It's not easy is it , watching your Dad cry when the simplest things are just too difficult.

Duck egg blues

We have 30 duck eggs to use. 

That's a lot of baking.

Not many cakes or puddings or biscuits have been made around here lately.

First the oven was on the blink - now fixed by the resident handman.

Then with all the coming and going this past week, we have barely had time for dinner let alone any extras.

But dear old Charlie has been on the job, laying two eggs a day.

Can't seem to give them away, people are a bit squeamish about duck eggs but between the two of us Kate and I should be able to bake our way through at least half of them.

Lucky it's a long weekend.

I made a little vintage childhood Treasury on Etsy. 

If you have time you can pop over for a look.

The best thing

Thanks so much everyone for your comments and emails of well wishes for my family and my dad especially.

Even though it is awful that he has ended up in hospital it seems to have been the only way that my parents would ever have been assessed for  services that are available to support them in living independently. 

For this we are truly grateful. 

It is the silver lining.

Now, in something totally unrelated, I read on Pip's blog about the Paul Weller concert she went to and it brought back so many memories of my pre-children life in inner city Melbourne. 

Stephen and I saw Paul Weller at his Melbourne concert with the Style Council in 1985. 

Heavens above, I was in my mid twenties, living in inner city Melbourne, just around the corner from Greville St in Prahran. 

I just loved it all, I have so many great memories about that part of my life.

Great times.

When we married in 1987 we played a Style Council song , we were married in Mum and Dad's garden. 

I made my dress and my sister's dress.

We stayed in Tassie for the summer and then headed up to NSW to live in Wollongong, Fairy Meadow to be precise to live for a couple of years before we came back down to settle in Tasmania.

So I found a little clip of the song, You're the Best Thing, and now I have to hunt through our old records, yes vinyl records, and find the album. 

I can wander down memory lane for just a little while.

Ye gads.

What a day.

Dad has had a full blown stroke and is in hospital.

This time he has been admitted to the specialist stroke unit which is a good thing.

Finally he is going to get the assessment he needs and he won't be sent home without the proper supports in place.

Mum and my sister are so relieved and so am I. 

This little one, Megan, will be apart of a November Give Away month on {KID}independent.

I think she is a little nervous so when I get the details of the give away I will let you know so that all of you kind people can enter and she won't be going to a stranger.

Wrinkles of Time

After super low energy Friday , Saturday and Sunday I'm back to full speed, not that full speed is very fast but I don't feel supertired all the time.

This week, in the wrinkles of time between Christmas custom dolls I am making tiny dolls of all sorts to go in the shop later this week , most probably Thursday AEST.

I am definitely ensconced in Santa's workshop now, all us little elves are in Christmas toy making mode.

We are on dial up speed internet this week.

Andy has been relaxing from study by watching all the episodes of Hornblower he can find and also 'Would I lie to you" with Rob Brydon, David Mitchell and Lee Mack. 

We watched a few episodes last night and it was very funny. 

But the consequence of all this internet viewing is slow speed internet which is just a pain.

Can I ask a little favour... something weird has been happening on Facebook with my little jenny wren doll page.

Could you click on the link at the top of the sidebar, it should take you to my little jenny wren dolls page on Facebook . It takes me there and it takes everyone else in this house with their own facebook accounts to my page  but when other people click on links on Facebook for my page it seems to take them to their own profile instead and they can't even find my page when the search for little jenny wren dolls.

Or if you already 'like' my page can you just check to see if you can go from my Jenny Marshall profile page to my little jenny wren page. 

Here is the link to my profile page  http://www.facebook.com/ljennywren

Can you let me know if you have any problems with it?

Thanks so much.

I seem to have fixed the problem, thanks guys.

Flutterby Day

Inspired by Eli and her wonderful restful gentle blog and feeling in need of some rejuvenation,
I have put the list away,

I am having a Flutterby Day.  

Some may call it 'me time' 

or slacking off  

but I think Flutterby time is a much better way to think of it. 

I am channeling Eli and her Northern England home, her beautiful garden and wonderful knitted creations and just letting myself be.

That's a good thing to do isn't it.

Join me if you can.

Jungle

Stephen and Kate are gradually bringing the garden back from the edge of jungledom.

Everything is so green and growing so quickly.

Spring comes to front garden first, the back garden is always at least a week behind.

Everything smells so good.

New dollies in the shop today

Millie

Millie has found a home, thank you.

Susannah

Amanda Jane

Amanda Jane has found a home, thank you.

Busy

A big week coming up,dolly wise that is: 

custom dolls to make and ship,

dolls and doll clothes to go into the shop,

lots of emails to answer,

supplies to order,

photos and blurb to prepare for a giveaway doll in November on {KID} independent,

workshop idea to be thought of for the big art party on 4th November

... it's just lucky I am not armless like these three above. 

And just lucky I have a helpful family too.

Just how gorgeous is this crocheted  rug, 

found dirty and unloved at the op shop ( thrift/charity shop) yesterday.

Now it's washed and cleaned and nearly dry 

and almost ready to go on Kate's bed.

Knitting for your doll - hand made, home made Christmas

picture from the Etsy shop of mariengold, .



If you want to do some Christmas knitting for your little jenny wren dolls, both the 12"(30cm) and the 16"(40cm) I have found some patterns for you to use but of course don't forget to respect the rights of the designers, most patterns are for personal use only
.

Maria of Mariengold has taken the time to write down and publish her beautiful doll patterns, the dress at the top of the page is one of her designs.

You can find them on Etsy and on Ravelry.

Then there is Shelley's ( Waldorf mama)  pattern which was seen in Living Craft magazine and is available on Ravelry where the pattern is available for free.

The lovely Jennifer (Joyful stars), mama to one of my dolls has also designed a sweet sweater for a 16" doll that is available for free on Ravelry.

And this little cardigan ,Little Kina  , though I spent ages a couple of months ago working out out my own version not knowing it is  available for free on Ravelry from Muriel Agator. 

There is also an adult, child and baby version.

,

This is the Poppy cardigan by Georgie Hallam. 

This is another free Ravelry download.

Brandy Fortune has made a doll sized version of  Elizabeth Zimmerman's February Sweater and it again available for free from her lovely online knitting magazine Petite Purls.

These stockings/ socks are from Dottyspots  Haxell and again, on Ravelry.

And don't forget my simple tutorial  for a sleeveless vest that is suitable fro beginner knitters and also very adaptable to those who want to design their own dolly knitwear.

There are also some knitting pattern books with suitable patterns for my dolls.

My mother has one of these and has knitted a few items  to fit both my 12" dolls and my 16" dolls. 

There are many in the series and they are probably available through your local knitting shop and are certainly available on the net.

I have seen them on Etsy and Ebay but also there are British knitting sites that sell them and I think Bendigo Woollen Mills has some too though I can't see them listed on their site I do remember seeing some on a pamphlet they sent me.

For most of the garments that I knit for the dolls I sell the patterns are made up as I am knitting. 

Obviously many of them are variations of the one pattern but as yet I have not written anything down.

I do get many requests for my patterns, especially 'That Cardigan' but I am not sure that pattern writing is my thing.

I have had to write down my dolly underwear pattern so that Mum can knit those for me and she says it is easy to understand but perhaps she is being kind, she is my Mum after all.

Now over to you dear readers...

if you know of any other patterns suitable for Christmas dolly knitting I would love you to share.

I'm sure there are many more I haven't discovered yet.

Oh and if you don't want to knit your own but want some hand knit doll clothes there  is some beautiful work available on Etsy for example:

Avi and Tali, who also sell patterns and sewn clothes

Lavenderlore  have gorgeous knitwear

Dolly's favourite1

and a new one is Turtlekeeper

Oh and I will have some hand knit outfits in my store towards the end of next week, including 'That cardigan'.

I will be doing a doll upload on Wednesday round lunchtime ( early evening in the US and I'm not sure what time in UK Europe, I am not good with different time zones, boggles my mind) and then clothes , as I said, at the end of the week.


I'm sure there are more, let me know if you have found any good shops or if you have a store selling hand knit doll clothes suitable for waldorf style dolls.

Farewell Colin, Hello Janet

Fridays now are all about Dad and Mum in the morning and housework in the afternoon catching up on anything I have been ignoring all week before the family take over the house for the weekend.

Quick trip to town in between this morning to buy a new kettle after Colin ( the old kettle) started behaving badly, making strange melting plastic smells  and generally trying to signal that retirement was on his mind.

What a boring lot the current crop of electric kettles are.

White plastic or that spun stainless steel look with one or two shiny stainless steels models thrown in for variety. 

And all basically the same jug-ish shape.

So, rebel that I am, I bought the one and only glass kettle/jug  available.

Good decision, bad decision, who knows?

This is Colleen, one of my dollies from my childhood. Crazy hair but sweet face, Mum made the clothes.

The kids are due home soon so I might have cuppa number two  courtesy of Janet the Jug and have a look at my new library books before Kate and Andy arrive home in their post exam exhaustion and joy. 

I believe tonight is party night.

Not sure what they have in mind but I hope it doesn't involve the oven because that's on the blink too.

I find that electrical appliances like to retire with a friend and the oven and the old kettle came into the house together about 10 years ago and so they are farewelling us together too.

And yes, I do sound a little tired.

This is Debbie, also from my childhood also dressed by Mum

Gideon's Day

Watched a funny old film yesterday, a real gem of a film actually, while I was knitting and doing hand sewing to finish off a little doll bound for WA.

I must say I really enjoyed it.

The film was Gideon's Day ( or Gideon of Scotland Yard in the USA), directed by John Ford of Western movies fame.

It starred the fabulous Jack Hawkins as Inspector George Gideon and the beautiful Dianne Foster as a crook's accomplice and also a very young Anna Massey, I have always imagined her middle aged or older, I got a surprise to see her as a young woman.

The film was made in the UK in 1958 and is set in London.

It's based on the Gideon books of John Creasey ( J.J.Marric) and it was a funny little film much along the line of Barnaby of Midsommer Murders and  the David Jason character in 'A Touch of Frost'. 

The scenes in his home with his delightful but long suffering wife and children were wonderful, such a lovely little 1950s kitchen, all cream walls and red gingham curtains. 

The clothes of course were lovely especially Dianne Foster's wardrobe.

And the late 1950s sets were wonderful,from the senior policeman's home ( would that be lower middle class) to the bent copper's very chic and expensive Chelsea flat to the slightly bohemian home of the artist turned payroll thief.

I can't find any film clips or decent pictures that I can use but there is a review in French on this site with a few stills from the film and while trawling youtube for some Gideon's goodness to share I happened upon this Jack Hawkins film Mandy which was made in 1952 and looks like it could be good company for today's doll making.

Most popular ?

The lovely Tracy who has bought some of my favourite dolls this past year or so asked in the comments on yesterday's post which is the most popular hair colour and style for my custom order dolls. 

Well the favourites seem to change over time. 

This hairstyle and colour  above was very popular for a while.

I used a hand spun local mohair yarn that was so soft and perfect for bed hair.

Then these two dark hairstyles below were hugely popular.

Annie's hair was a very fine smooth Italian spun yarn

and this little one was a silky black mohair.

I made many versions of both these.

For boy hairstyles this has been the most requested, in lots of different colours.

Plus this little guy's hair for boy and girl dolls is often requested.

Mia's doll which was based on a previous doll, for Shari I think, with her sunlightened streaks are popular

 Curly hair, in this dark blonde, mouse colour  of course is much requested

This colour hair, this style and more importantly these clothes, and that cardigan , a great hit.

This hair, and the autumnal toned knitted dresses, with and without bloomers have been fun to make and just keep changing ever so slightly.

Blondie is a perennial favourite

 And Bridget with her  dark curls is often asked for.

Another popular one, mostly recently made for Linda

and now I am getting requests for Poppy's sisters.

I think what I like most about making the dolls, apart from playing with lovely natural materials and having fun with lots of colours and textures , is trying out new hairstyles. 

I know a lot of other doll makers tend to have  one or two styles that they like to stick to but I just love to watch little children, look at their clothes and hair and the way they move and react to their world and try to interpret that through my dolls and for me trying new hairstyles is a really fun part of that.

Honestly I just love it.

I am so lucky.