Unhappy with Flickr?

Those of you who are Flickr members are aware by now of the draconian changes made to this photo-sharing site.  This post isn't meant to be a rant against Flickr; there is plenty of that on Flickr's own site.  Suffice it to say that I find the new Flickr a visual disaster, and achingly, achingly slow to load. 

But there are other choices in photo sharing sites, and the one I looked in to is called Ipernity.  They offer a free account or a paid account, similar to what Flickr members were used to.  I created a free account, customized a home page and loaded a few pictures, just to give it a test run.  To see what it looks like:

My Ipernity home page

I like it.  It is clean and simple with a user interface very similar to the old Flickr, and with a respect for our photos: treating them as worthy of individual attention, instead of cramming them en mass in our face.  From an aesthetic standpoint, I prefer to view against white instead of black...of course, this might also have something to do with failing eyesight :-)

Choice is good.  I think I am going to choose Ipernity over Flickr for future photo sharing.  I hope some of you will come and play in this new playground.

My girls will be looking forward to seeing you there!

Beauty

...Beauty is its own excuse for being.  Ralph Waldo Emerson

May, 2013

The view from and around the porch.  On these lovely May days, a pleasant place to indulge in a cuppa coffee.  I hope your day brings you joy :-)

Fairy Gardens

Be it sluggish or spectacular, spring never fails to arrive.  When it finally does, create a fairy garden for your small dolls.  Not only is it just downright fun, but then you get to have a garden in miniature to admire...it is easy on the knees and requires no weeding!

The little garden above, Angela's garden, was planted in a 12" diameter basket with a plastic liner that I had left over from last year.  Make sure whatever you use to plant in has drainage holes in the bottom.  You want to find low  and slow growing plants; here I used Elfin thyme (what a delightful name!), Irish moss, speedwell (a creeping form of Veronica) and a polka-dot plant.  They were all available at my local nursery; look for the area that has ground covers. 

The twig bench, watering can, and shepherd's hook came from Winter Greenhouse (http://miniature-gardening.com/).  They also have a large selection of plants suitable for miniature gardening.

Plant yourself a sweet little garden; your dolls will love you for it :-)

The perfect weekend.

We had a nearly perfect Spring weekend, and we tried to make the most of it :-)

Saturday my sister and I went to our favorite nursery (more on that later) and Sunday Larry and I drove south a few miles to a county park, were we rode our bikes to our hearts content, free of traffic and crowds.

This park shares space with a National Guard Training center, and in WWII was also a POW camp.   In 1942 Italian prisoners of war petitioned to build a chapel here, and thus the 'Chapel in the Meadow' above.  It fell into disrepair after the last German prisoners left in 1946, but was partially restored in 1953 and 1963.  It was fully restored in 1989. 

The interior, which is not accessible, has painted images of Mary and other holy artwork.  It is as precious in this remote location as a perfect pearl in the sand.
I took along Ruthie, my latest Forget-Me-Knot, and she had a great time as well;  and when we got back, she even helped me plant the flowers my sister and I picked up the day before :-)

Welcome, Spring!

An early Spring snowstorm dumped over eight inches of the white stuff on us.  My husband declared a snow day and we walked to the park that is 1/2 mile from our home.  It looked beautiful in it's blanket of white, before anyone else had trod on it.

Another embroidery project

A simple embroidery project inspired by the Forget-Me-Knot kids.  The motifs are my own, with the exception of the bunny and the stump, which came from the book Doodle Stitching.  This is a fun book, full of very simple line drawings of just about everything under the sun that you might want to embroider.

I used very simple stitches:  stem stitch, lazy daisy, French knots, and satin stitch.  It is fun to color in the larger areas with colored pencil, an idea from Shelly at Gingermelon dolls. 

Now all I need to do is finish the project...any suggestions?

From Doodle to Embroidery

I wanted to create a little logo for my Forget-Me-Knot kids, and one thing led to another, and it became a small embroidery project.  On the left is my original drawing, and the right is the same rendered in simple embroidery stitches.

The coloring of the little girl was done with colored pencils, an idea I borrowed from Shelly at Gingermelon dolls.   Shelly has used this technique to lovely effect on some of her sweet embroideries.  It is a great idea if you don't want to fill the open space with embroidery stitches :-)

Here is a collage with some closeups of the embroidery.  Nothing but stem stitches, lazy daisies, and French knots.

I have a little knit pullover sweater for the Forget-Me-Knot kids to share as well:

Knit pullover sweater

The sweater is knit from DK weight yarn (I used Berrocco Comfort DK) and size 1 single point knitting needles.   Her blue jeans are just the panties pattern, lengthened to pants length.









Enjoy the day, and enjoy the crochet :-)

Tiny Trousseau

From a basic underwear pattern, you can make just about any outfit you like for your little Forget-Me-Knot or Nancy Ann doll.   Krystal, in the middle, is modeling the undies which are a simple camisole and panties. 

Nancy Ann on the left is wearing a pretty lavender dress based on the camisole, with a very full skirt and puff sleeves.  Cherry, on the right, is wearing deep red rompers with gold trim, a melding of the camisole and panties pattern.

All of the outfits are crocheted with size 8 perle thread and a size 9 steel hook.  All of them button up the back.

Basic Forget-Me-Knot underwear

Enjoy the crochet!