Word Definitions

Do you know the definition of "frustration"?
It's when you live by the lake and threaten to throw an object that is causing you no end of grief into that lake!

If you've got a minute I'll go into detail: first off, I am NO dressmaker & that is the crux of my dilemma.
Do you remember me writing about my scarecrow kit & all my plans for it? I took the pumpkin head from this:

to this:

Not bad, you think, right? Right! That's what I thought too. But that's about as far as I got with my plans.
My scarecrow has a wire armature ...no hands or feet. I thought to give him those later, after he was dressed. Fleshed him out a little. Afterall he's a scarecrow who only needs enough straw to scare the birds and no more! Took a look at the clothing pattern that I received as a jpeg...basically 2 rectangles to make pants, 2 more for sleeves & one longer one for the shirt. No clue as to size.
Thought I could do better so I surfed for pant patterns ....spent more hours than I care to admit. I thought I would adjust the size when I found something. Found some interesting doll clothes patterns but I guess there are no emancipated girl dolls out there. ...nary a pant pattern!
Made some pants....too big! Emailed for help and based on that, made him a little less anorexic. But now the pants are off....can't get them back on. Had to cut the sides open as I had glued the seams.
The scarecrow has gained weight; the pants are too small ...back to surfing! There must be a site I'd overlooked the first time! Again more hours than I care to admit! Nada. Zip. Zilch! Come to the conclusion that pant patterns do not exist! If only I had paid more attention to my home ec teacher in grade school....
Had another go at pant making.....this time they're too small! This was the moment where I got mega bad news about something that I'd been promised, that I'd anticipated. In short the answer to all my prayers..... but was no longer getting. That was the last straw!! Fraid I reacted like a little kid who'd been promised a day of rides at the fairground but who got to spend the day in the corner instead.
At about the same time, I openly answered an email from a lady doing the same kit who seemed to be having problems as well. Unfortunately diplomacy is not my middle name. Mentioned that I thought the patterns not only sucked..... but sucked big time. Back to surfing.
Next thing I know a pattern maker wrote in to complain about newbies with big mouthes denigrating all pattern makers. So I wrote her privately to apologize; sent her a copy of the jpeg. Shut my computer. Got myself a very large, very stiff drink. Had a good cry.....like any other three year old would!
This morning the pattern maker wrote me & diplomatically said that yes, the patterns might have been better thought out and when she had a moment she'd be glad to help. But now I am at the point where I don't care! That damn pumpkin head is coming to live in my frustration drawer....possibly forever! Afterall I'm not frustrated enough to pollute the lake I live at....


ADDENDUM:
I have had more kind words and offers of help or offers to fish the polluting pumpkin head out of the lake and take it off my hands than I thought possible. You all are such a caring community that, in all seriousness, I consider myself quite fortunate. How can I stay frustrated for long!

Autumnal Equinox....

...is at 5:18 pm EDT, September 22, 2009 or 2:18pm Pacific Standard Time

It's the nicest time of the year! Just right for sleeping, lovely daytime temps ...no bugs!



...and you know what's down the road, don't you!!
this is:

so enjoy it while you can.
Happy Equinox to all of you!!

It's Time....

The geese are flying formation. I hear them overhead everyday! Migrating birds are flocking together. Soon it'll be time.....

From Zero to .......

Just when I came up for air with nothing to do, I get an email about a scarecrow class and then tonite the Make swap was announced.
Here's a picture of the scarecrow:

But....if you knew me, you'd know that I can't just make my scarecrow look like everybody else's. I thought I'd show mine with a head in it's hands and a couple of extra heads on the ground, just carved & ready to be tried out.
However my makings usually make their own decisions of how they want to look. So who knows how it'll end up looking. Completion date is the 20th. Five days..... !!!! :-O

And as for the Make Swap: "The object of this Make is................a BED. All you have to make is a bed. Completely from scratch! All items that go in, on, and around the bed must all be handmade. The bed can be as elaborate, or as simple as you desire. It can be tailor made to suit the tastes of the person you make it for, or you can just simply make something "special" that you feel that person would like.
The deadline to have your Make project completed and shipped to its recipient is November 30th."

I've never dressed a bed before! Hope the lady that's getting it gives me a hint otherwise who knows what I might dream up. If anyone wants to comment some ideas, pleeease I can use all the help I can get!

sheeesh! How do I get myself into these predicaments! Good thing I have ADH. We always procrastinate & do our best in a time crunch! Stay tuned!!

And It Came up from the Basement Swap

It appears that I'm the first one to finish ...and of course I can't show you until Jodi tells me she's received it ...and since I won't mail it out until closer to the end of the month, ......this is just a teaser! TeeHeeHee

I really had fun with this swap. I definitely prefer to make OOAKs with the emphasis on the one. My next swap is a Make Swap and I only need to make one item for one person but until Wednesday I have no idea what we'll be making or even what the theme is. Talk about needing creative juices to flow.

We've had grey and overcast skies for the past two days and today it's quite breezy. Fall is definitely here. Altho I'm still hoping for some Indian Summer before the first flurries fly. My gazebo is about as finished as I wanted to get this year. I'll wait until next year to put the roof on. So with that nasty 4-letter S word and the 6-letter W word on its way, there'll be no excuses not to be creative.

My Christmas list of people to make mini gifts for is growing; I'm hoping to make some Halloween teapots; I have a pumpkin head scarecrow to make in the doll list that I belong to; I have a commission to make a baby; I finally got the Puppenfimo so will be able to complete the vignette for the charity auction. So why am I still sitting here you ask.
......??

Are you a Believer?

We went to a psychic fair yesterday. The fair was small so I'd say there weren't more than 10 mediums or psychics to choose from. The one lady who we had gone to see was busy & as I thought that there wouldn't be enough the time available for all of us ( there were 4 of us), I chose someone else.
As soon as I paid my money, I knew I'd made a mistake. My money was wasted and my reading so generic that it probably applied to 90% of the population. My son's reading was with the lady that we'd come to see and the things she told him about himself were dead on so maybe the parts about his future will be as well.
But the really interesting thing she told him was actually for me. She claimed that at the start of the reading a small, female, black & white dog jumped up on her table, who the medium said had been lost & never found again, who thanked me thru her for all the care, attention & love that she had received, who said that that at times she wasn't sure who she belonged to. The medium went on to say that the dog had been sick & preferred its actual end to one that would have caused me great emotional pain & suffering.
A year ago on June 23rd, my 16yr old black & white shih tzu was dognapped and despite phoning & visiting every humane society within a 100km radius, as well as writing to numerous newspapers, I have never heard anything about her again. Tizzy lived with me for most of her life but also spent a few years living at my son's house. Although I've long thought my Tizzy dead, I still think about her often & at times call my current dog by my former dogs' name. Luna, my current furbaby is a hairless Chinese Crested....there is no way I could mistake the two dogs. We all listened to the CD afterwards & at no time did my son divulge any information.
How eerie is that!! The lady is based out of London Ontario; so we'll have to keep an eye out for psychic fairs in that region. I do so want a reading with her!

Freebies, Give-aways & Contests

I've been wanting to give you a peek at my little guy who's come up from the basement...you remember, the one I'm making for Ara's swap. But I have no Photoshop & I don't want to do anything with the photos I've taken until I have it back in working condition.
For about a month now, I've had to keep my photos and favorites on a memory stick because my then current hard drive was getting jam packed full & giving my laptop grief. Well, I now have a...for my standards...humongous new drive. Are any of you old enough to remember Commodore 64s? At that time, a 1G drive was unheard of!! No one would ever be able to use or fill that much space.....or so anyone thought LOL!
My new drive is 100G...small in todays world but hopefully big enough to last me a while. I even upgraded to Word 2007. I have arrived into the 21st century at last! Yeesssss!
But my Photoshop doesn't want to play along. So today I'm picking up an updated version of Creative Suite as well....Wow it's great to have techie acquaintances!
In the meantime, until I've got it all installed & humming, I'll keep you guessing with a verbal clue: what's brown & beige when new, been a movie star in it's heyday and could be kept in the basement storage area??
Have a great weekend!

On another note, since I did entitle this post as "Freebies, Give-aways & Contests", here's a little treat you might want to win, to make your miniature creating time a little nicer:

This terrifc give-away is coming to you thanks to Teresa over at Marigold Manor. The only thing nicer would be if it were in miniature. .....hmmm remind me I said that when I get close to 100 follwers & need a give-away to celebrate. ;-)

Just ignore....

...that last post about the weather forecast! We are not having any sort of severe weather coming our way. It's just me trying to add a link to the weather on my blog. I did finally get my weather forecast showing up but why do the forecasters make it so hard to add their links? Don't they want to be used more widely????

Weather Forecast: Elmvale, Ontario

Weather Forecast: Midland, Ontario - The Weather Network

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Talented People

Have you noticed that makers of miniatures are some of the most talented people. It takes talent to illustrate a book. It takes twice that talent to create a teeny tiny book illustration. What about the artist who works to make a figurine worthy of Royal Doulton...the woodworker who makes furniture, the craftsman making pottery dishes or wooden bowls. How much more skilled does that person have to be to make those same items in miniature. I hope that all of you reading this posting are giving yourselves a pat on the back each and every time you personally make something for your dollhouse.

Take a look at what I received from Maia:

About a month ago on her blog, Maia had a contest....that I won!!....to guess the next two book issues to add to her Nature Lovers hutch. Thank you so much Maia, for allowing me to pick one of your little nature books! I had a really hard time choosing only one.
If you'd like to see some of the other lovely things that Maia makes, take a look at her website. She has even nicer things there.
As she mentions on her home page:"The imagination is limitless in the world of Dollhouse Miniatures....It is also a world of childhood memories..." Maia, I couldn't have said it better.

Now on a similar note, a member on one of the lists that I belong to, had a sale of all her dh collectibles due to health reasons. I'm sure we all have a stash of beautiful miniatures that we plan to someday use. Even though I enjoy making my own, I still look at eBay on a daily basis...and quite often buy! I could fill several tables with the things I've collected.
Altho the lady lives a three hour drive away, we went to see all the wonderful things that she was selling. There was a mountain of things to look thru.

I went with a budget in mind....and I exceeded it by a third. And even afterwards I thought that I should...and could...have bought more.

a tiny baby's outfit complete with tiny bunny slippers, a veggie keeper with tiny mesh in the front of each shelf...just waiting for me to make tiny potatoes, onions & carrots, beautiful leather purse with matching gloves, a tiny working bread box, a recycling box, jewelry, pop & wine bottles, orchids, a tray with dishes in a tomato theme, another with a Halloween theme, a butter churn made from a bead, tiny glass Canada geese as a figurine, and, and, and...

I bought this entire hanging shelf filled with the most incredible things: a mini Pinocchio with bendable legs, Royal Doulton figurines (I have the Balloon Lady in miniature among others), Toby jugs, a Raggedy Ann teapot, a Mr Pickwick figurine, one of Henry VIII's wives, a tiny shoe pincushion, a half doll pincushion, beautifully done tiny houses, a bowl made on a lathe by an autistic boy just learning, sewing basket, basket of toiletries. I have an Anne of Green Gables doll for my dolls to play with......I could go on for several postings & still not list everything that I bought! What you're seeing is just a portion of what I got! And most of those things are signed and some are numbered!!!
You know how it is when talking to someone who has serious health issues. It makes you shy of asking too many questions but as I looked around the room I couldn't help but notice some of her prize winning items:


Sherrall told me that she took first prize for that lovely Chritmas dinner roombox and for the harvest crops shown inside the bell. She thought that the rug shown beneath the dinner table won it for her and off handedly mentioned it was worth more than $400 but that she'd got it in a trade for some plastic furniture. She made all the harvest vegetables and casually threw in that she'd sold at the Billy Bishop shows in Chicago. Sherrall, I can't thank you enough.
As the leather furniture commercial says...it's worth the drive. We even had time to stop at one or two antique shops where I picked up several items to re-sell at the shop.