Rainbow Photo Challenge: Orange

Taking part in the Rainbow photo challenge on Flickr, my photo for orange is:

Cora wearing a borrowed orange dress with her orange space hopper and orange shoes.  

A Walk in the Garden with Henry

The sun came out for a while today and although the garden is very wet and boggy pretty uninspiring, Henry went outside to see if he could find any evidence of new growth and the promise of better times to come.  He couldn't convince any one else to join him so off he went on his own.

Goodness the rhododendrons are starting to bud!  This is exciting.  

Daffodils are starting to come up.  

I spy with my little eye, a little purple flower...

With the sun shining you could almost convince yourself it is warmer than it is... almost...but not quite!

~A boy on a mission ~

School Supplies.

Peggy Sue and Lewis have been busy today helping to get things ready for the new Science Room.  Some more posters have been laminated, worksheets printed and magazine folders made. 

Lewis and Peggy Sue worked hard collating the worksheets

They put them into subject order

They started sorting out the magazines.

Plenty of space magazines.

Folders and magazine holders were made.

Each student will have their own folder.

Folders and Magazines stored nicely in the holders ready for use.

Purple!

It's a purple kind of day today apparently, at least according to the lore of Everlee Rose Morgan.

She braved the outdoors, after a very windy night to check that all was well with the garden. 

Fortunately all that blew over was the bird feeder and it wasn't damaged.

The NZ Hebe is flowering and it matched her clothes.

Very soon she comes in and admires the orchids on the window sill.

Careful up there!

Everlee is one of the dolls that I have chosen to focus on this year, so you may see a lot more of her in the weeks and months to come.

An Un-boxing.

An unboxing is always fun, and it has been some time since we have had one here....

Peggy Sue and Lewis are intrigued....

Ooh, can you hear noises?  Peggy Sue asks Lewis

I think so.  Lewis replies.

Gosh, something is moving in there.  Peggy Sue gasps.

Is anyone there?  Peggy Sue asks cautiously 

Here, I'll help you.  Gosh what a way to travel.  Lewis says as he helps Peggy Sue get the 'mummy' out of the box.

With their help, the 'mummy' is freed and it isn't a mummy at all!

I'm here!  She says.

You certainly are.  Lewis replies.

Who are you?  She asks.

I'm Lewis.  More importantly....who are YOU. He asks.

Why, I am not sure....but I have travelled a long way, and it is a bit warmer here than where I left!  

Peggy Sue looks stunned.  You are kidding me!  She says. It is not very warm here.

Oh I can assure you, it was much colder where I have come from. The new girls says.

They sit down together.

All I remember is lots and lots of snow, doing a few limbering up exercises and then all of a sudden I am wrapped up and put in a box.  Oh and where is my little doll companion?  She asks.

Fortunately her little friend was close by.  

They chat for a while and then Peggy Sue goes to find her some clothes to borrow until she has something of her own to wear.

That is better!

Welcome to Rose Cottage little one.  We look forward to learning your name.

Thank you to the lovely lady who allowed me to adopt this girl - she came from the same home as Lewis, although they never met!

Perfekta Dolls

'Little Miss' my childhood Perfekta doll has gathered some friends over the last year and I thought it was about time I wrote a post featuring them.  Of course at this time of year the light is atrocious, so getting decent photos is rather hit and miss, mostly miss, so these following pictures will just have to do until we get better light.  I have tried doing searches to find out more information on these dolls but found very little.  Almost all searches just come up with Pinterest links now, and I am still not really sure how that works.  I did find one page dedicated to them, and you can see some more of their original outfits here.

These two brunettes are in original outfits and one pair of original shoes.  The girl on the left has a 'pony tail' hair style whereas the girl to the right has a full centre parting and so can wear her hair in bunches or pigtails, depending on what terminology you are used to.

These two also have original dresses on and fortunately one also has original shoes - I wish I could find some more shoes, or even shoes that fit!  The blonde has a centre part and probably wore her hair in braids (plaits) from what I have been able to find out, but her hair has been trimmed.  The little girl in the purple outfit has lovely soft hair in a bob style.

I think this is also probably an original outfit, but not entirely sure.  Her hair is a little better than my girl, it is not quite as 'woollen' 

Little Miss, my childhood doll in clothes I made for her a couple of years ago now.

These little dolls are from the late sixties early seventies and five inches tall.  I may have had more when I was young as I very vaguely remember giving some dolls away when we had to move, but I am not sure if it was these dolls or not.  I certainly kept one if I did have others.

Creative 2018

Sasha, Emily and Sophia got changed out of their Christmas dresses today and wanted to show what they chose to wear - actually they didn't have a lot of choice as it was too wet to go down to the studio to get the majority of their clothes, so they had to make do with what was available!  

One of the things I want to do this year is make more things.  I did a LOT of knitting last year, and a little sewing (not as much as I would normally do) and not a lot else.  As I am still not allowed to knit, I need to find other creative outlets.   One of the projects I have had in mind is to further develop the 'Schoenhut School of the Arts', starting with a science room.

Armed with the laminating machine and some printouts...

I fired it up and got it running...

...and made a start.

Lewis is quite excited about the prospect of a science lab.

We have been sorting through his trunk of clothing and accessories today, which will be the topic of another post and ongoing project, so he was pleased for some respite to help with something a bit more exciting.