Friday, March 30, 2012
Oh so excited that you're getting your sewing machine out! I have to get a new one, the one I am working on is borrowed and I really need to give it back. I am hoping to take a trip to town on the next few weeks and get one. Ideally I'd like a vintage restored one, a steady work horse of a machine with very little to mess about and go wrong with. Fingers crossed I can get something.
Yes, the 11 inch doll looks perfect for those wings, I have little visions of a sweet little blond haired blue eyed girl wearing only a terry toweling nappy or a very simple white dress with the little wings? I'll have a play about. What do you think? Do you have any ideas?
Oh Rebe will be so excited about the story. She's so funny about hedgehogs, she's never seen a real one. I looked up some rescue centres yesterday on the net, I might give them a call and see if we could come and visit them one day? She'd really love that, only I know it will fuel her obsessions. Still I'd rather hedgehogs than Barbies or something ;-P
I was wondering if you wanted to see the progress of your dolls as I went along? I am very happy to take pictures of all the stages so you can see just how I make them. It's probably be an interesting blog post actually. But I don't want it to spoil the magic of the doll? Maybe I could show you the pictures after you received her and Sara had a chance to play with her?
So, my dear friend, I hope you are having a lovely day, mine is nearly at an end, it's been busy as usual. The kids are in the garden with Andy planting before I throw them into the bath (which they will no doubt need). After that I'm going to visit a friend and get a massage. She's fairly newly trained and looking to practice and I'm feeling quite a lot of tension (still got this headache thing), I am beginning to wonder if it is actually my eyes? I should go for a test sometime.
Anyway, take care dear sweet people, much love and many mnay kisses Laura x x x
Hi Laura,
Oh I have been thinking that I would like you to create a winged doll ....especially if you are inspired...The best (and most fun) creative work happens when we are excited and inspired, exploring and playful, and our subconscious is working away when we're sleeping or doing the daily things of life. And I know what it is like to find something like a particular fabric or yarn (or wings!) that I recognize for it's potential.
We have 9-year-old girl winged ones. They are the youngest people-winged-ones we are aware of.
(And there are also large dog, lion, and other animal winged ones.)
It is so much fun to read your excitement about having the materials for the hedgehog doll.
We're excited too!
I'm working on a story about Rebe, her wee hedgehog friend, and pockets.
Last night Ray rubbed our ankles and we fell asleep and slept the night on the sofa, and woke up when he was making coffee, getting ready for work. But we're still tired and want to go back to sleep for an hour or two.
Today I think I'm going to sweep the papers on the kitchen table into a box and set up my featherweight sewing machine. I'm in the mood to sew.
hugs!
Oh I have been thinking that I would like you to create a winged doll ....especially if you are inspired...The best (and most fun) creative work happens when we are excited and inspired, exploring and playful, and our subconscious is working away when we're sleeping or doing the daily things of life. And I know what it is like to find something like a particular fabric or yarn (or wings!) that I recognize for it's potential.
We have 9-year-old girl winged ones. They are the youngest people-winged-ones we are aware of.
(And there are also large dog, lion, and other animal winged ones.)
It is so much fun to read your excitement about having the materials for the hedgehog doll.
We're excited too!
I'm working on a story about Rebe, her wee hedgehog friend, and pockets.
Last night Ray rubbed our ankles and we fell asleep and slept the night on the sofa, and woke up when he was making coffee, getting ready for work. But we're still tired and want to go back to sleep for an hour or two.
Today I think I'm going to sweep the papers on the kitchen table into a box and set up my featherweight sewing machine. I'm in the mood to sew.
hugs!
Oh wow.... a red journal will go so well with the fabric of her dress.
My hair yarn arrived today, whoop whoop, so now I have everything to get started on the hedgehog doll, I'm so looking forward to her.
Also enclosed with the yarn were the wings. They are very beautiful I think, but I'm not sure if you would want to do anything with them. No pressure either way. If the winged ones are animals I can just send you the wings if you like and perhaps you have a plush toy they would work on?
Anyway, I couldn't wait til this evening to tell you, but I'd better go now the boys are milling around looking for mischief.
love and hugs to you all for now.
xxxx
My hair yarn arrived today, whoop whoop, so now I have everything to get started on the hedgehog doll, I'm so looking forward to her.
Also enclosed with the yarn were the wings. They are very beautiful I think, but I'm not sure if you would want to do anything with them. No pressure either way. If the winged ones are animals I can just send you the wings if you like and perhaps you have a plush toy they would work on?
Anyway, I couldn't wait til this evening to tell you, but I'd better go now the boys are milling around looking for mischief.
love and hugs to you all for now.
xxxx
this we can manage
Hi dear sweet Laura,
I love hearing about your days. It sounds like you are much more organized, with a regular pattern, than I was when Chris was little. It sounds like you have created a beautifully balanced life together.
How idyllic to be able to play on the beach.
Every year we rent a house by the sea for two weeks. I dream about having a cabin by the ocean. I love watching the ocean, for hours and hours.
I have to admit that I am relieved that you allow your children to watch movies. We love to watch children's movies, and movies like The Secret of Roan Inish (our favorite), and Miss Potter, and and UK tv series like Ballykissangel and currently Ray and I are watching Doc Martin. Oh...are you familiar with the long series Avonlea? We love the shorter production of Anne of Green Gables, and Avonlea, which is about Story Girl and other LM Montgomery stories. We were thinking this morning that re-watching the Avonlea series will be a good thing to do while we are recovering from the major surgery.
And thank you, I am so excited to hear about an author I don't know...Enid Blyton. We will look for her books online later tonight.
I am sorry to hear about Andy's unemployment. What is his work?
Ray is a firefighter, and all the firefighters in his department took a pay cut so no-one would have to be laid off.
I hope your family will be ok.
We had a long day today, but we are feeling a lot less stressed. Littles were so scared at the prospect of having the major surgery on our left foot, as well as the screws out of our right heel, both on April 11th, which was the proposed plan. We are proud of ourselves that we were able to get internally organized so the dealing-with-medical-stuff team was on the surface, and littles didn't pop to the surface sobbing and maybe rocking. That would not have been good.
So Ray drove us the hour to the hospital where the foot-and-ankle surgeon is. On the way we talked about how we were in agreement about how I need to have the screws out of my right foot and then do physical therapy to strengthen before having the major left foot surgery.
At the hospital, I had to have a dozen x-rays with the x-ray tech from hell. Then Ray and I met with the surgeon, and now the plan is for me to have the surgery to have the screws out on April 11th, and then do physical therapy , and we have a tentative major surgery date for August 15th. So we are feeling relieved. This we can manage.
And now I should have enough time to figure out some doll clothes and/or doll quilt projects.
You are so generous to share knitting patterns and yarn.
I hope I will have something to share with you.
Ray and I stopped at our local Irish pub on the way home and Ray had bangers and mash and I had chicken strips and chips. Their chips are my favorite!
But they were salty.... I need to go make a mug of tea.
goodnight for now, dear friend,
—Carole
I love hearing about your days. It sounds like you are much more organized, with a regular pattern, than I was when Chris was little. It sounds like you have created a beautifully balanced life together.
How idyllic to be able to play on the beach.
Every year we rent a house by the sea for two weeks. I dream about having a cabin by the ocean. I love watching the ocean, for hours and hours.
I have to admit that I am relieved that you allow your children to watch movies. We love to watch children's movies, and movies like The Secret of Roan Inish (our favorite), and Miss Potter, and and UK tv series like Ballykissangel and currently Ray and I are watching Doc Martin. Oh...are you familiar with the long series Avonlea? We love the shorter production of Anne of Green Gables, and Avonlea, which is about Story Girl and other LM Montgomery stories. We were thinking this morning that re-watching the Avonlea series will be a good thing to do while we are recovering from the major surgery.
And thank you, I am so excited to hear about an author I don't know...Enid Blyton. We will look for her books online later tonight.
I am sorry to hear about Andy's unemployment. What is his work?
Ray is a firefighter, and all the firefighters in his department took a pay cut so no-one would have to be laid off.
I hope your family will be ok.
We had a long day today, but we are feeling a lot less stressed. Littles were so scared at the prospect of having the major surgery on our left foot, as well as the screws out of our right heel, both on April 11th, which was the proposed plan. We are proud of ourselves that we were able to get internally organized so the dealing-with-medical-stuff team was on the surface, and littles didn't pop to the surface sobbing and maybe rocking. That would not have been good.
So Ray drove us the hour to the hospital where the foot-and-ankle surgeon is. On the way we talked about how we were in agreement about how I need to have the screws out of my right foot and then do physical therapy to strengthen before having the major left foot surgery.
At the hospital, I had to have a dozen x-rays with the x-ray tech from hell. Then Ray and I met with the surgeon, and now the plan is for me to have the surgery to have the screws out on April 11th, and then do physical therapy , and we have a tentative major surgery date for August 15th. So we are feeling relieved. This we can manage.
And now I should have enough time to figure out some doll clothes and/or doll quilt projects.
You are so generous to share knitting patterns and yarn.
I hope I will have something to share with you.
Ray and I stopped at our local Irish pub on the way home and Ray had bangers and mash and I had chicken strips and chips. Their chips are my favorite!
But they were salty.... I need to go make a mug of tea.
goodnight for now, dear friend,
—Carole
Dearest Carole,
Your husband sounds so wonderful! It's really great that you can put your feet up at home and be cared for there. I really think that home is probably the most healing place to be rather than a hospital.
Funny I was going to say talking books would be good. When I did more painting (before I had kids) I used to love being cosied up in my room painting and listening to stories.
Rebe listens to stories now every night when she goes to bed. We still have a bedtime story all together her and the boys but that is a little earlier than her bedtime so she stays up a bit later and she has quiet time doing lego or drawing or sewing and listening to tapes. She loves Enid Blyton best of all, Famous Five and Secret Seven, they are really old fashioned English stories and it's so funny to hear the influence of listening to those tapes on her language, she comes out with some really outdated phrases sometimes! I also loved Tom's Midnight Garden, the Borrowers, Anne of Green Gables when I was little and of course Beatrix Potter and Winnie the Pooh :-)
I had a lovely walk today, I left everyone at home with Andy. He was made unemployed 3 weeks ago and so I have him at home this means he watches the kids for me when I go to yoga and out for a walk. I try to fit my days around the kids though. I do house stuff and cooking in the morning while Rebe is at school and Benny and Joa bimble around the house. We may go out for a walk or a play on the beach. When Rebe comes home we have lunch together and she does her homework. After than Joa (who is 21 months now) has a nap and I let the other 2 watch a movie together and I go and do a bit of doll making. When Joa wakes I stop and we have dinner and a play or a bit of time outdoors. After the kids go to bed (around 7.30pm) I work for a couple more hours, depending on how tired I am, and that's my day really...don't know why I told you all that lol!
I am so excited about starting the hedgehog doll, I don't feel at all pressured, but it would be nice to be able to get her off to you in time for the surgery. All going well I will start on her at the weekend. Do you have a date for the surgery?
I think that little knitted doll accessories will be good little projects. They won't take too long and they can be as simple as you like. A scarf is very straight forward and little hats and socks. Bags too? I have a couple of dolls knitting patterns I can send to you, I also have loads of vintage Irish yarn in odd balls that I'll enclose too.
Anyway, I'm going to head to bed for now dear friends, it would be lovely to try and talk sometime, my phone is out of action at the moment, it seems to be some issue with our box thingy, and they are dragging their heels getting it fixed, but I'll let you know when it is :-)
Much love to you all x x x
Your husband sounds so wonderful! It's really great that you can put your feet up at home and be cared for there. I really think that home is probably the most healing place to be rather than a hospital.
Funny I was going to say talking books would be good. When I did more painting (before I had kids) I used to love being cosied up in my room painting and listening to stories.
Rebe listens to stories now every night when she goes to bed. We still have a bedtime story all together her and the boys but that is a little earlier than her bedtime so she stays up a bit later and she has quiet time doing lego or drawing or sewing and listening to tapes. She loves Enid Blyton best of all, Famous Five and Secret Seven, they are really old fashioned English stories and it's so funny to hear the influence of listening to those tapes on her language, she comes out with some really outdated phrases sometimes! I also loved Tom's Midnight Garden, the Borrowers, Anne of Green Gables when I was little and of course Beatrix Potter and Winnie the Pooh :-)
I had a lovely walk today, I left everyone at home with Andy. He was made unemployed 3 weeks ago and so I have him at home this means he watches the kids for me when I go to yoga and out for a walk. I try to fit my days around the kids though. I do house stuff and cooking in the morning while Rebe is at school and Benny and Joa bimble around the house. We may go out for a walk or a play on the beach. When Rebe comes home we have lunch together and she does her homework. After than Joa (who is 21 months now) has a nap and I let the other 2 watch a movie together and I go and do a bit of doll making. When Joa wakes I stop and we have dinner and a play or a bit of time outdoors. After the kids go to bed (around 7.30pm) I work for a couple more hours, depending on how tired I am, and that's my day really...don't know why I told you all that lol!
I am so excited about starting the hedgehog doll, I don't feel at all pressured, but it would be nice to be able to get her off to you in time for the surgery. All going well I will start on her at the weekend. Do you have a date for the surgery?
I think that little knitted doll accessories will be good little projects. They won't take too long and they can be as simple as you like. A scarf is very straight forward and little hats and socks. Bags too? I have a couple of dolls knitting patterns I can send to you, I also have loads of vintage Irish yarn in odd balls that I'll enclose too.
Anyway, I'm going to head to bed for now dear friends, it would be lovely to try and talk sometime, my phone is out of action at the moment, it seems to be some issue with our box thingy, and they are dragging their heels getting it fixed, but I'll let you know when it is :-)
Much love to you all x x x
Hi Laura,
You are so sweet, and we are smiling at the thought of you dressing Benny as a cowboy.
We're so glad to hear that your headache got better.
Our husband was on the phone with someone in England this morning, finding out about a motorcycle part (motorcycles and bicycles are his passion),
and I was thinking it would be lovely to call you on the phone some time (for a short talk... if you want to..... I know you are super-busy with your lovely children and the dolls.
I bet you have a lovely accent.
When Sara wrote about looking forward to her dolly, we didn't mean to put any pressure on you to finish it before our surgery. We could look forward to her coming some time while we are recovering. After 5 days in the hospital I will be recovering at home for two months. My husband Ray is an angel and will take off work for a month to take care of me so I won't have to go into a convalescent hospital, something I am extremely grateful for. Last time, I really needed a lot of care the first month. I had to spend a lot of time lying on the sofa (with a teddy bear and doll) or reclined back with my foot elevated above my heart, icing it to get the swelling down. Cuddling dolls and bears will be perfect. We will go to the library and get some books on cd I think.
Reading children's books are one of my favorite things to do. Do you have a favorite middle-grade or young adult children's book that you recommend?
I know three musicians that I might hire to come play mandolin or violin for an hour at a time.
The first month or two, I was only up to easy activities.
If I could learn how to knit doll sweaters before the surgery, maybe I could do that. What do you think is the easiest thing to knit for a doll?
I will probably need to order some yarn and the right size needles.
We are hoping you have a sunny day with your little ones,
and we hope you got a nice walk.
til later,
love and hugs,
Carole
You are so sweet, and we are smiling at the thought of you dressing Benny as a cowboy.
We're so glad to hear that your headache got better.
Our husband was on the phone with someone in England this morning, finding out about a motorcycle part (motorcycles and bicycles are his passion),
and I was thinking it would be lovely to call you on the phone some time (for a short talk... if you want to..... I know you are super-busy with your lovely children and the dolls.
I bet you have a lovely accent.
When Sara wrote about looking forward to her dolly, we didn't mean to put any pressure on you to finish it before our surgery. We could look forward to her coming some time while we are recovering. After 5 days in the hospital I will be recovering at home for two months. My husband Ray is an angel and will take off work for a month to take care of me so I won't have to go into a convalescent hospital, something I am extremely grateful for. Last time, I really needed a lot of care the first month. I had to spend a lot of time lying on the sofa (with a teddy bear and doll) or reclined back with my foot elevated above my heart, icing it to get the swelling down. Cuddling dolls and bears will be perfect. We will go to the library and get some books on cd I think.
Reading children's books are one of my favorite things to do. Do you have a favorite middle-grade or young adult children's book that you recommend?
I know three musicians that I might hire to come play mandolin or violin for an hour at a time.
The first month or two, I was only up to easy activities.
If I could learn how to knit doll sweaters before the surgery, maybe I could do that. What do you think is the easiest thing to knit for a doll?
I will probably need to order some yarn and the right size needles.
We are hoping you have a sunny day with your little ones,
and we hope you got a nice walk.
til later,
love and hugs,
Carole
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