28 Aug 2015

Lottie Makes a Friend. Sort of.

Lottie:  Hi, I'm Lottie Crew!  Who are you?   Dorothy?

Riley:  My name is not Dorothy.  It is Riley O'Reilly.

Lottie:  You know, your dog looks like a slinky.

Riley:  You know, your chicken looks dead.

Lottie:  (long pause) Riley O'Reilly is kind of a weird name.

Riley:  At least is doesn't rhyme with "snotty".


Lottie Makes a Friend.  Sort of.


Lottie Crew may enjoy Trix and a good mystery story, but Riley O'Reilly prefers historical fiction and Puffed Wheat.


Riley's Summer Reading


Lottie Plans Her Next Move:

OK, Wubba.  She has been sitting there all day reading "Little House in the Prairie" and eating Puffed Wheat.  I think we should go ask her if she wants to play.


Lottie Plans Her Next Move.


Lottie Tries Again:

Lottie:  Hi Riley O'Reilly.  Want some Trix?

Riley:  I don't eat sugary cereal.  That stuff will kill you.

Lottie:  Oh.  Want to play "Spy Girl"?

Riley:  I'm not really into "Spy Girl".  I'm more into "Pioneer Girl".

Lottie:  Oh.  Well, you could go fetch water from the river and I could keep watch from the tree with my binoculars!

Riley:  OK.  But Lottie, don't get eaten by a mountain lion before I get back.


Lottie Tries Again.

26 Aug 2015

Meet Riley.

It quickly became obvious that Lottie needed a friend.  So, enter Zinochika!


A bit strange looking out of the box, but I got to work and a few days later she became Riley!


Riley

The question is, will she get along with Lottie?

Lottie Gets Into Trouble.

She is a bit impulsive.  I have to keep my eye on her.

OK Wubba, if we poke small holes in the wall with the screwdriver, Mom won't even notice.  And then we will find the Hidden Staircase!

Lottie Crew, Girl Detective


You know what Wubba?  I think Mom's gonna notice these holes.  Nancy never had problems like this.  We'd better eat some Trix while we figure out what to do.



The Aftermath (Lottie Crew, Girl Detective, Part 2)

25 Aug 2015

More About Lottie.

It didn't take long for Lottie's personality to emerge.

Some days it is just too hot to do much other than sit under a tree with some books and eat sugary cereal from the box.

Too hot for much.


Wubba, we have to be very, very quiet!  Mom said she saw some bunnies out here in the back yard.  If we see them we can lure them over with the Trix!

Shhh, listen for the bunnies!

24 Aug 2015

We have Blythe!

I have been very negligent about keeping up my blog over the summer!  There are quite a few new pictures over on my Flickr though.  But the big news is that I now have a Blythe doll!  Well, actually, I have 2.  Because the first one needed a friend.  I have been generally aware of Blythe for several years, but never caught the bug.  A couple of months ago I started reading about customizing them, and decided I really wanted to try it.

My 2 dolls are Takara Blythes "Country Summer" and "Zinochika".  Country Summer came first and is named "Lottie".  Zinochika is named "Riley".  I see them as about 8 years old.

Both doll have had their faces sanded, carved and repainted.  I also gave Lottie a pretty extensive haircut.  Both have had their original bodies replaced by Azone Pure Neemo XS bodies, which have more articulation than stock bodies and look more like little girls.

Here is Lottie's "Before and After" picture.

Country Summer Before and After

And here she is meeting Woody.  She finds the tiny cowboy's enthusiasm a tad off-putting!


Lottie finds the tiny cowboy's enthusiasm a tad off-putting.

1 Jul 2015

23 Jun 2015

A New Friend

Albert helped Freddie clean up the lemonade stand disaster and the two of them headed off for a picnic.  Freddie decided a new friend was better than a new bell.


A New Friend and a Picnic

21 Jun 2015

Lemonade Stand Disaster!

It was really hot yesterday, so Freddie increased the price and was doing quite a good business until this crazy rabbit from 1 block over came whizzing by on his skateboard and knocked everything over!

  Lemonade Stand Disaster

19 Jun 2015

Freddie Goes into Business

Freddie has set up a lemonade stand to earn money for a bell for his bike. He thinks business would be better if he didn't live on a dead end street.
  Lemonade anyone?

11 Jun 2015

Meet Freddie

Sometimes you just want to knit a miniature pig and teach him to ride a bike!  Freddie is a whopping 8.5cm tall.


Meet Freddie Freddie learned to ride a bike!

9 Jun 2015

The Best Day Ever

Today is the best day of Jones's life.  He came home from school to find an Apple II Computer IN HIS LIVINGROOM!!

His Dad is a high school math teacher but he has to teach Data Processing next year because they don't have enough teachers to teach it.  Mr. Jones know absolutely NOTHING about computers so the school is letting him keep one at home over the summer so he can learn enough about them to teach it.  Mr. Jones says he has no intention of learning anything more than the basics and he will ask Jones if there is anything he doesn't understand.


The Best Day of Jones's Life


Jones can't wait for July, when he gets to spend a whole week staying downtown with his Aunt Pam and going to computer programming camp at the university.


27 May 2015

New Neighbours

A new family moved into the neighbourhood, and Robin Goodfellow has been doing some babysitting.
  New Neighbours

26 May 2015

Will found boxes of old comic books in his grandmother's attic . . .

Libby:  "Will and me are reading the comic books together!

Me:  "It looks like Will is reading and you are playing with the boxes."

Libby:  "I reads better with a box on my head."


Comic Books and Boxes

23 May 2015

Happy Friday from Libby and Totoro

Libby (Ellabella by Nikki Britt) was a birthday present to myself.  She just arrived yesterday and is still settling in, but I wanted to get a picture of her (the set up with Totoro was my daughter's idea).  I can't wait to make all sorts of little girl stuff for her!


19 May 2015

No Cherry Blossoms for Jones

The pollen count was really high over the weekend - bad news for Jones, with his severe seasonal allergies.  He stayed in and watched re-runs of Star Trek on CBC while his parents took his little sister to see the cherry blossoms in High Park.


Long Weekend

13 May 2015

Underoos!

Owen got some very special underwear this week - Superman Underoos!  Apparently they actually have super powers!  Good thing octopuses have 3 hearts because poor Verne looks like he might have a heart attack!

Owen's New Superman Underoos

Owen's New Superman Underoos

Owen's Underoos were made by Jen over at Spampy Stuff.  She makes great clothes for tiny BJDs.  Check her out!

29 Apr 2015

Owen's Room

People collect dolls for all sorts of reasons.  I collect them because I like to make them stuff.  It is so much fun to imagine a character in its own little world and then try to create that world.  Owen, my Pukipuki Piki, is a 5 year old boy.  Pukipuki are 11cm tall.  When I build things for Owen and his older sister, Meggie, I try to stick to 1:10 scale.  I have been working on Owen's room and it is a lot of fun making little boy things (reminds me of when my 14 year old was that age)!  Still some more work to do, but I am pleased with it so far.



22 Apr 2015

New Knitting Pattern!

I just published a new pattern for Pukifee size dolls.  It is the "High Park Play Dress for Pukifee" and it includes 2 stitch patterns for the bottom part of the dress.  The dress is seamless and knit with lace weight yarn.  The pattern is available at Ravelry and Etsy.





30 Mar 2015

Meet Verne.

Owen has an imaginary octopus.  His name is Verne.



Verne was knit using a pattern by Hansi Singh.  http://www.ravelry.com/projects/jaybirdfinnigan/octopus-2

1 Jan 2015

Spirit Sweater Knitting Pattern for 18" American Girl Dolls


The Spirit Sweater is knit seamlessly, from the top down, in worsted weight yarn. It fastens with 1 button at the left shoulder. No sewing up is required!

Make one in your doll’s favourite house colours, school colours, team colours, or any colours at all!
Charts for the pocket include the initials for each of the Harry Potter houses. If your doll is not off to Hogwarts, the chart for the heart pocket and instructions for the Rainbow Sweater variation are also included.

The sweater is shown on American Girl dolls, but will fit other 18” play dolls with about an 11 inch chest circumference.

The pattern for the Spirit Sweater is available at Ravelry, Craftsy and Etsy.



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Spirit Sweater for American Girl Dolls