A not-very-fine (quite vinagar-y) whine...

Please enjoy some cheese with
my ridiculous whine.
BTW. I'm fairly certain I can't eat this, either.  

Slowly getting used to the still-somewhat-chemical taste of diet sodas. You’d think ditching the near-daily Big Gulp of Dr. Pepper would help me lose weight fairly quickly, and keep my glucose test results low without much effort, but it’s not so. Diet Coke tasted better when I was in college and porking up, but healthy. Back then, you’d no more get me to drink water than you’d get me to gulp Windex, but I drink easily four times as much water as soda every day now.

I’m eating darn near no sugar at all, but my numbers are still up there. Between fruit (natural sugar), carbs (may as well be sugar), and even some vegetables tripping me up, I’m despairing of ever enjoying eating again. That may be a good thing, after all, there’s a reason I’m in this predicament, but still… When I trawl for online help, I’m more or less told to head to the backyard with a fork, because anything processed is gonna be fatal, anything with a pleasant taste is gonna cause extreme guilt and elevated glucose readings, vegetables and fruit are up for extreme scrutiny …I’m about to give up. How am I gonna live, eating like a cannibal cow ?

Yeah, I know, I’m exaggerating and feeling sorry for m’self, but it’s hard to take sometimes. I’ve already given up a lot, but I didn’t mind until I found out I’d have to give up everything. It’s enough to make me wanna scarf a pack of doughnuts. Glazed and filled. With frosting. Or maybe just a stinkin’ pop tart.

Add to that my diet – which I just gained three pounds on ! – and I’m actually too light-headed to sew today. I keep falling asleep. I stitched a little bracelet to go with Belle’s Dollar Tree bracelet belt, it was the best way to use up the one I accidentally picked a thread through. Fray-checked the end, cut to fit, added scrap Velcro © to hold down the strap end. The damaged part is now a bookmark. And I have two cheep plastic ‘rhinestone’ heart buckles to 

play with ! 

Aurora models twice 'cause I'm too lazy to fetch Tia !

Rain ! Glorious, sweet, refreshing rain, all night, all morning and into the afternoon. Cool, crisp rain… We got the air conditioning off and all the doors and windows open. Gonna enjoy it as long as it lasts.

I honestly believe that, for me, having a few bucks that’s all mine can be a terrible thing.  When you really don’t have any to spend, you don’t worry about it, you use what’cha got and drive on. When I have some funds, I drive m’self nuts figuring out how best to spend it. And this is a day after I got the doll I had to spend two days chasing down ! I am shameless.

I have enough in PayPal, thanks to PineCone Research, to snag maybe a cheapie doll outfit or two kitchen-table clothes patterns. Possibly three. Now, it can be argued that the last thing I need on this planet is yet another pattern or any more have-fun-altering-it generic doll clothes, and I’d agree. But… I still spent a pleasant two hours this morning digging through eBay and Etsy looking at both. Luckily I don’t have more funds, or it’d be even more of a dragged out decision. Especially when ya factor in I had an even more pleasant evening last night harvesting about ten free patterns for ‘slim 16” – 18” ‘ dolls at Jenwrenne’s site, Wren*Feathers. Scroll around, archive binge. You’ll find dozens. So far, those look like they’ll fit DP&M, since I’m getting visually familiar with their scale, plus these patterns are made for dolls not too widely different from them. Selfish and shameless ! I want to buy at least one pattern from her Etsy site, probably this one. But I like three others, too…

I finally settled on a pretty Sasha sailor dress from another seller – the Sasha body’s not too different from DP&M, so alterations should be easy – but for the price. I really hate paying more than five bucks for a home-created pattern that just makes one thing. And it’s not digital, I’ll have to wait for it to arrive and scan it m’self. Add to that the fact that I’m going to have to alter it to get what I really want. Just maybe I could use the same pattern to make shirt-dresses, another dress design I tend to favor, but I’d hate to spend eleven bucks to find out that it wouldn’t work, or alterations were impossible. Even though I eventually found it on her personal website for $9., I was still reluctant.

I know I have sailor dress patterns. If nothing else, I have the Cabbage Patch one I made for Hi, Dottie and Timey Tell. At least two Barbie-sized ones. And I just bought an AG & clone pattern with a detachable sailor collar… Went on an expedition through my pattern jungles around lunch. Glad I ate, it was exhausting ! Eventually dredged up a Simplicity Carpatina pattern with a simple bodice – if I recast it with the back to the front, that’d give me a front button placket. From there, I could attach any type or fullness of skirt I wanted. Hmm. Printed it out, ‘cause if it works, I just saved m’self $9 to $11. !

It’s in progress. Hope to have a completed photo of it for you tomorrow, but for now, here’s the work in progress. The pattern was waaay too big – I’ve taken in a half inch on the back, another half inch from the closures, a quarter inch off each side seam, then a quarter inch angled, and I still have to change the armholes, they’re too long and too wide in the shoulder. But even with all my on-the-fly changes, it’s looking pretty good.  Very close to the shirt-dress I wanted… which is basically the ones I wore just outta college. (happy sigh)

I think I just saved me about ten bucks ! (another happy sigh)

It's waaaay past midnight, but Cindy's finally home !

"I doubt she'd have wanted my dress so much, "
Cinderella opined, "if it didn't have these stars on it."

Good news ! Cinderella was waiting for me on PreviousTown’s office mail-table, so while I still don’t know why she was sent there and reported elsewhere, it really doesn’t matter. I’ve double-verified all my old addresses have been deleted from Target’s website, although it’ll be some time before I order anything else. Not because I’m ticked – it’s that I’m broke again, as usual !

Like Merri, Cindy didn’t come with the royal invitation and certificate – it doesn’t even include that in her printed box inventory. But Target’s website still lists it. Oh, well. Guess I’ll give up on my Disney Princess daydreams and resign m’self to my current measly Universal Empress title. Another pretty doll – why couldn’t Elsa have been this pretty ? – but I still don’t intend to keep her. I really don’t have the room !

Yesterday’s entry was long enough, so I didn’t mention this – and now, here it is. As I mentioned, I put a zipper in the back of yesterday’s dress, available as a 20c pattern from SashaSecrets on Etsy. Finished it up today. I’m coming to the slow conclusion that I really prefer putting in closures first, whenever I can. That way, the garment is done with the last seam or hem. You don’t know how many clothes I’ve photographed with pins closing the back, or how many dolls get shelved still pinned in ! The way I put in zippers pretty much requires that I install them first, and to get Velcro © to lie flat and even, without that pucker at the bottom, sewing it long before the side (much less back) seams definitely works best. For me, at least. So I think I’ll do it that way from now on. You probably have your own way worked out, but just in case, consider doing it backwards. Might be preferable than always going by the accepted rules.

Believe it or not, I still flutter around MH. While I really haven’t been doll shopping that line since ‘Frights, Camera, Action’, I do peek around online once in a while – I tend to avoid stores when I’m low on fun funds. There’s a fan vote going on at the website for the next doll. Who do the fans prefer : Quill Talyntino (harpy), Gory Fangtell (vampire), or Finnegan Wake  (merman) ? When I initially voted, Finnegan was ahead with 72% of the vote, but today, it’s all 30s for everyone. You may wanna go weigh in, just in case. You probably know who I voted for… wonder if he’ll come with the wheelchair ? Heck, I can’t imagine too many fans not wanting a wheelchair, no matter what doll comes in it ! And to tell the truth, ole Finn’s first video appearance made him seem like kind of a tool…

Aurora's 20¢ A-Line !

Aurora for All Time

Today, my Cinderella DP&M doll was due to arrive from Target.com. I should have been impressed that it didn’t take longer, although I ordered it before 9am last Friday. But, alas, she wasn’t here at all today. I had no idea where she was. 


For some reason, Target decided to use my old address, despite the fact that 1) I verified my current one, twice, and 2) deleted the two old ones they still had on file for me the day I ordered. So I had no idea what was going on – or that it was going wrong – until the USPS told me she’d be delivered to PreviousTown that day.

Well, carp. A call to their 1800 number got me a heavily accented woman who advised me to call USPS’s ‘My Choice’ number, to get the package rerouted. Spent a good 15 minutes looking and searching before I discovered that ‘My Choice’ was UPS, not USPS. And as far as UPS was concerned, they’d passed the buck with the box to the USPS and had nothing to do and no further responsibility for it.  

(sigh) USPS seemed to have a similar service known as a personal account, so I registered for that, gave them the tracking number and current address, and hoped for the best. Got a verification and everything. Around 8pm, I got word that the package had been delivered… to a zip code in PreviousTown we haven’t lived in for years. I have no idea where Cindy is, and I’m kind of tired of worrying about it.

Since we have to be in PreviousTown tomorrow morning anyway, we’ll check by the office at the apartments, see if it’s there. If not, about all I can do is hope that whoever got her is kind and honest, and returns her to Target. Otherwise, I’m just out $26.

It’s just not been my day. FIL has decided it’s OK for him to walk around in a towel before his shower, and chit-chat while the water warms up. My estranged mother, probably under stress from my father’s current illness, has been sending me semi-poison pen messages for the last few months, but today’s little note was far and away the worst e-mail I ever got. And she wonders why I don’t rush back into the family fold. Stress or not, that last four-sentence hate-mail was unforgivable. I will dedicate the rest of my screwed up life to making sure Dearest Son never feels the way I did.

But it wasn’t a completely bad day. Few days really are. I sewed the Girl for All Time pattern I paid 20¢ for, and it looks really great on the DP&M girls. She used bias tape on the neckline and armholes, I just hemmed them, so the neckline is a bit wider and lower than planned, but I can easily fix that, and it still looks good ‘wrong’. It’s a very simple silhouette, also ripe for alterations, changes, additions, and subtractions. Funds well spent ! It even looks good with that oversized print, as you can see. While the pattern called for Velcro © or snaps, I put in a zipper ! Gosh knows, I got plenty of ‘em. 

Sharing Princesses !

Forgot to mention it, but it’s National Sewing Month again – and like years past, I’m gonna try to sew every day. Monday I fiddled with more felt shoes, Tuesday I sewed a t-shirt fabric playsuit, and today, I fashioned Princess Dorrie (a customized Playmates Little Princess Belle doll) a pair of black pants from some of the fabric I scored two Sundays ago at the thrift. Since I had to reorganize the Disney Toddler doll shelf, and the Playmates dolls don’t have painted-on panties, PDorrie was in a bit of an embarrassing situation. Her skirt, while adorable standing, was simply too short to cover everything her new seated position revealed. Oh, it was knee length, and should have easily covered the essentials, but it just wouldn’t stay down. So, pants.

I used a freebie pattern I just knew would work – from Heartland Happy – and it did work, quite well. A bit big in the waist, and there’s a reason for that, more later, but otherwise nice. I even used some of that fold-over elastic successfully. It doesn’t look even and is actually rather bumpy, but it works, so I’m willing to put it in the ‘win’ column. I think I know where I went wrong with the elastic, so more experiments will soon follow. Heavens know I got plenty to fail with !

So, here’s why the pants were a bit too big. I’ve known for darn near decades now that there’s a lot of Little Disney Toddler Princess dolls out there. Playmates was first, and at one point, I had the whole set. I loved their rotating wrists and non-painted on underwear. I was really impressed when they branched out into Toddler Princes, even if you could only get them as a set. But, for some reason, Disney put an entirely different looking line in their stores at the same time – I didn’t like the look of them, and never bought any. And I was really surprised to see that my new Toddler Tiana was made by Mattel ! What happened to Playmates ? Did they go under, or just lose the license ? I regret letting her go the most, she was so cute…

Mattel didn’t have it long, because soon, Jakks Pacific’s name was on the back of the boxes. By then, I was pretty much done with toddler princesses… until they started showing up at that thrift. No rotating wrists, and by their lace and bow bedecked painted panties was the name TollyTots. Huh ? Who the heck were they ? I still don’t know, except that JPacific bought ‘em in ’08. And they seem to have most of JPacific’s doll lines now.

Anyway, now that you know all that, I can tell you that the pattern I used was for a TollyTots LDP, not an older PMates one. And the TTots dolls are slightly…smaller in the waist than PDorrie. Huh. Doesn’t make sense, I cut the pattern out correctly, used the elastic length the directions called for, why was the waist too big ? Should have fit fine, or been a twinge too small. Ah, well. I’ll try it again with some other fabric, see if maybe the stretch in the material added something to the mix. In any case, PDorrie has new pants that fit – I took ‘em in about a half-inch in the back – and I have another pattern cut out and ready to go. Tell you all about it tomorrow !

Meanwhile, PDorrie decides to try on some of PBelle’s clothes. Like hers on PBelle, they fit, but don’t really suit. Still, nice to know I can use the t-shirt pattern for the LDPs if I shorten it a bit ! 

More shinies !!

Well, our little laze-cation is over, back to the usual. Beloved Hubby was back to school, classes resumed for Dearest Son, and I discovered where the sink was leaking. At least I had a good excuse for not doing the dishes !

Here’s the ‘princess party pack’ of bracelets I got on our last run to Dollar Tree. Scored five ‘hearts’, three ‘crowns’ – and didn’t notice until I got them home that the heart buckled ones have a heart pattern in purple, with pink edges on the straps, the crowns have yellow stars and purple edges. I thought they were all identical, save for the buckles, when I bought ‘em. Despite how they look, the straps are like full-size belt webbing, not elastic at all. But you get eight of ‘em, with fancy buckles and plain black ones, plus the straps to use any way you like. From black buckle to end, they’re about eight inches long.

Which makes them perfect for DP&M belts ! Well, I’d like them a little longer, but they’re fine this way. Can put the black buckle in front, or spin it to the back and let a crown or heart shine. I’ll make at least one into a headband.

While Dearest Son napped, I fought the urge to crash and instead sewed up another playsuit, this one with my modifications. Can’t really tell if the changes are good or not, since this is a knit fabric, and my alterations were assuming a woven. When the material can stretch, my changes don’t really matter, or even really show up ! It’s from that same t-shirt I made the other separates from. Trying to use it up, as my ‘working fabric’ dump, a thrifted Disney Princess Easter bucket, conveniently located right beside my cutting mat, is overflowing with half-used cuts. I am now officially out of purple thread, so I’ll have to shift the shirt to the side until I can find a thread retailer. It’s soooo tempting to hit Hobby Lobby, but I stand resolved. Darn it. Wonder if lavender would look ok with that purple material…

Hope yours was amazing !