Finished?

I made Siobhan some pants yesterday, and the reaction from the Elder Hug-a-Bug was this -
Elder - "Blue? I wanted Pink."
Me- "I made her some jeans, they're blue."
Elder - "I hate long things. I hate her sweater. I wanted short."

Hmm.
Now I am torn.
I was planning on making a summer wardrobe for this doll, but if I make it now am I bowing to the sass of a 5-year-old?

Also, I have terrible luck, or should I say less skill than necessary, with faces.
She looks nice enough sitting next to me, but in the above photo she looks pretty mischievous.
Perhaps she is reflecting the mood of the lady of the house...

Swap

The fifth lamp household has been in turmoil for the last week.

The hubby and myself went to Cancun last wednesday, but B got sick on Thursday and stayed sick, we caught an early flight home, and he is still sick.

The children are also very ill, with explosive everything.

The upshot of this, other than my extreme crankiness and the crankiness of those around me, is that I have missed the mail deadline for the doll-clothes swap.

The outfits are finished and will go out in the mail tomorrow, if the health gods are in an amicable mood.

Here is Siobhan working out her film noir tendencies.



















And here she is studying her favorite Seurat paintings.
She just loves pointilism















Wishing better health for all of you,
Jess

Je vais a Paris aujourd'hui

There is a parisian-themed doll-clothes swap going on over at Sugar City Journal, and I received my first package today!

Thanks Lynne!

The Elder Hug-a-Bug couldn't wait to fill the purse with Duplos.

We had a lovely day today. The Hug-a-Bugs and myself went to the Como Park Conservatory.

It is always soul-nourishing to go to such a beautiful place.

For those of you who haven't been there before, it is a glass house full of gardens. There is a room full of ferns and a room with a terrific fish pond.

My favorite room is The Sunken Garden, seen here in a photo by the Elder Hug-a-Bug. They have different flower displays every 2 months.

Right now there are hundreds of giant Stargazer Lilies and azaleas and other pink and purple delights.

One other excitement lately is the shift in the weather.

There has been a little more warmth and a lot more sunshine!

Have a terrific Thursday!

Jess

New photo of old work

I have just come from Flickr. I took some pictures of two of the Wee Wonderfuls dolls that I made last year, and I added them to the Wee Wonderfuls Flickr group.

I made them in the spring and I have just now gotten around to taking pics. They are both a little grubby, but luckily that doesn't really show up in the photos.

These are Spaceboy and Robot from the Put-Together Book 2, along with the Uglyworm (which was a present for the Younger Hug-a-Bug on the occasion of his birth from our good friend Maimie Woo), and my miniature rocket prototype. I think the Uglyworm looks kinda like an alien, so I set them all up together in scenes on the Younger Hug-a-Bug's bed. I like to think that they are all friends.

These dolls are for the kids, really, I mean it...

The Wee Wonderfuls directions are easy to follow, and the dolls go together in an afternoon.

I had the world's greatest assistant in the Elder Hug-a-Bug. She did most of the stuffing.

Nothing too new and exciting around here.

I did come to the realization, yesterday, that I could never hack it as an arctic explorer.

I will preface this by saying that I started the day full of bravado.

I even mocked my poor mother because she happens to come from California and she was feeling the cold.

I think I told her that I was a hardy Minnesotan, and she was a light-weight or something to that effect...

Anyway, I had to fill up my car with gas later that day, and I had forgotten to take my gloves.

Holding the nozzle, even with my hands inside my long-sleeved t-shirt, sweater and coat, was very uncomfortable.

I have rarely in my life been that cold.

Then to top it all off, I was at the top of a hill.

Somehow, all of the wind on the planet was converging on that hill at that moment at that gas pump.

I felt the layers of skin eroding from my face.

The temp was in the single digits above or below zero, but the wind-chill must have been at least 250 degrees below.

I am looking forward to February.

I hear that we'll see some temperatures in the 20s. Heaven.

That is the end of my whine about the weather.

I will say that I have been enjoying looking at the weather through my windows, sitting by my radiator, with some hot tea...

The sky yesterday had that silvery look that it gets at dawn in the winter, really quite beautiful.

I started the new semester at the Yarnery yesterday.

Had a lovely group of ladies in my class, most of whom I had taught before.

It was nice to catch up and hear about vacations and see pictures of grand-kids.

I am also glad to get back to having a schedule.

I am offically finished with the holiday lay-arounds.

I woke up very early this morning, so I will sign off now.

Have a restful evening.

Jess

bummer

The Mamas of the Craft received some somber news today.

We were not accepted into the Craftstravaganza Craft Show.

We had some kick-ass stuff too.

One of the Mamas is a potter and her stuff is fantastic.

As a group we made some funky tutus for the little ones, knitted bracelet cuffs, night lights, and toadstool stools that we saw on a Martha.

As for myself, I have had an obsession with aprons lately, and I have enough that I would like to sell them.

Thanks to Grace for her modelling skills.

I am a big fan of the Wee Wonderfuls dolls.

Last summer I made Olive, Archie, Spaceboy and Robot.

I was so excited about the doll making that I made up my own pattern for a rocket for Spaceboy to ride on.

It was a breeze to put together, and I love the idea of a floral rocket so I thought that my individual contribution could include some Love Rockets.

My first one was of Amy Butler fabric, and she asks that people not use her fabric for commercial endeavours, so this one here is the rocket that I made up for our entry into the Craftravaganza.

So now we regroup.

A couple of months ago, we started up an etsy site, and I guess we'll start there trying to sell some stuff.

The real function of the Mamas of the Craft for me is to get together and be creative, so it would be ok with me if we didn't sell anything again.

I won't deny that it is fun to get money for things that you make.

As a huge tangential leap- do any of you ever visit http://www.etymonline.com/?
I like words, so I visit occasionally.

I was wondering about "o.k." what does it mean?

Here is what etymonline has to say
"1839, only survivor of a slang fad in Boston and New York c.1838-9 for abbreviations of common phrases with deliberate, jocular misspellings (cf. K.G. for "no go," as if spelled "know go"); in this case, "oll korrect.""

Could you ever imagine that something we say every day without thinking could possibly be from a year-long slang fad from New England 170 years ago?

wierd.

I wonder if wiggity wack will be popular in 2164?

see you soon,

Jess