HI everyone and Happy Friday to you all! I hope you are ready for the weekend! I am, except for the hot and humid weather we have been having. It was 92 degrees today at noon with a heat index of 106! I told myself I wasn’t going to complain about it, so enough said! At least we didn’t get rain today, which has become somewhat of a daily thing lately!
We are having the massive Sweet Gum tree just outside our kitchen window trimmed today! Some of the limbs have been falling recently and were pretty big in size so it was time! The limbs way up high are hanging over our house and we certainly don’t want any of them to fall on our new roof, the back porch, the kitchen and my sewing room! That’s what they would damage if they fell.
I have some pictures from Anne and Barbara to share today!
Anne will be up first!
Hi Jeanne and all,
Sorry I have been missing a while. Like Joy, I have been pretty sick. I didn’t have access to a test and even my doctor niece didn’t suggest it but had a horrible cough for two weeks; it is still there but not as bad. I rang my daughter this morning and she had a lot of difficulty understanding me as I am really very croaky.
Anyway I thought I would send some photos in case you haven’t anything to share. No problem if you don’t need them.
My kind SIL is an avid browser of charity shops and brought me these home. I think there are about 25 completed blocks and quite a lot of partially completed and fabric pieces. Certainly enough for large quilt. I think it is a disappearing 4 patch pattern plus lots of other pieces and 4 blue fat quarters. I must try to NOT let it become a UFO!
This is my nephew Matt with me and again with his partner Anna in John and Gill’s garden. Matt and Anna have just bought their first house in Liverpool.
(Anne, I LOVE that house behind them… I’m assuming that is their new house? We used to have a channel here called DABL and my favorite program to watch was called “Escape to the Country!” It was a program about people in the UK, and all the various places around it, looking for their dream home. The host would show them 3 houses and they hopefully they would find “their HOME!” I LOVED it, but they stopped showing it on the channel. I was SO sad!)
This is Matt’s younger brother with his two children and his Mum. Not a good photo of Gill but getting the children organized for the photo was like herding cats so you take what you can get! The second photo is of Ben serenading us in the garden. They live in Inverness in the north of Scotland and are going home today.
Eban had his birthday this week, John and I had traveled up from Devon and while we were away Gill made a Minecraft cake for him.
Now it’s time for Barbara’s dolly pictures! She has EASTER pictures… and I know how EVERYONE LOVES Easter pictures… no matter WHEN they are shown!
Jeanne,
I finally got around to taking some Easter/Summer pictures before back-to-school sewing begins.
The first picture is of my Gotz Hannah and my AG Truly Me (Druanne). I loved this pattern so much for my Hannah I bought it in the 18″ size (Hannah is 19.5″). I loved both the fabrics but when I got the purple flowered I knew I had to make something from it right away and this pattern was perfect for the fabric.
Second picture is of my four RRFF Minis, left to right Mini Hanna (Jodie), Mini Bella (Brianna), Mini Sara (Stevie Pilar) and another Mini Hanna (Jamie). Jodie decided that people would not notice that she and Jamie were twins if they didn’t stand next to each other. Brianna and Stevie just rolled their eyes and stood in the middle. I guess it’s four-year-old logic at play.
Third picture is my Natterer girls Romy and Valentine taking advantage of the popcorn/cotton candy vendor at the park. These are the two dresses I had trouble embellishing since nothing I had truly matched the colors in their dresses. They actually turned out kind of cute. Definitely summery.
Fourth picture shows Romy and Valentine again joined by two of my L’il Dreamers, Lynzi and Jane. Lynzi came with a definitely winter outfit on and was dying of heat stroke when I finally made the little pink shorts and top for her. It is a Meadow Dumpling pattern that fit her very well. Jane came in a Regency Era outfit so needed something a little more modern to play in. I wasn’t going to take pictures of these but the girls insisted so what’s a dolly mother to do but comply. Jane’s yellow and navy outfit was made to match shoes she already had.
Picture five is one I took to send Kathy of Kathy Anne Designs. I usually send her pictures of outfits I made from her patterns, especially for the twins. The pictures tend to be double cute. Jamie was a little annoyed with Jodie because she would not stay seated on the park bench like momma wanted. Finally their momma gave up and just took the picture with Jodie standing (actually walking away). That girl can be a trial sometimes.
Hope you enjoy,
Barbara
I, WE, did Enjoy your pictures, Barbara! The dresses are all lovely! You made each one special and all the girls look like they are having a wonderful time! I’m glad you showed them… You never know who you will inspire to sew!
Well, it’s time for the weekend to begin… in fact… (it already has here!) I need to get to bed!
See you Monday,
Blessings, Jeanne
Not home yet Linda, not till the end of August (not spring till September where I come from). Off to stay with my sister for the rest of my trip, tomorrow.
That little note was one I added to the ‘5 swimsuits’ blog. I obviously had to change my network again since I am now at my sisters in Huddersfield. For some reason nothing went through, neither that note, a couple of others I added and the longer message i sent, so there is no guarantee you will see this one.
Whatever I had is starting to clear now though I still talk like a frog! It started on 30th June so not before time. Unfortunately both Jan and Dave have colds I really hope it is one of the two I had so I don’t get it again.
As well as the fabric my SIL Gill also brought me some knitting yarn that had been donated to her school that they really couldn’t use. There were 6 x 100 gram balls, all different colours. I used them to knit jerseys for Eban and Lily. Lily didn’t like hers “it was too big” so she didn’t try it on. Hopefully she will like it better when she grows into it! Eban loved his and wore it for a couple of days and he is wearing it in a couple of the photos. Because they were all different colours I had to make stripes but I think it looks OK.
The photos of Matt and Anna and myself were taken in John’s garden in Sheffield, Matt and Anna’s new house is in Liverpool about 80 miles away. Jeanne, I have watched Escape to the Country in NZ and I watched it here yesterday afternoon. I think the houses are often really lovely but I wonder at the wisdom of some older (often retired) people who want a ‘forever home’ in the middle of nowhere with huge gardens, no neighbours and amenities only accessible by car!
Barbara, loved your photos of your girls. If I ever get to be on my own again I would love to get back in to sewing for the dolls. Just have nowhere to put them currently so they are all packed away except for Sarah. They are all probably suffering from claustrophobia! Screaming to get out only I can’t hear them, they are at the unit somewhere!
Have a good day
Good to hear from you Anne.
Anne, I loved your bright pictures, so nice to see the family members, and the knitted shirt you made looks GREAT! Perfect
on the boy.
I hope the frog hops away and you and your sis have a great time.
I am really loving your pictures of “the old country”. Well sort of for me since my great-grandparents came over sometime in the 1880s. My grandfather, born in 1892, was born here but most of his siblings were born in the UK. Not sure if it was when they were in Stratford-Upon-Avon, England, or in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales or maybe both. Need to look at the dates again. I love seeing pictures of your family. How nice that your SIL bought you so many lovely things to work on. The sweater is adorable. You should take a picture of the other one you made even by itself. Love the Minecraft cake and my grandkids would too. Thanks for your kind comment on my photos. I hope you can get back to sewing for dolls sometime soon. You may have to provide counseling for the ones you have stored in boxes. LOL
Well, Jeanne, while you are sweltering, we (Seattle area) are wondering where our summer went! Tomorrow we might not even make it to 70°!
Anne, it was so nice to “meet” some of your family, and see the treasures that Gill picked up for you, as well as the sweater you made for Eban, which he obviously loves! I’m glad to hear you’re feeling better, too.
Barbara, I loved seeing your dolly pictures. Yes, that first dress is really a lovely style, and I agree, the purple floral on Druanne is perfect for it. Loved seeing your other girls, too, and particularly the Sylvia Natterer ones, as we don’t see those too often any more. I have a couple of her dolls, and I think they’re so sweet.
I wanted to tell you, too, that when you hand-wind the elastic thread on your bobbin for shirring, don’t wind it too tightly. You don’t want it stretched out on the bobbin.
So glad you loved my dolly pictures. I was having some trouble with my lighting so you can’t really see the brightness of the purple floral fabric. As they say, “it pops”. And the poster background is more colorful with the pink flowers much brighter than they appear. I changed background for the picture of the twins because I wanted to use the white bench. That is one of the backgrounds done on some kind of fabric. I get them from China. They always photograph amazingly well. I love the Natterer girls because of the way they pose. You might say it’s built into them because I can’t change it but they always look kind of “cheeky” but sweet to me, especially Romy (with the pony tails). Valentine’s hair is very pretty. And they are fun to sew for. Right now I’m working on a couple summer capri outfits for them that should turn out pretty cute. Thanks for the info on winding the elastic on the bobbin. If I venture into this technique, I will be sure to not wind tightly.
Oh no, I lost my comments, after writing most of it, just by checking back to check on something! Well,, here goes again!
Anne, loved seeing your pictures of your family and you too! How wonderful that you got to see them and they look so friendly and inviting! Love the scenery in the background of the beautiful home, which certainly reminds me of the English countryside. You certainly are lucky to have this opportunity to visit a beautiful place and to also visit with family while you are there. The children are darling, and that top you made for Eban is wonderful! So colorful! And the Minecraft cake! My grandson had one of those made several years ago, showing you that children like the same things no matter where in the world tney live! Thank you for sending the pictures to Jeanne and to Jeanne for passing them along to us!
Have to leave for the Y. Will talk to y’all later!
Now is.Barbara’s turn from me! I didn’t want to lose my first comments before I write this, so am doing mine in two parts.
Arbara, at first glance I thought you were taking pictures in your backyard! Who could top those beautiful scenes, and in their backyards?😊. I love those frilly dresses on Hannah and Druanne! Getting those ruffles perfectly gathered must have been time-consuming, but you did a wonderful job! What doll or little girl wouldn’t love them! I also love the headbands! Did you make them? And are the pearl necklaces a part of the dress, or separate?
The little colorful play outfits are adorable, again all ruffled up! You did an excellent job, and they all look so cute!
Those twins, dresses are darling! Reminds me of Alice in Wonderland dresses! Did you actually buy two of the same doll? I love that eyelet lace you used. What a hard time I am having, trying to find just a 1/2 yard of gathered eyelet lace without having to buy 8 yards!
I wish my backyard looked like this. It is actually a large poster. Thanks for your nice comment on the dresses on Hannah and Druanne. They did come off nice. For some reason these gathers just came out perfectly so no adjusting was needed on my part. Not usually the case. The headbands and necklaces came from DollDayDreamBoutique on Etsy. I was looking for a pink necklace for Hannah’s dress but then saw all the other necklaces and headbands and couldn’t resist. Yes my dolly daughters are somewhat spoiled. The pattern I used for Lynzi’s outfit is a Meadow Dumpling pattern that fits her well but Jane’s outfit was made from a Siblie pattern. I tried some of my Siblie clothes on her and they fit perfectly around but needed to be shortened so I just turned up the bottom of the top and the pants the width of the hems and everything came out perfectly. I’ve made that pattern in other sizes for bigger dolls. It always comes out so cute and lends itself to a lot of interpretations. I actually bought two Mini Hanna’s by accident but they looked so cute together I decided to keep them both. After sewing for them I’m glad I did. They look so adorable together.
Happy Friday dear ones.
I typed up a comment, and thankfully it was not long winded and verbose, and it got lost because of “user error” 😀 It must be the day, Linda
Anne, thank you for sharing your adventures. I hope the rest of your trip is easy and enjoyable. Lovely lovely photos with family and lovely scenery too. The cake is a masterpiece! Your family looks so sweet. Happy young families!!
Barbara, your dollies and dresses are lovely, wow, excellent fabrics and the ruffles are so well done! This is a pretty pattern, and all of the dresses are excellent. I love ruffles and dresses. All of your girls look happy
Stay cool and fresh today, it is going to be a “hottie”
Happy Week-end too
Thanks so much for your nice comment on my efforts especially with the ruffles. I love ruffles on things but I did notice I was having a problem with the fingernail on the finger I was wrapping the thread around as I gathered. Finally I decided to wrap the fingernail in tape when I had to gather since I do a lot of ruffles and the problem has gone away. Also gathering ruffles can be a bit boring so I get everything ready to gather the ruffle(s) (bottom serged and hemmed and the gathering stitches put in) go sit in my recliner and put something on the TV. It’s an opportunity to take a little rest before I go to the next step.
Hope that Jeanne gets some pics of the liquid amber tree trimming. We have three at the other house and I so wish that they were all removed. As she probably knows, I am not a fan of those trees at all. The roots go everywhere and get into sewer/water lines as well. Let alone the mess when they drop leaves all winter and prickly seed pods too. Can’t convince other person that they need to go though. Maybe it’s time to try again. 🙂
Thanks Jeanne and Anne for sharing the wonderful UK photos. Seeing the stone homes in the background was exciting and your family is wonderful. Too bad little miss didn’t like her sweater as the one worn by bro is so fun. Maybe she will come around. 🙂 What a fun cake. Our grands loved Minecraft too, when they were that age. Those quilt blocks are lovely. I hope that you can use them in a creation when you return. Love your quilts. What a delightful family you have. So glad that you are able to spend time in the UK with them. Sounds like you are getting better. Glad to hear that. Here, we’re still coughing, but feeling so much better. 🙂
Thanks also to Jeanne and Barbara for sharing the fun dolly pics. I’m amazed at all of the dresses. The dresses that the big girls are wearing are so party perfect. They can be worn all year long I think. 🙂 The Ruby Red minis are such cuties. Those twins appear to be a handful though. Do they play tricks and pretend to be the other to confuse their friends? 🙂 I love the Natterer girls and the park scene too. Very cute outfits. The Natterer’s here are waving! The outfits on the L’il Dreamers are perfect. I especially like the one with the ruffles on the shorts. Great idea to make an outfit to go with the shoes. I should do that so I wouldn’t have to go hunting for suitable footwear afterwards. 🙂 Thanks so much Barbara, for sharing with us.
Here, the weather continues to be very cool for summer. I’m enjoying it, but the tomatoes are not. I think we may have valerian wilt or something. Other person is not happy. The hole is still in the backyard. We did measure though, and I think we’ll do another hole a little further over. If that fails, we’ll probably just fill both back in and continue with the root problem. Really don’t want to mess with the deck above whose posts are right on top of the sewer line. We’ll see how it goes.
Joy, when we bought the land to build our house it was solid trees. We had all the pine trees cut out and there were a lot of Sweet Gums left. They went crazy with the sun shine and grew huge. 2 years ago we had 6 of them cut down. Our yard looks SO much better and the camellias and others have been so much happier! We don’t miss all the leaves and prickly balls at all!!
Sissy, Sweet Gum trees are outlawed here due to those prickly balls, which cause a lot of problems. We had one in our front yard years ago, and for awhile it was fine, but then, when it grew to maturity, those pesky sweet gum balls started making appearances so we cut it down before it go too big and costly to do.
Oh, that is another vote to remove those trees. Yay 🙂
I’m going to read this to other person in hopes he may change his tune. 🙂
Thanks for your wonderful comments on my dolly girls and their outfits. Yes I think Hannah and Druanne’s dresses could be worn all year long but wait until you see the fabric I’m going to make them out of for the holidays. I’m enjoying sewing for the bigger dolls because I get to use some of my fabric that is beautiful but too large scale for the little dolls. Yes those minis are cuties. I did not get Mini Freida though. I just stuck to the minis of the original three “core” dolls. Yep those twins can be a handful. They aren’t in school just yet but when they are I’m sure I’m going to have to look out for pranks to fool their teachers, like that friend of mine who always had her twin girls in different dresses so they just switched dresses and went to each other’s classroom after lunch. The teachers hadn’t a clue. I will not be telling this story to Jamie and Jodie.
That’s pretty funny about your friend with twins switching outfits. 🙂
Well, the water was not a happy place for me today. I forget to take the meds I have been useing, so maybe that was it.
I feel some better now.
Barbara, I am blown away with all you cute outfits. You make me really anxious to get sewing again. Thank you so much for sharing them.
I shall now go sit in my recliner for awhile. Y’all have a great weekend.
Thank you for your sweet comment on my outfits and hope you feel up to sewing again soon. Now that my photo shoot is over I need to get back to some of the outfits on the drawing board. I have a few to take care of to make way for back-to-school sewing. Hopefully you will feel better after sitting in your recliner for a while. I know I usually do. I’m trying a new routine. I’m using my rowing machine in the morning instead of hoping I will have the energy in the afternoon then talking myself out of it. I’m hoping to improve my circulation and cut down on inflammation. When it gets cooler I will go the park and walk but until that happens I’m hoping my new routine will be positive for me.
I hope it works for you. I got better after coming home and take some meds and my recliner. Wishes for a better day tomorrow for us both. Hugs!!
Thank for posting my pictures, Jeane. And I loved seeing Anne’s pictures from the UK. It’s fun seeing pictures of Anne and her family.
I have to tell the story of how my Truly Me doll came to be named Druanne. I was scrolling through my streaming shows one day and saw the old “Hawaii Five-O” series. We did not like the new one that much but the old one we liked. I decided to watch it for a few days. One of the shows I came upon was called “Kiss the Queen Good-bye”. Druanne Setlow played the part of a little girl living with her grandfather who saves the day for Five-O. I had never heard the name Druanne before and loved it. and decided I had to give the name to one of my dolls. Shortly thereafter I bought my AG Truly Me and she became Druanne.
Thanks for all the lovely comments, it is lovely spending time with the family I rarely see. I’d love to come back again but I work on it being the last trip! If I make it again it will be a bonus.
I will comment on Monday with all my news since this is a bit late and not everyone will see it.