Noel was very happy to see me back in my sewing room today. I was happy SHE was happy! I managed to do some closeup work and I hope you like what you see… I was hoping my title could have been… “The Slip, the Snaps, the Start of a Sweater, the Shoes and the Stockings” but I could only get the first 3 “S’s” done. This little set is starting to take shape though.
Her slip is just my tulle half slip with a gold bow this time. It slides up Noel’s legs easily…
It really helps hold out her dress well…
The dress has 4 sets of hidden snaps in the back, and the back is open all the way to the hem…You can see the sparkle in the fabric pretty well in this picture…
I used that gold sparkly cardigan sweater to cut one out for Noel. You have to be very careful handling the sweater when you cut it so it doesn’t unravel. I used some gold lightweight tulle to line it. It makes it as light as a feather and adds no bulk. Here’s a close up…
Now Noel wants to show you how it looks together… so far… There are still things to do to “fancy” it up, but for now…this will have to do.
…and a couple more… Noel’s been patiently waiting to finish her modeling..
Many of you were asking about Joy, in Santa Rosa, CA. She sent me an email last night to let me know they are okay. They “almost” had to evacuate.
This is what she had to share…
“Just got power back a few minutes ago. Been pretty scary as we were the next to evacuate. But fortunately, we didn’t have to although we were packed. Difficult to decide what goes and what doesn’t.
Have felt like a pioneer around here. Freezing at night and heavy smoke all day. Only place to get warm was the car. But, now that we finally have power back, all is looking up. Fire is much improved and winds didn’t kick up as much as they thought last night. One night all we did was listen for pings to see if we had to evacuate. Therefore, no sleep at all. Anyway, we’re fine, but tired.
Looks like the cataract is all gone? Yay.”
We are all so relieved you are okay Joy… I hope you are able to read this… we care for you very much… and all your munchkins! :o)
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
I’m relieved to hear Joy is okay, and has her power back, too. At our prayer service today, we remembered those involved in/affected by the fire and efforts there. My girlfriend’s son-in-law is an LA police officer, and his unit has been pressed into service in one of the fire areas–security , directing traffic, etc.
Jeanne, I think you did wonderfully well for the day after cataract surgery!! You sure did a lot more the day after surgery than I did last year when I had mine!
The outfit is coming together beautifully; I like the use of lightweight tulle to line her sweater. Totally appropriate for that particular type/weight of sweatering!
April Eleanore’s nurse’s uniform is finished, and I remembered I had a nurse’s uniform for one of my other dolls, packed away downstairs, too! The dress would be a bit too small for her, but the cap works just fine. I will take some pictures tomorrow!
Hi Charlotte,
I think we all were happy to know Joy was okay!! I see she has commented below too…
If they had done my “distance” eye first, I probably wouldn’t have been able to sew, unless I closed one eye to get the other one to focus. It will be nice to get both eyes working at the same time.
Rebecca went to town to see if she could find some thin sparkly fabric/top/tights in gold to make Noel some thigh highs from. I have shimmery fabric that works well, but I only have ice blue and silver. I hope she finds something I can use.
Oh, I bet April Eleanor is so excited you finished her nurses outfit! Way to go, mom!!!
Blessings, Jeanne
I’m so happy to see that you are once again, back where you really belong……….in the sewing room, Jeanne! Noel’s outfit is going to be a winner in my book! The tiny gold flower on her slip makes this a perfect match for the dress, making it nice and full! I love the sweater and the way you lined it. Those snaps, oh how I hate to do snaps, are done to perfection! Your eye HAS to be doing well, to do those tiny snaps!
You mentioned in another blog how you see colors differently. Has the color of this dress changed for you? I’m trying to figure out how in the world you did colors so well before the surgery, if you couldn’t see them as they were.
I’m so happy and relieved to hear that Joy is fine. I think she has been on all of our minds lately, and my prayers continue for her and all involved there in California.
Happy Halloween everyone!
Hi Linda,
Thank you for your sweet compliments on Noel’s dress. I’m so glad you like how it looks so far.
As far as the color looks now, it’s kind of hard to explain…thing are just brighter…
When I look outside with my “new” eye, things look a bit whiter, the old eye, they look a bit more dull. It’s like everything has just brightened up a notch.
Noel’s dress still lolksburgundy to me, just a bit brighter, sharper, crisper…
It will be interesting to see how I match il colors now…I hope I “still have it!!”
Thanks Linda,
Blessings, Jeanne
Hooray for Noel and Jeanne! Your eye must be seeing much clearer, and Noel has a lovely new outfit. Fun.
So nice to see your blog in larger format too rather than by the light of the phone. Thanks everyone for your kind thoughts. We are thankful for the wonderful fire fighters from all over the West who arrived to stop the flames from coming even closer to us. We will have very bad air for awhile as the smoke has settled in the valley with no wind, thankfully, to push it away. The winds dying down and the great firefighting are all that saved the town. So many were displaced from their homes and many lost theirs. The numbers of lost homes are way down fortunately, from 2017, when we lost 5,500 in one night. But, still awful for those who lost everything. No school this week as so many staff are displaced but businesses are opening up as staff are able to return from where they evacuated. Big monetary losses around here too. But, we’ll look to the future and a return to calm. 🙂
Hi Joy!!!!
Welcome back and SO happy you didn’t have to evacuate and are safe!!
I am so thankful to all the firefighters and rescue people. They have such a hard job and probably don’t get the thanks they deserve.
Please take care of yourselves and stay as safe as you can.
Blessings, Jeanne
My dolls say, “Happy Dolloween!” 🎃 I have been crocheting one last pumpkin but it isn’t quite done yet. We’ll see if I get it done today. My pumpkins are fall decorations so they will be around until turkey day. Then I’ll jump into Christmas!
I too am relieved Joy is OK. The whole blackout experience is taking its toll on families and businesses from what I have read.
The little gold sweater is adorable, Jeanne! I made a cardigan for my AG dolls and that was a bit tricky. I was able to use the ribbed sweater edges so no hems. Tiny sweaters with tulle lining is above my pay grade! 🎃
Hi Julia,
Happy Dolloween is a new one for me!! You were so clever with your pirate talk, I should have guessed you’d think of this! :o)
It IS wonderful to have Joy back with us!!
You’d be able to figure this out using the tulle… it’s a bit tedious and you have to handle everything like tissue paper, but it’s pretty easy to do. Slow and easy going is how.
Thanks Julia
Blessings, Jeanne
Happy Halloween and Dolloween to all! I think I have costume patterns for most of my dolly children so I’m thinking that I might go that route next Fall. They were all excited to hear this and I’m sure will hold me to it. Gets really loud around here when they think I haven’t. Want to avoid that. Meanwhile my BAB large and small bunnies are wearing their cute witch costumes. I bought those a few years ago so they are good to go. Can’t wait to see April Eleanor’s nurse costume.
Noel’s outfit is coming along so nicely. So holidayish. I love the gold sweater. I think I may have some Christmasy sweaters in my drawers that I don’t wear anymore. I bought them years ago and they are probably too small, too short or too stretched out to wear now but I still have them. They would make good dolly sweaters but I just didn’t think about it. I love the slip with the pretty gold bow. I think everyone who sews doll clothes has those bows, probably in every color. I know I do.
I finished Lolla Rose’s blouse and romper outfit yesterday. It turned out really cute. It’s a Trentsation pattern. I just can’t get used to the floppiness of a ball jointed doll. Or maybe it’s just that they have minds of their own. I put her in one position and I go back and she’s in another. Still fighting the wig issue. I may just give up and find another wig that has a tighter fit. But this one is sooooo cute.
I am so glad to hear Joy is doing well and didn’t have to evacuate. I imagine getting all the dolly children packed and ready to go can be a real trial. In truth I wouldn’t want to have to think about what I would take if I had to leave in a hurry. In Houston it’s more about hurricanes and flooding. We live in an area that hasn’t ever had to evacuate. We usually get the evacuees here. The main road from the coast north runs right through our town. When there is a hurricane coming the coastal communities have mandatory evacuation. The churches and other groups here in Sealy line up along the road with food and drinks for those evacuating. The sad part is the evacuees leave their trash from one end of town to the other and when they return they stop at our grocery stores and empty our shelves, and often it’s meat and they are going home to no refrigeration.
Where Houston has been so overbuilt that there is nowhere for the water to soak in and the bayous fill up and overflow, we are still farm and ranchland out here and water has a lot of places to soak in. I can’t remember which hurricane it was but it was about the time of Katrina, my son was living in Pasadena (TX) at the time. Pasadena is low due a lot to subsidence and also near the ship channel with a real storm surge potential so they had to evacuate. He grabbed his cat, his Guinea Pig and his TV and some clothes and headed this way. It took him about eleven hours to make what usually was an hour drive. He had no food or water until he got to west Houston and nearly here where there were volunteer groups handing out water and snacks. Fortunately he had a fuel efficient vehicle that had an electric fan so he didn’t need gas and his car never overheated. It was a long day for all of us and we were definitely thankful for cell phones. I guess there are things to deal with nearly everywhere.
Very cold today. Last night was in the thirties and it isn’t much above that right now. I’m still in my fleece jammies because they are warm and the clothes I need to put on are not. I’ll have to bite the bullet and go for it here soon. We need to go out at lunch to run some errands and I’m not big on wearing pajamas in public.
Hj Barbara,
You can bet your girls will certainly hold you to costumes next year…get them all figured out ahead of time and maybe spend one day cutting them all out and putting them in baggies with everything you need.
The sweaters for the little dolls have to be fairly tight knitted and thin type sweaters. The bigger the knit, the easier it is to unravel.
Yes, the Meadow Dolls bodies can be quite floppy…sometimes I just have to sit the dolls down on something.
That line in Joy’s email where she said she had to decide what to pack up really got to me. I would be hard pressed at knowing what to take. That would be so hard. I guess for me it would be “what would be the hardest to replace?”
It’s very cold here in Southern Illinois too. 35 degrees with a wind chill of 25 degrees.
I have a big batch of vegetable soup going in my crockpot.
Thanks Barbara,
Blessings, Jeanne
Oh my, you are doing so much better than I would have expected after your surgery. You will be back to your old self into time! I like the way you lined the sweater. That’s a really nice finish for it. I’m guessing you will do some type of embellishments on it. Happy Halloween to everyone who celebrates it. 🎃
HI Carolyn,
Absolutely I embellished it! Wouldn’t have it any other way… I hope you like it now!
I just finished the whole set but it’s too late to take pictures of it and get it on Ebay. Hopefully I can get it listed on Ebay tomorrow evening.
I have an eye appointment with my regular eye doctor to see if things are okay and to get a final reading on my left eye so that it works perfectly with my “good” eye now!
Thanks Carolyn,
Blessings, Jeanne
So glad Joy is safe.. I would be difficult to decide what you need to take. The one year we had tornado warnings night after night, I finally moved photos and other precious things to the basement. They stayed there for a week.
Noel’s little dress and sweater are adorable It’s wonderful you were able to get something completed on her set.. I love gold sparkly things at Christmas. I found a gold cardigan one year for $5
The temperatures have fallen throughout the day here and we are expecting the freeze tomorrow night. It’s also very windy.
been a hard day here. My one little kitty boy spent the day at the vet with a completely blocked UTI. He had no visible symptoms yesterday and now he had that and evidence of kidney stones. I have to switch him to a different UR food now. It’s an issue with some neutered male cats.
HI Laura,
Thanks so much for your compliments on Noel’s set. Rebecca found some little girl’s gold sparkle tights for me at Walmart today so I was able to finish this set. I barely had enough for a hair bow but I think it’s enough. She wanted a bear for her accessory… :o)
It’s very cold here and already down to 29… it’s supposed to get down to 26 but tomorrow it’s supposed to be 51 degrees. It will feel like a heat wave. It’s been very windy here today too and VERY cold. My hubby was working on our car’s heater and had to run some water through the pipes on something… I know he was freezing out there. I made a big crockpot full of vegetable soup and it was wonderful and warm to the tummy!
I hope your kitty gets better soon. It’s awful when they can’t tell you they hurt.
Thank you Laura,
Blessings, Jeanne