MONDAY NOT SUNDAY

 

For the catch up. 

The garden has a few bursts of beautiful colour appearing , like this magnolia called Leonard Messel , it's only been in a couple of years and this year it's come into it's own. Lots of beautiful pink flowers giving this section of the garden some sparkle.

It's so pretty, I'm wondering if I can fit one in the front garden. We had been at the garden centre last week and I had been looking at their ornamental cherry trees with a view to getting some early colour into the front garden. Being me , I started with the idea of getting one  by the time I headed home, that had increased to getting three to place around the garden.  Luckily I didn't get the one I really liked but came home, then struggled to see how we could fit three trees out the front !

So maybe it will have to be  one cherry and one magnolia, only time and re arranging the front garden will tell ! 

Indoors it's all about the bedroom. Paul's been putting in new skirting board and picture rail, filling holes etc. The wallpaper is delayed but not as issue since we are not ready for it at the moment. I'm pleased to say I have had a few offers on the Chantilly wallpaper, so hopefully that will be off to a new home , to finally get put on the wall.

Today's headliner is Erik. Who tells me it's lucky he is a Viking so is used to the very very cold conditions , so he's been fine wearing summer clothing all winter ! But some of his brothers have done nothing but moan the whole time ! 

Honestly these dolls do go on !  ( I do feel a little guilty ) So I suppose I may be spending some of this week getting the boys redressed into warmer clothing just in time for summer . . . . .

On the doll front, things are getting exciting one way and another ! 

Sales have started to pick up, with six bears and several Maileg items going off to new homes. A doll that had been on sale for a long time , finally found a new home, which was lovely. So space id appearing and quite a few items have gone but in truth there is so much here , it will take years to see any big changes.

The exciting part is that I have a doll on her way here, to join my Roche doll family, I sold a bigger Roche doll and used some of that money for this ,new to me, one. Then I was talking to another Roche collector and asked if she had considered selling another of her dolls, she has two, and she replied with some photos and a price. So now I have her on a layaway. This one is a doll I did not think I would find, so I am very happy to be able to get her in the near future.

On that happy note, I will wish you all a happy healthy week ahead and remind you that it's almost April, so get out clicking photos of what your dolls are up to and share them with us for the fifth.

Dee

SO WM STILL WINS

 

So remember how we strayed off the path of using a non William Morris paper and so a small print paper to deciding on this , a large floral print by of course WM ! 

Well did I place my order for the above wallpaper ? No

Did I continue to admire it on the chimney breast . each time I entered the room ? Yes I did, looking at it in all the different times of the day light.

However on the other side of the room, I put up a sample of another wallpaper that had at one time been almost a front runner.

Now this wallpaper is called Standen ! If you remember, that is a beautiful arts and crafts house owned by the National Trust in East Grinstead, near where by youngest daughter used to live, so we have visited it a couple of times.

Well today I finally looked again at both of the wallpapers and although I do love the big and bold Blue and white paper, I finally settled on the Standen wallpaper in the green and white. Apart from being yet another WM wallpaper , turns out it's also on sale , we will not need to replace either the curtains or bedside lampshades unless we want to, as both are green.

But also I have ordered the wallpaper , so decision made at last, no going back ! So we move forward.

A COOL BUT DRY SUNDAY IN MARCH

 

COOl almost cold at times, enough to remind us that it is barely into spring, so to stop expecting lovely warm days. However just yesterday, it was a lovely warm day !!! So we are in the month of any type of weather from snow to boil in the course of twenty four hours or even just two ! 

This week I have been sorting things and searching for things, not the big I must clear the studio completely , then slowly put it all back but the pop in search about, sure I knew what I had done with something ,  only to find as normal that it was not what I thought and so therefore nowhere in sight!

I decided to sell a chunk of my Maileg furniture items and I know that I did keep quite a few of the boxes and they were in another much bigger box! Only I could /cannot find any bigger box but did find some boxes in one of the easier to get to cupboards. So ! Did I have them in a bigger box, then move the smaller boxes into the cupboard ? Or is the bigger box of boxes still out there ?   Have I become Paul, who would always remember the decision / discussion two further back than the most recent one made? Have I now become the person who remembers only what I did/saw once and not what happened later/ after that one ! It is possible but if so , so unhelpful !!

Now I need find places for some things in the bedroom, in order that Paul can get to the walls to put up some lining paper. Then he can get the new skirting boards on and the picture rail that we removed.  Paul has started gardening but I still have that window to get the bedroom done before he heads outside for hours at a time !

All the magnolia's are starting to flower  and this one called Black Tulip is putting on a grand show.

a closer view on a nicer brighter day.

I have made two of these jackets for my Roche dolls. But having to fight against the pain in my hands to keep going, so annoying when you want to get things done.

Todays headliners are a bunch of no navel girls, Ashley, Ginny, Martha, Saffron and Cilla. All still warmly dressed , because in this family we go with that old saying " cast nar a clout until May is out "

A clout being an old word for clothing, so don't remove any clothing until after the hawthorn blooms in May. Since I have been known to still be wearing a cardigan in June , you could say I follow the old ways ;) 

On the doll front It's been a one out and one due in week. Neither of them Sasha's. I am also finally getting round to putting other 'prop' type items up for sale along with some household items. I was good and did not cave in and buy some Ruth H dolls clothes someone was selling. Which is amazing that I didn't at least buy one! So maybe I am behaving ? maybe? well alright this week on the clothing front . . .

Well I need to go and have just one more look for these boxes that I was sure were in a bigger box. . . . .

I promise to take some new photo's for the headliners, as soon as it warms up a little.

Have a great healthy fun and doll  filled week ahead 

Dee

DID I RESIST THE LURE OF WM ?

 So the bedroom is slowly coming along , we are not rushing. 

So this was the wallpaper by Colefax and Fowler called Chantilly , which I bought about twenty years ago to use in our bedroom. But for some reason we never go round to redecorating the room, although I did strip the old paper and just give the walls a couple of coats of paint as a short stop gap . . . . .

Well now we are finally going to do the job properly, but now the wallpaper bought so long ago, is no longer suitable.

Which means we have to find another wallpaper, what that's I hear you say, just repaint the walls ? Mmm not in my plans, unless no paper can be found. So I decided not to use a floral paper or a Morris & Co , it was time to step away from William Morris's influence ! 

So looking for a more modern but still with a traditional feel. So finally I settle on this wallpaper, in a green called Blue Clay  and not W M.

Give it a few days and I was still just looking, only out of interest naturally.

 I did love the blush pink of this WM paper , it is a lovely raised print and a better colour than shown here but I was not too keen on the rabbits ! Plus it was pink and I was planning on a green bedroom with a touch of pink not the other way round.

But thinking about the paper chosen, it's called Truffle, I started to wonder if one of us was feeling unwell would it make us feel worse? 

So time to look again but this time I decide that maybe it didn't need to be the green and pink decided on a few years back. I looked at the blues, an old favourite.

Plan, not William Morris and not floral , so after deciding to look in the blues , I found just the right wallpaper, that both Paul and I agreed was perfect the minute we put the large sample up on the wall in the bedroom.

Pardon ? Oh yes it is floral, it's called Honeysuckle and Tulip .

Sorry ? Mm yes well it is a Morris and Co wallpaper, but well what can I say ! It's just perfect .

It looks like we are too far gone, WM is king here on the wallpaper front and yet another room will bend to his art. 

Oh dear that means new curtains and lamp shades and other lovely items, yet more treasures but well it's got to be perfect after waiting so long ! ;) 

 

A SUNNY SUNDAY WELL AT LEAST TO START.

  Happy Mothers Day 

Finally we are getting some dry sunny days, although this one will only last the morning ! It is still very cold though but then it's only just spring.

I need to find something I put away for safe keeping ! An original Sasha outfit ! Despite checking likely looking boxes on and off for months, until it got to cold, it remains hidden in it's safe place ! I'm beginning to hate the words Safe place ! It should be renamed ' Never to be seen again or not for years ' place !

So once April arrives along with a couple of nice dry clear, slightly warm days, I intend to empty out my doll studio, onto the patio table and search everywhere and through every box , bag and drawer . While doing so I will give the studio a good clean and put back things where they are meant to be and have a rearrange at the same time. It will get a proper 'spring' clean.  If the missing item doesn't appear , it will mean I will move on to the overflow space and empty out and clean and go through that. If does appear in the studio, I can delay the overflow sort out until a while later but I've decided while I'm doing all this I will set to one side everything I do not need and start getting them sold off or donated.

I'm going to label both the boxes and cupboard doors, so I can go to any box or cupboard without first opening half a dozen others. Trying to find this missing outfit , as given me the push to get it done. If the end of March brighten and dries up, I'll probably start earlier but since I may need , well probably will need to leave things on the patio table overnight or longer, i need to know it would get any damage or rained on.

I think I could do with a stall at a toy or doll fair so I could get rid of loads at once ( she says ) but no doubt it will be the usual slow process.

We, please remember that is the royal we ( Paul working , me putting my oar in ) are continuing working on the bedroom, the doors are now on the wardrobes and yesterday we went out and bought some handles. They didn't have the ones I was after ( it has been many years since I saw them ) but we found some to suit and cheap enough that if I see something beautiful we could change them , in the future.

I think we have settled on a wallpaper, I have to say think because I am still looking, so am I sure ? if I am still looking ? 

Today's headliner is Arabella , from her visit outside in the garden earlier in the week. I had intended to take some photo's of Ginny, wearing the Navy waxed coat and then the five of them together but then we were hit with gale force winds for a couple of days ! Sasha's can be hard enough to stand up at the best of times but in gale force winds I'd be asking for trouble. So those photos will have to wait for later this coming week, if the weather improves.

Then if it starts to brighten up I will be able to change them out of their coats into some spring/summer wear. 

On the doll front no dolls have arrived, I am holding to my no doll buying, even though I saw a brunette no navel !!!! However luckily her eyes looked a little uneven, so I was able to walk away. . . . . quickly !

I did sell a baby , which was good , along with a Charlie bear, which was also good. So a small amount of space recovered. At least it is going in the right direction as long as we don't count in clothes and shoes arriving? 

I do find it very hard to resist Rosie Bloom shoes, so when she emails to say she's got new stock available , if it's not already gone, well I just have to have a pair or two. . . . . .

So with that confession I will wish you all a happy healthy week ahead 

Dee

2ND SERIES GOTZ HAVE GOT TO ME !

 

The first doll I ever bid on , on Ebay, was a Sasha Kira , as shown above. That was back before I knew anything about Sasha and did not own any. I bid because I liked her and her outfit, a big white shaggy coat and hat. Much to my amazement she went for over £100 !! Cannot all these many years later remember exactly how much, only that I was amazed !  I was also annoyed that I'd not won her lol.

So then set off to find and buy a Sasha, which turned out to be a Sasha Pintuck limited edition , on the US eBay site. I knew nothing about these dolls, was somewhat unsure when I read , after winning her, that she had REAL hair and apart from having seen an add in the sixties, some dolls in a store in the early eighties and a child holding a naked one in a Tesco store in the late eighties ( which I confess to considering thinking, I needed to save that doll but could hardly snatch it off a three year old ) was the start of my Sasha obsession 

The first 2nd series Gotz I owned was an Angela, who I had for a good few years. I also owned a David, who I adored, I loved his hair and his wonderful tweed school boy out fit, I sold him and a few years later bought him back again, but again landed up selling him on again. I also had Michal and the Scout over the years.

I had a Yvette , who barely got in the door before she was off out again ! But an Anika.

So a year or so back, an Angela arrived , then left after a while.

Then last year my friend Gill, told me of a Kira up for sale in the UK. I went to look and well just had to finally have her !  Unfortunately she did not have her coat and hat but I am so pleased to finally have her. I may get a coat and hat sorted for her at some stage.

Redressed.

However then I saw Annette.

There was a big burst of the 2nd series dolls appearing up for sale everywhere. Which naturally gave me an itchy finger to add one to my collection. I did resist a good while until I saw the lovely Annette with her brown hair and blue eyes.

So Annette arrived , along with her tube and full outfit.

Annette redressed 

 

Well I did think that would be it with regard to the Gotz 2nd series dolls until I saw Anika ! Yes I know I had Anika back in the day but in all truth I cannot even remember her leaving !  Well I was allowed a layaway on her, so of course had to take up that offer.

Anika is one of the pale vinyl dolls . I love her brunette plaits. 

Her eyes look almost Violet , if her hair was darker and short she could have been Liz Taylor ;) Mind you then she wouldn't be Anika, so maybe a doll they missed out on making ! 

Anika redressed

So that was me done. . . . . or so I believed but the Gill , my enabler lol, told me that there was someone selling a Gotz I had wanted for years but rarely come up and when she did it was usually in the US, so always looked but never bought. 

I loved Gill's girl , which she has had for years, as the doll looks very like Gill's daughter. I quickly contacted the UK seller and did the deed ! 

Gotz Luisa, She arrived with conditioner in her hair, hence the wet look. I was a little worried it could be an issue but pleased to say after giving it a good wash, her hair improved.

She's a typical later Gotz with the fine hair which means it can look a bit sparse on the top.

redressed.

So now three brunette's ! Strange how one's doll collection suddenly takes a turn south ! But now I am being good and not buying any dolls for a while. 

I do have Baby Ira, who is 2nd series Gotz baby.

Plus last but never least 

The tike Lucas, who is a Claudius toddler. I always forget the toddlers are Gotz 

So at present that's them all and staying that way for a good while. . . . . .

SPRING FIGHTING TO ARRIVE BUT A COLD WIND CHASING

 

Arabella agreed to a quick trip outdoors despite the cold wind, mind you not that she didn't keep reminding me how cold it was !

Complaints about having to stand in a wind tunnel !

Comments about her now wearing any blue ! 

Giving a shiver and saying she feels like there is someone behind her ! 

x

Where as Nancy was happy to just go with the flow, which is just as well since I then realised she is still wearing her Christmas dress under her coat !

More than happy to sit on a branch near the Black Tulip Magnolia flowers that are starting to open.

Arabella would have informed me , she'd be contacting her lawyer should I ask her to do something so dangerous !

Well it getting quite chilly, since I left it so late to start taking the photos, so back inside for some hot chocolate to warm them up and save me a lawyers letter . 

HAS SPRING SPRUNG YET ?

 

Ava seems to be the one getting to go out and about in the garden , I think it's because she is wearing such a lovely bright yellow coat that reminds me of spring. Plus she is also closest to the backdoor ! I may have to get her to swap places with one of her other sisters who are also wearing coats !.

Although the sun is shinning there is still a chill in the shadows, the weather is due to drop in temperature in the coming days.

 Ava also took time to visit with the famous Japanese cherry tree, now at least thirty plus years old having been purchased as a tiny stick in a plastic bag from Woolworth, that old magnificent store no longer with us. Someone needs to bring Woolworths back , in all it's old style glory. Old wooden counters, jars of pic n mix, queuing at each counter to get some cheese or ham etc. We need to bring back making shopping a lovely calm experience. 

What's not to love about this little flowering cherry tree ? 

Magda managed to get outside later, when the sun was behind the clouds and the day drawing in and have her photo taken with the Camelia's by the gazebo.

Naturally there is always someone who thinks they need to amend the pose ! Or he is checking about elf n safety !!

I decided while writing the post to just pop back out and take a few with Magda in a slightly different position to be surrounded by the Camelias but look at the difference in colour in just twenty minutes or so of the light changing.! 

Hopefully the weather will be nice again tomorrow, even if cold and some of the other girls can have a walk about outside.

SUNDAY SO SOON

 

Well the days are trundling past at a steady pace. I would love to say that I have achieved incredible feats of daring do in the last week, however it would be an untruth ! What I have achieved is my usual life of many plans and much faffing about! 

I do actually , in truth , get some things done but they are usually the basics and not the nice extra's involving the dolls. They are the things I have plans for but never actually seem to achieve at present. All though I do seem to have achieved adding enough new adoptees ,that they no longer fit onto the shelf in the display cupboard I bought for them and are now standing in several places about the downstairs.

This led me to thinking about maybe needing to have a change around of what's in what display cabinet , maybe moving the china to the doll cabinet and the dolls to the china cabinet or maybe an actual move around of the cabinets from one place to another ! But the two cabinets I could use for the dolls are in the exact place they need to be ! So I cannot really change the dolls into them ! Now of course I think I should have been sensible and bought a smaller sofa for the backroom, but no I wanted a big one to fill the whole wall ! But this means that also cannot be moved anywhere else ! Plus the big sofa was ordered so that the dogs could lay by their beloved master 

However what I didn't realise is that Casper, the one laying on Paul's legs, would start demanding that Paul move back to the sofa during the day , if he comes and sits by me to watch the midday news !! If once the news is over Paul does not immediately get up and go back to the big sofa, he makes little grumbling noises with the odd bark until such time as he achieves his aim !!  Honestly ! there is not another woman in this marriage but a six stone male dog ! 

What I really need is another six foot on the depth of the back room along with a side extension doll room! But since that is not going to happen, I will need to resolve my dolls issue another way ! 

Finally the person who bought one of our chest of drawers arrived and took it away. So one down and one to go. But naturally the new wardrobes have caused a bigger knock on effect and now I also need to find space for a small antique display cabinet , that was standing on top of the chest of drawers, or sell that on or somehow fit it into the doll studio !! If it goes into the doll studio, that will mean getting rid of another piece of furniture ! Honesty who knew putting in new wardrobes would cause so much other problems / issues ! 

Added to that I also need to sell on some of my China/ pottery again to gain some room. Sometimes I feel like I need a second hand shop for a month, just to try and off load it all in one swoop!.

Today's headliner is Cleo, looking lovely in a dress by Anita in Australia, which I have had for a good few years.

On the doll front no dolls have arrived ! I know a minor miracle ! One week down many to go ! A bear as sold. So little by little in both cases.

I'm hoping to get some doll knitting and maybe even some dress making done over the coming week. and try and stay off eBay , so I am not tempted by any dolls or clothing etc, I'll let you know how I got on next Sunday.

So I will wish you all a happy healthy week ahead.

Dee