My BFF and playtime.

My BFF Kate came in to town May 9th. She drove in from WI to be here for the two speeches I was giving. She is my best friend for sure! Jamesy and I took her to Slyman's. Oh dear godawlmighty. This is the best place in the world to go for Corned Beef. There is no way in the world you can eat a whole sammy. it's got to have at least a pound of shaved, lean corned beef on it. Kate requests to go there just for the pure gastronomic pleasure that is derived from eating there. This is what it looks like:This is just 1/2 of Jamesy's sandwich. ......sigh.....such pleasure in between two slices of bread....sigh........





ok, now that I've wiped the drool from my lips, we did other fun things as well. We spent a day traipsing around Amish country down in Berlin, Charm, and Walnut Creek, Ohio. Lots of great shopping and good food. Again. oh, the agony.....LOL. That evening we took Kate to watch the sunset at Lake Erie. We have a favorite spot which is at the top of a point of a cliff which overlooks a beach. It's just lovely with the trees, and the lake and a perfect vantage point to sit and enjoy a lovely sunset at the lake.





We also had much fun making a new doll during the week. She's the Queen Beea. She came from trying to figure out what to do with 143 bees. I needed one bee for a project I was working on. the only pkg I could get my hands on had a gross of bees. now, What on earth to do with 143 bees (remember, I had used one-LOL). My BFF had a great idea for the bees! We made our dolls and here's the Queen Beea! I don't have a picture of Kates. I forgot to take one before she left. She made these fabulous quilted wings for hers. Her Queen had skinny stripes that were more bright yellow. My doll ended up darker. We did a crackle finish on the dolls. Mine crackled hers didn't and I think that's why mine looks darker. the crackle holds the color more. It's amazing how different the two dolls look even though they're basically the same doll. anyway, here's mine:


So, add in the two doll venues and we sure had a full week of fun. We got to see quite a few friends we hadn't seen for a long time. It sure is grand having a very special BFF!!

It's a Spring Fling

I finished my Spring Fling swap and it's packaged and going into the mail. I"m sure the lucky recipient will be very happy. Here is Francoise modeling it. I chose a lovely minty green for this Spring outfit. Doesn't green remind you of spring? Everything so fresh and new! The dress and bonnet are made of a layer of embroidered organza over a dupioni type of fabric with just the sheer for the sleeves and the cap of the bonnet. The dress is trimmed with pale pink organza ribbon that ties in the back and there are three delicate pale pink organza rosebuds at the waist. The bonnet ties are the pale pink organza ribbon with another rose tacked at the sides.

The mint green socks are crocheted from size 80 tatting cotton with a size 12 steel hook. I love to crochet these little socks and I usually use size 8 perle cotton. The tatting cotton is just so much finer and lacey looking so that was more appropriate for this fancy outfit. Isn't this an outfit for a little princess?!!

WOW, what a month!

boy, alot has happened in the last month. Here I thought I was getting back on track into my doll adventures and I sure got derailed fast. My dear ole dad (not very old actually) ended up having an emergency QUADruple bypass. yup, all 4 of those puppies. Two were blocked at 100%, one at 90% and one at 75%. Think about that before you reach for your next piece of cake. They also discovered that he had suffered 2 major heart attacks. He never knew it. They found that he as Neuropathy of the heart. he never felt a thing. it's too bad really, because if he had feeling, they could have caught this at the first heart attack and he wouldn't have gotten to where he is today. They only gave him a 50/50 chance of making it through surgery. Fortunately, he's too dam stubborn to die so after 6 hours of surgery he made it! His heart now functions as 15% and that's the best it will be. He's got other medical problems that complicate things-way too much to go into-suffice it to say, I stayed with them for a while to be sure that everything was going to go smoothly while dad recouperates. I'm now back home and desperately trying to get caught up. I literally dropped everything and got a flight down to be there for surgery. I'll be back to posting as I finish each catch-up project........