Fancy Joshua

Just a little photo story from a sunny day earlier in October. It has gotten colder by the day here, so when the sun suddenly appears you throw yourself out the door and just enjoy. I have been in the garden too, just to slowly and easy do some gardening. 

Around the cottage we have a lot of forest. At this time it is changing colors, the mushrooms are popping up here and there. My daughter found some chantarelle and that is a yummy mushroom! We have a lot of berries too - raspberries, blackberries, blueberries and lingonberries. 

Well, someone (Joshua) is a bit picky when it comes to his outfits. He was not really ready for a long walk, according to me. He, of course, did not agree!

Joshua had to mark on my clothes. I was ready for a walk in the forest, because you never know what you will meet. A cuddly dirty boar. A hungry moose. A curious deer. Or more likely a branch you stumble on and fall into a puddle. 

Enjoy October!

Genevieve at the cottage

It is May. I do not know where the months between my last post and this one went. I know that I have been busy with my studies and something new, genealogy. Yes, I have been deep into the study of families, family history, and the tracing of my lineages. I am just in the beginning when it comes to my relatives on my mother's side. On my father's side I do have a whole book, with relatives and lineages to 18th century. On my husband's side, my mother in law wrote down everything and I have those papers in a folder. It is very interesting, but time consuming. 

I hope you are doing well. At the moment I am at our cottage. We drove here for a couple of days ago, a month later than planned because I had studies, husband had work and the kids took a trip to the northern parts of Sweden to visit a friend. They stayed there for a while and had fun seeing northern lights, reindeers, lots of snow and taking trips with a snowmobile. 

Today I took Genevieve out of her box and took some photos. It has been rather cold, even here in the southern parts of our long country. But today it was really sunny and warm. Have not really had so many of my dolls out and about for a long time. 

I took her original clothes on too and put her head on a Judith Girl Doll body that has some supporting metal 'sticks' together with the strings for better posing. Genevieve's original body is the same body as Judith Girl Doll, but with different hands and heel feet, and does not have the metal bendable 'sticks' for good posing. She really can stand by herself, even if she is heavy, and she can hold her poses without snapping.

It was really nice to just walk in the forest and pose her and listen to the birds and the wind. I have missed that and hope to be able to do so more often. It has been even fun to play with the smart phone and the possibilities that a 'thingy' like that have, when it comes to taking photos. 

The nature is slowly waking up and I hope that the lake will soon be nice enough to take a swim in. Bentley has already been in the water, he can not resist it. I think it will take some weeks before I even try the water. Enjoy May!

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I took some photos of the metal 'sticks' too. It is called something, but I can not remember it at the moment. But if you know - tell me!

Genevieve and machines

Improving the road to the lake for heavier vehicles.

Hello there! How are you doing? Hopefully having fun with your dolls and enjoying your life. It has been some busy weeks and months over here. We had our girls' friend over from Portugal. She has been here, at our cottage, before and this time she stayed for five weeks. The girls had some adventures, went to exhibitions and enjoyed their time by the lake. During June and July we had some workers over to cut down a lot of trees, improve our gravel road to the lake and do some road work at another place about 10 minutes from our cottage, by car. 

The tractor looks rather 'dead', but it pulled up some of the heavy machines to the work place.
The truck is picking up some sand for the road. All is happening next to our cottage.

Bentley checking things out. We got a new parking space after the 
workers left. They were kind enough to make us one, when we asked.

The new area is a place that my husband's uncle owned before he past away last year. Today it is my husband and his three cousins that own the land, and together they decided to use the land for a recreation place - walks, bicycle...and maybe one day when all is done even for BBQ and a new place to swim at. But that will be in the future. The workers came around 7 in the morning and left by 4 in the evening. They made a lot of noise and the first week they woke us up. But the next week we got used to it, even Bentley. He could sleep (!) in the garden while they worked. 

Some timber

The new road, coming along nicely.

Bentley really likes the new place. 
In this process he got a new friend too, a black labrador named Freja.

There is some work left to be done. By our cottage they are done, but at the new place the road is is need of improvement after all the trucks have picked up the timber. We have got new gates too for the roads and will get some signs for speed limits and warning signs (that I probably will make myself) for the drivers, so they keep an eye on our Bentley. He is a good boy and stays near the cottage and we have a fence for safety, but sometimes I have him loose when I walk him. 

So, when the workers left their machines on our yard or somewhere near I took Genevieve out for a photo shoot. The machines made a great background for a delicate little (!) cat doll. Could not resist. Have not had her out of the box for a while, so I thought it could be time for that. I should make her some new clothes too. Here comes some pictures. Enjoy!

A dress or two

This dress belongs to Esther, but I wanted to try it on Genevieve. 

After my days with Covid-19, I wanted to do something easy and nice for my Dollmore Catish Reaa. She has been neglected for a while and I do not have so many clothes for her, so it felt like a good thing to start there. Usually I sew a dress or two in one day, if it is a simple patterns as this one from Antique Lilac. But these two took me a couple of more days, just because I did not have the energy. In a way I am not pleased with the result for the second dress. Need to do something about that or maybe even start from the beginning.

Box Opening: Joshua

Last week I got a number to track and I sure have been tracking. I was a bit afraid that it would be stuck in customs as my last order (Catish Reaa, Genevieve) and then I thought about the virus that is going wild. On the Swedish postoffice's homepage there is a notice that packages from and to China will not be delivered and will be staying at customs and will be there for a while. Well, Dollmore is not in China but sometimes you can not predict how the postoffice over here thinks. 

Gladly it went smoothly, even if I had to pay for it and I got my order from Dollmore - not delivered to the door as promised by the Swedish postoffice, but to an office nearby - in a week after it left Seoul. Husband, I and Bentley took a walk to the postoffice to pick it up. So much fun!

And here follows some photos! Noticed that the most photos are of his face, so I hope to take other photos later on. The weather has been foggy, rainy and cold. No one wants to be out. Hopefully some sunny days comes soon!

The big parcel on our living room table.

Genevieve

In late October 2018 Dollmore released another Catish Girl Doll, a Klasse Cancan Dark Eyes Reaa, limited edition of 10 dolls. I have had my eyes on a Catish Doll for a while, but have been unsure when it comes to the size and prize. They had a version with brown hair and eyes earlier, but this one just disappeared in seconds. Then I had my eyes on a beauty with an orange wig and life like eyes, but I did not really feel the connection all the way. So, I put her on pause on my doll list. She is limited to 20 and there is still some left, so if I change my mind there will be a chance for me to get her.

When Catish Girl Doll - Klasse Cancan Dark Eyes Reaa, even called Red Rose Reaa, was released I talked with my family and said that this is chance that I can not just let go. Asked Dollmore for a layaway and it was more than okay. Picked six months and after that a two month wait while she was put together and shipped to me. Got her just in time for our time at the cottage. Ordered some shoes and a bag for larger dolls too. Great to have during transports between home and cottage, home and the places where I usually photograph my dolls.

She arrived fully assembled with a head in normal skin and ears, a body, heel feet, vampire hands, glass eyes, wig, clothes and I ordered a extra pair of flat feet. She has a cancan dress, in a strong dark red color with golden and black details and some other decorations. I am not so fond of the dress because of the long tail, but the upper part works nice and are beautifully detailed. Her high heel shoes, glass eyes and brown wig are amazing. She stands well on her own and posing are good.

She is 44,5 cm tall, a bit over 17 inches. Her body is double jointed and her boobs give me some trouble dressing her. Her clothes size is compatible with MSD but her upper body is almost as a Smart doll in size. Circumference of her chest is 19.8cm (more than 7 inch). Normal wigs work in the size 7-8 inches, if I make holes for the ears. The ears are not removable, so it can be tricky and you need to make some custom work for the ears to use a wig not made for Catish doll. 

Well, enough with the details. What about my personal thoughts? She is perfect. I am very pleased with her and the wait for 8 months was worth it! During summer 2019, she was my eye candy, and still is. Sometimes I just need to let the thought and feeling sink in, that she is mine. Almost pinch myself.

Well, at last, her name is Genevieve. The French origin means ”tribe woman”. The name has its origin in the the Germanic medieval name Genovefa or Kenowefa. Her name is inspired from the medieval saint Genevieve, patroness of Paris. This patroness defended the city against Attila the Hun through her rational thinking, courage and prayer.

A Magazine Meme

After reading a post at Xanadu's (this one) I wanted to go back and look what mine looked as then (here). Decided to make a new one. 

Some guidelines:

1. You need to think of a name for your magazine.

I kept the name, because this hobby is so much joy, even if it from time to time can make one mildly insane.

2. Choose a theme (it can be Halloween or something completely different).

It is Halloween, with some tips, a spooky story and those black cats. 

3. Take an appropriate photo using your own BJD's.

Have been keeping a secret, naughty me. On the cover I have a new resin member, a cat or is she a vampire....her story will be told soon!

4. Use your own editing programme (let us know which one you used).

I used two. Canva and iPiccy, online.

5. Most of all . . . have fun!

I had lots of fun!

A body for Esmé and a broken arm

Hope that all is fine with you!

Well, let us start with some bad news. I have a broken left upper arm. Or as the doctor said, I have a spiral fracture humeral diaphyseal and some other beautiful medical words for some fractures in the  tubercle. About 10 days ago, I was on a walk with Bentley and suddenly I fell from a almost standing still position, as a timber, and hit the asfalt. Do not know if I was unconscious after hitting my head, but my first thought was that I must have a damaged face. But gladly no, my face is ok and so are my glasses. but my upper arm is a sad story. The X-rays are not pretty at all, in any direction. It was so close that surgery was needed. I was on a check up and the doctor said that the X-rays are showing good results and he is happy about my healing so far. First week I had plaster and the arm in 90 degree angle. Now I have an orthosis just on the upper arm and free motion in the rest of the arm. 

I am so proud of Bentley and his support. He lead me home and stayed by my side the whole time - calm, supportive and looking after me. 

And then to the good news.

Since the day when I suddenly decided to do the thing that I had said to myself to never do, I have been struggling with a body.

For a very long while ago I got a Narsha Zihu head, because I just wanted to have one. Had some plans to have that head on Esther’s body and then make a new one to Esther - but no, that is not for me because of my carpal tunnel syndrome. I did give it a try and had a blast during those moments, but I never got the hang of it. I may try it again, in the future. One should never give up.

So, long story made short. I got in touch with Dollmore and asked if they could give me some tips of what body could suit for a Narsha Zihu head and got a fast answer. Sadly they do not sell Narsha bodies, so I had to let that go. Thought about it for some seconds and then made an order. 

The body arrived very fast, but because I was at the cottage and not at home I had to wait until my hubby drove to us during a weekend. With joy, after dinner, I opened the box and put Esmé’s head on it. Perfect. 

I made her a wig and sew an simple outfit for her, so she would not freeze. Her boobs, though, give me some extra challenge. Her joints are so different and she is stringed well and has some light wire too, for great posing. She stands well and I am happy with the body. No floating heads! Esmé has her own body and so does Esther.