Dolls & Magazines...................

A friend of mine was doing a bit of a clean up as he is moving on from this pretty island. He has lived here for quite some time with his partner in the partners great aunts house( very confusing I know). Anyway there lies many a thing that was kept from the great aunts life. Very interesting things that date back many, many years. One evening we were talking and a conversation came up about dolls and also the fancy old magazines he had on display in the house. Forward a few months from this night and last week he gave me a collection of little french dolls. How old he couldn't tell me but he thought maybe over 100 years. They are the prettiest, daintiest little things you have ever seen. They all have a handstitched outfit on with allsorts of layers including nickers. They are delightful and we all have gazed over them many a time noticing something different on them.

Thrown in to sweeten the deal with these little treasures was a whole lot of old crafting magazines. The youngest is from 1950 & the oldest is from the 1920's. I think I may write about these in a separate post because some of the things are priceless. Recipes, patterns and household hints, to be done the French way, galore.

You may also have noticed the odd picture out in the collage. I had to put a picture up of one of my new Blythe girls, Achachum Zukin. She fits in lovely with all the old dolls just not as dirty........they all need a very gentle scrub!

Sunday arvo...................

 A little jaunt up into the local hills was made yesterday afternoon. It is somewhere that has taken us only 3 years to get to. My husband is of the idea if you discover everything in the first 12 months then you get bored of the place. That is why we like to take it slow.

 But we did discover some interesting flora

 and some very coool water.

Wordless Wednesday........................

Wordless Wednesday!

After such build up and complete excitement about heading back to Oz the weekend away is now over and I am back doing the washing and the cooking and any other household job that needs to be done.  Oh it was a wonderful weekend though full of food, laughter, beautiful dolls, musk sticks, not being called to do something every five minutes, meeting up of old friends and then meeting some new friends. The Blythe meet-up (the main reason for going) was such fun and I learnt a whole lot of stuff about these wonderful dollies. I saw some beautiful outfits, crazy eyes, crazy hair & then some girls in the flesh that need to be added to the wishlist. The crew of ladies that put the day together did such a wonderful job. The hall was decorated perfectly for a party, there was prizes to win and too much lovely tasting food to eat. I was not disappointed in the day and can't wait for Sydney next year!!

On a side note I picked up my 3 new girls in Melbourne and had to just look at them in their boxes for 4 days. They are now de-boxed and sitting in the lounge-room being admired by us all. Oh they are truley lovely!!

One more sleep..............

  photo from Kylie2good

 Only one more sleep until I head off on my long weekend of no husband, no children, lots of talking with my mum, old friends, new friends and plenty of shopgirls.......I hope to do a little bit shopping in between all my other social activities.


I only have one set date on the weekend and the rest will be a bit of whatever takes mine and the friends fancy. I would like to eat some great food and have a good coffee or two sans interruption from the kids and find a pair of clogs. Any Adelaide readers out there who maybe able to help with this. We are staying in Nth Adelaide but will definately head into town at some point.

I can't keep from saying but I think the highlight will be seeing all the Blythe girls in person. New, old, customised it will be there......7th Heaven to some. I am now going off to check that my battery in my camera is fully charged and I have an empty card in it. I hope I will take many photos to show you all.

Lovely dolly links................

Photo from Frigginfuschia.

Some new blogs I have found lately in my quest to know more about these delectable dollies!

The Pigwidget Chronicles

Mademoiselle blythe

Stitches of Frigginfuchsia

( xoxo, Blythe )

Happy Sunday!!!

Dolly day 3................

 

The orginal commercial for the Blythe doll from the 70's.

 

A modern version!

3 Dolls....................

Before last month I owned 2 Blythe dollies and then in the space of a couple of weeks it is now up to 5. Last month I had a splurge and bought 3 new ones. Why you ask.....because husband said I could( yes sometimes I still need to ask permission) and because I won the chance too. The official site for Blythe's holds international lotteries and you win the chance to buy the new dolls that are sold in limited quanitites outside of Japan. I have been trying to win one of these chances for a while now and had lucked out but then lady luck shined down on me and I won three in a row. First girl was 'Kiss me true' (above)....don't you love her biker chick style.

Next was 'Love and More'......maybe a tad lolitaish but she has great shoes!

 Third was 'Ahcahcum Zukin'......she is very gypsy like and comes with a racoon stole. Looking at all these girls I think I have a thing for long hair and big bangs!!

All 3 have arrived to their destination but I have not laid eyes on them as yet. They are waiting patiently for me in Melbourne and I am waiting for next week to arrive. Oh I sound like I am 5 and it is Christmas eve. In saying that my excitement for getting new dollies has never waned from when I was a little girl. I have always loved  getting a new dolly and I think I always will!

Some pretty dollies!....................

 

 1. CWC exclusive Neo Blythe Tarts & Tea, 2. Blythe - Polo (EP) #5 *ADOPTED*, 3. MIRARI custom Blythe, 4. Custom Blythe Love Mission, 5. blythe_NO.27, 6. Miss Blythe Brasil 2009 - Sissi nº 16

Some pretty images to kick this week of Blythe off!!!

My creative space.........

The creative space this week and for a few past has been about crochet and the Blythe girls. In 10 days time I am going to Adelaide for my very first Blythe meet. I am getting so excited that I can't even explain it. I am going to meet a bunch of like minded new gals and get to look at some rather special dollies. A call out was made to donate some things for the goodie bags to take home at the end of the day so I offered to make some hats for the dollies. It is winter in Adelaide after all and it can get very cold there. In the end I have made 36 hats(in theme colours) and all but 3 are completed and ready to go into my suitcase. It has been fun making them all a little bit different with pom pom's and squiggley bits and strips but I am glad I am at the end of weaving in all those tails that come with crochet. Crochet has it's good point of being quick and easy to do but sewing all those ends in is it's downfall. 

Anyway I am on a countdown to next Thursday because that is when I leave. So from now until then I am going to do week of Blythe.  Some will be interested some not but stop by and take a look anyway, they really are very special dollies.

For more creative spaces stop in at Kirsty's.

Wordless Wednesday........................

psst......can't say anything it's wordless wednesday.

New..................

Let me tell you a couple of tidbits of trivial information. I had a trip to the hairdresser yesterday which was so desparately needed. It was looking more and more out of control with every passing day. I went in with the intention of a brand new colour and a brand new colour it is. I had been blond for far too long and needed a revisit to my youth. Orange isn't so bad is it!!!!

Secondly as I write there is a pot of soup....tomato and lentil to be exact.... bubbleling away on the stove. A new recipe found at Sweet Amandine (such a pretty name for a blog) via Pip . She has a whole post of recipes which I intend on trying a few. I need some new recipes in my kitchen and now that it is winter a bit of hearty would be good. We don't really need hearty here as it isn't really that cold in winter but it is hard to get it out of your head that we should be eating wintery fare in June, July & August. I spent 38 years living it and now I can't stop it.


I will let you know tomorrow how the soup was!

Camping...............

 

We are back from a week of camping which saw lots of rain, wind and sun which was most needed after the rain at the beginning of our week. We didn't do a whole lot activity wise but we did spend a whole lot of time eating, talking, resting, coffee drinking, exploring,

swimming-the water was a bit nippy but still swimable and watching a magnificent sunset after the rain.

We had a lovely time but we are back now with a mountain of washing to be done, kids to get ready for school tomorrow and a few things to catch up on in my google reader(you girls are very prolific with your blog posts). I also have a few crafty things to get ready for an adventure that I am going on in a couple of weeks.

As you can see here some crafting was done in the week away and the craft of choice was crochet. It is one of those things that can be done anywhere. It is even bettter if you have a superb view to look up to every now and again.

Bon Dimanche everybody I will be spending most of it with my buddy the washing machine!