Mood:  celebratory

Man, I hate it when I disappear for a few days. Each day makes it harder to come back, and I feel like I'm abandoning friends !

But I'm sure you know how it is around Christmas. Beloved Hubby's been home all week, which limits my computer time, and with all of Dearest Son's parties and such, I just got m'self exhausted. No doll time, or even me time, in days, so I'm tense and touchy. 

So forgive me when I say, with relief and real joy, 'It's all over !!". Got the tree up (on a file cabinet, floor space is limited of late) on the 22nd. Found a huge haul of misc. Lego at GoodWill on the 23rd, and bought it up, plus a plastic storage box. It was a great deal, but I have a whole dollar left ! :) Was up 'til 2 am wrapping presents, and that's mostly because Son couldn't sleep until after midnight. Each time I'd start, he'd pop up awake !

But he loved everything, and true to form, the 'Most Beloved' is a Herbie Beetle I bought at a flea marketer's 'Collector Cars' booth for $6. back in September. He managed to sleep with darn near everything in bed with him tonight, except the Lego box and the 'Radiator Springs Mountain Challenge Race Set', which silly me forgot to get batteries for. And I knew it needed 'em, too. Lego and the racetrack were a few feet away on the floor. He even liked the Cars pillow and pillowcase I made him. 

Dinner with family was nice, but it got political, and, well, it happens. I pled animal allergies and we scooted. I have a head fulla cotton right now, but decided to sew something simple anyway. Just to relax. 

Long time ago, I bought this doll clothes pattern book, simply titled Dolls' Clothes Pattern Book, by Roselyn Gadia-Smitley. I'm glad I only paid $2. to the used bookstore for it, because it's not good. You can kinda tell how I feel about a doll pattern if I never scanned it, and this book has never known the touch of our overworked Lexmark PrinTrio. Poorly organized, kludgy directions, and most of the patterns are for gowns that have a seam right down the middle front of the skirt. This is easily avoided, but I guess Ms. G-S was trying to keep it simple.

Several pages of mine are missing, not that it'd make much of a difference. As mentioned, the organization is non-existant, and there's not much of an index. Out of a weird kind of cotton-headed boredom, I created a cross-reference for it, and got a closer look at the contents. Not that I was suddenly amazed by the patterns, if anything, I was even less impressed, but what the heck. Ya do weird things when the cotton is thick. 

The bulk of the book is Barbie patterns, and while there's color photos of her dolls wearing her creations, she coyly states that the patterns are for '12 inch Lady type doll'. Umm...I'm not sure if she's trying to side-step copyright law, but it seems to me that 'Famous 11.5" Fashion Doll' would be more accurate. Especially since those are actual Barbie dolls, not clones or knockoffs, in the photos. To me, '12 inch Lady doll' is one of those 50s-era Revlon girls.

Whole book is like that. A good chunk of the book's remaining patterns are for Cabbage Patch Kids, which get renamed '15 inch baby-type cloth-body doll'. Or just '15 inch baby-type doll', guess she got tired of typing all that about six patterns in. Of course, real trademarked CPKs are wearing the evening gowns and track suits in the photos.

The rest are '16 inch girl doll', '16 inch lady doll', '16 inch baby doll'. And since there's only a few pages of photos, you'll have no idea who these fit. Ya gotta take the time to sew 'em to know. (sigh) It would have at least been a bit easier to use the book if all the Barbie patterns were in one section, the CPKs in another, etc, but again, no organization. While they are lumped together, they're in several sections of the book instead of all together. 

The book's previous owner - I think I'm the third to own this, there's two pencilled prices on the flyleaf, neither of which I paid, and the notes are in two different hands - tried to organize it, too, but stuff marked 'Barbie' is instead for '12 inch Girl doll'. Can tell by the lack of darts and other markings that it'd fit Babs like a bag. Hence my cross-reference. I hope it helps the next owner...'cause I may be ditching it. 

You also kinda know the book's possibly not terribly good when the photos show that the clothes don't fit. Collars that float a half inch above the doll's neck, sleeves that would pinch if the doll wasn't soft-bodied, etc. There's a gown for Crissy - main reason I bought the book - that is photographed as hanging loosely with the sleeve about a half inch above her arm (sigh). Ironically, the pattern would put a seam in the front center of the skirt, but in the photo, that little problem's fixed. 

During the indexing, I found a simple dress for a Velvet-size doll, like the Mia I bought a few months ago. Two pattern pieces, simple, makes a replica of the dress the first issue Velvet wore. So, what the heck. I sewed it...and the armscryes are very tight, and the front doesn't lay flat along the doll's chest. Probably if I were to take out about a quarter to a half inch from the front and back, widen the armholes a bit...

Heck, why do I have to make all these adjustments to a pattern that should already fit ? It's not like I'm sewing for a person whose body naturally changes from day to day. It's a doll that hasn't changed since 1974 ! So, yeah, I'll probably ditch this one. It's kind of a shame, because I just got it organized !

Yet oddly, I'm more relaxed than I was a few hours ago... 

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CST

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Mood:  lazy

Really, that's about all I can say about today that isn't Mommy-gushing about Dearest Son's musical debut this afternoon. And I wanna spare you that - although his gramma would probably gush more than me !

So, if ya'll don't mind, I'm just gonna relax and go to bed early. Son's school party is tomorrow, and I'm helping. Wheee ! Hope your social calendar is more full (and more fun !) than mine !

But truly, I'm looking forward to Winter Break Thursday !I doubt I'll get to sew anything, but it'll be nice to not have to rush around so much in the morning. Sheesh, we haven't even put the darn tree up yet !  

Posted by dorriebelle at 9:27 PM CST

Updated: Tuesday, 19 December 2006 9:29 PM CST

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Mood:  crushed out

Mondays have to be my worst days to do anything doll-related. There's just no time. House is trashed from the weekend, there's groceries to buy and errands to run, and by the time Dearest Son and I are back from speech therapy, it's dinnertime.

Add Christmas to that, and it's amazing I get to sleep ! But while I didn't get to do anything fun with the dolls, I got a lot done. Made his therapist a candy jar with her name cross-stitched on it - an old craft of mine, cheap and easy - filled with holiday M&Ms. She loved it.

Wrestled with what to do for Son's teacher and aides. We'd already contributed to the class gift, and just today, I bought little holiday-themed prisms for the whole class, part of the party Wednesday. So with low funds and little imagination, I pondered. I honestly don't know the names of either of the aides, nor his teacher's first name, so the candy jars were out. Cutest sayings just aren't something I enjoy doing, so I don't. I thought to make those shoe pincushions - a tube of salt or sand inside a Lucite wedding favor shaped like a shoe, but that also seemed cheesy.

Then it hit me. Great-gramma gave us lots of this old porcelain dinnerware. We didn't use it much - it breaks easily - but a cup and saucer, with some cider packets and a few candies, wrapped up in a bow, would be cute. Even kept up with the rather mundane 'apple' theme teachers always have to suffer under every year. Heck, I remember one year, I actually gave my teacher dainty little lace-trimmed handkerchiefs. My folks' idea.

Anyway. We already have everything, too ! Even the cider, I'd stocked up when it went on sale. So that was done - all I had to do was wash 'em and wrap 'em up. It was like having a free evening, because I didn't have to craft anything.  Only problem is, I'm beat tired !

So I'm off to bed. Maybe there'll be some sewing done tomorrow... 

Posted by dorriebelle at 9:00 PM CST

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Mood:  a-ok

Today's is also kinda early, but a lot's gone on - and if there's one thing I learned during the snowstorm, it's "do it now !". Because once you miss one day, it's much easier to miss more - often a week or so.

So. Last night, I sewed the 'long pants' from Fashion Doll Clothes. They went together well, no problems at all. Fit is great ! This is probably the best pants pattern I have - although McCall's 4860 also fits beautifully, it's a lot more work. I did, however, take less of a hem at the cuffs. It should have been a half-inch, I took about 3/8ths. Minor, to be sure, but I hate it when dolls have 'floodwaters are rising !!' pants. And actually, it's about where I want 'em, but given my druthers, I'd like 'em just a twitch longer. So next time, I'll probably go with a quarter inch hem. Couldn't this time, as the fabric was not lending itself well to such a small fold.

I used a silver fabric I picked up at a yard sale, and it's more of a 'raw silk / matte' finish than the tinfoil-lookin' appearance it has here. It has tiny black 'nubs' in it, which is why I always use black thread. Wish the 'nubs' showed up better, it actually looks quite sophisticated 'in person' ! Fabric itself frays like mad, and if I don't liberally apply Fray-Check before I sew with it, I won't have anything left of the garment by the time the last seam is sewn. Wish I knew what it was, but for all I know, it's furnature lining. Dearest Son spilled red Kool-Ade on it, and it washed right off. Good stuff, if ya ask me !

The crotch-curve is about as good as it gets. They do slide quite far up her ankles when she sits, but they don't bunch up at her hips, or pull at the seams.  The fit would probably be smoother with a softer fabric, but I'm quite happy. These went together quickly - about a half hour, once I let the Fray-Check dry - and I didn't change a thing but the aforementioned hem. 

Her blouse is made from a carefully cut hair scrunchie from a three-pack at Dollar Tree. She also has a burgundy and a black one.  I used the 'sock' or 'peasant blouse' method presented on the main site to sew it. Basically, if I can sew a tube out of it, I'll probably end up making a doll a blouse from there ! 

And I'm slowly making my peace with 'Room With A View'. Elphie's shown next to her bed in it there. It's hard to enjoy something when you feel ripped off about it, but you don't wanna make trouble for a small company...i.e., yer ticked, but not ticked enough to start something. And I've had it for six months already, I might as well use and enjoy the thing, the money's spent ! :) Maybe I was expecting too much...but seeing pieces held together with snipped-short straight pins was not a reassurance of quality ! Anyway, I need to quit my sniping and use what I have, right ? Right !

I also made the 'basic corsage' from Fashion Doll Clothes last night. Now, to me, a corsage is a flower worn near one shoulder or the other, but Mrs. Ionker means 'strapless bodice'. Why she suddenly lapses into Old French by way of Middle English, I have no idea, but there it is. I should have known it was too small for her to have added seam allowances. And the pattern had no markings (like the 'cut one on fold' that should have been there ), and no indications of seam allowances...just a dotted line for a shorter-waisted doll fit. So I had to draw those myself - not a pain, really, but when she says she's already done that to the clothes...well, I guess her corsages don't count as clothes, or something, I don't bloody know. 

In any case, I did it, but I hate having to. There's a good chance something was lost in my translation, some curve I went too shallow or too high on. It's scanned, and ready for another trial, but I just don't want to mess with it right now.  

I think I'm gonna curl up with my DVD of MSTK's Santa Claus Conquers the Martians and this bag of Goldfish crackers. I deserve a lazy break ! 

Hope your day went well - and that your shopping's done ! Me, I still got stuff to make...(sigh) 

Posted by dorriebelle at 1:49 PM CST

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 9:50 AM CDT

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Mood:  spacey

Continuing the 'finish stuff up before year's end' trend, I finally got off my rear and scanned that stack of doll magazines. 38 new patterns, all cleaned, filed, and ready to use. It'll be a while before I want any new ones ! If I use half of 'em, it'll be a wonder, but sometimes, it's just nice to browse through the wealth of 'em all.

Following that, I burned a back-up set on CDs. Took five of 'em. Well, four and a quarter, so I backed up some writings and the Doll Photos file, too. Wow. Any way you look at it, five disks of info's a lot !

Heck, all that scanning took about six hours. I'd planned to just do half today, but I got so far, I decided to finish. Mostly so I could get it backed up safely. Our poor hard-drive's getting the microns beaten out of it, and the chip's severely taxed, between my scanning and Beloved Hubby's growing video collections. We'll need to upgrade fairly soon, but I'm good. My world just rides a little easier on its axis when all that stuff's backed up and done. 

Amazingly, that stack of 'to be scanned' fit neatly in the space I had for it. Still have a four-inch-tall stack of doll magazines I need to figure out. I hate to donate 'em, from all indications, dolls aren't real popular for adults around here. And some of these old Doll World ones are a gold-mine for sewists. But it'll probably cost $15. to ship 'em, even via media mail. One or two magazines are light. A stack this big has some real weight ! 

Also scanned two more patterns from Fashion Doll Clothing. May have time later tonight to sew. Kinda tired of sitting at the computer ! I got the strapless bodice (called a 'corsage' for some reason in the book) and the simple slacks, mostly to compare the fit with other pants patterns I already have. 

Oh, remember when I was whining about Room With A View ? Well, the other black curtain thingie fell over. I didn't break this one, but it did fall apart, so I got a good look at it. No wonder it kept coming apart. The d@mn thing's held together with straight pins ! (sigh) Yeah, I don't think I'll be buying anything more for my dolls. From anybody. My stuff may be screwed up, but at least I'll know what was used to build/make it !  

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:12 PM CST

Updated: Saturday, 16 December 2006 3:34 PM CST

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Mood:  on fire

I know I'm rather early writing today's before noon, but I had such a great experience last night, I just had to share...as soon as I got photos, that is !

Finally had time to sew another of the Fashion Doll Clothing dresses late last night. Well, around here, 8pm is kinda late to be starting a doll project ! One of the main reasons I bought the book is because it had some new-to-me techniques I wanted to try, and while it's fine they were on dresses, it wasn't really the dresses I was after. It was the skill I wanted to learn ! I honestly thought there'd be more directions than zipper history discussions, but now that we've discarded that little notion in the harsh, broad light of truth, we can continue on. There's no education like hands-on fumbling around, so that's what last night was. 

I used out-of-scale but good quality cotton weave fabric that originated from a thrift store grab-bag marked to half-price. Didn't bother to center the design, and demonstrated a parallel lack of caring about changing the thread from where I repaired Dearest Son's jacket a few hours prior. I knew darn good and well this'd be a 'how in the h#ll do I do this ?' effort, no way was I keeping it. So I could be slapdash and careless. 

I had the most fun sewing this ugly thing than I've had in months ! True, I was frustrated and confused at first, because the pattern has no directions and is fairly confusing to look at, but once I got a better handle on things, it was a gas. It was so nice to just not care about everything matching, being even, measuring precisely, on and on. I swear, I must approach every project as though it was going into a museum, which is a really laughable notion. I wish I could show you the pattern I used for Elphie's Ugliest Dress Ever, but I think I'm already stretching 'fair use' by using their photo of it here, for comparison.

Oh, what the heck. I want you to see what I  had to work with. Imagine finding this pattern - with a gray cut-up sloper scanned under it, which I removed from my scan, I'm even parsimonious with printer ink - and no directions at all. Frankly, while the finished item is a trainwreck, I'm amazed it looks as good as it does. So, in a tiny square at the bottom is a representation of the pattern. Can you figure it out ? Could be that I'm dense, it took me fifteen minutes to figure out how she got the yellow dress out of that pattern ! Here 'tis :

Yeah, in comparison, Elphie's dress doesn't look near as good as the author's. But I used a muslin, looks like she used a knit or wool. And I ended up with 'points' on each end of that curve that I ended up matching by folding 'em to meet and sewing a dinky button on top, to cover it up. I still haven't completely figured out how Mrs. Ionker did hers, but I guess that's why she's haute couture author and I'm a McRib and sweatpants. 

I think that's what's ticking me off the most about this book. Of the info Amazon.com has on it, 90% is what I wrote, and it's hard for anyone to justify whether or not to spend $17. plus shipping when they have no idea what they're getting. Mrs. Ionker takes two pages to reassure us of her couture pedigree, but I could have used some directions on some of the more detailed, involved outfits. I got more directions on how to sew pants, and anyone who's sewn more than one pair of doll slacks has about got that challenge met already. I know she's high-class sewing. I know I'm probably still a beginner compared to her. But I can't really recommend this book when she's left me hangin' in the breeze, trying to figure out stuff when she doesn't even have her own d@mn pattern marked correctly. 

Am I supposed to gather that front seam ? I did, didn't know how else to do it. Her special 'gather here' mark's nowhere on this pattern. Of course, she doesn't have even a 'this means gather from here to here' key, but I guess the couture don't need amateur hour stuff like that.

Of course, what I'm trying to figure out is this : If you have to be 'this skilled' to use this book, then you're skilled enough to not need it. The advanced among us could do this pattern drafting stuff themselves without Mrs. Ionker laying it out for 'em. Fashion Doll Clothing is simply too advanced for beginners to understand, and too basic for the truly advanced. And it leaves everyone else out, too, if you fall in between these extremes. Mrs. Ionker seems to believe that everyone either has her skill level or hasn't sewn a seam in their lives. So I have no idea who the h#ll this book is for. 

Probably me, as I like to get good and frustrated every so often. Something tells me I'm in for a wild ride as I try the next pattern ! 

PS - the photo of Elphie was taken with our new camera ! First image I've posted from it -doesn't she look amazing, even in her cruddy dress ? I love our camera..... 

Posted by dorriebelle at 11:06 AM CST

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 9:49 AM CDT

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Mood:  cool

Yup. His left eye-tooth came out tonight, with a little help from Beloved Hubby. They were both sooo brave. And Son is so cute with his now gap-toothed grin. He can't wait to show off to his friends at school tomorrow. He's already had a visit from the Tooth Fairy, who left a Fabulous Hudson Hawk (Cars character) under his pillow. 

The silver Fashion Doll Clothing dress has been repaired and is waiting for snaps to be added. Had to cut the sleeves, they tore getting pulled over Elphie's hands, even though I used the narrowest seam allowance I could. Pattern's just too tight. I also added scans of the real cover to the Amazon.com review site for it. Hoping to work on another pattern later today, maybe start my review. 

And the 1gig picture card arrived today ! Yaaay ! That's probably the last package of 2006 - I doubt we'll order anything before next year. I haven't bought any doll or sewing stuff at all this month, and I've made being 'doll self-sufficient' a goal for 2007. When I add up the stuff I bought and the stuff I got as gifts this year, it's a shade over $600. ! $50. or so a month, mostly a buck here, a big gift there. You'd think, for spending that much, I'd have a few dozen new dolls around, but really, there's only Mia and Aria. It's all doll stuff, patterns, and fabric !

Over 1/6 of that is that darn Room With A View. Only reason I haven't reviewed it is because I hate to say how badly I feel I got ripped off by it. It's made by a small company, and I know nothing I say affects what anybody buys, but... Two of the 'curtains' pieces arrived broken, another of the black flats never stood up straight, and came apart every time I touched it. One night it toppled over, I stepped on the thin, brittle plywood and broke it. For some reason, that made me d@mn happy. The fabric wall covering is fraying, and one wall is so bent, the cheap molding won't stay magnetically attached to it. I have to be careful photographing it, as it seems to be just barely over Elphie's head, and Fiyero has to be seated in any scene. On the whole, I'd have been better off buying a $15. foam-core triptych (presentation board) from Hobby Lobby and painting it m'self. If there was one regrettable purchase in '06, this was it. 

So I gotta not buy crap next year ! Gosh, I got enough to make darn near anything at this point ! 

Although I still love those little flats we got Aria ! :) 

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CST

Updated: Thursday, 14 December 2006 5:58 AM CST

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Mood:  happy

Stopped by the high-side of town Mart, and found the Fabulous Hudson Hawk Cars character. Whee ! Dearest Son only has a Doc Hudson Happy Meal car, and he loves this one's paint job. Score ! Still no Chick or King, but a quick peek at eBay shows the prices on 'em dropping rapidly. Last week, Chick went for as high as $30. plus shipping, now I find a selection of 'em for $5. with no bids. They want $10. to ship it though, idiots.

Still gonna try to find one local, but I'm not killing myself over it this time. For once, I'd like to see some eBay speculators get stuck with stuff they can't get their money for, unless they take it back to the store and get a refund ! There's a reason you can't find this stuff, and it's often due to eBay speculating...which strikes me as kind of sad when it's a child's $3.17 toy, this close to Christmas.

It occured to me that, if a family was so inclined, its members could go an entire day touching nothing but Cars licensed items. There's clothes and socks, toothbrushes, soap, towels, oven mitts, blankets, sheets, shower curtains, gloves, stationery, markers, pens, toys, on and on. I sometimes wish that I could see the $$$ numbers on licensing, not just the box-office receipts, on a film. 

Anyway...it's been a great day. Aria's shoes came in ! Everything fits, even though I ordered two sizes, 54mm and 58mm. The 54s were pairs of boots and sneakers, and they're wide on her, but the fit's fine. The 58s were ballerina flats, one pair white, the other black. I knew these would be narrower, so I went longer, and they fit absolutely perfectly.  What's kinda funny is, with these four, and the three pair of felt ones I made, she now has more shoes than several other dolls ! Those flats look soooo good, I find myself even more upset at Playmates for screwing her issue shoes up in the first place. 

She has all the basics now - and those dark brown boots are gonna look great with pants ! Can you believe I haven't made her a pair yet ? 

Also found out that Office Max is shipping our camera's 1 gigabyte photo memory card ! We ordered it back on the 24th of November, and I got word just today that it's shipping and we should have it by this time next week ! Wheee ! I'm really happy to not have to worry about that anymore ! 

Didn't get much doll stuff done today. Elphie came with while I did some minor shopping - I needed her to gauge where the snaps on her new green dress went. I tend to do the hand work while I wait for Dearest Son to get out of school. Tomorrow, I'll finish up the silver dress and start another, I wanna do my review for the site.

I don't even care who at Dollar Tree saw me with her or what they thought. I wasn't about to leave her in the car ! BTW, those larger tea sets that are more Tonner size are back in stock there. They had one pattern that tempted me - contemporary hearts in bold colors. But I don't use the floral one I bought a year ago. Still, it's just a buck... so I may return later this week.

Habitat for Humanity is doing a pick-up on Friday. So I'm going through all the toys in the house, especially mine. Disney Princess Cindy will hopefully find a nice new home, along with some clothes, and I'm ditching some more Barbie stuff. I should donate more, but I'm not giving up that 1972 FriendShip airplane without a fight ! Took me forever to find one with the grey-with-orange-stickers seats instead of the bright orange non-stickered ones. You know, like the one I had as a kid. I really should donate the castle - it spends most of its time here drying lingerie instead of being a play area. It's just that...it's a really good lingerie rack.

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CST

Updated: Wednesday, 13 December 2006 6:22 AM CST

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Mood:  a-ok

As the holidays grow nearer, it really does seem as though days get shorter. I'm all happy because I found two Cars Dearest Son doesn't yet have - Sheriff and Nitro-Ade Race Car - and I've about given up on finding The King and Chick Hicks. Guess I should have known when they were going for $20. each on eBay. Son already has a #43 Hot Wheels-type race car, and he uses that one all the time. Bonus - the red Play-Doh he wanted came in a pack with a great stocking-stuffer ! A little snowdome that will preserve a Play-Doh creation ! Cooool ! Man, four cans of Play-Doh and a neat toy for $1.67 ? I'm thrilled ! 

This Christmas, we're scaling back. The family's not exchanging gifts. We're gonna visit and eat and have fun together. Oh, Son has a decent haul awaiting him, but it's nowhere near what it was in years past, when he'd get tired of opening all his gifts with more still to go. I guess all parents end up facing the 'gimme monster', and this was our year. And as long as Cars makes Mattel and Pixar/Disney some money, I'm sure they'll still make the toys. His birthday's coming up, too.

Still, I do like it when I can do something neat for him. He got a Cars coloring book from his speech therapist (along with a Cars storybook and lots more treats !), and before he used it, I scanned the whole thing. Now we have a limitless coloring book ! You know, I think lots of parents must do that, especially when licensed coloring books are $5. for 64 pages ! Yikes. It didn't have stickers or watercolors attached, either. Just a regular coloring book about 1/3 the size of generic ones you'd find at Dollar Tree. Licensing...don't get me started. 

We did get our camera in, that Friday. At the time we ordered it, I was kinda titchy about the price, but now that I know some of what it can do, I think we got a real deal ! It's just amazing ! I'm still learning it, and I've only begun to scratch the depths of what it's capable of doing...but it's wonderful !! I've gotta sew something soon, just so I can post photos ! Just can't take many, because Office Max is taking for-darn-ever getting our photo memory card to us. &^%$.

Yeah, I haven't sewn much. For dolls, at least. Made Son a Cars pillow and pillowcase, fixed two shirts and a torn pair of sweatpants, hemmed a pair of slacks Aunt Sue gave me nearly three Christmasses ago. Got snaps sewn on everything but the two latest Fashion Doll Clothing book creations, even finished adapting that Harley Quinn costume so other dolls can wear it. Wasn't even that hard. Just had to do it all by hand. 

If there's one thing that approaching winter does to me, besides urging me to bake tons of cookies and stock the pantry to bursting, it's encouraging me to finish half-done projects. But it also leaves me too lacking in solar energy to start anything new !

I gotta get off my cold butt soon... 

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CST

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Mood:  bright

The snowstorm - and all the resulting ice - is long-gone. Not sure how it knocked out our DSL, but it did, and at least that's working again. Unfortunately for me, Beloved Hubby bought some video editing software, and once the computer was back up he was at it ! So I haven't had much time here.

It's been a busy week-and-a-half. I got my copy of Fashion Doll Clothing by Rosemarie Ionker in, sewed two dresses from it. I want to sew a few more before I do a full review for the site, but if you'd like my general impressions - and two photos of Elphie in her new clothes - I did a quick review for Amazon.com. Quick search for the book will take you right to the review. Hey, they asked. Nothing specific, but it was something I could do off-line until time and connections both went my way. 

I also got an offer to attend Toy Fair this year. (snort) Well, sort of. Some British toy manufacturer is under the impression I have lots of money and really want to invest it in them. And via e-mail, they want to give me every opportunity to do so. Spam, in other words. But they had my attention for a minute with that 'Please Join Us at Toy Fair 2007 !' subject line ! Naah, they just want my wallet to visit their booth. Still, the fantasy was fun for a few minutes ! 

The shoes I ordered for Aria aren't in yet. Ordered 'em 29 Nov., so I wrote. Turns out they've been closed since 24 Nov. for Thanksgiving, and just reopened. Too bad the site didn't say they were shut down for two of the busiest shopping weeks of the year ! Growlmutterb*tch... At least they're on their way, and it's not like Aria's been barefoot.

Speaking of Aria/Ariel, did you hear this one ? Some momma heard Shimmering Lights Ariel doll tell her daughter, 'You're a s!ut.".  Turns out, if the doll's speaking sequencer is pushed fast enough, the words garble, supposedly forming the charming accusation of the previous sentence.  ABC News bought one, and even knowing what I was supposed to hear failed to hear much beyond 'You're a <garbled burbled mess>.'

This happens every year. Just before Dearest Son was born, some righteous indignant heard a Po doll say 'f#ggot'. It was actually saying a word in Cantonese ("fi-dit", means 'faster') that the character had said and sung as part of the tubby lingo from the Teletubbies show for years without anyone noticing. 

But it happens every Christmas. Aside from the Barbie Liberation Organization's well known prank (switching voice boxes from Barbies and GI Joes and putting 'em back on shelves), it's a pretty safe bet Mattel and Hasbro and everybody else who makes toys wouldn't want this to deal with, and will do all it can to avoid a PR nightmare. And it's also obvious that people will always hear what they want to - and lots of us wanna be outraged about something.  

Here's a link to the ABC News story, and the video - so you can decide fer yerself - is linked on the left.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=2714761&page=1

Well, it's almost suppertime ! See ya tomorrow !  

Posted by dorriebelle at 6:15 PM CST

Updated: Monday, 11 December 2006 6:18 PM CST

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