The New Year - The Year of Twenty!

The Year of Twenty!

Last year was a Creative Year...this year I want to somehow have the focus on 'twenty'.  I have had various ideas so far... some good and probably some impossible...so currently in the thinking process.  

Perhaps I could see if I can focus on twenty dolls (insert manic laughing here!) ...  with a view to eventually refining my collection significantly.  Of course this could be doomed to failure, especially knowing how sentimental I am!  There is a big part of me that would like to do this however, as I often feel very overwhelmed by my doll and prop collection and find it difficult to focus on just where I want to be headed and what I want to do. Jack of All Trades (or Collections!) springs to mind.

Of course I could use 'Twenty' in other ways...perhaps creatively....make twenty dresses, knit twenty items, animals, etc...  who knows the ideas could be endless?

I could sort out some groups of dolls with a maximum of twenty per group - which seems a lot, but if you think about my Sasha & Gregor doll family for example, it would be very easy to have twenty in the group as I am sure other Sasha collectors could relate to.

At the moment a lot of my dolls are still packed away, and probably will be for a while yet...so in a way it will be easier to focus on the few dolls I have out...I wonder just how many that is?

These are the dolls and two bears who are currently not packed away.  They conveniently add up to twenty! Although Romeo and Romeo Jr (my two monkeys) and Hilda Lawrence (Howard's wife) are not in the group and they are out.  

Some creative ideas are...

Finish carving my Hitty doll (who I think will be my 10th) and make twenty items of clothing for her.  I am optimistically hoping to finish carving her this month as there is a 'Carve a Hitty in January' Challenge on at the moment...and then to slowly work on her wardrobe of twenty items.

Make some Tiny Rag Dolls for my Etsy Shop - I know this probably won't happen until later on, perhaps March time... If I do, I think the maximum I will probably make will be twenty, and I don't suppose I will manage that in one year...but it is food for thought.

Visit twenty different places with Henry or my other travel companions and blog about those places.

I'd love to know what my friends and readers of this blog are doing this year with their dolls, collections etc...  so please feel free to share.

Summary on Sunday: Blogging, Henry's Hair Loss, Knitting Etc...

I'm hoping I can blog a bit more as blogging seems to have taken quite a back seat for a while due to a number of reasons.  Certainly I will be doing my usual Advent series of posts, but I'd like to get back into doing more of the other things as well.  How this will pan out though is anyone's guess.

I know I have mentioned this before, but Henry's hair problem has been a real stumbling block for me with regards my blogging as he is the foundation of it all really and such a focus.  I still haven't got my head round it.  I keep toying with the idea of getting him re-rooted as I haven't really liked any wigs I have tried on him so far.  Trouble is I want him to look 'the same'. I don't want him to look different and so much of the re-rooting I have seen has been just girls and not boys, and those boys that have been re-rooted just don't have hair styles that are like the original boys. Over the winter he can get away with wearing hats, although I wish he didn't have to wear them inside as well, but it has got so bad now, that there are just too many large bald areas for me to 'repair' in the photo editing process.  I have toyed with the idea of also substituting him but although others might not know I do, and it just doesn't 'feel' right to me.  Despite me buying several new brunette boys last year I think it was none of them looked anything like Henry.  In fact I have never seen a brunette boy look quite like Henry, even though I have others who are very similar to each other.  Who would have thought a doll and his losing of hair would cause such a profound problem for me?!

I started doing a bit of knitting while house sitting for my son last month, and unfortunately it is still very painful and causes pain in my arm and muscle spasms in my neck on the opposite side, so I will just have to go slowly.  I haven't knitted in over a year, so was hoping the rest would have helped, but it seems not.

I thought I would start off small so I knitted for my Sindy dolls (the one on the left is my replica childhood Sindy and the other two are my charity shop bargains found while I was house sitting.

I especially love the one in the middle who is my 'waifiest' Sindy but the gal I do most with.

Just need to put some buttons on this when I can find some that are suitable.  I did make a belt for it, but felt it then make it look too much like a dressing gown!

Just loving this girl and this look.

This cardigan I made as a swap gift.

I also knitted for my childhood Tressy.  The skirt she is wearing I made many years ago now.

I have knitted two Sasha size cardigans (for Peggy Sue) and did find it hard work, so need to not get carried away with how long I sit and knit for!  I do have an order, just need to get the wool, so hope to start on that next.

I am also hoping my sewing mojo has returned and was not just a one off enthusiasm to make something for Peggy Sue's birthday.  It is a long time since I have done any sewing as well.  We will see.  I do have something that I must make for someone at some stage, but I need to make sure I am in the right frame of mind before I attempt it.

Sunday seems to be flying by, it is mid-day already!  Time to clear up after Peggy Sue's party yesterday.  I wonder if any of the girls are going to help me?!  

Sasha & Gregor Friends.

To all my Sasha & Gregor friends, followers and those who might happen to pop by to read my blog - (not sure how many there are now, as there are few 'followers'  and as mentioned before, not sure whether this represents who actually DOES read my ramblings anyway), I wanted to say sorry for the severe lack of posts related to your favourite dolls.  I am not sure if I am 'all storied' out, a 'been there photographed that', told such and such story/set up such and such scene, or what is the case, but I just don't seem to be able to think up anything to actually write about.  I don't want this to just be a blog where I just post photos of the dolls in clothes, and leave at that, I like to tell stories, only I don't have any stories to tell. Why this is I am not quite sure.  Actually I don't really have any stories to tell about any of the dolls at moment, apart from the daily photos I am taking of Mini AG Julie for the  June Photo Challenge.  I thought at first it was because I had lost my main 'photography area' which I use during the winter months, but now of course it is much brighter I would normally be taking lots of outdoor photos for stories, but they are just not happening.

So that is where I am at at the moment - in limbo, looking for inspiration, but not really finding it.

The Life Boat

The LifeBoat Project has begun, and there are those that made the lifeboat, those that are clinging to the sides, and sadly those that just couldn't reach it.  

Having to thin down a beloved doll collection out of necessity, and one that has helped distract from various issues over the last almost 10 years is very hard indeed.  A lot of soul searching and head over heart has had to take precedent which is not easy to say the least.

Starting with the Sasha dolls:  At present I am hoping to keep all my boys.  I have quite a few dressed in costumes in a permanent display.  The others I hope to use for my stories should I eventually get back to writing them!  I have also got my permanent Sailor display and my Mini Me and Mini Sister pair.   I would quite like to set up the 'Rose Hip Chicks' in a display as well...but that might need rethinking who is staying and who is leaving!  I am also hoping to keep my toddlers at this stage.  Two are involved in a couple of the above displays and the other two I hope to keep incorporating in my stories.  

A lot still rests on just how many appointments I will need for treatment and the mounting costs involved. 

A lot of props will go as well - partly to continue to raise funds, and partly to just give me more room to breath!  As mentioned in previous posts I have two sale pages - one for Dolls for Sale and the other for Props for Sale.  This is still a work on progress and going is slow as other things also need to be done.   Plus I keep thinking 'but I might want to use that'. 

I am planning on going through my doll clothing and of course have quite a bit of my own handmade clothing available in my Etsy Shop 'Muriel Makes' 

I have already sold all but three of my American Girl Dolls.  Two I am keeping, one of which was a very special surprise gift from my son and few years back and the other whom I use for modelling the dolls clothes I make for my Etsy Shop 'Muriel Makes' .  The third, Kaya, is for sale.  

At present I am planning on keeping all my Schoenhut dolls if I can - they are hard to get in the UK and it is a relatively small collection.

The Other Dolls:  I need to really start reviewing these as well - they should have taken precedence in some ways, but value wise they are generally not on the same scale, so an awful lot would have to go to make up the equivalent sadly.  But I will be reducing them significantly, as all funds raised will help. 

I also plan on keeping most of my 'other' (in other words non-Sasha) boy dolls. 

If only we could win something on the lottery instead!  But with my track record of never winning anything even when I put all my raffle tickets in one pot, there is not a lot of chance of that.

I do know that aside from my childhood dolls, there are five dolls who will never leave:

Henry

Peggy Sue

Lewis

Hitty Madge

Hazel Bleuette

I want to get back to my stories as well, but at the moment it is just not especially likely. 

Just so this post isn't completely picture free...

Peggy Sue seems very relaxed about it all, secure in the knowledge that she isn't going anywhere!