Hi everyone,
First of all, a few “catch ups!”
Linda, I sure hope your stomach virus stays away… it must have been awful!
Charlotte, Happy Bittersweet Anniversary! I’m so sorry Ron isn’t here to celebrate with you!
Marilyn… I DID get that tote bag made! YAY!
Anne… Oh my, what a day in the ER you had. Poor Sam, that must have been awfully painful… and I was wondering, how in the world did you ever get her finger from under the needle? Oh, wait, you said the needle broke in her finger! OUCHEEEEE! I’ve been sewing since I was 10 on a regular sewing machine and never have run over my finger… my mom did once at a shoe factory! Oh, that much have hurt. Give Sam a hug from all of us!
Laura, your description of those jeans that used to come to a V… like a yoke front… made me remember, I wore a pair of those on my honeymoon… Size 3! Oh my goodness! If I ever see a pair of those, I will instantly think of you, Laura!
Rosemary… you found some plain ole denim??? Well, bless your heart!
Joy, I had to laugh when you called Violette Daisy Mae… that made me smile!
Barbara… since you confessed to actually like Spandex in your pants… I decided to squeal on my brother in law… Cindy’s hubby. Cindy bought him some pants that have stretch in them and he calls them “Lady Pants!” It makes me laugh every time he says it! :o)
Sissy… you sound SO SO busy… I Hope you find time to breathe!!!
Elizabeth… I DID get your pictures… INCREDIBLE and will be showing them soon. Thank you!!
Now, let’s start out with something that made me smile…
Linda bought Susette’s Croquet Set from Suemae. It is the wonderful set for the American Girl dolls and Linda didn’t waste any time setting up the cutest scene for the girls! I can’t believe Linda didn’t have the croquet set already, but how very special to have gotten Susette’s doll set. Look at these fabulous pictures. :o) This is what Linda emailed me:
Hi Jeanne!
Not too long ago Suemae asked me if there was anything of Susette’s that I would want to buy, so I thought this croquet set would be fun to set up with the doll’s scenes. It is so cute and had all the pieces. I tried to make it look like they were playing on grass by using green placemats, but in the pictures, you could not see the wickets very well, so I put the white scarf back and they show up much better. It is quite a condensed course, but room is limited!
The big girls are all wearing AG outfits, and the two small dolls are wearing outfits by Tiny Clothesline on Etsy.
Boy, are we getting the rain today!
Love to you,
Linda💕☔️
Thanks Linda… I thought I might let you know that Suemae is doing a great job selling lots of Susette’s AG things as well as other various items… Her SELLER name is Suewill_98
When you get to her page, you can look at what she has listed on Ebay and even check the “completed sales” (on the left side menu). Add one of her items to your watchlist and you’ll be able to go to it and then check what else she has listed in the future.
Okay, now for the part of my day that did NOT make me smile…
~ it wasn’t the dentist visit where I got my crown put on (YAY) that actually made me smile! (I was numb for 3 hours this time!)
~ it wasn’t getting caught in the rain right after the dentist (now the humidity AFTER the rain was a different story!)
~ it wasn’t waiting in the long line at the Post Office to mail a doll swimsuit I sold yesterday. That made me happy!
~ it wasn’t the mistake the seller on Etsy made with the lace I needed for a lady’s gloves. She’s trying to find the right width lace.
This didn’t make me smile… but almost had me on the verge of tears.
I’ve had a photo hosting service for the last 22 years. I studied how it worked for 6 months before I ever pulled the trigger. When I did, it was wonderful. It gave me those big pictures on my Ebay listings, I could tile the sides with a picture of my fabric, I could choose the color of my wording, pick my font, add all sorts of special things around the pictures, I could put my pictures in the middle or on the left or right, there was a variety of backgrounds I could use for special occasions; like sparkly things for 4th of July, Easter borders, Christmasy things… and it has been wonderful and I knew how to use it SO well, I could probably have done it in my sleep!
WELL… the man who runs it sent out an email that his service/software had maliciously been attacked on May 1st and the hackers had wiped out everything, even the backups were invaded and removed; nothing was saved. He was just sick and has refunded anyone who paid for the month of May. It was so reasonable. $8/month. I have been with them since 2004, when I first started selling many of my doll things.
The nice thing about this photo hosting program was the “templates” you could make AND save… which is all the information about the way I wanted it set up. I could pick how many pictures I wanted, what color the wording to be, and then when I wanted to list something else that was the same style dress of even the same fabric, I could look up a previous listing and it was just a matter of making up a new story line and changing the pictures.
I had copied pages of my listings and have 22 pages that look like this… just the listings, but the dates and which doll was wearing it. But my pages only go to 2018… I didn’t think I would ever need them… and they don’t really help me, but sometimes I refer back to them when I’m trying to remember when I made something. Now I can’t get the rest of them from 2018 till now.. but I guess it doesn’t matter.
I don’t have the slightest idea who I will go with for a new photo hosting service. I LOVED the way this one was set up. Maybe Kristoffer can help me…
SO… this is why my smile turned to a frown… I was getting ready to list Violette’s set again… I made a little tote today for her and added Russell to the mix. He’s modeling a pair of board shorts that will come with this set… I was going to call it “Beach Buds” and had the cutest little story lined up for it.
Sure, there is a way to show pictures using an Ebay template, but you can’t write a little bit, then show a picture, and then write a little more and show another picture. You list your pictures at the side and have your description all in a paragraph! Waaaahhhh!
Anyway, maybe if I show you some new pictures and my tote, they can make me smile.
This is the little tote I made for Violette. I used a free pattern from Designs by Jude. It was very easy to make and is fully lined.
Here is the video on YouTube… Tote Bag tutorial video
On the right of that page, you can see the link to Fletcher Pattern company and the pattern can be found there. When you click that, it will bring up a page, and you’ll have to add Tote Bag to the search engine. Then follow through with it, put it in your basket and it will seem like you are paying for it, but it’s free.
Well, I better get to bed. I was trying to figure out how I could possibly get logged into my photo hosting site, but it truly has disappeared. Oh well, I’ll be okay… just a jolt to me.
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
First of all, thanks to everyone for your kind thoughts. Today was a little up and down for me, but it turned out pretty well, actually. I had met evangelist Ken Lynch at church this afternoon to work out the congregational hymns for the three evening services, and remembered again how much fun it is to play along with another musician! He played his Vibraharp (keyboard) and I played the piano. And I’m happy to say that our hymns tonight went pretty well, and I heard some nice comments afterwards. Ken also played a couple of solos (one on the musical glasses and one on the bandura [I think it’s called]) as well as preached a good sermon from Hebrews.
Linda, those pictures of your girls playing croquet are just precious. How wonderful, that you were able to get that set! I looked at Suemae’s listings on ebay, and there are some pretty tempting things there!
Jeanne, I’m so sorry about your photo hosting service; that had to be SO distressing! Who’d have thought it!!
Anne, I pray Sam’s finger will heal quickly, and she will retain full use of it. How nice of your friends to get all your stuff packed up so you didn’t have to worry about that, too!!
Your experience with Ken Lynch sounds wonderful. A real blessing to come at a time when you needed some uplifting.
Oh Jeanne, what a complete shock to have your way of listing your outfits gone and now what? I always loved the way the actual fabric snowed along the sides, and it made your listings so distinctive. And to lose all those other listings! Do you yourself have pictures of your outfits? I’m hoping and praying that you do!
Yes, I have been watching Suemae’s listings, and truth be told, I do have a lot of the same things, because after all, I too am an AG doll collector! But she does have a lot that I don’t have, and everything is in such good shape too. I can’t get over that she had Addy’s Stilting outfit and even the stilts! No idea she had that, but she did have Addy, and I do not.
Thank you, Charlotte for the kind words. We had a croquet set when I was a child, because it was the most popular outdoor game at the time, and for many years later. Ours was all banged up, as they do get, but provided hours of fun for us girls. That’s why I decided to get that set from Suemae, since I knew I could use it for so many of my dolls. I think they will be playing croquet for their Memorial Day holiday and have a picnic lunch waiting for them after they get done.
Oh, Anne! What terrible things you have been going through! Talk about painful! I hope Sam’s finger heals well, and that things work out for you.
Thank you all for the loving words concerning my virus. I’m ready to put it in the past and be thankful it wasn’t worse.
More rain today, but I can’t complain when I see so many without it, and the threat of fires.
Have a lovely day today!
I love the croquet scene and now my dolly kiddoes are wanting one too. I’ve really got to keep them away from the blog but they’re a sneaky bunch, especially when it comes to my wallet. Actually it’s just a good way of blaming them when things like a gymnastics set and croquet sets show up here. I checked the Etsy site where you said you got the smaller girl outfits and there’s nothing there at the moment. I wasn’t aware of that site. The outfits you show are really cute. But then all your girls always look so cute and dressed for the occasion.
Barbara, the Tiny Clothesline is closed right now, because she is getting her machines serviced. She will be back soon, I am sure. She makes darling little play clothes, and I had one in my cart but just found yesterday that she closed her shop for the servicing. That I can understand!
The minute I hit “Comment” I realized that I didn’t finish! I wanted to say that I am happy that the boys got their beach shorts too, and was wondering what you were going to do with the boys shorts. The two sets make a perfect duo and will be fun for someone to set up a scene! And you even have seashells too, Jeanne! The little tote bag is darling and completes the set! This is a winner!
Tuesday already. Thank you for the Sofa update all around, Jeanne!
Photo loss is devastating. This is super annoying. I am shocked, along with so much good and honest humans in the world, there are some devils. I am really heartbroken for you. I hope you get your photos back somehow.
Here at our new house, we do not have a mailbox on our house but the mail boxes are right across the street from my house! So I slipped the white denim
in an envelope for you and slid the envelope right in the outgoing slot! I hope it is perfect to try another pair of shorts.
It seems like most of the denim I have is cut off from heavy jeans or longer shorts of the girls. I have some lovely khaki colored denim but one side is stained with ? I should try washing it 😆 maybe it is just dirt. I have a lot of denim pieces…. and a lot of fabric.
I hope you can get this set posted soon, Jeanne. This scene is precious
I love the addition of the tiny tote bag with the outfit. I know the story will be super sweet with these cute little shells! The offering is really sweet. I love the fabric for the top! The gingham is really special.
Linda, your summer scene is so wonderful! I love croquet, this is a great set to have. I am really glad you got it from Susette. What a great time these girls are having!
I hope all of you are smooth sailing today.
It is going to be very warm today. I should give my flowers a sprinkle, but hopefully we will have some rain coming which is supposed to bring cooler weather. Yes, the humidity is going to be climbing over the next weeks and it will reach our point of hazy hot and humid east coast enjoyment.
Today I am staying inside.
Thank you, Rosemary! Yes, I’m so glad I now have the croquet set, and knowing it was Susette’s makes it extra special!
Well, I’m starting with the happy stuff. Linda’s fun photos of the croquet game made my day. Seeing RR Sara concentrating with her mallet was a highlight. As a kid, we played croquet a lot at family get togethers in the summer. The game was so much fun even for someone who did not enjoy any sport that involved those round things. Croquet was different though. Hit the ball with the mallet and go through the hoops. I could do that. And if you hit some one else’s ball on your turn, the ball you hit was fair game to move your ball to the one hit and put your foot on top of yours and hit your ball with the mallet. The force moved the opponent’s ball away from the field but not yours. Revenge of the croquet ball was fun. Anyway, brings back so many memories of all my relatives. Thanks for sharing your girls Linda, in their great summer fun attire. All of the girls look so cute. And thank you Jeanne for sharing.
The whole episode of the photo hosting service was news to me. I had no idea that it even existed. It looks like it was a great service. So sad for Jeanne, that it is no longer available.
Another happy. I love the pics of Violette and Russell. So much fun to see them together in their adorable outfits.. And the tote is cute too. Now, you’ll laugh, but with my eyes this morning, I saw Violette holding a potato chip. I thought, why does she have one chip? And then the a pic of Russell with one chip too. Maybe Jeanne only had a couple of chips for the scene. And why are the kids so enthused about a potato chip? Well, duh, when I saw more in the tote bag, it finally dawned on me that they weren’t chips at all, but shells. So much for early mornings around here. But, my faux paw made me smile.
The wind finally died down yesterday so we got to work here and picked up sticks and branches and got everything cut up and into cans which we had to take to the other house as ours was already full. We still need to blow off the roof/gutters which are full of sycamore snow aka flying seeds and do the front patio, porch, driveway, and backyard decks. We’ll get to it, but it’s going to take awhile. Late in the day, I decided to clean out the little pond I made some years back. I had it screened, but apparently, that rusted and it was full of leaves and dirt. It was so wet everywhere since I was using the hose that I gave up trying to bail it out. I’ll get back to that today. I want to rearrange the rock border and see if the pump might still work. But, since I was spraying everything around it as well, I think there may be a yellow jacket nest nearby. Yikes. I did cut back part of the blackberry, but I’ll have to be very careful doing the rest. Have a fun day everyone. 🙂
Tha k you, Joy! I quite forgot about that part where of you hit another ball, you can knock it way out! Ha! It’s been years since I played croquet, but remember it was a lot of fun. Plus you didn’t have to be particularity athletic to play it, and I sure wasn’t!
It was fun to just put some play loathes on the girls and let them play! They really like it, and don’t want a change of scenes, plus it gives me a break!
When I was growing up we had a lot of family gatherings on my mother’s side and I had a bunch of cousins to play with. We played both croquet and badminton. I do remember trying to knock your opponent’s ball into oblivion – and the frustration when it only went a short distance and was actually in the way of your next shot. So many of those cousins are gone today, some younger than me, and I miss them a lot, but it’s great to have the memories to look back on.
Wow, Jeanne, what a lot of a day you had! At least you do have a sweet couple of kids to show us, your cute “Beach Buds!” I always wondered how you had such lovely ebay colors. I am so sorry it all went away for the man and for you. How sad. Your lovely outfits will still be there to show, though, and I know they will still sell. I hope George is feeling better?
I have tried to sell my sweet Meadow Sissi Tinkle doll on FB but no bite yet. We have had a lot of costly problems on our house lately, but it seems that the rising costs everywhere are making it harder to sell dolls. I’ll keep trying though, with some Kish dolls. Today is the only day we don’t have somewhere to go until next week.
Linda, your adorable photos are enough to raise any ones joy! Your photos as the girls get ready for their fun are so cute. I really appreciate your showing them, and thank you, Jeanne for showing them too.
Anne, I hope that Sam’s finger will heal quickly. I know it must be so painful!
Wishes for a good day, and if you have rain, send us some please!
Thank you, Sissy! I thought it would be a fun scene, and that the dolls would enjoy it, not having to get all dressed up our go to school. Speaking of school, the school year is winding down now, and people are getting ready for the Memorial Day holiday. Maybe some croquet sets might be coming out of storage now! By the way, that croquet set works for both the 18 inchers and the smaller dolls quite well too.
I’m so glad you finally got the old AGOT croquet set, Linda! I’ve had that one for years, just never gotten around to sharing photos with it. It’s a fun set, especially when paired with Samantha’s Lawn Party set nearby as the wicket is a near match. I played croquet with my grandfather or when cousins came a lot as a child so I’m really happy to have both doll sets. Really should get out the human set for the summer. The leaf placements look great.
Really sorry you were ill as well.
So sorry about Sam’s finger, Anne. I hope she heals quickly.
Well, that is very frustrating, Jeanne. I hope you can find another program you like.
Thank you for the tote bag pattern. That is super cute.
I’m happy to have the croquet set too, Laura! I can use it for Cecile, the 40’s girls, and the modern girls too, so it is a big win for me I am getting to look more for the items that I missed out on when I was buying clothes, and now have quite a few things to pose my dolls with, which is better than just dolls standing around!
I am so sorry to hear about your loss of the picture hosting program. I was always impressed by it but thought it was just part of the eBay experience. I did not realize it was extra. I can totally understand your frustration. I’ve had a similar experience in a way. Mine was not business related but it still was a disappointment when it happened. I love using my Punch home and landscape program. For several years someone who works for Punch created a site called Punch Alternatives. It was amazing. I’m good at designing the houses but the furnishings are done with CAD and I haven’t had any experience or training with that. Punch Alternatives was set up so that anyone who wanted to could create items and upload them for download by users of the program.
For years if you had to get a new computer and upload a new program, your downloaded and/or created items would go away and you would have to find them again by going through designs you created. Then they made it so you could save the items to a personal file so they would be there if you had to reinstall or get a new program.
But some people can’t leave well enough alone and the site kept getting hacked. Why the woman, who is very knowledgeable about computers, did not do a back-up or something to prevent hacking i don’t know but she didn’t. So every time she was hacked she had to reload the items one by one which took hours because there were so many. Finally she got sick of doing that and shut down the site totally. When she did that, before the items were linked to a personal file, I would have to go back through all my home designs and find the items and add them to the furnishings again. There were wonderful living room furnishings and things like pontoon boats and a motorhome and travel trailer, etc., etc., etc. She had a man who helped her for a while but he passed away and that may have been part of the reason she shut the sit down because she was having to do it all by herself and she really didn’t have the time. I really miss the site but I’m glad I took the time to download all the items I did while I could.
I’m hoping Jeanne will be able to find another site that works as well or that a way can be found to restore what she had.
I love seeing the Beach Buds together. A definite selling point for those that have both a girl and boy RRFF. And the tote couldn’t be cuter.
Jeanne I am so sorry about the hacking. To me it is no different to physical vandalism. Theft I understand even though I deplore it. Even hacking to hold companies to ransom is understandable, a desire to ‘get something you have and I don’t’, but vandalism and hacking just because you can really gets my goat. I took my grandson to the park one day, many years ago and someone with the brain of a pea had wrapped the swing chains around and around the bar at the top so they were unusable. I guess they thought it was funny and I guess the hackers thought they were clever!
Anyway, your Beach Buds are great and I love the tote. I am sure the set will sell even without the clever photo hosting programme.
Linda the girls look as though they are having a great time. I have never played croquet. My early childhood was spent in the aftermath of the war. Most imports were necessities not luxuries and it took a while before factories were able to transfer from a war to domestic footing. It was also seen as an ‘Upper Class’ game. ‘people of our class didn’t play those sorts of games’. Believe me, the ‘lower classes’ were kept in line by our peers as well as our ‘betters’.
Sam is not really in pain. The fingertip is quite numb which may mean she has damaged the nerves. She has a hand physio appt on Friday so they will assess the damage and see if she needs any ongoing appts.
When she first did it she was still attached to the machine, I unscrewed the needle and we had to cut the thread. She was doing a block which she kept having to re do. This was the third attempt. She was sure she had bled all over it and would have to repeat it for the fourth time but when she checked it was completely blood free, so a small positive from the experience lol. Tomorrow is our guild meeting so I guess all the members will hear all about it then.
We could do with some of the rain you are having. The only thing that will save us from drought is that there is rain further west and our water comes from the head waters there. They did tell us that it would be drier than normal here but I wasn’t expecting it to be so soon. It is ridiculous that we are so dry and the rest of the country has had to deal with continual flooding.
Have a good day
Glad that Sam, isn’t having pain and that she is checking on the numbness. I can see that with all of the trauma her poor finger has endured, and hoping that it will go away. And no blood on the block is remarkable.
Here, we are pushing 90 so it is very hot. No rain expected, but it should cool off by the weekend hopefully. Nice to hear that you’re at least getting rain where your water is sourced.
Take care
Thank you, Anne! Croquet was most certainly NOT an upper class game here! I think most everyday people had a set in their garage. Our set was not new. Since it was wood, the balls got quite knocked up from the mallets hitting them, but it was a fun diversion back Iin the years when I was young and even before that. Today it is not quite as common.
So glad that Sam is not in pain, but I hope she suffered no permanent nerve damage. Was this the hand she uses most?