Played around with my new stuff from yesterday. Separated the ‘needs washing’ from the ‘needs repair then washing’ doll clothes, and there’s a big handful of each ! I got the outfit from “Workin’ Out” Barbie, “Skating Star” Barbie, the long dress from “Totally Yo Yo” Skipper, the red jacket from a ’98 Boutique Fashion Avenue, “Surf City” Barbie’s bikini top, and a side-tie blue lab coat/medical patient gown. Also a peach ‘Pocahontas’ dress, and a bunch more – jackets, pants, dresses, most with the Mattel ‘Genuine Barbie B’ label. The tutu from ‘Twirling Ballerina’ Barbie was so sad, I pulled off all the scratched, faded, peeling iridescent diamonds, and cut off the torn beyond repair attached tights. Once it’s been through the wash, I’ll post a photo of it, in case you were wondering what it looked like.

I also had a bit of a memory jogger. A red sequin-dot and tulle dress with a plug in the back made me remember hearing something about a doll who interacted with her clothes, and she was about Barbie size, but wasn’t Mattel. Hmm. My Interactive Belle doll, Isabella, recognizes what she’s wearing, and her clothes access different parts of the dialog and game within her, but this dress was Barbie-scale. Hm. I couldn’t remember how long ago it was, but it had to have been from around 2002, that’s when Isabella was made, and interactive anything was big news back in the day.

It took me nearly an hour, and that’s with finding the ‘Thinkway Toys 2000, Intl. Pat. Pending’ label in the skirt. But that dress went to ‘Fushia’, one of the three Thinkway ‘n Style dolls. Evidently they talk and the plug tells the wired control box what to say. You can see them and the dress here - http://www.drtoy.com/2001_v/vac2001_127.html 

This more-or-less abandoned epinions page shows the box and wires - >  http://www.epinions.com/Thinkway_N_Style_Fushia_Doll_Brunette_Toys

Hard to believe it was just eight years ago. Toys have certainly come a long way ! I can’t remember if I ever saw one ‘in person’ or not. That was the year Dearest Son was born, so I was kinda preoccupied !

Pictured is most of the furniture. Ain’t it cool ? According to the fun, fine folks at In The Pink, it goes to the Victorian Barbie Dream House, the big one with the elevator in the turret. Cool. I’m thinking of painting it, but I kinda like the white. Goes with anything, ya know ?

I also found the turquoise locker, a folding table, a medicine cabinet, a flower bed with tulips, a handful of shoes – mostly singles, but a set of neat black flats and white hiking boots – a miniature Brittany Spears tote bag and CD, a pet bed, a small set of steps, some grocery minis, including baby foods, a couple tote bags and purses.

There were six dolls in there. A tiny baby, one or the other of the Olsen twins, a nice Pearl Beach Ken, a badly hands/feet chewed Splash ‘n Color Barbie, a Generation Girl first-issue Tori, and a Hollywood Nails Barbie. It’s kind of funny how the props I got along with them go to none of these dolls, and I have none of the clothes and things that go to these dolls, either.

Not that I’m complaining. I just wonder where the bag with the other half of everything is !

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 5:46 PM CDT

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Well, the big yard sale I wanted to go to was a wash. No toys at all. When I asked, they said they decided to keep ‘em all for now. (sigh) And it was one of those ‘we're combining two houses' sales, so it was a lot of small appliances and blankets.

So I hit Hobby Lobby as promised. Got two more sheets of that blue acetate, the white wrist strap/Elphie belt, the dress form stamp, and several new scrapbook papers, all on markdown or sale. I really like the cloud paper - and it looks great in a dollhouse window ! That's next - one of those nice dollhouse windows, when they publish another 40% off coupon ! I can use it for Elphie's apartment, or snugged into foamcore for a Barbie wall or backdrop.

I even hit TRU. But amazingly, Mal-Wart was better stocked with new toys. I was leaving empty-handed when I decided to check their video games, see if they had the Enchanted Journey one any cheaper. Nope. It's $20. everywhere but Hastings ! The nice salesguy noted my presence in the Wii section, and said they had Wii Fit in, if I was interested. He said it's the first time they've had any in stock in months, and no one had asked about them yet !

Ooch. Yeah, I was interested. But it's $90., and it doesn't come with a guarantee that I'll actually use it to get the exercise my ole flabby butt needs. I mean, my track record with video games of any sort isn't the greatest. Beloved Hubby, when home for lunch, told me it was my call - if I wanted it, it was mine. (sigh)

Well, we went to get it right after he finished eating. And I LOVE IT !! I only managed about 35 minutes of exercise split between this afternoon and tonight, and my Yoga was horrible. I had no idea my balance was so off, and I could barely keep my leg up for 45 seconds. But it was fun, and I rule at the Hula Hoop game. Beloved totally stomps me at Ski Jump. We're nearly equal at Yoga, though.

Yes, it's embarrassing and a bit humiliating how it informs me that I'm obese. I wish it didn't do that every time I do a body test - it's not like I'm gonna not be obese from one day, or even one month, to the next. But it's nothing I didn't already know. And my ‘Wii Fit Age' is also a bit off - it says I'm 49 ! But I can work on that. I got nice and sweaty, and wheezed a bit, but I never got winded, since I was always in control of how intense a workout I did. So I feel good about getting a small workout, and I want to do it again tomorrow !

Even the rest of the afternoon went well, too. Returning home after driving Dearest Son to his weekend with his grandparents', I decided to hit a well-signed yard sale in their city. Jackpot ! I found a black garbage bag about 1/5 full of Barbie - dolls, clothes, furniture. Looked to be mostly from the mid 90s. Also found a wooden red star with a picture hanger on the back, and a bunch of wired organza wrapped into tube shapes. I had no idea what the tubes were for, but the colors were amazing ! There were also golden tassels on matching ropes in the package, so I guess it's a decoration. So I asked what they wanted for all these treasures - $5. ! Whoo-hoo !

Haven't had much of a chance to go through it all, but I got a ton of white plastic ‘wicker' design furniture. Not the slide-out chair and sofa that made a bed or divan that came out in the late 80s - I already have that. Heck, I had that in the late 80s, my Lisa Hayes doll lounged in my Army locker in the chair. I didn't know if her legs bent, and she meant too much to me to potentially break trying. So the divan chair was perfect for her ! Nope, I have no idea when this furniture came out, but it's nice. There's also a lot of clothes, most of which need a bath or a mend, often both.

I know it's silly, but I actually like it when Mattel-made clothes need a bit of repair. It makes them more ‘mine' than buying them new ever would. Just wish my hand-sewing wasn't so lousy.

*This is why I had the strength to type the entries but not actually enter them here. This one is on our fourth try and that's after a computer and modem restart. When I can't breathe, I just don't have the power to fight with Tripod... and I start wondering why I pay them...

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 5:43 PM CDT

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Still not quite up to speed, even my snail's pace, yet, but I got to sleep a bit extra and got out of the house to run errands. Returned Enchanted Journey, the DPrincess game, to Hastings, and brought our copy of Cars along. For $1.99, they'll give your malfunctioning disc a spin on their skip doctor, and our Cars died fairly early, considering we bought it new the first day it was out. Since one scratch remained, the Hastings staff didn't want to charge me for the spin, just in case it still malfunctioned. Well, I know where to go to replace it if it doesn't !

Looked around a bit, but didn't find anything I wanted. Had some time before I had to be home for the bus, so I skipped over to Hobby Lobby, located across the street. First stop, always, is the markdown wall. Found a black strap bracelet that'd make a good belt for Elphie - in fact, I've been waiting for them to be marked down. It's basically a watch strap without a watch, designed for charms and such. At $5., it was too expensive, but I'd swing $1.43. May go back for the white one.

While I'm not much into scrapbooking - I got it out of my system in the mid 80s, when it wasn't popular, thank Everything ! - lots of their tools and pieces come in handy for dolls and other stuff I like. Buttons, brads, paper for diorama walls, fun stickers, etc. If tomorrow's yard sales disappoint, I may go ahead and pick up that dress form rubber stamp, while it's on 50% off. It'll still be $4., though, those things are pricey ! If I was still into it, I'd be even more broke than I already am !

Anyway, since about half of HLobby's store stock is somehow tied to scrapbooks, I end up in those aisles anyway, lookin' around. Found a sheet of paper featuring a wedding gown on a dress form, with little hearts on a pastel pink background. Since papers were also on half-price, I snagged one for 30c. I'm thinking of customizing the closet light switch panel with it, and maybe some freestyle painting. I'd use some of my tons of fabric, but I worry about the material catching a spark and causing a fire, so I haven't.

Nothing new in fabrics, either. I'm considering several projects, and wondering... Hancock Fabrics has Simplicity patterns on sale for $2. this weekend. And there's at least three that I want, including an awesome witch costume - yes, they now have plus-size costume patterns ! Now, Hancock and Hobby Lobby frequently have Simplicity sales for 99c. I'm wondering if I should just go ahead and get those three now, or wait for the next 99c sale. It'll be a couple weeks before I'm ready to start anything with ‘em anyway...

Found something interesting in the fabric section, though. Blue acetate - basically, thin plastic used for quilting template pieces. It'd been marked down from $1.99 to 71c. I snagged a sheet - it'll come in handy for my pattern pieces, especially if I'm gonna make several of something. Like t-shirts. Dearest has already decided that it'll make a good ‘lake' for his car, train, and Lego play. So I know I'm heading back there tomorrow. Two or three sheets should be plenty.

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 5:43 PM CDT

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Today began badly. Neither Beloved Hubby or I could wake Dearest Son this morning. He was simply unresponsive...just like he is after a seizure. Oh, &^%*. We let him rest, and monitored him, called the bus and school and told them he wouldn't be in today.

Nearly two hours later, he woke, a little disoriented, but wondering if it was a school day. When assured that it was, he got upset because he didn't want to miss library day ! I'm not kidding, he wanted to go to school. So, we got cleaned up, had breakfast, and I drove him, an hour late, but in plenty of time for the library. The rest of the class was at PE (Physical Education), his most hated subject, so he chose to relax in the classroom instead. And I had the chance to tell his teacher what she needed to know, just in case. He had an uneventful day, but was tired again this afternoon. He lay down about 4:30, and he's still asleep as I write this, at almost 11pm. Not unusual, but still a concern.

I confess, I spent most of my day asleep. I was on heavy steroids - the inhalers - for most of last week, so got very little sleep. Without the speed fix, I crashed hard. Even Beloved Hubby seemed wiped out, and he's been in bed since he got home. I'm starting to wonder about the well water here...

Got the living room de-trashed, and I've mostly been here in the Lab, puttering. I confess, out of slight boredom, I trawled eBay for a bit, mostly looking at LDPs. I have gotta get off my butt and sew already !

Few weeks ago, I bought an odd costume or something...it was dark mossy green, sort of between felt and no-wale corduroy in texture, with silver glitter-dot sleeves and flare panels at the bottom of the skirt, with some braid trim at the empire waist. It also has a teardrop shaped piece of silver glitter-dot attached to one shoulder. It's kid sized, but I have no idea what it's supposed to be. That over-the-shoulder piece just throws me every time I look at it. At least it won't bug me too much longer - it's my waiting-for-the-bus project now. Slowly but surely, I'm taking it apart for the fabric. It was at Community Thrift, on the dollar rack, but I stuffed it with a few other pieces during ‘stuff a bag for a buck' Thursday.

It's clearly home-sewn, but nicely serged. I hate to take stuff apart when someone could have used it intact, but for it to be on the rack when I got it means it'd been there for a while. Stuff's normally on the racks for at least two or three months before it gets shifted over to the markdown one. And it hung there from Friday ‘til Thursday before I got it. But sometimes I still feel bad when I take useful garments apart.

Oh, and I took your advice about the Wii. While it's nice that Beloved and Dearest can play and win while moving their wrists a fraction of an inch, I like to move around. So I'm gonna play my way, now that I have solo time. Rented a Disney Princess game, Enchanted Journey last week, too. Only had time to play it today, and it has to go back tomorrow. But that's OK. Mal-Wart has it for $20. new, and I probably will buy it, just for kicks. It's silly, and very easy, but I had fun playing it. Reminds me of this little hand-held Tiger Electronics Beauty and the Beast LCD game I got as a joke one Christmas. If ya turned it on and left it alone, it won against itself, every time. Ended up donating it, because I couldn't do as well !

90% of the Enchanted Journey's appeal is that you design your own princess player. You know mine looks like me. Amused the heck out of Dearest. He says that, if we buy it, he wants to play. He'll probably get bored - he can play most of the Indiana Jones Lego game on his own, and it's pretty tough - but there's a two-player option, so that'll be fun.

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 5:43 PM CDT

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Today was…interesting. A few weeks ago, a stranger knocked on our door, asking about the white sedan we had sitting around the front yard. Frankly, it’s been sitting since we moved here last year. We’d intended to fix it, but never did, and our intentions have since slid to ‘paying someone to haul it off eventually’, something we talked about doing but hadn’t yet.

Well, this visiting stranger had a rough year, and was wondering if we were interested in letting it go, or at least, selling it cheap. I told him he could have it, clear title and all, if he could get it out of here. That was over a month ago, and we hadn’t seen him in two weeks. I’d since pulled up the Craigslist.org number of a ‘we’ll come get it’ wrecker service, but again, time slid away… until today, here he was. A wrecker would be here within the hour to haul the white car away. He still had the keys I’d given him, and it’d get dropped off at his new place, so he could work on it. Fine with me !

And, just like that, the car’s gone. Dearest Son avidly watched the wrecker work, and couldn’t wait to go outside and examine the newly empty space. I wish that guy luck, and hope this turns things around for him, at least a little. He wouldn’t even let me give him a soda, just needed to use the phone once.

Did laundry today – it never ends, especially when ya don’t do any the week prior ! Got the flea market 80s Barbie clothes washed up, and they all came out nearly new. They were rather dusty when I bought ‘em. Couple weeks ago, I bought a nice Disney Princess lunchbox at a yard sale, and was kinda mad at myself. Even though it was only a quarter, I’d neglected to notice that three sides were brown with dirt, instead of lavender. Otherwise, it was a nice little case. Stumbled over it while I was sorting clothes, and decided to toss it in with some whites.

Surprisingly, the mud/dirt washed completely out, and it looks nearly new. I now have three DP soft-side lunchboxes. One holds doll accessories, another stores empty thread spools. Not sure what I’ll do with this one. Truth be told, I bought it because one I liked at GoodWill was $3. – for just the case. Too much. I hit the yard sale on the way home, and here’s a similar one for only a quarter…. OK. Still not sure what I’m gonna do with it, but I can’t resist storage pieces of any sort when they’re just a buck or so. Oddly, I just love boxes, bags, cases, and organizers, and will look at any new or used, although I may be the least organized person on the planet

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 5:43 PM CDT

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Current Mood : Jubilant

Current Image Notes : Bus-watching view, some days.

Whoo. Busy day. Made busier by the fact that I took an unexpected two-hour nap on the sofa ! Aarrgh ! But I got the grocery shopping and a quick run into Community Thrift just the same, so it worked out. Nothin' new at Community, except for lots more Happy Meal bits in the ‘small toys grab bags' display. Only counted four Kelly dolls this time. There was a nice rag-top Barbie car for $4., but I already own a fleet !

We've been looking at a new camera for Dearest Son. You may remember that I dropped and partially broke our 2002 digital in 2006. It still mostly worked, so when we bought a new one, Dearest got the old one. He really enjoyed having his own digital camera, and took photos by the memory-card-full load, and he bragged about it a bit. It was kind of a big thing to him, especially when very few of his classmates had any kind of camera at all. Last month, it stopped working completely. He didn't break it, it just didn't take pictures anymore.

And you know technology. You can't get a cheap ‘last year's' camera, or one from five years ago for, say $30. Nope. Only cameras out there are the latest and greatest, and the prices remain at about $100. - $200. for your ‘basic' models. Beloved Hubby bought his camera late last year, and it had 50% more megapixels over mine, bought about a year and a couple months earlier. The ones we were looking at now, on the cheap side of the spectrum, have almost twice what mine does, and it's still about $125. Which is a bit less than what we paid for the original Olympus in 2002 - and it had a whoppin' big 1.8 megapixels. Yeah, we've always been on the shallow (i.e., cheaper) end of the technological pool...

Today, we found Dearest's new camera. And he is in love. It's rechargeable - no more batteries to buy ! - and so thin and in the most beautiful shade of blue. Also bought a memory card - 2mb - but that went to my camera, Dearest got the older 1mb card.

Even with new memory, it was a bit cheaper than expected, so Beloved bought me a tripod ! I love it ! It's like having a whole new camera ! The legs telescope out twice over, the center point winds up and down, the head swivels and has one of those grip poles to move it -  I feel so professional ! It even has a bubble level on the side, just under where the camera goes ! Wow ! Hard to believe it was just $20. I almost bought one at a thrift store for $8., and now I know it was missing the connector part. It's probably still attached to someone's camera somewhere. I know I'm leaving this one attached to mine. It just snaps on and off with a little lever if I do, otherwise I'd have to screw it on and off each time. So coooool !

I'm gonna make a little tripod carrying case - just a cloth bag, with a foldover Velcro ^TM closure, and a shoulder strap. I can use the bag inside the box it came in, as a pattern ! Beloved thought of that. Today's front yard image is from my camera on the new tripod. I really love it.

Once in for the day, I got all the images updated. I admit, several are from Google Image Search, but most are mine. They go all the way back to August 7, so ya may wanna hit the ‘older' button for ‘em, in case you're bored.

I'm about wiped out. So if it's OK with ya'll, I'll chat more tomorrow, answer your queries then. Proud of you for sewing, Manda, and thanks for your kind words, Michelle ! Hope everyone had a great Monday !

Posted by dorriebelle at 9:18 PM CDT

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 5:42 PM CDT

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Current Mood : Happy

Current Image Notes : Here's my version of the cube rack, full of bundles of fabric ! (happy sigh)

Poor Dearest Son ! I have the September snack calendar up on the fridge, and he thought Monday was Labor Day, which reads ‘Day Off'. I hated to break it to him that it was still a week away.

Otherwise, we had a mostly quiet day here at Chez Insanity. I got the latest navy and white star fabric cheap-serged without incident, even though I couldn't tell the flat edge of the needle by either sight or touch. Darn cheap needles. Ended up looking at the good needle I used for heavy sewing, with a really defined flat edge, and noting that the deep thread channel went to the front, and did it that way. Nice to know I have that to help. Think I'll stick to Schmetz when these are gone.

Also sewed up a bag from some rags, and used it to wash the doll clothes I bought Friday. Unfortunately, the drawstring came open sometime during the washing machine's cycle, but the clothes came out nice anyway. Even Wedding Midge's veil is sparkling and white again. I dressed my Bubblecut Barbie in an 80s sheath dress - white with purple polka dots, with a purple/white stripe peplum and sleeves. Looks great on her. Most Barbie fans hate dressing 60s dolls in anything other than 60s clothes, but I say, if it fits, who cares, wear it !

Brushed out the tangled tresses of the Barbie I bought at the Friday yard sale, too. Normally I'm kinda disinterested in the ones with waist-length platinum hair, but there's something about this one. She looks so happy, so healthy. So she's probably staying.

Also sewed a button on the shirt I bought Dearest Saturday. Knew it was missing before I bought it, but also found where the factory attached spares. And ya can't complain much when yer payin' 25c for a nice shirt. I had the hand-needles and thread out anyway. Seems like the older I get, the scratchier clothing tags are, so I had two to remove. I'm sure it saves a step in the shirt's construction, but I hate taking a collar halfway apart to remove a sandpaper tag. My hand-stitching is as bad as ever, but anyone close enough to my neck to see it really should introduce themselves. It's only polite, after all. Glad all my new blouses are tag-free. 

I have a small drawer full of shirt tags. Some are really neat, others are colorful, and I intend to use ‘em as logos on doll shirts. Just have to make the shirts first !

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 5:42 PM CDT

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Current Mood : Industrious !

Current Image Notes : This is the book I ordered - it's here, but I'm too busy to read it ! 

Not sure what got into me this morning. After Beloved Hubby left for class and work, I'd intended to sort out that last box of fabric for a bit, then head out to the thrift stores I haven't hit in over a week now. My breathing's a lot better, and I actually slept for several hours in a row last night. Yeah, I need to do housework, but I felt like celebrating ! I could always roll and tie the bundles later, like when I was waiting for Dearest's school bus.

Ended up sorting and rolling up the whole thing. Instead of a minor diversion for an hour or so, I sat there for nearly four hours, matching, bundling, folding and rolling. Amazingly, there were only three scraps that belonged with the stuff I rolled up yesterday, and the laundry baskets - yeah, it takes two of ‘em to hold it all, darn it ! - made it easy to find a specific bit, thanks to the vent holes. Something I wanted to remember when I had time and money to hunt for better storage. Like so many other things in my life, I didn't realize how much having it scattered everywhere was annoying me until it was solved. But it was all sorted and stored, at least temporarily...

Had a few errands to run, so I wolfed a quick lunch and hit the road. Part of what I needed was at Dollar Tree, so I got to look around. Found a package of eight small silver star wands, and you know I bought ‘em. Gave one to Beloved, and he added it to the silk flower arrangement he keeps on his desk. Dearest Son was unimpressed.

GoodWill was a total wash-out. I mean, they didn't have jack. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that their shelves are wan during yard sale season, but this was just plain sad. Besides, most folks donate their post-sale leftovers, so you'd think there'd be lotsa stuff at GWill, but nope.

Hit a few yard sales, because today, they were out in force ! Snagged a nice shirt for Dearest, a package of nice dressmaker pins, a half yard of navy with white stars fabric, a 2003 Happy Meal Sleeping Beauty crown, a 1999 Working Woman Barbie Happy Meal doll and pink computer, and a Ken doll keychain, all still in the packages. And all for a quarter each ! Score !

Also a kids' hanging plastic cube organizer, three cubes for a quarter each. They're a bit smaller than milk crates, with blue ‘grid' sides, red ‘S'-shaped hook-snaps to hold the pieces together (really, you could make any size/shape you wanted, if you had enough pieces ), a small yellow rail to keep things inside, and red hangers. Cool ! I'd been looking for a way to store all this rolled up fabric - about $6. worth of yard sale finds - without spending $10. to do it. I'd just keep it all in the laundry baskets, but they don't stack very well. I figured it'd all fit in two - and it did ! - but I wanted the third for extra hook-snaps and box bottoms. Got it all loaded and arranged, and the leftover pieces made a fun three-sided ‘cage' for the kittens to play in. My thumbs still hurt a bit, because those snap-hooks fit and grip tight.

Can't find it anywhere but a British site, but it looks like this, but blue, with red hangers and snap-hooks.

http://s7ondemand4.scene7.com/s7ondemand/zoom/flasht_zoom.jsp?company=MarvellousGroup&sku=81486_81485_BDL&zoomheight=550

While I have it all loaded up already, I'm still trying to decide if I want to leave it as a random dump, or arrange it. And if I arrange it, how so? Solid/Prints ? Knits/Wovens ? Pastels/Darks ? Sheesh. All that going on, I'll probably just leave it as is. More fun to dig through that way !

And the fabric's done. I have about six different weights, types, and styles of black fabric. I should never have to buy it again. There's a small bundle of cheep people clothes to be picked apart yet - which is also fun while waiting for the bus, now that I don't have to roll fabric or untangle yarn anymore. I'll probably toss them into the box our books came in (yaaay, those arrived today instead of Monday ! ) and keep ‘em outside in the car, for easy access. I also got the last yardages folded and stored. Most of these I bought cheap at yard sales past, too - but they're bigger pieces, for ‘me' clothes. I'm about at max capacity for fabric. Gotta get sewing, so I'll have some space ! I think the first thing is a small drawstring bag, so I can toss these new-to-me Barbie clothes in the wash. And then cheap-serging the navy-and-white-star fabric I got today !

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 5:42 PM CDT

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Current Mood : Pleased

Current Image Notes : The best of today's yard sale and Hancock Fabrics' booty !

With Dearest Son back in school, many of my old habits come back into play. Namely, the Friday yard-sale trawl ! Unfortunately, my asthma's still kicking up, so I couldn't do much, but I had fun !

Turned out that, even with ‘free yard sale weekend', there really wasn't much out anyway. Got some comically large buttons at one sale - I fully intend to make a blouse and use them. I've seen so many doll blouses with huge buttons on ‘em (and, really, availability of doll-scale buttons is a matter of luck and demand no matter what year it is), I kinda want one for m'self.

The Flea Market was on ‘garage sale', so some of my fave dealers weren't there, but some other folks were. Got a big handful of 80s Barbie clothes for a buck, and after a quick spin in the laundry, they'll be great, both for keeps and for donated dolls.

Met a seller with some old dolls. She wanted $100. for an old, but not unique, Barbie case with a Bubblecut in worse shape than mine - no legs ! - a brunette Scooter, and a Francie, and a couple of mom-made outfits. Um, good luck with that. She also had a pretty brunette TNT, but again, just not worth $50. in that shape. Nice to chat with her, and for once, I kept my mouth shut about her dolls. If it matters to her, she'll do the research and find out on her own. If not, me telling her isn't gonna change anything and will probably just cheese her off. She told me how much her children's partners adore her, and always say what a great MIL she is. Yeah, I was not gonna start nothin' with her, it could only end badly.

Hit Hancock Fabrics after two sales that didn't have much, and secured the McCall's patterns for a wardrobe I liked - dress, two light jackets, pants, blouse - and the one for Dearest's karate gear. Hancock's getting sneaky. Cross town, Hobby Lobby had McCall's patterns for 99c each. So did Hancock's, but they required a fabric purchase for theirs. So I got a half yard each of half-price ‘Bodre' knit fabric, in dark blue and a luscious green. I'd been wanting some of that green for a while, and the blue was just too beautiful to not get just a little bit from. Sometimes I think I love to surround myself with beautiful fabric, in hopes it'll make me pretty, too !

Next sale was a washout, but the one afterwards was good. Got a couple goodies for Beloved, and a pretty blonde Barbie, mostly for her dress. Mattel made the dress in both pink and blue, and I got it into my head that I ‘needed' a blue one several years ago, probably a year after it was off the Fashion Avenue slate. Drove myself crazy looking for it. Eventually, I found one on eBay, in a lot with an identical pink one and all was well. And, about a decade later, here's another one. So of course I bought it. I now have two pink ones and two blue ones, and I'm ready for a doll wedding anytime ! Thing is, the doll is just lovely, and the blue suits her so well...

Ah, found it. They're both ‘Matching Styles' FA sets for Barbie and Kelly. The pink set is from 1996, the blue set came out the following year. Hard to believe it really has been a decade since those were on store shelves. If you ever need a Fashion Avenue reference, please allow me to recommend http://home.comcast.net/~fashionave/. Felicity's done a wonderful job organizing and displaying all those great Barbie outfits !

Came home in time for a nap - my sleep's still messed up - or lunch, so I took the nap. Then Dearest was home, and it was time to help him pack for Granny and Granddad's. He left shortly after that, and I knew Beloved Hubby had Aikido class, so I had a nice, long evening to myself. What to do... I knew I wasn't up to sewing, but I felt well-rested.

So I grabbed that VHS copy of Cinderella 2 I bought a couple weeks ago at another yard sale, the basket of fabric that needed to be bundled, and some yarn, and headed to the only working VHS player in the house, in Dearest's room. Nuked some leftovers, snagged the scissors, added a soda. I like to make the most of ‘me' time.

Cinderella 2 has its faults - they really ‘Belleified' good ole Cindy - and the stories were rather thin and depended a lot on sequences from the original film. By that, I mean, the same exact sequence from the original appears in C2, just freshly re-animated. F'r instance, the mice make a book, using scissors, needle, and thread. Most of the ‘Making Cinderelly's Dress' set piece from the 1959 film is called in to play, including the scissor-riding, near-tail-snipping part, it's just other mice doing most of it, because Jaq and Gus are shown elsewhere. There's several other pieces like that, and numerous ‘call backs' to Little Mermaid (especially in the third and final story) and Beauty and the Beast.

There's a few mildly annoying songs, but the music mostly evokes via background tracks of familiar melodies from the original film rather than attempt straight-out musical. "An Uncommon Romance", the final story, has a rather nice song, "Follow Your Heart", that has a good message for any young lady. Anastasia - the redhead stepsister - is helped out by Cindy and the gang when she decides to further her forbidden romance with the village baker. I guess it's no surprise that she ends up looking a lot like Ariel, and several of her dancing sequences evoke the ballroom pieces in Beauty and the Beast. This was the best of the three. ‘A Tall Tail' involves mouse Jaq wishing to be human to help Cindy, and yes, it is as flat and thin as it sounds. New character PomPom, a feline nearly identical to the Stepmother's cat Lucifer, just white and supposedly female, is used heavily, which didn't help. It's easy to declare ‘Tail' as the weakest of the three. "Aim To Please", the first story, is OK, deals with doing things your way, always nice if you're a mostly-self-confident princess. At least, I thought so, but I was rolling fabric at the time.

By the time the movie was over, I'd finished my late lunch, and the first basket of fabric was bundled up. So I got the basket I wanted to store the bundles in - it was already overflowing with loose material - and dumped it out, started rolling all that up. Also got an old Mystery Science Theater 3000 tape to watch. Sidehackers, always a favorite. About half way through that episode, the rest of the fabric was all bundled. I decided to use yarn to tie the bundles up, because I didn't know if the red ribbon I had would transfer onto the fabric. On darker colors, it didn't matter much, but I needed something else for all that pastel. I'd been hoping to find some curling ribbon at the yard sales, but didn't, and Hancock's doesn't carry it, and hey, we already had yarn ! I just wish I'd gotten to it before the kittens did. Ah, well, I needed to untangle it anyway.

Was trekking everything back to the Lab when Beloved Hubby came home. It was kind of late, so we ordered Chinese and watched an old DVD of Jackie Chan movies we'd bought years ago - a triple feature of really bad Hong Kong cinema. Even the prints used for the DVD were scratched, torn, and blurry. Great to use for your own MST3K, though.

And I only have one box of fabric left to bundle ! Finally, I got something done this summer !

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 5:42 PM CDT

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Current Mood: Hopeful

Current Image Notes : Yaay ! There is one !  

Steam-burned my left fingers while heating up leftovers for lunch. I knew there was normally a reason I never use cling-plastic wrap ! I'm having to type a bit, then soak my hand in an ice-cube rag, so forgive me if this jumps around a lot. Can't stand one-hand typing. Takes too long !

And, as you probably noticed, I did a massive update dump yesterday. Believe it or not, I normally write this every day - the hold-up that invariably leads to a week's worth of entries being added in one day is the picture. I know my words aren't worth much, so I like for ya to at least have something nice to look at ! With all the rain we've had, all my photos look like crap, and I want to re-take them... but it's still dark, and more rain is expected.

My breathing's a lot better today. Beloved Hubby insisted that we close all the doors and windows and turn on the air conditioning, even though it was nice enough to leave it off a few more days. Within an hour, my wheezing had cleared up considerably, and I didn't need the inhaler much at all. I keep forgetting how much the a/c dries the air out in here...

Still waiting on my new book to arrive Monday or so. Saw Fabric Leftovers : Simple, Adaptable Ways to Use Up Scraps as an Amazon.com recommendation, and it looked interesting, but even the ‘Look Inside' feature didn't tell me enough. So when I saw it at Hastings last weekend, I eagerly went through it, and liked what I saw. Truth be told, I cold probably have sat with it in my lap for a half-hour and learned what I needed to, without buying the book, but sometimes it's nice to have a new book for ideas. However, as mentioned on Saturday's entry, $27. was a bit much, especially since there was an Amazon seller who had it for $13., and it'd be eligible for free shipping once my order totaled $25. Beloved Hubby was willing to buy it for me on the spot, but it seemed ridiculously expensive.

So we each ordered a book via Amazon, and together they totaled less than the Fabric Leftovers book did on its own. I just hate that it didn't ship until three days after we ordered it. I'm so impatient !

In the doll world, I'm having second thoughts about dyeing the second ‘Cinderelly's Surprise' doll's pink and white dress. Sure, I'd love it if the pink turned brown and the white turned green, but according to quick research on Google, dyeing polyester's nearly impossible outside of a lab. I don't know how accurate that is, so I'm going through all this blasted fabric I've obtained this summer - more on that in the next paragraph - looking for similar material I can test on. I even have some dye ready to go, so this may actually happen tomorrow. I just have to focus, since the flea market's in town and this weekend is ‘Free Yard Sale' here, which means there's a sale ever 100 feet, all weekend.

(sigh) And on the subject of all this fabric, I've finally gotten tired of tripping on it and having it scattered in two rooms. Long time ago, Carol (of Perestroika.ca fame) gave me some luxe fabric pieces that'd been cleverly wrapped into small bundles, tied round with a nylon curling ribbon. Strung on the ribbon was a notecard detailing the piece's dimensions. She'd obtained the fabrics from a store that way. I really liked it, and since some of my fabric from this year's yard sale excesses is a bunch of small pieces, it'd be about the best way to organize and display it. Right now, dumping a bunch of fabrics into a box or laundry basket just ensures that the big loose pieces cover up all the small ones, and I can only see a fraction of it. The measurements don't concern me, and will just take up time, but bundling it up and tying it off might be fun while I'm waiting for the bus. And it's gotta be better than the mess I have now.

And I'll get to dig around fun bundles of fabric ! (happy sigh)

Posted by dorriebelle at 9:24 PM CDT

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 5:41 PM CDT

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