewing for the dolls and some knitting for the grandchildren, all of which I will share once they are completed.

We change from November to December this week, winter has arrived and Christmas in a few weeks. So I wish you all a happy healthy week ahead.

Dee x

THE GAMES A FOOT !

 OR 30.5 cm ! Last weekend when I went into Studio to start setting up some old granny's shop , I realised that a doll sized cardboard box ,I'd covered in blue card and used to put a piece of the shop shelving on , had been used to post a doll ! I didn't have another of a suitable size ,so the shelving had nowhere to sit!

Naturally I took this problem to my humble assistant ,Paul , and gave him the old shop shelves and asked him to make something they could sit on.

I'm thinking bish bash bosh ! but I get cutting and gluing , with cramps holding in place , waiting for glue to dry, then cutting a back, gluing and waiting for the glue to dry , a bit of sanding and finally handed over ! All this gluing and drying takes a week !

So today finally done. But I have no time for painting them , so settle for using some of the dolls house wallpaper, more bish bash bosh than quality I'm thinking lol.

So it's finally back in the studio and I will be able to start sorting out the shop. But that will have to be tomorrow, because below is a photo taken without the flash , when I put this back inside at about 3.15 this afternoon!

It does appear slightly darker than the room is but I really need to sort out some form of lighting now the days can be quite grey and dark 

Hopefully I'll get to spend a little time in there over the weekend, mind you they are talking 45mph winds and rain and maybe even a bit of the white stuff !!

I just hope I can find enough items to fill all these shelves....... are you okay? Did you choke on that biscuit ? Well you should not snort while you are eating .... pardon?... I could fill a department store with whats lurking around the studio ! .. Really ! I think you'll find those shelves half empty..... how rude! 

We'll soon see whose right !

Now I must go and ask my assistant how he's getting on with the new shelf and hanging rail for the wardrobe, no doubt that will be another week of glue drying.....

WHERE'S MOSSY ?

 

Oh yes he is still here ! He thinks I don't know he's been hiding in a small jug on the dresser and watching the goings on!

He must have spent a lot of time sleeping since there are no goings on around here! Mind you I think he could watch the TV from his hiding place, so he may have stayed up late most days ! Well he's had to give up his hiding place as I have just removed and changed all the china.

Yes the Christmas Emma B is out on display on the dresser and it's only the 22nd of November !! Unheard of round here when the Christmas trees been known to get decorated on Christmas Eve !!

I have to say I do love seeing the Christmas Emma B out on the dresser , looking all clean and shiny , also allows me to see if there are any gaps that require a trip to her website for a purchase or two....

and of course there was one....

WOULD YOU ADAM AND EVE IT !

 So yesterday afternoon, I set about cutting out the fabric for the sofa seat. Because it was a fat quarter and to get some placement of pattern, I had to adjust it about . Piece's cut and just a very small piece of fabric left I started sewing.

This was when I went in search of my mouse pin cushion , which naturally I could not find but my daughter said she thought I'd had it on my desk, so I check the desk and what do I find? 

No not the pin cushion but...

another fat quarter bundle of Morris fabric's and in the same tonal range as the first with some duplicates including the fabric I cut for the seat cushion !

It had this nice oak leaf design in this new bundle which would have looked good on the seat but I do love the fabric I have gone with.

Of course there was no sign of the pin cushion!

So I managed to find enough pins to complete the seat cushion.

Next to decide whether to use a tonal fabric for the back cushions .

But I decided that as I had now found another quarter of the same pattern and colourway, i'd stick to that.

So there we are all finished and ready for use.

in a better setting for photos.

Ragnor and Hattie do the honours of trying out the new sofa. They declare it quite comfy.

However I'm going to use it for some of my non Sasha dolls when not needed for a storyline or photo shoot.

These three small Roche girls have claimed it for the winter and are  now sitting upstairs enjoying a new view.

SUNDAY SO SOON !

 Well my week's been quite productive, at least when I remember that now it's almost winter the days darken quite early and I need to set up some sort of temporary light if I want to get in my studio in the late afternoon. Mind you they were talking about the weather turning cold, which it has ! Now there is a definite chill to the air , also they were saying and maybe some of the white stuff before the end of the month but we'll ignore that part ! 

Paul started clearing the carport, of all the things just dumped in there during the year, so that we can get the cars inside now the weathers getting colder. I booked my car in for it's service and mot, not that I use it much at present, so need to decide if I sell it on next year and we go down to one car. 

He's also been out wrapping up the tender plants like the bananas and the tree ferns, along with lifting and wrapping and boxing the dahlias.

I traded two old mirrors that have been sitting about for a couple of years , no longer needed, for some new girls clothes from my neighbour , who is a market stall holder selling on end of range quality clothing from the big brand shops. So now Princess Clara will be sleeping in some Frozen nightwear and wearing some quality denim jeans this winter. She loves Elsa , so will be so happy. 

I'm happy now the two mirrors have a new home. Also while searching for something before I went off to stay with my grandchildren, I finally found some cups that belonged to a tea set I wanted to sell, then found the saucers, plates , teapot outside under the carport. Put them all through the dishwasher and took photos , put on market place and sold them within a couple of hours, so another two boxes gone!

I do love getting things moved on and if I can make a little money or do a trade all the better. I love that three items are no longer sitting around.

I've booked my covid booster , so that will be great to get that done and out the way. 

Also now Christmas, yes we are allowed to mention it now it not so far away, will arrive soon, I have been getting the presents sorted , so I can be over and done by the middle of December. 

On the doll front none arrived and none left but my two new props arrived quicker than I thought, which is great.

The green chair is lovely and of course needs nothing other than to be put in place. The wicker sofa needs a base cushion , which is one of the reasons I bought this particular one. Most people grab a piece of fabric make seat base cushion done ! 

Me, find several pieces of fabric, try them against sofa, like one more than others but then go off to find more pieces of fabric to make decision even harder ! But I was good and although I did go look on Ebay and was tempted by one piece of fabric I considered it then decided no ! I have enough fabric to last me until 2030 , so I need to use what I have. ( Paul wanted to call the doctor ! )

Plus on the day they arrived , I sold the wooden sofa and chair that had to go to make way for them, so that was a good result.

If you saw yesterdays post , you will see I have found the fabric for the sofa seat cushion base and I'll be making that up this afternoon. Along with a couple of throw cushions. 

I still have one last chance to come across the wallpaper for the wardrobe because Monday I need to get  on with it before it's still waiting come Christmas!.

So on that note I'm off into the studio for another quick look around and then off to start cutting and sewing.

Wishing you all a lovely healthy fun filled week ahead

Dee

WELL I FOUND SOME FABRIC

 So I had nearly settled on the white with the blue design, when I went for another look in my fabric stash and found.... the William Morris fat quarters !

Now I cut out the foam for the seat and wrapped several of the ones I'm considering around it to get a feel for which would look best.

deep blue forest

a

deep blue  Lodden

b

Acanthus leaves

c

Paler blue Lodden

D

I also found this fabric

Fawn with blue flowers

E

Well I'm thinking the darker ones look better but still to decide. You are welcome to say which one you think looks good in then comments.

THE SEARCH CONTINUES

 Sort of ... I say this because I'm not actually 'looking' but am in the studio and moving things around, so hoping it will appear as if by magic !!

Well I asked the question this morning, can you put some beading on the shelves so the plates can stand and he said yes ! Didn't mention not having asked yesterday and even found some old beading that had aged just like the unit !

Of course I had to wait for the glue to dry , which was a pain but spent the time moving things about but eventually I could put a couple of the plates up on the lower shelf.

I was starting to gather together Granny's shop items, which had a knock on effect of having to move other items , then the blue shop shelves on the right did not look right one what was available for them to sit on, so I decided that I'd have a word with Paul about making me a base for them.

Which meant I came to a stop ! 

However that turned out to be good because it meant I heard the doorbell when my two new to me pieces of furniture arrived !

I wasn't expecting them until new week at the earliest, so am very happy.

This is the armchair I bought, it's a great size for all the dolls.

Claudia tried it out for comfort. The second item I bought

was this lovely wicker sofa ,I especially liked that it needed a cushion/seat pad for the base. 

Bea and Hattie try it out for size, even though they complain about having to sit on the canes!

I had a quick look in my fabric stash and pulled out these. 

This is a deeper mustard yellow needlecord that shows in photo. 

A floral cream background needlecord.

or this white with blue design. So which one to use ? or do I go looking for a nice bright floral as was my original plan ?  And I'm sure I have some small Morris fabric somewhere.... all opinions welcome !

Out of these three I'm liking the last one best , or do I find something better !

IS IT WINTER !

 Well I was going to go into the studio and start moving things around and hope that by doing so I would come across the elusive dolls house wallpaper but I left it until the afternoon and by the time I went in there the sky was already starting to darken ! 

Since I have still to get electric put in , so don't have a light set up , which I will have to sort out. I'd been delayed looking at small shelving units. I wanted a small one to use for my lovely 1930's china that I bought at the chat n snap. I couldn't find what I was looking for and then remembered that Paul had made a small pine unit years ago and it might do.

I was just planning on going to search the old studio for it, when It dawned on me I'd been using it for Granny Fortuna's shop for the last few years, which meant it was already sitting on the worktop in the new studio.

So I went and checked , then asked Paul to put it on the wall in the only space available, while he sorted that out, I got a call from my daughter, so by the time I went back in it was getting really dark.

This is a photo without the flash to show the amount of natural light.

Taken using the flash . It was put slightly higher than I intended but the rabbits ears are in the way , so up it went.

It's a little deeper than I wanted and I'd like to have a couple of the dishes standing up at the back but need to make sure they won't slip and knock anything else off , so will need to decide what to use. But for now they are at least out of the box and where I can admire them.

And I also have the top shelf and I'm sure there will be something I have that can go there. So tomorrow I need to go into the studio in the morning not wait until afternoon cos now winters coming it gets dark early !!! Duh !