New Kitchen , garden, and workshop

Well, as promised, if a little late, I now have the photos of my house improvements, which so far is the kitchen, the garden, and an outdoor studio to sew in and do all the things I do for my online shop selling dolls clothes. I am very pleased so far as I am using my NHS pension to make the improvements to my little house, and therefore have something to show for all my years of working as a qualified nurse, and it makes for a pleasanter retirement. 
So first of all the kitchen before---

And the kitchen now-----

Although I have now painted the wall here since this picture was taken, here are some more of the new kitchen, showing the other sides.--

Including a nice new cooker

And bags more cupboard space

On to the Garden , I have had this completely decked so no more weeding flower beds or lawns to mow, which is much better for me as I have fibromyalgia. I don't have any before photos of the garden.

Smart new table and chairs

Lots of plants in pots, string lights,

My lovely new buddha and a lantern,

And best of all, my outdoor studio/workroom!  Now if you are not too bored with all these photo's I will show you inside my workroom, where I spend a lot of my time now.

 It is so easy to work in here now with everything to hand on the shelves, much easier than using the kitchen like before. I painted all inside in mint green , and made the curtains which you can just see to the left of the photo.

 I have my old cassette player, inherited from my dear dad, my new dab radio, and a little fan/ heater, which seams to be adequate for heating so far, as the walls are lined with lambswool.I have my stitching books, and of course, another buddha.

 My hubby, an upholsterer and antiques restore, brought me this little chair to sit at the sewing machine, just as I was finishing painting and bringing all my things in, nice suprise!

This is the inside of the door, a little window open on the left, security system, and a lovely little wooden plaque that my son had made for me takes pride of place above the door.
Everything is very light and airy.
I'm so happy with my little workspace now.






I have also opened an 'Etsy' shop, so next time I will show you the latest dolls clothes to go in the shop, and the things I have made for my Etsy shop. Till then take care
 

I had a lovely break in Jersey visiting relatives last week, got back late sunday night and then spent the day monday clearing all my kitchen cupboards ready for the workmen to make a start on the Tuesday. I then turned the lounge into a mini kitchen with microwave, kettle, toaster, and a box of neccesary supplies in there. I have a big box in the bedroom with all my sewing bits and pieces, not much sewing getting done. I have had, and am still having a chaotic time with no water in the kitchen, a hole at the back of where the sink unit was, which I have to watch that the cats don't go exploring under the floor. Tthere is no electricity in there either , apart from the fridge and the boiler, so when we need to use the fridge at night to get anything we have to take a torch into the kitchen.  The cats arn't much impressed either.

This is actually the cat from next door but he spends all his time in my house as he doesn't want to live with her, I think she neglects him somewhat, he gets fed here, and fussed.

I am making and have managed to complete this week, some little goodies with which I hope to open an Etsy shop, I will let you have a peak here.

thes are filled with lavender to hang in the bathroom, I especially like the way the eyes have turned out.
I also have put  another easter dress in the shop. This one can be found in the Annabell section soon. I couldn't find my camera for ages in the chaos so have only been able to upload these today.
Keep tuned in for pictures of ...'hopefully,a finished kitchen soon'.

We didn't see much of the eclipse today as it was very cloudy in this part of Yorkshire. Now I'm off for a coffee and to watch Loose Women on tv, Bye for now.

Valentines flowers and lots more sewing

Well I am doing very well here and making the effort to blog more regular, so I do hope someone is reading this !!??.  Valentines day has been and gone, and I got a card and chocolates and these lovely flowers that still look really fresh.

I went to Dewsbury market with a friend  last week, using my free bus pass for a long journey for the first time, up to now I have only been using it to nip into town. Anyway it was quite a good market and had a large haberdashery stall where I bought these pretty laces, which lend themselves beautifully to making dolls clothes and were very reasonably priced. The lilac lace has glitter on the picot edges but hasn't come out on the photo very well.

Last week I have continued to make good progress in sewing for and stocking the shop, and was working on the American Girl doll range. 

 She's being very good here holding on to all the pieces I have to sew up yet.

Here is a little hooded Jacket in a lovely fine floral corduroy fabric. So I do feel a very positive productive feeling this week, got a lot done. and here are some of the finished articles!

If you want to see the rest you can look here in my shop.
Today I popped into town for a few household supplies, it was a lovely sunny morning, still cold but so nice to see the sun showing itself.  I came home and did some chores, then got out my fabrics teat I have recently bought to make a start on a custom order for a customer.

Any Ideas what it's going to be? I'll give you a clue it is a charector for what, if i'm not mistaken was one of Disney's first cartoon feature films.  If anyone wants to know I will tell you in my next blog post, might even put a photo of the finished product on . 

Busy sewing and stocking up the shop

I know I havn't been on for a while, and that I keep saying I will post more regular, but then... things get in the way...even though I have been retired now for twelve months.  I still do my bank nursing one afternoon a week, and enjoy keeping my hand in there, but do you know , I honestly don't know how I managed twenty hours a week before, I think its that now that I know I have more time I probably take life at a slower pace, and sometimes have to with the fibromyalgia, so it does seem to take longer to get things done.
  I have had a lot of problems with my laptop, with a computer virus, then having to have the laptop wiped , then problems getting back on line, so as my laptop was very old, and had to have a plug in mouse, plugged in battery all the time and now being wired into a usb lead to go on line, I decided to treat myself to a new one, well a reconditioned one actually, but good enough for my needs.  Then I lost my shop from on line due to technical difficulties with my webmaster.  So all in all I have had a few problems, but I am now back in business and busy sewing to replace stock that I sols coming up to Christmas.
Have you noticed my son's bike has gone from behind the kitchen window, sold since he finished uni.

I was asked several times for custom orders to fit the George doll which apparently is Annabell's brother, and the same size as Annabell, so I decided to add a new category for this doll.

I have made a few essentials and added them, and hope to add more soon.
We have had a lot of snow lately and it seems to lay around the estate where we live for a long time, it has just started to clear this week after having it for about 5 weeks now.

By the summer of this year This space outside will hopefully look very different, I am planning on having a little hut outside, an eco hut with insulated walls and electricity wired in, which I can then use as a sewing room, then I can move from the kitchen! I am so looking forward to that!  But first I am to have a new kitchen so the following photo is a before photo, and I will show you an after photo when it is all complete.

I did the tiling myself in this kitchen, it was my first attempt at tiling so I don't think I did too bad really, but it will have to come down when they put my new cupboards  and work surfaces in so I have decided to have a complete professional job this time.  I am very much looking forward to all these changes and will keep you posted.  Bye for now.

New  Chaise longue and more sewing for dolls

Last week I treated myself to a lime green half chaise, it fits in lovely under my window in the lounge, but guess who likes it best?

Yes of course Jazz thinks its all for him !  He now spend most of his days sitting, washing, and lounging on his new lime green half chaise longue.

I have been quite busy sewing two new lines for the dolls clothes shop  , shoes to fit Baby Born dolls and Annabell baby dolls, and jockey shorts for Baby Born boy.

 

I pack the shoes in a little shoe box with tissue paper wrapped around, they are all lined with a pretty fabric inside, thes ones are lined with a spotty pink print fabric.

 

And thes are lined with a floral fabric.

So I have been quite busy at the sewing machine,

 

making lots of these,

 

And new outfits galore,

 

And gardening, lunching out, and working at the day job just one afternoon a week, now that I am retired, whilst Jazz has been doing this,

 

 

on the new half chaise longue.

I have also had a very proud time this month, as my son has graduated from uni with a BA in musical theatre, yes, a very proud time indeed, the last three years has just flown by though.

 

These are the shoes that I couldnt show you last time I blogged as the 'putting on photos' process wasn't working properly that day. So I decided to put the photo on first today to make sure it was working ok. I have created a new header photo as I don't make rag dolls now, I decided I was getting too diverse with my creations and now just concentrate on my custom orders and stocking the shop. These were for a custom order, but I am in the process of making more for the shop. I have lots of ideas for new outfits and now that I have more time since my retirement I hope to put all of them into practice.   Speaking of custom orders I am at present making some fairy outfits for a lady and finished one the other day.It is a tinkerbell outfit for Annabell, I am now in the process of making a Pirate fairy outfit for the same customer which apparently is a Disney charector from a cartoon film, I will put a photo on when they are both finished, of both outfits on the doll.

 

 

I am quite pleased with the tinkerbell outfit, I used the hotwand to add several tiny gemsones in green and diamond colour to the net overskirt but it doesn't show that terribly well on this photo, sorry.

 

 

Here above is the First communion dress that I also couldn't load last time I blogged, it took to attempts this morning but I finally made it! I don't know what is the matter with blogger lately! it certainly makes blogging hard work!  This was an outfit I made to match a little girls first Communion dress and both her and her mum were very pleased with it as the didn't realise it would match almost completely the photo of the little girls dress that her mum sent me. To see the feedback message I got from the mother regarding this order ou can go to my shop here and visit the customer comments page.

Well I think thats all for today I must get back to the sewing process, its all go at Dotties Dolls today, I am anxiously awaiting spring when I can move the sewing machine outside to the garden and do some more sewing 'al fresco'.

 



Retirement and Annabell doll outfits

Well I can hardly  believe I am now retired!  It seemed to take forever to come round once I decided to do it, but I have now been retired for a  little over two weeks so it still feels rather strange , and really just as if I am on holiday, but no doubt it will become more real as time goes on. I am still going to do one afternoon a week on the nursing bank starting tommorow, just to keep my hand in, but I will now have much more time for sewing and stocking the shop. Of course the out-patients department where I work gave me a good send off with a lovely buffet at lunch time and lovely presents , and we had the customary dressing up of the celebrity, which in my case was dressing me as a dolly, and you can see the result in the picture below, I had to take a boot off to show the ribbon bows as the person taking the picture said she couldn't get the bows on my shoes in the frame!

I must say I got quite attched to the red wig by the end of the day. ;)  . Incidentally I had to do the clinics all day dressed like this, much to the surprise of the patients.

Anyhow I have been making good use of my free time by sewing a lot of new outfits, and I also treated myself to a new sewing machine, but I will tell you more about that when I next blog as my camera has run out of battery and I can't put the photo on until I have recharged. (Why do they alway run out just when you need to use them?)

However I can show you some photo's of the latest dolls clothes for the 18 inch Annabell doll.

 

Denim shorts with frills and a sweet little Angel top, the pink shoes are my next adventure, I am experimenting making shoes.

 

Very apt for the weather lately is a little A line raincoat and sou'wester hat trimmed with pink and little pink heart buttons.
Now there were some others I wanted to put on but for some reason blogger seems to be having a hissy fit today and won't let me load them, perhaps it will let me next time I blog.
I have also done some custom orders , one is a 'dorothy' outfit from the wizard of oz, and another is a first communion dress for American girl doll, which I did to match the little girls own outfit, I got some great feedback in the comments section of my shop from both my very satisfied customers regarding these,  lets see if blogger will let me download these for you to see.

 

Well it has let me load the 'Dorothy' outfit but not the Communion dress, I don't know what is happening today , I'm just getting a cross on the download and it refuses to go further, I will have to look into that next time.  Incidentally I have now made some little red shoes to go with the 'Dorothy' outfit that I will show you next time as it is on the next lot of 'no battery' photos.
Ah well , lets hope for better luck next time eh?

New dolls outfits for the shop

Well helloo again !, I know its a long time since I posted again, what with the online shop and my day job I don't seem to have much time for this blog lately, in fact the whole summer has gone by without me posting anything, note to self--I must try to keep up with my blog.
Well I have been busy making more outfits, some of them you can see here, I have been busy making school dresses, and hope to put some gymslips and cardigans etc. on when I have sourced the fabrics, then I may make a school uniform category, I'm not sure yet but for now have just got a small amount of dresses for sale, if you are wanting more (if there happens to be any customers reading this) you just have to e mail me and I will do a custom order for you.

 

 

 

At the beginning of the summer I did a custom order to dress someones much loved heirloom doll in old fashioned dress, I enjoyed doing this very much, I used old fasioned lace , pearl buttons and pretty delicate fabrics. The results were much appreciated by the customer. It is so nice to enjoy doing an order and have the bonus of making someones day when the order is complete and parcelled of to them. Pictures below.

 

 



 

 

These are just some of the outfits I have made recently and are in the shop for sale at the moment.

 Scool dresses to fit American Girl and Baby  Born, American Girl has a hair scrunchy to match .

 

New PJ's for Annabell, 18 inch size only, I'm afraid I don't make for the smaller Annabelle Dolls.

 

And a cute Bathrobe to match, (sold seperately)  And a new coat and beret set for Autumn.





I have also been trying to stock up on Baby born boy outfits such as these :-

 

And lastly a coat for Autumn for Barbie.

I hope you've enjoyed looking at my photos and that you will visit the shop soon! www.dotties-dolls-clothes-emporium.co.uk