"All The Single Ladies"

... or perhaps I should call them "all the single fairies". It has taken me longer than I thought (as all jobs seem to), but the fairies have now headed off to my Etsy shop, complete with their little hand embroidered bags. I do hope they end up with someone who loves them.

And now to start thinking about the summer garden flower fairies. I have started on lavender, but would love it if you have any suggestions for the others.

Just a reminder that there is still time join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for May. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Doll's Shoes

I had an order for two pairs of my wrap over baby shoes, and after emailing the customer found out that she actually was buying them as an Easter present for her two daughters' for their baby dolls. A few more emails flew between the UK and USA, with measurements and photos of the baby dolls' feet, and from me photos of various coloured wools etc. (People moan about the internet, but this sort of thing would just not have been possible before it.) And so these scaled down version of my shoes are now on the way to the USA, where I hope they will be thoroughly played with, and the baby dolls will have warm feet.

Just a reminder that there is still time join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for March. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Friends Forever

What should you do when your really good friend over the last year is going back home to California? 

The answer is to get your Mum to make you and her as little dolls, so you can go with her.  

My daughter stitched the little bag, where both the dolls can live together. By now the little dolls are in California. 

I tried to be fairly accurate with their school uniforms and hair styles, as girls can wear either skirts or trousers at their school. Both girls are much prettier than they turned out. I don't know what it is with my dolls and fairies, but they always end of a little frumpy. I do love little one-off projects like this. The basic dolls are my fairy/mermaid pattern, with a few adaptions. It was so nice to knit the dolls and clothes and not worry about writing down what I have done.

Wedding Photography

   
I made these little wedding dolls for my niece, and her now husband. I was going to scrap these photos, but then I decided I quite like how the dolls look a bit scared of the looming cat. 

Having removed the cat, reassured the bride and groom, here are the official photos. It must be my imagination, but they definitely look happier.
 

"Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend"

Meet Audrey and Marilyn. Thank you for all the wonderful suggestions for more tiny icons. (I still have a few in mind.) I've been dithering with what to call this post, and toyed with "Breakfast at Tiffany's", but you get the idea.

I have tried to give these dolls authentic outfits, and they both have long elegant gloves and shoes, as well as a little bit of bling. They are doing their fashion shoot in my daughter's Greek Temple, which she made as a school project.

I did think Audrey should be a bit more gamine and sylph-like, and compared to Marilyn she seems tall. That is why Marilyn has decided to stand on a clothes brush. Although actually Audrey Hepburn was slightly taller than Marilyn Monroe. 

This Marilyn is also a bit larger than I wanted, or as my husband said it isn't in the right places. But I am still very fond of her. He has just looked over my shoulder as said Marilyn looks more like Bette Midler (humph!).

So meet Marilyn number two. This second Marilyn has a bit more of a shapely or buxom figure. (I am trying to be very careful how I phrase this post, as I gather the words you use in posts can bring you up in certain search engines.) So there will be two Marilyns in my shop, and I will have to work on a polite way to distinguish them.

To the Handmade Mondayers I just wanted to mention the 52 Week Scrappy Challenge, which I have written about in a separate post above. Sounds like fun!

 

Sophie The Dutch Doll

Sophie is a Dutch Doll. She belonged to my sister when we were children. Jealousy is not a very nice emotion, and I am ashamed to say that as a child I was incredibly jealous of my sister.  She is two years older than me, and to me she was cleverer, prettier, more confident, better at art, and worst of all she owned Sophie.

And perhaps she is also kinder than me, because ten years ago when I had my daughter (she has two boys), she presented us with a box containing Sophie, and her complete wardrobe.

I have photographed Sophie in what I would call her work-a-day clothes. She also has some grander clothes for going out, which I am going to put in a second post.

Nearly all her clothes and accessories were designed and handstitched by my sister when we were children. Only the yellow woollen dress above was bought, I think from a jumble sale. Her lovely knitted bloomers were made by my mum. Sorry Sophie, I know this photo is a bit undignified for a Victorian lady, but I thought people might like to see how you are constructed.

 

Sophie is not an antique, but a reproduction and was bought from a toy shop in Bath. But she is now over 50 years old, so probably would be classed as a collectable. She is made completely from wood, and even her jointed limbs have small wooden pins.

These two hats were made for her by my sister (the one on the left) and me (the one on the right). We plaited the rafia, and then sewed the plaits together. Can you see my rough green stitches on the bonnet (I have no idea why I picked green), compared to her neat work? Can you understand my frustration? Nothing I did ever seemed as good.

 I think Sophie is going off now to do some shopping.

I have been saving Sophie for what I call a rainy day post, although in fact today is a snowy day. Outside it is snowing really heavily. Sorry about the darkness of some of these photos. There is not much natural light today, but I really hate using flash. This post is also a bit of a homage to Trudy on Playing in the Attic, and her much more enigmatic She.