I am in love with a doll.

Yes, it is true.  My hubby and I go looking for dolls and doll furniture every week at all the thrift stores.  These are all old dolls in need of work and clothes and all that you already know.  I love the work I am doing with the dolls.  Last week we found some great doll furniture.  A wicker cradle, a love bunch and a wicker chair and one little doll that I got cleaned up.

Well today was our usual Goodwill day as it is 25% off for seniors.  We were going up and down the toy aisle and looking for dolls and rejected what was there.  We always stop in the porcelain aisle but because I have not had good luck with selling this type of doll and they are always priced higher, we just look at them and pass them by.  I picked up this Indian baby and said isn't she cute, to bad she is porcelain.  I put her back and we walked to the back of the store to see if there was any furniture, trims or fabric we could get.  Nothing there and I saw an oil lamp that looked nice from a distance but when I got up close it was to new to be sold as an antique so past on it.  I was ready to leave and just as we got up to where the dolls were again, John says don't you want this Indian doll.  I loved the look but know she probably wouldn't sell and that is what we do this for, but I decided, oh heck, I can buy something for myself once in a while.  She was a little messy but I got her home, brushed her hair and the fur on her outfit.  Then I found she did have a cute little necklace with bells on it.  She sits in a swing that is just attached at the top of the head.  Right now she is hanging in my kitchen but I am going to be putting her in my sewing room and I will be able to smile at her every day when I am in there.

I guess it is good to find something for myself once in a while.  She is dressed in lavender which is one of my favorite colors.  She has a couple of things I still need to fix.  Some of the feathers need replacing and one eyelash is missing but she is so sweet even if I never get the little things fixed.

By the end of the week, I should have another doll in the mail that I can work on but at this point in time, I really don't have anything new coming out.  I miss working on dolls every day.

Tomorrow I have to get an album together to take to a store so that they can show my dolls there.  I am hoping that one of these days they will carry some of the dolls and not just pictures of the dolls.

I have had lots of fun this week.

I have had lots of fun this week with making christening type dresses for 13 inch Lee Middleton baby dolls.  I did one in blue and one in peach.  Each one is a little different as I only make one of a kind outfits.  They are both listed on my website.  After I finished up these, I was in a lace overload so it was on to something more simple. 

Then it was onto the last of the Lee Middleton dolls that I got.  This one is a 15 inch toddler doll from 2000.  I just did her is a little white with red rose buds, cotton print dress and bloomers.  She is a little cutie with pretty brown eyes that seem to talk to you.

As this is the last of these dolls, I have  3 Alexander dolls from 1965 that I have to see what I can do with.  All have some ills and not sure I will be able to fix them or not.    These are 13 inch dolls and I am going to have to really work on them to be able to do anything with them.  Next week should be good for working on them.......but first I really, really need to clean the sewing room.

Back to designing.

After a pretty good show two weeks ago and then pretty much not really doing much last week, I have started to design long christening like dresses for dolls.  This is my first example of an outfit.  There are a few things I want to change but only minor and I am probably the only one who will notice what differences will be in the dresses and hats.  This dress was designed for this old Eugene doll that I had completely taken about and cleaned and put new stuffing in.  Some of the dolls that I get are in pretty bad shape and sometimes it takes my months to get to the bad ones.  They are always put aside as I work the on easier ones.  Minor cleaning and washing and setting hair is the easy part.  Some times though a doll will sit on the shelf, without any clothes, until I can find just the right fabric and dress design to use.








I just had to show everyone this tricycle I found last week at the thrift shop.  I was out looking for doll furniture as it is so hard to find and this is one of the things I found.  I have wanted one of these for years.   I have now stained it in a walnut so that I will be able to use it in my displays when I am doing shows.

Side note on this trike:  Dolls really don't fit too well on this trike so I actually may have to break down and design and make a bear just for this trike.  Funny idea when I said I wasn't going to do that any more.

So now today I received three Lee Middleton dolls by Reva Schick.  Two little 13 inch baby dolls from 2007, that I have started to make outfits for.  One will be in blue and one in peach.  These will be the long christening type dresses.  The 17 inch doll, by same designer in 2000, that I got, I am not sure what I am going to do with her.  We will just all have to wait and see.