Hi everyone,
Thanks for liking all the pictures of the purses… and a few of you even picked out favorites! It’s just as much fun for me too look back on what I have made too! It’s SO funny because when I first started writing my blog, my biggest fear was running of things to make and share. I think you can tell that hasn’t happened. I seriously remember thinking, “What if I write my posts for a month or so and then I can’t think of ANYTHING NEW to share!!!”
A few of you wanted me to make some more…and I’ll try…
I took a short bird video of mostly the Cardinals we had fighting to get a spot at the feeder. It was very cold and windy and they were definitely hungry! When we got home the birds had gone through a larger feeder, the one you see in the video and a suet cake. My hubby filled everything up right after I took this video.
Diana wanted to know how I keep the stitching on my leather shoes so perfectly straight. Well…I generally use a prick (generally a 2 or 4 hole leather tool) that makes a small mark or dent the same distance apart and shows you where the stitching holes should go. Then you use a .5mm or a 1mm punch to actually punch out the holes. Some people stitch like this…going in and out one way > _ _ _ _ _ and then they go back the opposite way < _ _ _ _ to fill in the stitches that were missed... I don't like sewing my shoes together that way... the stitching doesn't look as even. I use a Saddle stitch where you thread a needle on both ends of your thread and go in and out in the same hole and pull your thread taut as you go along. It's kind of like sewing in a figure eight over and over again. You can see a good example of the stitching one way and then turning around and going back to fill in the spaces... on the heels of my dolls shoes. On the heels you generally go up skipping every other hole and then looping over the top back of the shoe and then going down filling in the spaces...
I’m actually thinking of taking out that stitching on the shoe heels and seeing if I can move the stitching line over a bit to make them a little more fitted around Rozen’s foot. I had my shoes on the shoe mold and I think it stretched out the sides of them and they have some gaps in them…
We’ll see…
I wanted to let you know I finished Rozen’s dress and the basic dress is finished… She wanted to show you how it looks.
It hits just below her knee.
She wanted to try on the jacket and it was a relief that her jacket slides over her dress without any problem. There is room enough for her sleeveless dress to fit under it.
She was feeling her oats tonight as she was twirling around on the table.
Just because… I got out some blue leather and was laying it on top of her dress and by her jacket… hmmm… gotta think about this…
maybe she needs blue shoes?
Well, I’ve got to get to bed… Today was another trip to Mt. Vernon for the follow up ultrasound to see how my hubby’s surgery of closing off his vein looks. We have to go back next week to get the ultrasound report and see what the doctor says… It was snowing in Mt. Vernon today and absolutely freezing out. The wind was blowing around 25 miles and hour! BRRRR!
I’ll see everyone tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
Well, Jeanne, I don’t think you will ever have the problem of running out of things to make and share. In the years I’ve been following your blog, you’ve actually added a number of new skills/items to your line! I think you did jackets when I first followed you and then you added purses (first felt, then leather), hats (fabric, now straw), and shoes! What could possibly be next?! Stay tuned!
I loved watching your cardinals; we don’t get them out here at all, and I miss that (I lived in Michigan when growing up). The feeder must be in the shade, as the birds look quite dark when they’re at the feeder, and then when they fly to the bushes, they are red again!
Rozen’s dress is coming along well, and the best thing is that the jacket fits over it very nicely. Blue shoes? Oh, yes….I think they would be much prettier with this fabric. And she absolutely needs a girly petticoat, with all that twirling around!
Oh, Debbie, I replied to your comment yesterday.
Purchases are always a win! It is fun to go home with something you don’t have or are not planning on making. That is why I do not go to doll shows; too much temptation!
I know the clothing you make for yourself is award winning. I remember the photos from the past contests. One year you made a purse. Last year?
I think you are right–last year I entered a bag (not quite a purse, but purse-sized) that had been a project from the Missouri Star Christmas box of the year before. It was so much fun to make! Thanks for remembering.
Oh, Jeanne, wasn’t that wind yesterday something? And the sideways blowing snow too! A great day to stay in, for sure! Those birds sure were hungry and lucky to have George to feed them!
Well, the dress is just darling, and also with the jacket! I would, like Charlotte mentioned, put a slip underneath it to hold it out more. You know how little girls are, with dresses that are full and you can twirl in! I have three younger sisters and that’s what we would do when we got a new dress! At Easter or Christmas, when we got our new patent leather Mary Jane’s, we would dance on the tile floor in the bathroom, pretending we were tap dancers! Those were the days!
As for shoes, now that I see the whole outfit together, I am also rethinking those green shoes. I wish you had shown the blue leather you have so we could see what other option it would be. If it were me, with the limited amount of shoes I have for Sara, I guess she would be wearing white shoes with that outfit, for something dressy, like Easter. However, is it supposed to be dressy or casual? Shoes could make the difference. The blue could work either way, just wish we could see it.
Thank you for the video. How sweet. I love the birds in your yard. You are fortunate. ::sigh::: we used to have a feeder and a blue bird box, for many years we had blue birds in the house and Robins nesting under the deck…, and the sweet cardinal couples, and the silly cute finches…. then one year the blue jays showed up, and a gang of sparrows and some other menacing bird and mocking birds. Of course the Robins are not so fearful and they are still nesting under the deck. The naughty birds usually nest in my bushes. The sparrows constantly fill the blue bird box with trash pieces and pointy sticks. Then they play house.
Rozen’s dress is so cute, I love the fabric!! and with the jean jacket. The shoes are indeed an operation and I am impressed with your skill, Jeanne. Your dresses are always so sweet and well constructed. If you ever run out of things to post, just post photos with no explanations. then we can all figure it out.
Happy Thursday already. Finally after one annoying day of rain, we have sunshine again. I need to do more packing. I will be packing and packing forever.
Love, Rosemary
Always love seeing birds. What a wonderful sight to see cardinals. Like Charlotte, we don’t have them either.
Sorry that you and George, had to drive in the snow, but I’m sure it was an adventure. Hope the results are good.
As to the outfit. It looks like Rozen is ready to head out on a shopping trip or maybe take in a movie with friends. It’s a perfect little dress for doing any fun activity. Maybe even walking her pup at the dog park? I’m not seeing green in the fabric. I know it must be there, but with the white/blue fabric and blue jacket, it has taken a background place. So, either blue shoes that blend with the two pieces or white would be my choice. Also, girls her age, are wearing demure jewelry. Tiny little things like hearts are popular. Maybe Rozen needs a little simple necklace and a sweet tiny bracelet with a charm? Are her ears pierced? Many of the RRed dolls have them, so a cute pair of tiny earrings would be fun as well. They could be included if Rozen doesn’t have hers pierced, to use with the buyer’s dolls. I think that I would save those green shoes for a cute dress/romper made from that green fabric you showed earlier. That was a perfect match for the shoes.
Well, yesterday, we had no power from 8:30 to 4:30 for a planned pole replacement on the next block. It was cold too, for us, and the third time they have had this scheduled. So glad it wasn’t one of the rained out earlier dates as we would have had to go elsewhere because of not having heat. Anyway, after my eye shots, we came home to the icebox. We were fortunate to have lovely sun yesterday, so, we warmed up sitting out on the deck and taking a ride to pick up lunch. Did not want to open the refrigerator and risk losing any food. Then, I rummaged in the garage and found the space heater. It’s a newer one, but boy did it drain the generator after only a few hours. In our place, you can only be warm if you stand in front of the space heater, so that was helpful. Then, we went for a walk and on the way back, it was 4:30, and we were passing the new pole location. At least 10 trucks were still there. Passed a guy in a hard hat and asked when is the power coming back on? His curt answer was soon! Not what we wanted to hear as it was getting colder and the sun had moved to the west. So, we went home and waited in the now even colder house without the heater. Finally at 5:00, the power was restored. Yay!
Then, it was time to reset all of the clocks on flashing appliances etc. But, the heater came on right away and quickly returned the temperature to normal. Definitely need to rethink our emergency equipment.
We have the wind today with full sun. Spring is coming in like a lion this year, or a roller coaster. Your cardinals are ready for next year’s Christmas card. We have one or two this year.
I love the colors of Rozen’s dress with that denim jacket. I would like to see the blue shoe. The green shoe brings out the green in the dress that Joy doesn’t see anymore. It is the perfect spring dress, casual or dressy. A slip would be nice.
I hope George’s ultra sound shows a good result and he is finished with the vein treatment. My hubby has an appointment at the end of the month. I guess you did not scare him off the treatment!
I think I’d like the blue shoes with this dress as some have said. Glad the jacket fits well over the dress. I realized yesterday that the t-shirt I was going to make for my Gotz Hannah will be too thick to fit under the overalls I already made. I’ll make it anyway and then make her some jeans to go with it. There was no way to know that until I got the overalls finished. Cute pattern but too many issues with it.
Two things we don’t seem to have where I live now is pretty butterflies and pretty birds. We used to have a Blue Jay but no longer. Don’t know where she went. She would have a nest of eggs in one of our trees every year and when you walked within fifty feet of it you got buzzed. She was pretty but we sure don’t miss that. Mostly around here it’s like scenes from the movie “The Birds”. I’m not sure exactly what the birds are we have a plethora of but they are black. They sit on the telephone wires and it really does look like the movie. Thankfully they don’t seem to be aggressive.
I didn’t get any sleep last night. Our smoke detectors kept chirping to remind us to chance the batteries. They are the kind that talk to each other. There was no place to get away from the sound since our house is open between the smoke detectors so the dining room, living room and my bedroom (one is right outside my door) were not an option. I went to my study thinking I could sleep in my chair but that wasn’t working although I have done that at times when I got sleepy working on something at my computer. Sean replaces the batteries for us. It’s more complicated than our old ones and he knows the steps so we don’t have to look it up. It started chirping right when we were going to bed. I didn’t want to wake David to take them down so I endured it till he got up at 6 a.m.. Sean will replace the batteries and put them back up for us this morning. I will probably be taking a long nap after lunch.
How maddening that sound must have been. Hope it has been fixed so you can get some sleep tonight.
Jeanne, I hope George got a good report today!
I loved seeing your birds again. We have only 3 feeders but they birds stay busy. 2 of them have wire cages around them so the small birds can eat in peace. They do scratch a lot on to the ground so the larger birds like the cardinals get plenty. We get lots of red-winged black birds here because we have a marsh between us and the river. They get up in the oak trees together and you cannot talk to anyone under the trees they are so loud. We love them though.
Talking about wind!! it was blowing so hard to day that when we went to Walmart it literally blew me in the door! Good thank it was open!
I am with most of the sofa gals, save the green shoes for something else and make blue ones, please! Looking forward to what you do next. Let me know if you need any photos.