Eeeeps - an Interview!

I was interviewed by Michelle and she has posted it all on her wonderful Blythe Life blog - click here to 'read all about it'.

There is a give-away too - a turquoise twinkly party-dress

and matching necklace :-)

I'm trying to make the most of my 'moment of fame' and have been busy sewing new things for our Blythe Stars -

new listings include this Petrushka inspired circus outfit.  Listing here

and some sweet dresses made from vintage hankies - there are 2 dresses made from a very dainty blue floral handkerchief.  This dress listed here

I'm currently making dresses from a hankie with a happy pink and yellow floral border -  this is the first dress to be finished  ...  there will be more little dresses with skirts like this.

BlytheStar Update

In my BlytheStar Etsy shop I'm now offering a couple of services.

For 'skinny leg' trousers -  I can knit a pair of these for your doll in the colour of your choice.  




And (completely different) I'm offering a Passport Service.  Because every Blythe needs a passport for her shopping trips to Paris!

"I have my passport - when do we go?"

Passports are personalised with the doll's photo and details - they can even choose the colour of the cover!







I've listed some new jewelry - including earrings for those dolls with pierced ears.












There are new Party Frocks hand knitted in sparkly metallic yarns.
My own pattern - the design was based on some dresses I saw for humans.  These dresses come with matching bead necklaces - and there are 2 necklaces to choose from for each dress.

Girls ready to Party !

And finally - there is this raincoat and matching cap of lovely, shiny, cherry red, Italian 'pleather'.  I'm very proud of this outfit - that contrast top-stitching was difficult to sew neatly.

Violetta is "Singing in the Rain"

Fashioned by Lyndell Etsy Shop Update

I've a lot of new / old sewing and knitting patterns on the "Fashioned by Lyndell" shop.  De-stashing some of my pattern collections.


Don't you just love the photographs in those old knitting pattern booklets? Everything from sweet children ...

To these cool guys wearing a really deep V-neck style that must have been really fashionable at the time.  This photo really needs a caption

"Hi dude!  Have you noticed my cool hair-cut?"

The women really 'work' a variety of looks through the decades :

Elegant

Fierce

 This lady is leading with her chin but the man behind her looks quite sinister!

 But I don't think anything will frighten this blonde woman - or perhaps she is feeling triumphant that she escaped wearing the beanie!

Food without Calories or Kilojoules

After Christmas and the party season ...?











But it has been a while since I made some play-food for my grandchildren - see these posts for the felt-food I made previously:
Cakes 
Fruit&Veg (& some food I bought)
Mugs of Coffee, Tea etc (scroll through towards the end of that post).

They both still love playing with all that fake food so out came the patterns and bits of felt and I've been stitching up some more vegetables ...

Mushroom and brown Onion

I'm particularly proud of the onion - added lots of machine stitching and used the thread ends to make some dry 'roots'.

 A big green capsicum or sweet pepper. 






























And a couple of lettuce leaves - and these do look good put between the 'slices of bread' that I'd made before.

All the patterns for those vegies are from the very clever Etsyian Umecrafts ...

The pattern for this tart is also on Etsy - FairyFox
I used plastic rather than card as the stiffener so the 'food' can be washed. 

Here is the slice o'tart base  sitting on the plastic that is all cut for the rest of the tart - lots of holes punched through so that I can stitch through the plastic to the top layer of felt - see those cute dimples?

And here are all the parts for the slice o'tart ...  I had to dye the 'custard' myself as the shops had only really bright 'fluro' yellow felts! which would not be very appetising.  I'm quite proud of the colour I managed to dye :-)

I also added embroidered 'seeds' to the strawberries and I made some slices of apricot - didn't use those ... I might have to make some play Peach Melba??


OK - who can resist an opportunity like this?!

So here is the slice all "plated up" ...

And the rest of the tart - with all the blueberries & the 'cream' on ... Pretty with all the different shades of purple ...

One last picture of the finished tart 

With all that food around I don't understand why my dear ole' Cornish Rex was sitting by her plate & giving me her best "I'm being really really patient but ..." face.

"My plate is empty ..."

Bugs

 

*******  

If you do not like insects or spiders - if you are in anyway arachnophobic, entomophobic, insectophobic ... then click away and do not look here because I am going to post photos of creatures with more than 4 legs 

*******

Because yesterday was a day for interesting encounters with wild-life. 

First I was doing a little gardening - I have a very little garden in the inner-city and I'm proud of any form of nature that takes up residence.

The rosemary bush needed pruning as it would like to be a rosemary tree and I disturbed a wonderfully camouflaged praying mantis.  

I only saw her / him because she / he moved ...  can you see it?  Hint - is upside down.

Perhaps if I rotate a photo ...

Not large by mantis standards, about 1.5 - 2" long - very green - white "racing stripes" down the sides of a plump abdomen (making it look very like the rosemary leaves)  a bit of bright orange on those deadly front claws and yellow / orange eyes.  

I don't know which species the praying mantis is  - trying to work out the species of insects makes me too too confused.  Sorry.

Then - late in the evening I was busy knitting mini Snowmen ornaments when that 6th sense made me look behind me ... at the window sill where I had put the completed Snowmen ...

 The funny way the knitted snowmen look like they are trying to sneak away - meant I had to get the camera and take photos.   

This Huntsman spider has been living in our house & garden for about 4 months now - we get them in the house every spring / summer but this one is quite distinctively and prettily marked.  I think it is a male (has a thin body / abdomen) - not sure and those pretty markings make me want to think of it as feminine.  He has almost doubled in size since we first saw him (and I've found a couple of empty exoskeletons) so he must be finding plenty to eat round our place.  They are marvelous natural pest control!

Here is another photo with better lighting - you can really see the beautiful markings.

Christmas Time

Well, I did have grand plans to knit lots of cute red & white, fair-isle (jacquard) patterned Blythe-sized clothes this year and have them in my Etsy shop BytheStar in time for Christmas Shoppers.

Sigh - I have managed to knit one, 1, singular, extremely limited edition, OOAK, hat.

It is quite cute and can be worn flopping over or standing up ...

My little model here has not yet been properly introduced.  But, you see Bunny isn't really mine and I'm trying very hard not to bond with her too much.

One of my ongoing, long-term projects is for my Granddaughter - the plan is that when my GD is old enough to look after a "good" dolly properly I will give her a Blythe doll and a collection of outfits.  There will be 2 outfits for every year of my GD's life - a Spring/Summer outfit and an Autumn/Winter one - to reflect the fashion of the time.

I did have an ADG Blythe doll set aside but was a little dissatisfied with that option and thought a doll that was released the same year as my Granddaughter was born would be better.  Then this lovely "Welcome Winter" came available and ... WW was the first doll Takara released in 2008.  Perfect.

Only trouble is that she is so sweet I don't have the heart to put her back in the box!

Bunny and Audrey have become great friends - two little girls together!   After the photo-shoot for the hat, they decided the Christmas tree needed more decorations.
  

I think I'll have to get a larger tree next year!

Snowmen - in Australia?

Audrey :  Our mummy has been busy knitting - let's see what she has been making ...

... hmmm, looks like a lot of white peanuts and coloured worms!

Imogen :  I think this is the prototype - they are tiny little snowmen.

 Audrey : Looks cute, but what is a snowman?



Every year I knit little Chrissy decorations as small Christmas gifts for family & friends - last year I made lots of Santas (see this post)   this year it is to be Snowmen.


Both Santas and Snowmen are MochiMochi Land patterns.   






As I've started quite late this year I am glad that the snowmen are rather faster to make than the Santas were :-)

And I love the way they sometimes turn out a bit different - this one has quite a 'personality'.





Do you know the collective noun for a collection of Snowmen? 
Some say a "dusting of snowmen"
Others say a "melt of snowmen"
I live in Australia - so I'll go with the melt!

A Melt of Snowmen!

And here is a little bit of Snowmen Spam.