Single Parents...

honestly, I don't know how you single parents out there do it. hubby went to a conference in Germany. he has only been gone for 4 days, and I am at wits end. cannot imagine what it would be like to do it all alone all the time. I simply can't.

the house is a total mess. the kitchen in shambles. every room strewn with clothes and stuff. where does it all come from? do not stop by my house unannounced, folks. you shall not pass! let's not even talk about my doll studio.

Honey, can you please come back now? I have had it.

I am sick of having to cook every single meal. sick of driving the kids to activities late at night - in the dark - going 65 miles an hour. you know, I got this thing about driving... this weird phobea. I didn't even drive a car until I moved to this country. have I told you: I HATE DRIVING.

but you got to do it 'cause their is no public transportation in this little town.

okay, I better go now and pick up the house. wish me luck for the rest of this week. I think every single parent deserves a medal or some kind of award for doing it alone!

I will fling myself down on the floor like little Lacey here when I am done with chores....

Froggy Outfit

One of my favorite animals are frogs. They are such amazing creatures. Looking at this lovely frog fabric with bright green colors always cheers me up.

 

 

 

 

Hope to catch a glimpse of a real frog soon...

Dollar Doll

A little while ago a custumer ordered two of my little mini swaddling babies one for each of her boys. It makes me so happy when people buy dolls for their boys. I think it is important that children no matter what sex they are learn to nurture and love.

So this week I want to give someone a chance to buy one of my little guys with a mini blanket for a $1 plus whatever the shipping to their home would cost. If you would like to enter in the drawing for the Dollar mini baby please visit my Facebook Fanpage in the next couple of days. I will draw a name on Wednesday evening.

Hanging with the Gnomes Doll

This sweet doll in her lovely Heather Ross dress is in my Etsy shop.

I think she still needs some tiny mushrooms on her shoes... But other than that she is very sweet and perfect.

 

Who doesn't love gnomes?

 

 

Apron with Wings

I will forever cherish the memories of the last few visits I had with my mother in Germany. We would sit into the late evening hours and knit and sew together. Seems like another lifetime. She has been gone for 10 years. I still think of her and miss her loving presence every day.

What remains - aside from the wonderful memories - are some precious doll clothes and patterns that she gave to me. It made me cry when I got out this little pattern with the word "Schurze" (apron) with her lovely handwriting on it. But alas life must go on. And when we are done crying we must move on and celebrate life.

 

After shedding a few tears over the pattern I made this little winged apron for one of my first dolls. I think my mom would love it. I know she is happy to see me sewing pursuing my dreams... I am certain she got a great pair of wings of her own up there in heaven.

Modern Times

The other day I was playing Family Feud with my daughter on her Kindle when the subject of Charles Chaplin came up. My daughter had no clue who Chaplin was. I tried to explain about the silent movie era and his signature outfit (baggy pants, small overcoat, giant shoes). In the end we thought it might be better to rent the movie Modern Times.

At first the kids were really resistant to the idea of a silent movie. Boring. Weird. But then it turned out that both of them very much enjoyed it. The title appeared kind of laughable to them. What? A black and white movie with hardly any sound and talking at all. What is modern about that?

What would Chaplin make of this world of computers, I-pods, I-phones, and wide screen TVs? Times have changed yet I feel that we are still fighting similar battles when it comes to technology. How do we deal with the daily onslaught of images, shared links, the constant stream of information coming at us? The majority of our workforce must no longer stand at a conveyor belt, and the idea of being force fed soup by a machine seems ludicrous. Instead we spent endless hours in front of screens being force fed information...

Here I am at my little desk sewing dolls by hand, but in order to sell them I must use modern technology and understand how to use it to sell my wares. I feel there is this huge clash between peoples'  yearning to go back to a simpler life while we all have become totally dependent on electronic devices we are hooked up to 24-7 .

Working the Land

It's good to get back to gardening. Over last few weeks we have been working hard on getting our community garden patch ready for the season. Turning the garden and removing all the rocks that appeared over the winter was hard work. But lots of helping hands made the job easier. Nobody likes the weeding part...

The potatoes are in the ground and we planted some fava beans for the first time. This weekend we will add carrots and beets. Do you have a garden?

Let me tell you there is nothing as yummy as a freshly picked garden salad. The leaves in the salad you see in the photo were just from thinning out the lettuce we had planted a few weeks ago. It was the best thing I ate since the last garden tomatoes in the fall...