Notice anything new ? Yup - new picture on your right. Did that today. If you'd like to see it a bit bigger, it's also in the Photo Album, just under the image. Click on it and the image, for a better look at my 'Princess Dorrie' doll and half our kitty population, DC. We've had DC and his brother Jack since they were born, but their Mom, Velvet, has moved on. Our son made her too nervous, so she um... poluted his room. Frequently. Since the boys have grown up with Dearest Son, they're more used to him.

Anyway. Got some housework done, polished off the last of the leftovers for lunch. Earlier this week, I bought a stuffed angel doll from the local Thrift, selected from their 50c stuffed animal bin. They price better toys individually, but small or slightly damaged/worn ones go into the bin. This angel was cheaply made by 'Cuddle Wit', a company that normally provides stock for claw machines and carnivals. Her hair was matted and thin, beyond the care of a brush, and she had some staining on her cloth face. I almost hated to buy her, but the cashier assured me she'd been in the bin for several days, and no one else had been at all interested.

She's also one of those dolls where the dress is most of the body. And most of that is nylon. But, like I mentioned Wednesday, something about her dress reminded me of the current 'Enchanted Tales' Disney Princess art pieces, so... Today, I got to work on her. The hardest part was figuring out which line of stitching would undo what I wanted, without ripping apart what I wanted to remain together. It helps to look on both sides of the stitching line - if it's on one side all by itself, that's probably what ya want !

So, after about five minutes with a seam ripper, I had a winged dress, a shoebox load of stuffing, a pair of legs with cheap satin 'feet' slippers, a pair of hands, and a tangled-hair head with a halo glued to it. Opening the dress' back seam freed up the wings for later projects, and I took the feet off the legs, the wand from her hand, and the stuffed halo off the hair.

Grabbed my vanity doll, the Princess Dorrie I'd customized a few months ago, and began fitting the dress to her. It was a bit short, but otherwise fit pretty well, especially across the chest, which is always a problem area. By taking it in at the back a bit, via the closure and back seam, it'd lie nice and flat in front.

The gold band around the neckline was removed - it just didn't look right -  and an oversized gold bow there was also removed and untied. The lace cuffs and the hands were sewn on at the same time, so taking off the hands left the lace dangling by a thread or three. I positioned the lace when I tried the dress on her, but it was wide and overwhelmed Princess Dorrie's hands. So I took the lace completely off and replaced it with a cuff made from the bodice bow. Looks much better, and proportionate, too.

Hemmed the neckline down a bit more to cover the holes made by the bodice bow. Hand-sewed that one, since the hem was still very scant. From there, all that was left for the dress was sewing up the back seam halfway and adding Velcro (tm) to the rest for a closure.

Took in the satin feet/shoes to fit PDorrie, and they look pretty bad, but I wanted to use as much of the original doll as possible. The doll's halo sat on her head like a bagel, so instead, I draped one of the lace cuffs over the crown of her head. Actually looked rather cute on her.

Now, all I have left is a pair of gold wings, a strip of gold fabric, a tiny bit of gold ribbon, a shoebox of stuffing, some muslin legs, a bagel-like halo, and a tangled-hair head. The stuffing'll get used in a later project (I reuse stuffing for the works that stay home - the school projects get all-new Fiberfil) , and I'm sure the wings and materials will also be used eventually. But I have no idea what to do with the doll's head. It has some minor stains, and the hair's completely useless. I'd make a hand-puppet from her, as the eyes and face are quite nice, but I'd have to cut off all the hair and replace it with yarn or something.

Only problem is, it's not something anyone here would use, and I hate to donate it if it's not my best work. So I dunno where the doll's head will go, but I'm glad I got to recycle the rest. Took about two hours, and I was watching movies at the same time.

Now I'm wondering... should I write this up as a craft project for the main page ? It's not really anything new. I'll write it up for my web site, that's fer sure ! I love reusing stuff !

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Whee ! A few weeks ago, I bought all the markdown 'Specially Hand Made by (Name)' clothing labels Hancock Fabrics had - well, at least the $2. for eight labels ones. They were on final markdown - 80% off ! - and I knew from past experience that Name Makers, the company who makes 'em, would exchange the name labels I mailed them, put my name in place of the name already there, and mail 'em back, for free.

So - $2.00 x 6 packets - $12.00. Minus 80% - $2.40. With tax, $2.58. Plus 20 cents for two envelopes (one to mail them there, one for them to use to mail 'em back to me) and two stamps (again one for each way) at 42c each = $3.62 for 48 woven, personalized labels !

Sure, 7.5c each for my vanity is kinda pricey - but I get a kick out of using those labels ! I got a real deal, as their website offers 40 similar labels for $25. ! Plus shipping. Mailed 'em off Oct. 30th, got 'em either Friday or Saturday, I didn't check mail until today. Pretty fast, too !

Not much else going on. Went grocery shopping and to Sam's Club. Even though I only went there for a few things, I still managed to spend $114. at Sam's. But we get some good deals there. Five pounds of great cheese for $13. and change, and it lasts us four or five months. I cut it into pound blocks and freeze it, and it still slices easily when thawed out. Most frozen cheese is only good for shredding once it's thawed, as it gets so crumbly. And I forgot the Kleenex, last time I got a great deal there. I know we should use rags, but when we had flu in September, even rags would have torn our noses up. The lotion-and-vitamin-E tissues were very kind to our sensitive skin.

Stocked up our medicine cabinet for winter. Most folks buy extra soup - me, I get a spare bottle of generic Robitussin ! Also some generic allergy pills, generic kid Tylenol for Dearest Son, and generic decongestants. 'Cause when you're sick, it's cold, and possibly icy and the roads are bad, nobody feels like going out for medicine !

So our larders are full, and I remembered the eggs for my devilled specialties for the family food fest. It was a really nice day !

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