Francoise walks the Litter

My dear sweet little Francoise needed to walk the litter of Puppies before they are mailed off to their new homes today. Aren't they sweet? They're awful playful though and I think they might be too much for one little girl to handle.

Uh Oh!! I was right. They're starting to play with each other instead of all walking nicely.

Oh dear, all those leashes getting tangled and tripping them up. Even Francoise went down on her little tushie!

This is true Puppy Pandemonium!!

It's ok. The puppies have realized that they can make it all better by giving Francoise wet noses and big sloppy puppy kisses.......

Free Father's Day Ephemera

I just love a freebee don't you?- especially when it's really great quality! Lisa Vollrath has done it again. A fabulous 16 days of freebees-a new one each day. All you need to do is post a link to her site and you can download a new piece of ephemera to incorporate in your Father's Day artwork or anything else you want to make from it. Some really great stuff. I'll be making my dad a special card and this just makes it easier to really step it up. So, go on over to Ten Two Studios and check it out!

Fripon, or a dog for Bleuette

Wow, I made this adorable little dog this morning for my Francoise. Someone on one of my online doll groups posted a link to the pattern for the perfect sized wire-haired terrier. The creator of the pattern gave permission to use the pattern as anyone wanted. I was so smitten I had to make one for my bleuette. I printed out the pattern and headed to my sewing room. I had all the colors of the felt in my stash! woohoooo! gotta love a good stash! I set to work and in no time at all had one very, very cute little doggie. All I have left to do is put a collar and leash on her. Isn't she cute? I put up this pic of Fripon next to Francoise to show that she is really perfectly sized for the doll. Ahhhhh, another satisfying project........

Speaking engagements

Well, May was sure a whirlwind of a month. I got to be the honored guest speaker at not one but TWO doll events. So much fun. The first event was a Doll Luncheon in Kirtland, Ohio. It was put on by the 'The Heart of Doll Country' doll club. It was a lovely affair with about 75 people. A very nice auction of lots of dolls, and doll related items. I had a grand time giving my speech: So Many Dolls, So Little Time, My Journey Through Life with Dolls. I took lots of dolls and they filled up two 8foot tables. The really encompassed my life from childhood to present day. I had a great time talking and I have never had such a captured audience. I always expect a little chitchat to go on just because some times something you say will spark a comment between two people. But I have to say, I didn't hear a peep the entire time. It was awesome. I sure did enjoy the experience and recieved many wonderful compliments afterwards.

The very next weekend I repeated the lecture at the 'Think Pink Doll Gala' in Aurora, Ohio. I only took one table full of dolls this time, but still had enough to get my examples across. Again, it was well recieved and I got very wonderful compliments from some women I am in awe of. They are very well known in the doll world and to have them complimenting my dolls was a tremendous honor.

Back to my sewing.......

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........