Mood:  a-ok

Pretty much had to get off my butt today - ‘meet his teacher' night is tomorrow, and that's when most parents turn in the requested supplies. We had most of it, but not all, since we didn't know which school he'd be attending until Monday. Bought the wrong scissors, too. So it had to be done today, as tonight and tomorrow,  the ‘school supplies' aisles will be utter disaster. Parents who can't shop ‘til this weekend will be seriously shocked at how beaten up those aisles are.

Heck, it was pretty bad at 8:45 this morning. After I had to wait for a mom/daughter team to go through ever.single.folder.and.notebook for the ‘look' they wanted - and, of course, this takes the entire aisle, both sides, to accomplish -  I got almost everything he needs. But not the ‘ 4 blue, two pocket brad fastener folders'. Mal-Wart was sold completely out of all colors. Well, they had a few, but they looked as though they'd barely survived last year's tour of duty. Not enough, and not blue. So we got the groceries and hit Albertson's, which is now Homeland. They had ‘em. Cheap, too, just not quite as cheap as M-W.  I was so happy just to have it done, I would have paid double. But a buck for all four was nice.

Still, when you have to hit three or more stores to find the list stuff, it's a bit much. I don't mind getting what Dearest Son will need, it's not even that much money. I just get tired of every year having to hunt some items down like a bloodhound. Luckily my doll shopping has trained me well for this. It's just not as much fun.

Got home and proceeded to round my rump some more. This time, with chips ! But I knew I'd soon have the ‘cicada shell' feeling again if I didn't do something. Dishes and laundry were right out (grin), so I decided to download some music from Napster onto the MP3 and go clean the studio. With some new tunes flowing out of the Sound Cube, I got patterns sorted and stored, loose doll clothes put away, and the sewing table cleaned up.

I then went after the Fashion Fever sets. While I'd opened the one Gabrielle was in and one of the fashion sets, most of the clothes for those two and one other fashion-only set were still attached to the packaging. I hadn't even opened the red/white/blue/gold one. Not sure why I do that. Even when I'm pretty sure I'm keeping some new doll goodie, I often don't open it right away. Oh, well. At least they all got opened today ! Got it all stored, too. It felt really nice, like a gift all over again, to de-box everything.

There was one outfit from Gabrielle's set I really didn't like. Actually, I liked the minidress, but the open-back hood just didn't look right to me. I almost didn't buy that set because of it. It looked OK on a doll - I saw it on the Fashion Fever doll group - but I knew it wasn't anything I really wanted. So, when I deboxed, I put it aside with the purses that don't open. No kidding. One, a cute little gold and black box of a purse, even had a hinge and a clasp, but it was molded or glued shut. I normally stuff ‘em in a baggie and donate ‘em.

Went to pick up the dress along with the purse donation, but I looked at it a bit more. Yeah, I wasn't much on the big "8" on the front, and the curly script said ‘Barbie' and something, I couldn't read it. But the skirt was asymmetrical, and the fabric was really nice. I like asymmetrical stuff. I started to wonder...

Yup. Hood was sewn on separately, not part of a seam or hem. Well, in that case... The hood detached easily, but it was holding the hem down. Nothing a few hand-stitches won't fix. About ten minutes later, I had a dress I liked much better. It mostly fits my Scooby Doo ‘Velma', but it doesn't close all the way in the back. Not much of a surprise, it didn't close in the back in the packaging either. The little thin plastic body form was also too big for it. Velma's almost too big - and she has the 1997 Teen Skipper body !

Wasn't sure what to do with the hood. It had a seam already, and a hem. Too short for a scarf or even a good headband. On a whim, I sewed the new raw edges together, and folded it into a shape. Voila ! Coordinating hat. It's still mostly just an irregularly-shaped tube, so I can configure it differently later.

Velma's using the star on the door to the Studio as a photo backdrop. It's just a cardboard star box lid, spray-painted silver. Her hair's more red than this, too. Out of the package, Velma's hair is like concrete. A warm wash eliminated the heavy spray, but also some of the darker color. She actually looks more like a Molly Ringwald doll, but she's still Velma to me !

Posted by dorriebelle at 7:12 PM CDT

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 10:02 AM CDT

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Mood:  down

Kind of in a ‘down' mode. Not sure what's wrong with me, just can't seem to get off my ever-expanding rear. Most of the things I've forced myself to do or try this week haven't worked for squat, so I'm a bit reluctant on doing or trying anything else. Ordinarily, I'd treat myself to a new piece of fabric or somesuch, as inspiration to do something anyway, but I can't even get up the interest for that. And I already have more than I'll ever want, use, or need already. (sigh)

Oh, I'll shake this off and be fine tomorrow, but if I ignore it, it gets worse. So I'll wallow in it today and get it over with. Urgh.

Posted by dorriebelle at 7:05 PM CDT

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Mood:  blue

More domestic life, less doll. Since school starts up next week, that'll change. I'm kind of sad, kind of happy. We didn't get to slide in to his old school, he'll be going to a new one. Drat. But they have his bus all arranged - and it's not a Special Needs one - and their aptitude test scores are some of the highest in the county. I'm selfishly happy about not having to sit in a roasting/freezing car five hours a week, and not having to battle morning traffic, but I'll miss the interaction I had with his teachers and classmates. I'll have to see what volunteering I can find there.

In other news, I'm sure you've heard about Mattel's latest recall - >

http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa070814_wz_toyrecall.327c31ed.html

Shorthand, it's for magnets in Batman and One Piece action figures, Puppy Day Care figures, nearly every Polly Pocket playset made in the last two or three years,  and some of the ‘Barbie and Tanner' doll-and-dog sets, and for lead paint on one lone Cars figure, namely Sarge. Ironically, Sarge is one of the few we don't have. Dearest Son just wasn't interested in him much, and generic 'Hot Wheels' jeeps he already had stood in just fine if you asked him about it. Article is fully linked to better details, especially if you have any of these toys and need info about what to do.

I never liked the ‘Barbie and Tanner' set. It just seemed weird, and this is coming from a woman who had no squicks about the ‘Growing-Up Skipper' doll she had as a kid. Then or now. Again, succinctly, the plastic dog ‘eats' food Barbie gives him, then ‘craps' out the same nuggets from the other end. Barbie picks up the leavings with a magnetic scooper, presumably to put back in the "dog food" box, or Tanner's bowl. (shudder) The scooper was modified later in production, but Mattel wants to make sure kids don't eat more than one of these magnets - nobody wants a repeat of the Magnetix fiasco. Not something Mattel was responsible for, but better safe than sorry. Especially when you're already having trouble getting kids to want toys over electronics these days.

In related toy news, the co-owner and top exec of Lee Der, the Chinese factory recently banned from exporting toys due to their involvement in earlier lead paint recalls was reported dead from a suicide today. Something to think about when perusing the aisles at Mal-Wart. ‘Just toys' indeed.

http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa070812_mo_taintedproducts.2b6ddacf.html

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT

Updated: Tuesday, 14 August 2007 1:55 PM CDT

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Mood:  irritated

Today I tried the first of the ‘Agatha Heterodyne' outfits - her underwear. Simple enough, right ! It's basically a lace-edged crop top and knee-length pants. Button-up front on the top, faux drawstring waistband on the pant(aloon)s. I have at least six different patterns I could use for it, ranging from Simplicity and Vogue, to the free patterns Emby Quinn has on her site (See Links on the main site), to Doll Shop Deluxe. Probably only take an hour, hour and a half to sew the base garments, then a bit more time to add the lace.

If you'd like to see what I'm aiming for, here's a link *  ->    

http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20030507

Pfegh. The lace. That's the big stumper that has stomped me. I altered the Emby Quinn patterns and got a decent approximation of the top. Neckline wasn't as low as Agatha's, but I figured adding the lace would help. I kept the back closure - fit better that way - but added a simple tuck-pleat to the front, for a closure illusion. Not bad at all !

But then, the lace. The ()^%$#*+<@!> ing lace. Went through the whole ‘lace and ribbon' stash container - it's about the size of two milk crates, and a bit deeper, packed full - and didn't' find lace small enough. Found some that might work, but it wasn't gathered. So I gathered it. Attached it to the neckline and found out something fairly important...

There IS NO lace small or narrow enough to fit on the top the way it does in the darn images. If it's large enough to ruffle or sew, it's too big and out of scale. It'd have to be about 1/8" wide to be in scale, probably smaller, and sewing it on, even by hand, would be difficult. Then getting it in the right place...feh. It just won't work. I could do it easily in human scale, possibly even with some fussing and cursing in Elphie's scale. But 1/6 scale, I just don't have the skill. I don't know if it even *can* be done, by anyone.

So. What I'll probably end up doing is re-making the top again (it didn't take long) and using the stretch-stitch function to add a row of blanket stitching to the neckline, arms, waist, and knees. It'll give the illusion of lace without being actual lace. Since the garments are while, using cream off-white thread on top and a light grey in the bobbin will probably give me the look I want. Later, it's shown in pink, but I think a darker pink (and the grey beneath) will still work. Gosh knows I couldn't get the lace to.

Shoot. And I thought I was starting out simple...

*Umm, sorry about the linkage. You might well wonder why I don't just enclose a quick scan of it, especially since I still have Volume 1 from the library. I'm still kind of wondering myself. What it gets down to is this - I respect the work. And I don't own the book, much less have permission to share the image. Yeah, that never stopped me before, but in this case, it is. I just can't do it. Hence the link. I'm not trying to push anyone into reading Girl Genius, but I simply can't cut/paste it like I normally would. (sigh) This ‘respect' thing is making my life more difficult than it used to be...

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT

Updated: Monday, 13 August 2007 11:54 AM CDT

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Mood:  accident prone

Not a lot going on, doll-wise. About all I got done today were minor errands. Dropped off a donation to GoodWill, returned library DVDs, mailed bills off, hit a couple yard sales. Not much out there this week, but if I had major scores every week, we'd be even more broke ! So it's nice that I tend to find stuff only once or twice a month, when I'm lucky.

Helped Beloved Hubby load up some stuff - and cracked my knee on the new ball-hitch on his truck. Oh, well. That bruise will go nicely with the one a few inches higher, gained from one of the branches I hauled Thursday bouncing at my tugging, then suddenly giving way - straight to my leg.

It's been a clumsy day - I saw some currency floating on a breeze, and hopped out to retrieve it. Hit my arm on that (*^% automatic seat belt slider...for a lousy dollar bill.

Maybe there's a reason a chunk of me refuses to go near the sewing machine today...

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT

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Mood:  happy

It's unbelievable ! We went to the flea market to get ‘Cali', the Midge doll I've yammered about all week...and what did I see in the passenger seat of one of the ‘car sets' ?

Yup ! A bare-chested vintage Allan ! I couldn't believe it. I've nearly bid on him several times on eBay, just didn't want to pay exorbitant shipping on the ones I could afford. He was part of one of the ‘car sets' as I mentioned - the seller wanted $14. for him, a generic Mackie-faced blonde Barbie, and a semi-wrecked Mattel Jeep. I asked if she'd consider selling him separately, but she was reluctant. Oh, well. Dearest Son had found a bus in her booth he wanted, and I picked up ‘my' Cali, and she asked what I'd be willing to pay for Allan. I offered her $10. for him, Cali, and the bus, and she was happy with that. Whee ! No other vintage dolls - not even repros - were in evidence.

One thing that bothered me was how dirty his arms were. I know vintage dolls tend to have ivory torsos with darker limbs - so often, the dolls are as many colors as there are pieces. I contented myself with knowing he'd get a good scrub-down as soon as we got home. But for right that moment, there was a whole flea-market to tour !

Son got ‘Schoolhouse Rock' tapes, and our VHS collection gained A Mighty Wind and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back - all for just 50c each ! A few other minor finds, and we were gone.

And Allan got well-bathed. You can only imagine the dirt that came off him with some warm water, a toothbrush, and stale baking soda. Some spots - deep in his ears and in the corner of his left eye - never did come clean, but not from lack of effort. He cleaned up very well, and seems to have the exact same body as the vintage #2 Ken I found at a junk shop. Straight legs and the same...umm, hips. He has some hair rubs, a slight spot missing in his right eyebrow, a spot of white paint at the crown of his head, and his right hand has a bit of chew to it. You can see it a bit in the photo. But it's barely noticeable. Now that he's nice and clean, he looks so cute !

He seems to have only been in production for a year, although he was sold for several. For the best info about Allan - or pretty much any other male doll, made by any toy manufacturer - visit Keeping Ken ! Here's his page on Allan -> http://www.manbehindthedoll.com/ALLAN.htm . Take off the /ALLAN.htm for the home page, there's lots to see.

I figured I could tell if my new Midge was ‘California Dream' or ‘Cool Times'  - the only two Midge dolls bearing the ‘Steffie' face I so adore ! - by her earrings. Nope. ‘Cali' here doesn't have ‘em. But going by her green eye color (CT appears blue), I think I got a California Dream girl. Nice as the ‘Diva' head mold is, I'll always love a Steffie-faced Midge !

Her legs were worse than I thought, specked all over with small white circles. But, heck, with the dress I have her in, the other dolls will probably assume it's patterned hosiery. Since there's not much I can do about it outside PaintShopPro, I'm not about to let it bother me. Her poor hair has been in a ponytail so long, it's bent. Still, it's nice and soft, a beautiful color. It'll ease down eventually.

So, now that there's new dolls around, I'd best get back to the challenge of sewing for ‘em, right ? :)

Posted by dorriebelle at 4:08 PM CDT

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Mood:  lazy

Phil Foglio wrote me back, saying he'd love to see Girl Genius dolls, when I had time to make them. Well, if that isn't a challenge, I don't know what is ! I was talking with Beloved Hubby about it this morning - and this is actual dialog :

Me : So I was thinking of starting with her underwear. It's simple, and she certainly finds herself in it in public often enough ! (grin)

BH : Well, at least in the first book.

Me : You sound somewhat disappointed about that.

BH : Heck yeah, I am ! It looked so cute !

So now it remains to find a doll I think is Agatha-worthy, then print out a simple crop top and pantalettes pattern that I can do a lace-up on. Not difficult, especially if I go with a faux-lace.

Unfortunately, that's about it for dolls again today. But the laundry's all put away, dishes are done, and all the floors are clean - even under the sofas. First vacuum of the month is *always* ‘under and behind the sofas' time ! I also had time to move the branches Beloved chain-sawed to the backyard. I left ‘em in the front, in a driveway pile, anticipating the yard waste crew to be by tomorrow for pick-up. I even called to see what the rules regarding were. Hmpft. They barely pick up kindling, much less the big monster limbs we got ! So we made other plans.  

Now, if I can just figure out why my arms hurt...

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT

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Mood:  a-ok

Nothin' at all doll-related today. I mean, nothin'. Closest I came to doll-time was the ten minutes I spent perusing eBay during lunch. Closest I got to the Studio was going in there to turn on the MP3 player/cube speaker, so Dearest Son could watch it while I listened.

What took all day ? BATHROOM CLEANING ! Nearly three hours of it. But the bathtub and the shower are so clean, you could eat off ‘em. I could turn off lights in those rooms, ‘cause everything was so sparkly clean. I haven't been able to give them a really good cleaning since I got sick, and lemme tell you, for all the sanitary plumbing in a bathroom, it gets the worst the quickest. I trust I need elaborate no further.

Tuna liked my cleaning efforts so much, she drank from the toilet instead of her bowl, which held bottled drinking water. Cats !

Dearest Son loves ‘Macaroni'. Played with him all day, inventing Lego cars for him to drive, and inviting him to have dinner with the family. He tore open the tail seam so he could use him as a puppet, but that's OK. Long as he enjoys his not-perfect penguin, I'm happy.

And my ‘scrubbing arm' hurts. Beddy-bye for me ! With two ibuprofen, please.

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT

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Mood:  celebratory

Busy, busy day. Had to run to the bank, get Dearest Son registered for school (i.e., fill in the same paperwork I've done for the last three years), turn in library books and videos, do the grocery shopping and mail some bills. Whew ! About the only housework I got done was putting last night's dishes away.

Got to go to Dollar Tree - scored three new t-shirts for Dearest Son, and a set of pencil sharpeners and a lip gloss for me. I ordinarily wouldn't mention the sharpeners and gloss, but they're perfectly doll-sized ! The pencil sharpeners - there's six in the package - look like little fire extinguishers. They fit as well in Elphie's scale as in Barbie's. They do a pretty good job on pencils, too. The lip gloss comes in a round container, like Ben & Jerry's - ice cream for the family in sixth-scale, a largish single-serving for Elphie. They had various ‘flavors', but the "Gelato" kid didn't have ‘LIP GLOSS' written big and loud on the front of the container. So soon, Elphie's gonna have some Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream, and if it's still too hot, she always has a fire extinguisher handy. She's got four of ‘em...

The other two went to Dearest Son. I'll probably stash one in the office desk drawer, it really did do well on the two half-ground-down pencils in the holder. Three fake fire extinguishers are enough for the doll contingent !

Picked up the latest décor element for the Studio. It's a fuzzy white cube that changes color and pulses with whatever music source is plugged into it. Yup, it's a funky speaker. I was amazed at the brightness of the colors and how good it sounded.  Works with anything with a mini headphone jack, which is just about any electronic device these days. It was on markdown at our Mal-Wart, $5. down from $12-something. Wanted it because, while I adore the MP3 player Beloved Hubby got me, sometimes I don't want to use the headphones. The cheap speaker from Dollar Tree was beyond suckage. This one was quite nice, especially for the cash. It also came in pink and purple, but you know me, I'll almost always go for white, given the choice.

Dearest Son was already asleep when I finished ‘Macaroni', the Not-Perfect Penguin. His name sort of came to me when I had to fix several sewing blunders. I think he came out kinda cute. Only took about two hours, start to finish, and used less than a good handful of cotton balls for stuffing. His photo uses some yard-sale fabric pinned to my sewing chair as a backdrop !

After I took photos, I nudged Macaroni into Son's hand. His fingers curled around him, and, even in his sleep, he loosely hugged him. I think he'll like his surprise when he wakes up tomorrow ! They looked so cute, I took pictures of them together, too.

I'm working on a story to go with him, that I can type up and print out for him. I think I'll redo his pupils, they don't seem dark enough. While Macaroni isn't quite what I had in my imagination to begin with, he's still quite cute, at least to me, and I'm happy. Just hope Son likes him !

And that was my day. Whew ! I should be in bed, it's gonna feel sooo good !

Posted by dorriebelle at 11:55 PM CDT

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 10:01 AM CDT

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Mood:  on fire

Have no idea why it took me so darn long to get going today. Seems like I could come up with endless reasons to keep my rear firmly ensconced in this chair all day. Eventually, however, I did get up offa that thing, but about all I did was dishes.

I updated the home page, slightly. Changed ‘July' to ‘August', and deleted references to July 4^th in Aylene's ‘front porch' photo. Added a link to Studio Foglio's Girl Genius just beneath it. It's one of the reasons I had for parking my butt in this chair for so long ! Beloved Hubby and I read today's new strip this morning, and from there, I toured the sketchbook. That was good for numerous laughs ! If you tried to access GG from the last link I gave, I'm sorry. I'm an idiot, and gave the wrong address.

Try this one ->

http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/ . It works !

And yes, I am working on a GG-inspired costume for one lucky doll. I just have to pick which outfit I like best - that I can possibly make. I could easily do the underwear she keeps finding herself in during most of the earliest chapters, so I may start with that. Just for giggles.

Speaking of giggles, I did manage to price the stuffing I'll need for that magazine pattern penguin I was planning on making for Dearest Son. $6. Hmpft. I can *buy* a licensed Mumbles (Happy Feet) for $8. that isn't much smaller. And it dances ! Still, I'd like to make him something besides Thomas the Tank Engine blankets and Cars pillows. You know, something that isn't bedding. The stuff I've made him so far has turned out nice, and he's certainly enjoyed it all, but ya can't take ‘em on car trips to Dollar Tree or really show ‘em off to friends. He's still into penguins, so I hunted for penguin patterns that don't require multiple bundles of stuffing. Kind of a 'pocket penguin' of sorts.

About the only freebie one online seems to be the Linux penguin - > http://www.free-penguin.org/#dow , which is cute, and at around 12 to 14 inches tall, about the right size. But isn't what I want. Plus, it doesn't say how much stuffing is needed. Toured other web sites, and found one featuring interesting scans of various patterns from Japanese women's magazines. One in particular got my attention - it was for a purse and glasses case with an adorable miniature penguin as an appliqué. It got me thinking... so if you had a chill race up your spine about 9:45 Central tonight, it was probably the universe recoiling in horror at the idea of me thinking. Sorry.

About five minutes later, inspired by the appliqué, I sketched out a simple pattern. It would work pretty well in felt, and less than half a bag of dollar-store cotton balls would easily stuff his five-inch tall body. Nothing amazing, but even my pathetic sketch - I can't draw for love or money, or even both - held a sort of charm. He'd be small enough to be cute, quick enough to make so that when he invariably gets wrecked, I won't be upset, simple enough to experiment with, and endearing enough for Son. A quick check of the beyond well-stocked stash revealed that I already had everything - orange (beak, feet), white (belly, eyes), and black (body, flippers, and tail) felt, a large and rather old sack of cotton balls, a black Sharpie pen, and plenty of thread. I could even use some of the fabric that made Baby Ariel's outfit yesterday for Macaroni penguin hair. Macaronis are Son's favorite.

It's funny how I have it all. The orange felt is leftover from attempts at making Crissy doll shoes, the white is from my old craft supplies, purchased about ten years ago, and the black is from a Hobby Lobby sale during Christmas - I picked up a sheet of black to round out the '10 for $1.' rainbow I was buying. I even have glittery black felt, from an after-holiday markdown. Only paid 4c a sheet for those ! So I may well make a ‘disco' penguin, once I get the first one done for Son ! I also still have some red sparkle, left from the Christmas I made stockings for Son's preschool class. There may be some really flashy birds around here in the coming days...

Tomorrow's a busy day, though, so we'll see how it goes. I may well have photos of penguins for you ! I'd offer you the pattern, but once you see it, you can easily make your own. Goss knows it couldn't be difficult if I came up with it !

Posted by dorriebelle at 10:43 PM CDT

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