Queen Elsa declares that Mondays are cancelled

After three weeks in a row of blizzards on Mondays, there's not much more to say.

That fence is 4' tall.

Kana's Toy Box: Wooden Farms and Paper Dolls

Kana here.  I'm hijacking the human's blog because she clearly does not do enough with it.  Also, I have more opinions.

Kimono models and origami salesdolls

Last weekend, the human dragged Shepard and me to the Marketplace at Birka, this giant SCA shopping event.  The human had a booth selling kimono and other things, and Shep and I were pressed into service as models for her.  We got to stand there for 12 whole hours smiling at everyone.  Before you ask, yes, those are tiny crane earrings, and yes, the jar is full of tiny origami cranes, and no, we don't know how many are in there, but the human thinks somewhere around 2700.  We haven't bothered to count yet, you see.

To make up for all that work we did, the human bought us some cute new toys.

A tiny wooden town

There was this vendor selling little wooden toy sets, so the human bought both the town set and the village set.  (I mean, we'd all rather have Felicity's ark or Josefina's toy farm, but there's a limit to the human's budget.)

The little town comes with a tiny church and 4 houses, 2 horses (one broke, but the human glued it back together), 4 trees, and 4 little people.  The village set comes with 4 houses, 8 people and more trees.  I think I like the town set much better.  Sadly, the human forgot the name of the vendor she got this from...

Who says paper dolls are out of style?

And then last week it snowed.  And snowed.  And snowed.  Now, back in the old Pleasant Company days, I heard that dolls got these little 'winter amusement' sets with paper dolls in them.  So the lot of us pestered the human until she made us our own paper dolls.

 Two are old fashioned French dolls and two are 1830s style fashion dolls.  Each doll came with a few different outfits and sometimes a ton of accessories.  (The paper dolls are almost more spoiled than we are...)

This one is my favorite because it came with five whole dresses and things like books and teapots and plates and a little set of paper dolls for the paper doll.  That reminds me.  I should start pestering the human for more dolls for us...

If you want to make these for your dolls, you can download the patterns here.  The human got the originals from the United Federation of Doll Clubs site (http://ufdc.org/doll-news/) and scaled some of them down for us.  To get that cardstock feel for the dolls, just glue the doll to an index card before cutting it out.

French Bisque Doll 1
French Bisque Doll 2
1830s Fashion Doll

A Valentine's Day Party

Kana here with a giant pile of Valentine's Day toys that the human bought.  The other girls are coming to play with them all.  (You can tell that the human is well over the age of the target audience.  Please stop now if you disapprove of cards or whiskey.)

Writing out invitations and lists

Samantha:  Not fair.  You're going to win because you went first.
Nellie:  That's because we're playing Tic Tac Toe.

Nellie:  Kirsten, do you want to play too? 

Kirsten:  No thanks.  I'm going to read more.

Samantha:  OK, how about Connect 4?
Nellie:  Still going to win.
Samantha: <Language unsuitable for young ladies>

Kana:  Sam, language please.

Samantha:  You can't possibly win at all the games...

Nellie:  Guess who has the double blank?
Samantha: ARGH.

Kana:  What about a game of cards?
Samantha:  What do you want to play? 

Kana:  Go Fish, Hearts, or Crazy Eights.
Nellie:  Boring.

Shepard:  How about Texas Hold'em?   What are we betting?
Human Interjection:  YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO PLAY STRIP POKER.
Shepard:  Fine, fine.
Everyone else:  *sigh*  You're no fun, human.

Shepard:  I'll deal.

Kana:  I think I'm going to fold.

Kirsten:  Me too. 

Shepard:  So it's down to Sam and Nellie.
Sam:  I'm so winning this time.
Nellie:  I'm so going to call your bluff.

Samantha:  Ha!  Two pairs to your nothing.
Nellie:  Next time, just you wait.

Kana:  Does anyone want to order food?
Shepard:  I know someplace that delivers.  

Samantha:  Sandwiches!
Nellie:  Sushi!

Kirsten:  Macarons!
Shepard:  I'll make the call.

R2:  Beep beep

R2:  Beep boop

R2:  Beep di doo deep
Shepard:  So the sushi's coming and dessert is running late and we get free drinks.
R2:  Beep boop

Nellie:  Awesome, they have onigiri.

Kirsten:  Macarons and cream puffs!

Shepard:  So, drink orders.

Samantha:  You get to pick.

Kana:  Shepard, no.  I don't care if that's your usual order at this place. 

Kana:  Green tea, milkshakes and soda.  Much better.

Kana:  That was fun.  So, who's hosting next time?

How about meeeeeow?

Kana's Valentine's Day Dress

Patterns Used:  KeeperDollyDuds Simplicity 1940s dresses

Fabric:
Cotton prints and ribbons from my stash that I was frankly sick of hoarding.  The ribbons came from either sales at Joann's or garage sales, and as with fabric, the stash breeds faster than I can use them.

Thoughts:  This was a easy pattern, and would have been quicker had I not decided to add rows of braid to the bodice, skirt, and cuffs.  I think the braid helps with the contrast.

Kanani shows off her room

Hi, I'm Kanami, but the other dolls (and the human) call me Kana.  This room is only temporary because the human would like to have her floorspace, but I'm going to have a party soon and I need a place for it.  The human has kindly helped me decorate.  My room is a combination of a bedroom and a parlor.  It's very Victorian right now, but that may change in the future.

This half of the room is the bedroom.  I have a set of pretty lace pillowcases and a purple scrap quilt.  (I think I would have preferred blue, but the human used all the blue scraps for something else already.)  I have my bed, my nightstand, and my bedtime reading.

 One of the human's friends brought us an antique copy of 'The Happy Prince' by Oscar Wilde, and I've claimed it for myself.  The vanity could use a toilet cloth, but hey, a girl can't have everything.  I keep my jewelry box, a book of fairy tales, and some bottles of rosewater.  The bottle in the back is my favorite.  It's real persian glass, and very delicate.  The human brought it home wrapped in silk.  I also have a silver comb and mirror and a little lace handkerchief.  On the bottom shelf, I keep my lunchbox and a pitcher for water.

The other half of my room is set up as a parlor.  I have an old wingback chair and an ottoman that gets used a table when I sit on the floor.  I don't have any pets yet, but that's only because none of the animals have come by to visit.  I also have a little glass cabinet to keep books and decorations.

 The top of the cabinet has my (really Samantha's but I'm borrowing it for now) stereoscope, a real miniature old lamp, and a set of blue-and-white china.  I like to pretend that's it's official Ming dynasty willoware, but I don't think the human can afford the actual thing.  I keep my library inside the cabinet as well as my music box and a little ship-in-a-bottle.

So that's my (temporary) room.  What do you think?