There Is Never A Dull Moment

Things have been so crazy for most of 2013.

I am surprised to find that December is almost upon us already. We're half way through November. Where did the year go?

It's been a pretty rough year for us this year health-wise. I'm thankful we all survived!

It all started around the end of June, really. Not counting the roll over car accident in January! We all walked away from that with minor cuts and bruises!

Hubby received a new cancer treatment which was a great success! The oncologist made the mistake of immediately after this treatment setting hubby up on some other medication.

Well, in July, that medication just about killed him. We still don't know exactly what happened, but he had some severe reactions that caused an incorrect reading in his blood, which indicated a heart attack.

He spent 4 days in ICU. All tests came back with flying colors, he felt great once that medication had finally run it's course and left his body completely.

Next problem, dental work. No dentist up here is qualified or secure enough to treat him since he had been on zometa. This means any dental work requires an 8 hour round trip drive to Phoenix.

Once things finally began settling down, on Oct. 28th, Lil Bub developed some abdominal pains. I called to make an appt with his doctor but they couldn't get him in for two weeks.On the 30th, he was in so much pain, we took him to the Emergency Department. Acute appendicitis with high risk of rupturing. Emergency surgery. We got there at 7pm and we came home the following afternoon at 6 pm.

You can read more about Charlie's Appendectomy here.


So, for the moment, I am trying to get back into my dolly world.

I have three topsy turvy dolls to make dresses for and will be introducing a new doll in a post a little later!

I bought my very first reborn baby doll kit!!!!! It was so much fun to paint! More about that later!

Just wanted to fill everyone in on where I've been and all the drama going on!

Primitive Raggedy Annie doll - red curly locks

 Put the finishing touches on this cute little lady's dress this morning.
"Sunflower Sadie" is a 10" primitive raggedy doll, pattern provided by "My Raggedy Dolls".
Her head, body and legs have been stained with a coffee/vanilla/cinnamon mixture dripped onto them. Her dress and bloomers are not stained.
Her hair is two different shades of red. The yarn was curled by being baked on dowel rods.
I decided not to use any weighting materials in this doll's body. She will sit with a bit of support behind her. Maybe a spool of thread hidden under her dress?
She is available at my ArtFire Studio.

Weighting Cloth dolls

Still not sure what I should be using to add a touch of weight to my prim style cloth dolls. Pellets are not to be found in my rural area. I had been happily using bleached and baked aquarium gravel sealed in little cloth envelopes which are inserted into the bottom of each doll (to prevent spilling messes!), until an unpleasant encounter with Australian Customs.
As it stands now, I will continue with this method. The dolls have hang tags that state what materials are included in the bodies and will only be sold to US customers. And eventually find an online source for plastic pellets.
Polly Bunny above has no weight and sits well enough. Gravel or nothing?