My online sister cutsiedotnet has made the cutest socks ever, plus skirts and leg warmers – go check out her sales post at Shopadollic!

Other than that – tomorrow or on Thursday at the latest I will be paying for Carol! I also found a cute Little Leprotto on flickr, to keep Little Riletto company, plus I finally got around to order that basic Hujoo that I was supposed to get in January (I never realized that the confirmation email from hujoo.co.kr was my invoice, and they ended up cancelling my order..). The last doll purchase for April will be a SD bjd, a twin for my boy Shin. It’s hard when the monthly budget is spent weeks before the money is in..! >__<

Tomorrow I am sending off three dolls - Veritas, Craziia, Butler - to Kristin, a Norwegian bjd collector and "doll knitting guru", to tempt her into Pullip collecting because she’s curious to learn more about them and hopefully is looking into creating knitwear for them. She’s been selling her stuff on DoA and a Norwegian doll forum, and just recently set up an Etsy store. All of my bjds except for little Belle have sweaters made by Kristin; my Domuya Potpourri girl has several knitted hats, and my U-noa boy even has a pair of socks! My mother is a major knit freak, but she hasn’t got the patience for the finishing seaming of outfits that are that small (she loves knitting and hates seaming, and tiny doll outfits only makes that worse..!). Kristin is my saviour when it comes to getting modern, casual looking, knitwear – much of the knitted outfits for dolls are otherwise a little bit too.. I don’t know, dull? retro? kid-like? I’ve got hopes for a Pullip collection once Kristin has been persuaded by my girls’ (and boy’s) beauty!

Oh, and completely unrelated: I’ve finally decided for sure that Blythe are not for me. *whew* ;)

I just had to get poor Simon some pants, and after having raided the kids’ closet for worn out clothes, I decided to make him a pair of jeans:

He looks much happier now, don’t you think?

I took advantage of the outer seams and the bottom hems of the old jeans, and “only” had to sew the inner seams and the top/waist hem. I had some help from the Anyone can sew: Jeans tutorial at DoA.

I dropped by a craft store a couple of days ago, looking for Wilton’s icing colours for some cupcakes I’d promised my 9 y/o. Turned out, the store was in the process of moving, and they had a 75% off sales..! There wasn’t much left (I got the icing colours I was looking for, though!), but I was quite pleased with the things Smilla – my Chill – are showing off here. The felt fabric rolls were only $2.5 each! I foresee some nifty duffle coat for my girls..! The scrapbook paper is meant to be wallpaper (there are four sheets of each design).

And yeah, I’ve finally come around to naming my girls. Some are namesakes, some got their names “just because”.

Smilla is named after the main character of Peter Hoeg’s novel and the film by the same name. Keren is named after one of my favourite singer/songwriters; Keren Ann. Lisa is named after Lisa Kimmel Fischer from the TV series Six Feet Under.

Today I received the pattern book “Doll Coordinate Recipe”, 5th issue. It’s awesome, it’s got loads of jacket patterns and some really neat dresses, and all kinds of tops and pants. Never mind that I haven’t touched my sewing machine in years (except for those jeans last week), and that all text is in Japanese.. :P By the looks of it, I might have to get other needles for my machine, because the seams are _really_ detailed and petite – even on the leather clothes. I’ve also got two Barbie clothes books from the library – the one I picked up yesterday is slightly better than the one with a Jane Fonda aerobic outfit, neon coloured sweatsuits and shoulder padded jackets (80s, much?)… There are several neat basic patterns in it and a few gorgeous knitted cardigans. I dropped by a sewing store too, to get some velcro for poor Latte’s fur wig, and ordered two pattern booklets while there – one with basic patterns and one with 50s style dresses and coats (waist belts and knee length, wide skirts). On with the sewing!

I’ve managed to slow down the eBaying, except for a few pairs of sneakers for both the Pullips and the Class Mates. I still visit Dolly Market several times a day, to check for clothes, wigs and perhaps even another doll (although the latter will _have_ to come to a pause now..!). What’s coolest about DM is that clothes are commonly sold as single items and not in sets, meaning I can pick only that jacket that I liked so much and not have to worry about the gross t-shirt and the meh pair of pants which originally came with that set.

I borrowed a pattern book from the library today, with sewing patterns for Barbie (quite vintage, I might add – there was even a Jane Fonda style aerobic outfit in there..). I was hoping for a few Skipper patterns, for the Class Mate dolls. Unfortunately, there were only three, and quite girly at that, and so I resumed my googling. I ended up at an already bookmarked site, the Puchi Collective. I downloaded their flared pants pattern, shrinked it by appr. 80%, took out the flares, and gave it a try. Not too bad for a first time, but the next time I will take more time with details. There’s no button in the waist just yet, will have to buy that tomorrow!

(Gah, I really detest that wig Takeru comes with, I’ve put his hair in a pony tail which caused the wig sections to be pulled apart and the seams to be quite visible from the side, above and from behind… Can’t wait until the ordered mohair wig arrives!)