Edie and the rain...

Edie is ready to go out and garden...and so am I!   But we must wait until it stops raining. This is the rainiest spring I can remember in decades. So we will wait a bit to plant outdoors and will watch everything turn emerald from the window.

The weekend is coming up and there could be a bit of sunshine on Sunday.  Zephyr, our kitty, knows exactly what to do. She curled up on a soft blanket and slept all day... and will repeat this process every day weather or not.

I felt like a heroine in an English novel today...it was so chilly and damp that I lighted a a fire in the fire place and made hot tea.  

Only a few days ago it was over 80 and I was wearing flip-flops and thinking about taking out summer clothes and putting away winter clothes.

Better warmer days are coming...and Edie will get to visit the great outdoors.  What about you?  Is it warm enough for to plant?  To have a picnic?  What is happening in your garden?

 Until  the next time,

happy weekend 

and enjoy the day!

In the pink for Valentine's Day

After a very mild winter, we have been blessed with or bombed with snow.  It is to be expected. Snow is normal in February.   What is not normal is the 60 degree day before fifteen inches  snow the next day.

The dolls were all set to go to a doll club meeting when the weather turned inclement.  They were standing around waiting to be packed for travel in a nearby basket.  They never like to miss a photo op so they begged for a photo.

The Lonely Doll is there and a bunch of Edith Flack Ackley wannabees.  Edie makes a cameo appearance.  A pink bear and a ballet bunny decided to join the group, too.

Meanwhile, I still wear my safety pin and I ponder the every day happenings of the new reality I find myself. (I am fine but the world in general seems upside down.) There has been some creativity here and there-- but not a whole lot. How about you?   Did you make anything? Collect anything?  I did find a few things and maybe they will appear hear eventually!

Until then, 

hope your world is good --

enjoy your day!

Hot, hot, hot summer!

Hot, hot, hot summer in New England... complete with a drought.

Staying cool creating stuff indoors and inviting dolls to come and live here.

Of course, we still ramble around on the weekends and take short trips.  Busy at times...quiet at others.  Pushing forward always!

Thought you'd like to see some newer arrivals.

This is Nan...

my alter ego!

made by Wildflower Dolls on Etsy.

Edie and Precious have a new friend who needed a new hair do! Her big hair kept making her fall over!

She is Amelia Thimble

 Sharp as a Needle! 

Little bears keep dropping by and staying!

Raggedy Bears from Australia!

Below from Heartwarmer Creations

on eBay!

Hope your summer (or winter depending on where you are!)  is going well for you.   Are you creating? Traveling? Collecting?  Taking photos?  Hope you are having fun!

As always,

 be happy and

enjoy the day!

Little things...big impact!

Recently a bunch of little things have come to live here and to make me smile!

One of them is Edie's new stroller and baby doll. She has been complaining that she gets no face time and very few photos shoots...and she hasn't had a present since Christmas!

This is a little Sasha Pokrass bear who is 4 1/2 inches tall and a sweetie! I have admired her bears for ages and have another tiny one that was gifted by a friend.  This bear was money saved for and spent! 

Still have lots of selvages from that project that I mentioned in an earlier post so I made a little book and decorated a tin to keep it in. The book is 2 1/2 inches long.

My young artist friend Beth Nowak sent me this spring drawing which brightened a dreary cold day.  Beth is detail-oriented and fills the page with her work...she is such a good budding artist!  I am keeping this on my fridge and hope she will send more art in the future.  Her compositions are always so well though out and executed!

How about this cutie by Valerie Weberpal of Earth Angels and Harvest Moon designs?  I have many pieces of Valerie's artworks and have shown her work before in this blog.  This sweet kitty stands 5 inches tall, 8 with its stand.

This little imp is made by Papermoon Gallery and barely stands 5 inches tall!

As you can probably tell, I am enjoying my "recent acquisitions"  very much and wanted to share them with you!

So what are you all up to these days?  Gardening?  Creating?  The next thing you know it will be Memorial Day!  We still haven't had much warm weather though and the leaves are barely starting to come out on the trees.  Hard to dream of summer!

Until later,

as always,

enjoy the day! 

Still waiting...for spring!

Although the weather is so much better, we still lack leaves on the trees and warm weather.  This morning the furnace clicked on. The colder weather just wants to hang around!

Despite that, we have had some nice days and nicer day trips.  This windmill is in  CT and up for sale for around 2 million dollars...two bedrooms, complete remodeled home with a magnificent view of the water.

We have had very little rain so we welcome it right now.  Without rain, the trees don't seem to bloom as quickly.  We are scheduled for possible rain this week.  This was Saturday afternoon...our first rain in weeks.

And then... there was the book I made.  It was for a swap with a friend and combined many design elements including some of Teesha Moore's techniques to make the cover.  Lots of hand-sewing, machine sewing, hand embroidery and embellishment.  It is about 6 x 8 inches with blank paper pages inside.

Front

back...

Our grand daughter is on a crew team 

so we still have been enjoying regattas 

 on the weekends.

Still drawing...

still playing with dolls...

still waiting for warm spring!  

Next time I will show you what I bought for little Edie (my 4 inch doll I made) who some of you know for years and years.

Hoping that the season 

is treating you well

and as always,

enjoy the day!

Edie's gifts...

Finding gifts for Edie is always a challenge.  She is only four inches tall.  She likes all toys but vintage play things best of all.

We went to the Antique Store in Greenville, Rhode Island.   It was very festive inside and out.  It's so much fun to look around!

I spotted some lovely play things I knew she would like.  They called to me from the shelf even though I tried to walk away.   It seemed frivolous to bring home toys to Edie but I caved in since she needed a Christmas gift.

 

After all that looking around, that we needed lunch and soon found ourselves on Federal Hill in Providence.  This is definitely restaurant row!  We finally settled on Mexican food since we had been eating a lot of Italian food recently.

Edie couldn't wait to see her toys when we got home.  She loves them and has rearranged her little wooden village endlessly.

She also inspected the Annalee Crocodile ( 2004 edition and a character from Peter Pan) who came home with us, too, for no good reason.... except he was six dollars and very cute.  He is not dangerous at all.

So glad we traveled when the roads were dry!  Our first BIG STORM of 2014, on the way! We could see a foot of snow and wind chill factors well below zero.  Brr!

Stay warm if you are in a cold weather zone...

and as always,

enjoy the day!

The Merriest Time of the Year!

Enjoy the day!

Doll talk...

This past week I was sad to learn that yet another cloth doll maker, Barbara Graff, has passed away.  Barbara will be missed...she was great doll and pattern maker. I met her several times and have a few of her dolls in my collection and also made dolls from her patterns.

Barbara made the two little dolls on the right and I made the fairy on the left from one of her patterns.

Years ago I made a mermaid from one of her patterns. She is about 6 inches long and lives in this glass box.

Edie wanted me to mention that she and her friends have a new doll house which I found in an antique store in Rhode Island over the weekend.  Edie is 4 inches tall so the doll house is very small and has the cutest furniture!

As for this guy below, what can I say? He looks a bit like a gnome but he isn't.  Can you guess what he is?   I will live you a hint:  his tag reads " Made in the Republic of Ireland."

He needs some shoe or boots but I do like him with bare feet.  I am not sure of his age but he is made of hefty vinyl and is 13 inches tall. 

Dolls still do show up here from time to time.  Next week I have other dolls to show you. I am waiting for one to arrive by mail and another I am going to give  to someone and will wait until it is given away.

The beginning of this week brought us 80 degree summer...a bit TOO warm.  Still, everything is turning green and it is feeling more like winter is over.  Even the dolls are ready to go outdoors and play.

Keep your eyes out!  For?  Leprechauns, gnomes, sprites, pixies... and other "little folk" who just might appear in your garden or while out on a spring walk in the woods.  They are known to love spring!

...as always,

enjoy the day!

Raindrops...

After a very long time without rain, we have had several days of it. If April felt like August, May feels like April!   The weather is so topsy-turvey,

Edie  has taken up birdwatching since going outdoors in the rain is not good for little cloth dolls--or any dolls, really.  (I was thinking that Edie must be about 14 years old now but she hasn't really grown very much.  I have made dozens of these small dolls over the years and Edie will always be my favorite.)

Despite the rain, it is wonderful to see green leaves out the window!  A few years ago we planted a locust tree in the back yard and named her Laura.  We planted one curbside in the front of our house we named Lenny.   Laura and Lenny are making lacy new leaves daily and growing rapidly.  The birds hang out in Laura and go back and forth to the feeder all day. Lenny shades the house in the morning when the sun is so hot in the summer.  Edie sits under Laura sometimes but I have to be careful she is not carried away. Our yard is full of birds including the type that carry off small objects.

Weekend almost here! The weather will be nice over the weekend.  We have soccer games outdoors and lots of errands to do. How about you?  Any plans? Next week is Brimfield ..so I am hoping for good weather while hunting for antique treasure.

Happy weekend, and as always.

enjoy the day!

Where in the world is Edie?

Some of you know Edie...a doll I made more than a dozen years ago and was part of an earlier blog and a Travel Doll list.  She has been on countless trips with me and has a whole world of her own here in our house.  She is a tiny Edith Flack Ackley pattern doll.

I  had attempted to make a little twig chair and asked Edie to take a look at it.

She seemed a little perplexed because she is used to her own Depression era wooden furniture and not so interested in primitive or things that look like fairies my land on them.

I convinced her to take a seat so I could figure out if it was a good scale in size.  It was and she thought it was very comfortable despite the fact she didn't really like the style. (She also informed me that I used to much hot glue and should be more careful in the future.)


Meanwhile a most wonderful nine inch tall Edith Ackley pattern doll arrived here.  She was made by Yolanda Montano who makes wonderful dolls. This doll is named Mignonette. Her dolls made be found for sale here.  The workmanship is so lovely and the face is as sweet as can be.  Yolanda took this photo...to her credit, these dolls can be very difficult to photograph. Needless to say, she is even prettier in person!

So, the Ackley girls are still very part a much of my life though I frequently forget to include them here.  (Angelyn, this post is especially for you!)


Very busy day today so best to get started...but maybe one more cup of coffee first...

As always,

enjoy the day!

Warm and sunny days...

It's a warm and sunny day.

A dear blogger friend

asked about Edie.

Edie is having a very

nice summer...

with some outdoor play!

These items below jumped

in the car and came

home with me the other day.

(After I paid for them, of course!)

That is an old bear

who has seen better days...

he was waiting for adoption

at

Sturbridge Antique Shops.


The monkey still works

and is nice little guy....

the new chair was for

Bjork the Bedbug

who is addicted to chairs...

On another note, the weather has actually been a little cooler for a few days...sort of like summer used to be before it started getting hot and staying hot so very early and for so very long...a nice respite from relentless humidity.

Hope you have a merry weekend...

stay cool...

and enjoy the day!

It's a doll's life...

We recently had a nice surprise! A dear blog friend sent me a gift--some pretty little dolls and a cute little monkey. Here they are playing with Edie and the felt chicken and my paper mache dolly. Edie seemed pleased to have some new friends here. It's truly a doll's life!

Years before I started this blog, I had been blogging on Yahoo where I met Angelyn. (I have been blogging here since 3/08...this is my 538th post on this blog. I blogged hundreds of times in the other blog.) It's shame that those blogs were discontinued. Many of us had blogged for years.. We were blogging before it was the thing to do and the blogging was not like it is now.

Angelyn's sense of humor and unique take on things has brightened my day more than once. She has a great eye for antiques and finds wonderful things at auctions. And, if this isn't enough..she has some really darling chihuahuas. Thank you, Angelyn! The dolls are having a very good time!

Some say that the friends we make on the internet are not like real- life friends. I beg to differ. I have been on the Internet since 1997 and have met some wonderful people who have become part of my life. (You all know who you are!)

How about you? Have you met any special people through the net? I had pen pals in childhood and in some ways, this is the same. We may never meet in person, but we share so much!

The sun finally started shining here and we are going to have some temperatures in the high 50's and low 60's. This will definitley turn the grass green and flowers will bloom!

May your flowers bloom...and your friendships, too!

As always,

enjoy the day!

Moving right along...

The doll club party was big success. Edie and some friends posed on the mantle for a photo op.

Someone asked me about starting a doll club. The club I belong to is more than 30 years old and is a UFDC club. You can find more about UFDC here.

As I was leaving the party, I spotted the holly below. It is is unusual around here to see it with berries at Christmas. I frequently encounter it on walks in the summer and late fall--with berries on it. I could not help but think how beautiful this iconic plant is!


Spending the day at home today and catching up with some things around here. What does your day look like? Hope that the weather is treating you nicely and that you are enjoying the spirit of the season.

Moving right along here. As always,

enjoy the day!