My latest sewing project!

Well it started out to be a new gown for my Ello’s! It seems that I have been sewing more for Evangeline lately and it is Elly’s turn! This was a preview pic….the waist band had not been sewn on yet!

The original pattern that I chose for this project is called “Most Beautiful Ruffle Wedding Gown” by Hello Dolly Boutique.

I chose to make the gown as two seperate pieces though. I found that the skirt was too short so I used a yoke type of waistband to drop the skirt down and make it longer. I consider myself to be an experienced seamstress and yet I found this pattern difficult to follow. In fact the first time I tried this pattern I gave up on it and now two years later I decided to give it another go. It IS a beautiful gown!! I chose a nude lining and a champagne colored tulle for this dress. As it turned out though by the time I finished it…it seems to fit my 17in. Evangeline better than it does Ellowyne. Sorry Elly’s!

Well I am off on a vacation in a few days! I know what your thinking….WHO takes vacation in winter, unless it’s a vacation to a warm place ..right! Not me..I am going to Vermont with my boyfriend. Right now there is a big snowstorm hitting the northest, which is why we have delayed leaving for one day. Jim’s family makes genuine Vermont maple syrup this time of year. SO…we are going up to see how it’s made and mabe give them a hand! And hopefully bring a few gallons back. I’m actually glad there will be snow on the ground. I can’t wait to take pictures and enjoy the change in scenery. So I am leaving Saturday morning and returning in about nine days if our plan goes as scheduled. See you when I get back!

For several years I have been searching for a cheap, rusty old bike that I can use as a garden ornament. I want to plant flowers in baskets and hang them from the bike. I would like to have ivy grow up through the spokes. Mabe just lean it against the fence or the side of the garage. I keep finding pictures of how other people have used bikes in thier gardens.

So you can imagine my delight when I finally came across this rusty old bike for $30. in a thrift store this past weekend!

I liked that it was already a bit rusty, and the price was right, and even the brick red color is the accent color for my house! I have never heard of the comany name of Phillips either so I just assumed it was a no name brand of some cheap old bike!

When ever I find a treasure at a thrift shop I come home and try to do a bit of research on that item. I like to know exactly what i have and if I got a good deal on my treasure. So it seems that my Phillips bicycle was made in Birmingham, England. I have figured out that mine was built in 1959. It’s almost as old as I am! Some of these bikes are quite valuable. I’m not sure of the value of this one for certain, but I’m not sure that I should be putting it in the garden to let it continue to rust and deteoriate futher untill I can have it appraised.

It’s not in great shape and it really doesn’t matter to me what the value is. I fell in love with it the moment I saw it just because it is old and rusty!!

So I guess I’ll do a bit more research…this may wind up becoming a wall decoration for my mud room instead of garden art!

http://www.scribd.com/doc/69242230/Phillips-Bike-Historycal-By-Danny-Damar-S

The link above is some of the information about Phillips Bikes made in England.

Wow..what happened to February? It just sorta came and went and I didn’t blog for the entire month! I think I have had a case of the winter blahs! I was sick with the flue for a few weeks. It was my own fault! I rarely ever get sick but then I had to go and brag about how I never get sick so of course then I did! I’m really glad that I live where I can experience all four seasons of the year, but I’m tired of the cold winter weather now and am anxiously awaiting spring. So WHAT have I been up to lately? The usual sort of thing …a bit of sewing, checking out some thrift stores and finding a few new treasures, and I bought another new doll! Oh I suppose you would like to see pictures…..well OK!

February Sewing Projects!

Besides sewing for my dolls I also made another sofa for them!

My New Doll “Patsy”

Thrifty Treasures

I’ll do another post on thrifty treasures and share more but for now I will just show you this beautiful child size bentwood rocker that I picked up for $15.

Gee…I thought I was bored the entire month of February but now that I look back I guess I was pretty busy afterall!

I also went to see the Hampton Air & Space museum with my boyfriend Jim.

A view of Hampton harbor from the obsevation deck at the air and space museum.

This beautiful carosel is next door to the air and space museum but unfortunately it was closed for winter. I did manage to get a few pictures through the windows though.

Well that pretty much catches you up to date with all that I did in February!

I did a bit of sewing this week! I had the cutest little pink tulle ballet skirt that I wanted to cut up and make dresses for my girls. So on Wednesday,even though I wasn’t feeling well, I made a couple of dresses. They turned out ok. Could have been better though!

As you can see, the girls modeled the dresses. They seemed happy with them…I thought! So off to bed I went. I thought I could hear noises in the night coming from my sewing room. Of course I blamed it on the cat. The cat always gets blamed for things that go bump in the night. So I get up the next day and what do I find? Seems the girls had thier own ideas for thier pink tulle dresses! They did a redesign!!!

You know what…I think I like thier design better! It’s more fun! It’s like Cindy Lauper meets Betsy Johnson style!

I Love foggy mornings! There is just somthing mysticle and magicle about them. The fog seems to muffle out the annoying sounds that you would rather not hear…like traffic. But yet other sounds are almost magnified…Like the sound of a foghorn off in the distance or the sounds of geese honking. We have had several of these beautiful foggy mornings here for these past few days so I grabbed my camera and went out for an early morning drive!

Don’t you just love this old nobby tree! It looks like it should have a face on it somewhere. You can almost imagine it coming alive after dark and moving slowly around the cemetary. OK…well thats just one more little peek into the way my brain works! lol   Hope you enjoyed the stroll through the fog with me.

This is my garage!

Neither of our vehicles will fit into it…it does hold the lawn mower and all of my tools. But if I buy a small shed I can move those things into it. I have an idea!!

I NEED a bigger sewing studio!

I have always envied people who have really nice big well organized sewing or art studios. Have you figured out what I am thinking yet?

I have a DREAM! I have a PLAN!

And I am hoping that it will sorta kinda look like this when its done!

I want to use old painted furniture for storage. I want it to be cozy and shabby and comfortable. And I want to have an open door policy so that neighbors and friends can pop in to say hi and see what I’m working on and have a cup of tea.

It will take me months to get this put together. Starting with ridding myself of a bunch of junk that I have in the garage now. I would love to put a french door where the garage door is now…I hope that will work ok. I will try to share pictures of my plan while it’s in progress. Wish me luck! I’ll need it! But I am determined to make this happen!

This is one thing about my blog that is kind of fun to do…I can look back on the year and remind myself of what I have accomplished and what I have to be thankful for this past year!

January was all about the dolls! I guess that makes sense. It’s a cold month so staying indoors and sewing and photographing my dolls is what kept me busy for that first month of the year!

The “girls” got new shoes. So it was fun to set up a scene of them shoe shopping!

I bought Rufus..Ellowynes boyfriend!

I did this photo shoot entitled “My Angels”  which is one of my favorite photo shoots of my dolls so far!

In Febuary I made this collection of outfits for my dolls that I called “Pink Frost”

Then there was “My Funny Valentine”

And I made a final trip to my house in Georgia before its final sale!

The entire month of march I was in Georgia so I didn’t post anything but I was busy making this quilt!

This was a BIG deal for me to accomplish just because I have wanted to make a YoYo quilt for years and it will become a family heirloom. I can picture bringing it out during family celebrations like birthday parties.

Skipping ahead to May now…I got my first Evangeline Ghastly doll! She has been a fun addition to my doll collection!

June…I finally bit the bullet and hired someone to put a new roof on my Virginia house!

Things were a complete mess for nearly two months but totally worth it all in the end! This little old lady (my house, not me) got a facelift!

July……

August was the BEST month out of the year! My #1 son and his pretty fiance finally got married! It was a beautiful wedding and a very happy day for all!

In September I was really starting to feel lonely and thought perhaps it was time for me to start thinking about getting out and meeting people…and mabe start dating. So I signed up on one of those on-line dating sites and met a nice man that I have been dating for about four months now. We are taking things slowly and getting to know one another. I also did some sewing in September.

I didn’t post anything in October. I think I was too busy having fun with my new boyfriend! He took me to Colonial Williamsburg.

November  Levi and Jenni came to spend Thanksgiving with me and we went to Colonial Williamsburg again! There is so much to see and do that you need to go over and over again! I never get tired of it!

I also did some more sewing in November and treated myself to another new doll!

December is of course always all about Christmas! Decorating the house! Baking cookies and making fudge! And Shopping of course! I was a bit sad this year because all my kids were in Georgia while I was here in Virginia. Levi and Jenni just bought thier first home so Shawyn was helping them to move furniture and get settled in. I am so happy for them. My boyfriend Jim kept me company though and so I was not alone through the holidays.

So looking back over all…I had a very good year in 2012! And now I look forward to starting a brand new year! I have a feeling it will be a good one. I also wish all of you a very Happy New Year! Thankyou for following my blog! I hope to keep it going and I hope to make it more fun and exciting!

It just might be days like today that my friends and family are embarrassed that I still play with dolls!  But thats ok…it put a smile on my face so it’s worth it!  Todays doll play resulted in what I am calling  ” A Dolls Christmas”!

So I guess it’s kind of obvious that we are all excited about Christmas in a few days!

A few days ago I came across a picture on Pinterest of a sweet little shabby chic village that was made up of little houses from the dollar store. I absolutely loved it! So I went in search of the houses to recreate the project myself! Your going to LOVE this!

OK..so I found these little village buildings at my local Dollar Tree store…I found 7 different ones…$1. a piece of course…$7. total.

I watered down some basic craft paint (white) and gave them a quick white wash. The color shows through, giving them a pastel look.

Give it a few min. to dry completely. Next you need a can of spray adhesive…I guess white glue brushed on would work as well, and some glitter.

Now you have a glistening snow effect!

I also had extra bottlebrush trees sitting around that I added a bit of paint and glitter to. You can find these trees at Walmart or Michaels.

I don’t know where I’m going to display this village yet but I did some photos on a mirror for now that can be moved from table to table or room to room.

Oh… by the way…these houses are small, about 4 or 5 inches in height. I am SOOO happy with the way this turned out I just might go back to the store and buy 2 more sets to make and give as gifts!

I forgot to mention that these houses have holes in the bottem to insert lights just like the bigger villages….I just need to go get another set so I can light these up!

I love decorating for Christmas! It makes me happy! Every ornament and all of my holiday home decor hold so many happy memories.

I have ornaments that were bought when the boys (now in thier 30′s) were babies and todlers!

I have ornaments that the boys made and ornaments that I bought in Britian.

I also love my little village. It’s not a pricey one but I love it just the same.

It’s not really Christmas without a nativity scene.

Then you throw in a collection of angels and some santas……..

I still have a few boxes of decoratrions to go through but the house is definately starting to look cozy and festive.