Happy New Year!

Sew Beautiful!

I went to Hancock's Fabric Store yesterday afternoon. At the checkout I saw this lovely magazine. Sew Beautiful with Martha Pullen. On the cover it says "our best ever White Issue."


Of course I HAD to buy it. The magazine is filled with beautiful ideas. Inside there are patterns and instructions too! They also have a blog. On their website you can purchase delicate fabrics and trim for making heirloom apparel.

I'm still working on Sandy's white dress. I have more beading to do but it is almost finished. I found some pretty coral fabric and ribbon to make a dress for Grandma too. :D

I doubt my dresses will become heirlooms but I'm having fun sewing again!

One Size Fits Most

Hello Everyone!

I'm working on Sandy's white dress. It is coming along nicely.


I found this shrug pattern by "Modest Prom" at About.com. It's free and says "One Size Fits Most." I thought I would try to make a pretty little shrug for Sandy.

I'm using white stretch lace that is 1 1/4" wide.

I'll show you what I've made later. I'm grand-dog and grand-cat sitting for my daughter this week so I need to go over and check on them now.

If you are looking for something to cover YOUR shoulders, maybe this pattern will work?

Hope you have a beautiful day! Thanks for all of your Merry Christmas wishes!

Merry Christmas Blessings!

I wish you love, blessings and peace.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to ME!

I found this brand new Duracraft dollhouse kit on Craigslist this week. I've contacted the owner and hope to bring it home soon. :D

I know I don't NEED another house to work on. I need to finish the ones I have! This one is just too cute to pass up. The price is right too.

I think it will make a nice Craftsman style bungalow. Maybe something like this?


Have you bought yourself a Christmas gift yet? I know you've been good this year! :D

Grandma's Gone To Pieces!

I never liked the big hump that was on Grandma's back. It made it really difficult to make clothes for her. So now she is in pieces. Minus the hump!

I'm following Cynthia Howe's tutorial to try to put her back together. Her arms and legs are too long. That's an easy fix.

Casey sent me the perfect hair for her! It won't even need much styling. Thanks Casey! :D

Hope you have a lovely day!

Pins and Needles

I have started and not finished several projects this week. This morning I decided to start another one...


Now Sandy is enduring the pins and needles of a dress fitting. Nothing is sewn together yet. I need to decide what trim I want to use on her dress.

The Horsman guy still needs clothes. He needs a name too.

I won this book on Ebay for $1.99. I've been wanting this for a long time! Maybe it will help me make clothes that fit!?


I hope to have a pretty finished dress to show you later?

"Mary" Christmas!

Look at all of the wonderful little Christmas presents I received from Mary yesterday! What a sweet surprise!

I am overwhelmed by her thoughtfulness and generosity! There were so many packages to open! Each one contained a perfect little gift!



These are some of the precious Christmas ornaments she made. Aren't they beautiful?!!!

I am going to have so much fun with the supplies she sent. The Christmas wallpaper is the perfect scale of one of my Dollar Store shelves. I love the silver tray and rug fabric.

I had to laugh when I saw this huge roll of turquoise duct tape! I've never seen any this color before.



I can tell that Mary has been reading my blog. She knows what my favorite color is for sure! There are lots of "beachy" things to play with too. :D

Thank you SO much Mary! You are so sweet to think of me!

Scandal at the Beach?

(Ebay dolls)

Grandma's older sister is coming for Christmas! She says she will be bringing a baby too!

I guess we will all have to wait and see who this baby belongs to? I'm sure she can't belong to Selma! Perhaps she is just babysitting for someone?

You know, we haven't seen Sandy for a long, long time. Last thing I knew she was lounging on the sofa with Grandpa and the new guy. She was showing off a bit more leg than I liked to see...

And Grandpa... well let's not talk about Grandpa right now! Poor man.

Maybe when Selma gets here she can let us in on some news? Grandma is really looking forward to her visit.

If Aunt Selma decides to stay, I don't know where we will put her? There is no room in the beach house for her, OR for a baby for that matter! Maybe she will go back to Florida?

I wonder if Sandy.... Oh dear... that would be too scandalous! I've got to stop imagining trouble!

To be continued...

Enough of this Foolishness!

Maybe someday I will find something I'm really good at? THIS is not it! LOL

I really need to go shower and start my Christmas shopping. We're having our office Christmas party tomorrow. You can be sure I won't be giving my co-worker a doll!

Hope you have a beautiful day!

Scary!

No, this is not Grandma! This is my first attempt at making a doll head from polymer clay. Scary, isn't it!?

I think I need to go watch all of those videos AGAIN!

Hope you don't have nightmares after seeing this... I think I might!

Fascinating!

I don't dare show you what I've done to Grandma! She is now in pieces!!!

Thanks to Casey, I found these videos by Jodi Creager. Fascinating!



Grab a cup of tea and enjoy!

Sew Patient

Grandma is being so patient while I work on her new dress. She wanted me to show you her pretty hat too.

Grandma has a collection of beautiful hats from Kat the Hat Lady.

Here is the hat I just bought her for Christmas.



Isn't it gorgeous?! Thank you so much Kat!



I plan to make a dress to match this hat too. It is Grandma's favorite color! :D


Hope you have a lovely day!

Dollar Store Doll Dress

I've been having trouble making a dress pattern for Grandma. I tried using the tutorial at About.com miniatures but found it difficult to fit.

Grandma has an unusual torso. So far, the things I've made for her have been too small. This morning I found a chubby little Dollar Store doll in my stash. Her dress is a little bit too big for Grandma.

I used my trusty seam ripper and took the dress apart to make a pattern.

The pattern needs some adjusting but I think it will work? I'm using iron on interfacing. I plan to iron the pattern onto muslin so I can use it over again.

This is all I have time for this morning. I'll try to sew a dress together later and show you if it fits?


Hope you have a beautiful day!

Chicken Little

When I saw this little Chrysnbon rooster and hen on a nest set, I just had to add them to my collection!

I've always loved milk glass. I used to have a huge collection of candy dishes, vases, glasses and plates etc. These are all I that I've kept.

I sold the rest when I moved out on my own. Sometimes I wish I had saved them all.

I am so happy to have found these little ones! Aren't they cute?! :D


Do you have collections? Have you ever had to sell any to make some money?

Sometimes you just do what you have to do...

What do you collect and why? I would love to hear your story. :D

How About a Little Nightcap?

Grandma and Nugget are ready for bed.

The wig cap idea actually did work. The hair did not.

We'll work on the glasses tomorrow...

Sweet dreams!

Grandma Needs A Hug

Grandma has been through a lot lately. Now she can hardly breathe with all of this stuff on her face!

No, I didn't make her little reindeer/moose friend. He is a Christmas ornament I found last year. :D

Grandma's wig is not finished but I thought I would show you what I've done so far. I covered the plastic wrap with a piece of ecru muslin and then started gluing on hair with Aleene's fabric glue.

Casey said this synthetic hair would be difficult to work with and it is. It clumps, sticks to everything and doesn't lay flat.

I don't know what to do on the crown of her head? This hair won't fold over to make a part.



Plus, I feel certain that when I try to remove the wig it will fall apart.

I have some pretty silver embroidery floss that I might try next?

I would like Grandma to have a shorter hair cut with curls. I'll keep working at this and let you know what I come up with.

I really need to do some real life projects today. I haven't done any of my Christmas decorating or shopping yet. This house needs to be cleaned and my laundry done too.

Guess I should start making my lists and checking things off.

Hope you have a lovely day!

Give someone near you a hug today whether they need one or not. It will do you both good. :D

Grandma's Hair

Troy commented that I could use Grandma as she was for a Halloween or "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" room box. :D

He even mentioned "putting her down!" Oh my!

I've become attached to this sad little doll and really don't want to replace her. Lucille suggested that I remove all of Grandma's hair and start over.


I've decided to try to make her a wig.

There are lots of tutorials and videos out there for making wigs. I like Cynthia Howe's Miniatures tutorial best. About.com has several tutorials on wigs also.

I found this pony tail hair at my local thrift shop for 69 cents. Cheap cheap cheap! There is enough hair here to make a million little doll wigs!

I pulled out some of the blonde hair, cut them into short lengths and glued one edge.













For the wig cap here I tried using cheese cloth over plastic wrap. I don't think this will work. The cheese cloth is too flimsy. I need to go back to the tutorials!



Then I will glue on the little pieces of hair. That's going to take a while.

Hopefully, I'll have something that looks like a wig later?

If not, I will show you what I did anyway. Warning: It could be really messy!

Now You Know Why...

Now you know why Grandma doesn't like to pose for fittings. Poor dear.


I am determined to figure out how to make her a Christmas dress that fits. She needs hair that looks better than this too!

At least she can stand up by herself now that her leg is fixed. I have no idea how she got paint on one of her hands? I always seem to have paint on mine too.

I went to my post-op appointment today. Doc took my stitches out and said I was doing really well. I asked him "when can I eat?" He said I can eat, but only the mushy food I've been eating for another FOUR WEEKS! Sigh. . .

I did find some candy I can eat! I had a York Peppermint Patty today. YUM!



I'm actually getting tired of ice cream. Never thought I would say that!

Hope you have a nice evening. If anyone has any ideas about what I can do with Grandma's hair, please let me know.