Monthly Archives: October 2020

The End of October… already

Wow! This month has flown by! Do you agree? Tiny Amelia Thimble would like to say Happy Halloween to you! She hopes it is a fun and safe day for all trick-or-treaters. It will be a bit different for us this year. We will be putting candy in plastic bags and spreading them out on the driveway so everyone can stay safe–lots of space and only touching their own treat. Hope it works.

More about Amelia’s Halloween ensemble on this 2014 post.

This past week I finished up Alice’s ensemble so now all three of my Little Darlings are wearing new outfits. They don’t necessarily coordinate, but that’s okay; they are very excited to ALL have a chance to show you their new fall finery. Smiles and happiness all around; this trio doesn’t get many picture taking opportunities.

My three Little Darlings dressed for fall.

Yesterday evening I published a video, embroidering bullion roses. If you’d like to watch me embroider the two-rose motif on Alice’s pink sweater coat then this one is for you. 🙂 I’ve been wanting to show you this for a LONG time. Finally…

Let me know what you think, or if there is something I missed.

I think I forgot to mention this next video. In it I am trying to decide which fabric for Alice’s dress. I know I asked all of you–thank you so much for your suggestions. It’s so much fun for me to hear your opinions! As I looked back I saw that I had already used a couple of these fabrics for Little Darling dresses and one I even used twice. I ended up picking one I hadn’t used before for these dolls.

Today I am going to start knitting the hat which will be the first sample for the Little Darling Ear Flap Hat pattern. It’s a beautiful day, so I’ll definitely get out for a walk with the pup… and maybe do a little vacuuming. That will most likely take me to dinner time.

I wish you all a great weekend! Stay safe and enjoy! 🎃 Thank you for visiting with me today. 🧡 I’d love to know how your town is doing Halloween this year. Bye for now…

It’s the Week-End

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Hello to you. How are you? Thank you for all the well wishes. ❤ You are wonderful and kind! It turns out I have a little infection which was causing my elevated temperature. My doctor prescribed an antiobiotic and I am feeling better. What a relief! My heart goes out to all those who are battling covid. It’s sure is scary.

Mid week I started writing a knitting pattern for a Little Darling’s striped ear flap hat. I am going to include a video link with the pattern that will help with certain steps such as picking up stitches for the ear flaps, the i-cord ties, changing colors for the stripes, making jogless stripes, etc.

Here is my first test piece from my messy notebook. I am writing the pattern and will knit another hat from that to make sure it is all correct. The stripes can be changed in height to the knitter’s liking. I have a page in the pattern with a shaped graph for coloring. 🙂

Yesterday, I started embroidering the above pink sweater coat. I started taking some video embroidering the bullion roses. I recorded how I start–motif placement and motif design. Still more to do with this.

Today I published a You Tube video showing how I embroidered the apples on Lucy’s blue mohair cardigan. I must say that embroidering this sweater was more ripping out than stitching–not so much the apples, but the blossoms. Sometimes those little embroidery fairies aren’t available to help me. (lol) This video is only about embroidering the apples. Future videos will show embroidering other motifs.

So, that’s been my week work-wise since Wednesday or so.

wiMy husband had a birthday this week. My daughter and I managed to find some gifts to order for hime online… and they arrived in time. Always a plus! We baked him a pumpkin cheesecake with a pecan crust–very yummy. We also did our first carry out meal since forever. I don’t even think I’ve eaten out before this this year–no lie!

Sending you happy wishes for a great weekend. ❤ What are you up to… or making? Please share if you’d like to.

Mid October

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Hi there! I wanted to get this post written yesterday, but was stuck in bed with a low grade fever and all over feelings of achiness–especially my head and sinuses. You never know these days so… I have a Covid test scheduled for tomorrow and in the meantime am quarantining in a bedroom by myself until the test results come back in a couple of days. Right now my temp is just about normal and the last fever reducer I took was at 2 am, so fingers crossed it will stay down by itself. However, my head is still quite achy as well as my sinuses. (Please forgive me if I write something that doesn’t make sense.)

On Saturday I uploaded part 3 to show you my process when I make a Little Darling dress. This video shows how I hand stitch the bodice lining to the skirt to make a totally finished dress inside. (I find it so enjoyable to dress my dolls when the inside is all finished. Anyone else feel the same?) Also, I show how I sew on snaps to get them lined up perfectly and also how I sew on the decorative buttons. Thank you if you’ve watched and/or commented on my first videos. I really appreciate your support!!!

Anyway, the ensemble is finally complete for the dress I’ve been making in the three videos.

I had the perfect shade of silk ribbon in my stash–a cherry red.

I think the apples in this ensemble are the ‘Pink Lady’ variety–they are reddish pink.

I did some recording of my embroidery process for this sweater, but I am not super happy with it. I may make a quick video from it though–maybe how I embroider one of the apples? Perhaps the next embroidery footage will come out better.

For me embroidering the knitwear is the most difficult step in creating an ensemble. It is touch and go, or I should say, stitch and rip. I think embroidering this cardigan was more ripping than stitching, or it felt like it. The embroidery fairies didn’t show up to help me out–lol. So, after spending two days embroidering this cardigan I can say I am happy with the final result, which is all that really matters, right?

I was so saddened to hear the news of Dianna Effner’s passing. Her dolls have provided me with so much joy. They’ve especially helped me through some hard times these last few years. Those precious faces…! If you’ve been reading my blog for awhile it is probably quite obvious to you that Dianna’s Little Darlings are my favorite doll of all time. My Gina, Lucy, Alice, and I send our most heartfelt condolences to her family. ❤ ❤ ❤