The Kindness of Friends

Today when I came home from spending the day out with some friends, I found an envelope waiting on my desk.  Inside the envelope was a lovely little surprise... a Jonas Brothers t-shirt for my dolls!  The Jonas Brothers have been a favorite band of mine since early 2007... there is much more to them than meets the eye.  I have three jB t-shirts for myself, so now that my mini-me Alice has one, we can really match.

Thanks so much to Karen and Syd for the lovely surprise!

Here are some pics:

Happy Alice doing the fan girl thing:

Joe and Kevin:

Couldn't get a good angle for Nick, but still Nick and Joe.

Here's the graphic:

Kindred Thread Vintage Valentine Dress

Yay, first new doll dress of the year!  My last dolly clothing squee was Addy's brown floral suit waaaay back last October!  

Anyways, JoniLynn of Kindred Thread makes THE most adorable '50s style outfits.  Being someone who loves fantastically made doll clothes and '50s styles, I'm always bowled over by the fantasticness of her things.  But the Vintage Valentine dress from the February release was so cute I literally could not pass it up!  (Well, it's technically my Valentine's Day present from my understanding mother, but she's letting me have it early so I don't pass out from anticipation or something. =P)

My #4, Lucy, is the lucky model of this fab dress.  She's not really a dress type gal, but she is a lover of all things vintage and cute, so it wasn't hard to get her to agree to model this one. ;)

This is approximately the cutest dress ever. =D

This dress looks so perfect on Lucy Goosey.

Look how happy she looks. =)  Of course, I can never let her see JoniLynn's pics on their site... she'll want the cat's eye glasses (which would probably look fab on her, now that I think of it...)

From behind.  You can't see it because of her hair, but the dress closes with lovely little vintage looking mother of pearl type buttons.  Forgive the sloppiness of that ribbon bow... there was a cat tugging on it... *sigh*

Close up of the fabric of the skirt.  The fabric is the sweetest print... perfect for a sweet little girl to wear to a Valentine party.  And I also love the fullness of the skirt.  I've been meaning to order one of those adorable fluffy flouncy petticoats they make... would have made this dress even cuter!

Close up on the bodice.  Adorable rickrack and yummy darts.  I love the neckline as well... I like that's a bit scoopy but doesn't plunge.

Why, McKenna?

So, it's new release day... err, I mean, New Year's Day... again!  This is my favorite and least favorite day as an AG collector.  (Remember the birth of this blog?) And by now you've all seen McKenna and her fabulously expensive collection.

The thing that seems most unfair about this whole McKenna deal is the fact that I really, really like her.  And a lot of her things.  Her very expensive things.

Now, for Christmas I got my dear little Ellen.  I got her instead of Cécile, who I also wanted pretty badly.  But I did that with the understanding in my mind that C would be my next doll.  I had no plans to fall for McKenna.  Now I have to decide which to ask for for my birthday and which to ask for for Christmas.  I also hope to get a job soon... maybe I could ask for the dolls for gifts on those said days from my loving and supportive mom and start saving my own money for their collections.

So my collecting plan for this year will revolve around getting things here and there for the fabulous Miss Wainwright (Ellen), getting the last couple of things I need from AG for Addy, and getting Cécile and McKenna.

Maybe I'll get lucky in my interest in McKenna will lessen as her newness dies down.  I mean, I don't see that happening... I don't usually get this much of a doll lust for something just because it's new.  Right now, I want McKenna so bad that I keep looking at my existing dolls to figure out which one(s) I wouldn't miss.  The last time I felt like this was about Ivy.  My interest for her came out of nowhere and I obsessed about her until I had her (and she's still one of my favorite dollies ever).

This would be so much easier if this doll stuff didn't cost as much as good cocaine.  Not that I've been pricing cocaine.  Just hearsay.  Today I started thinking about selling my eggs so I could buy that damned expensive but unfortunately delightful loft bed.  *sigh*

Okay, that's enough whining.

On an unrelated note, I'm dying to sew up some stuff for Ellen.  I have fabric and ideas, but I'm chicken.  I got  a sewing machine on black friday, but I haven't used it yet.  I was never good at machine sewing, but I'm dying to learn.  But my paranoid ass is convinced that I'm going to screw up the machine immediately.  I even went to Jo-Ann's the other day and bought a bunch of patterns (which were on the best sale EVER!) for people sized clothes to inspire me to get started.  I figured I can start sewing for my dolls and once I get confident doing that, I can make some things for myself.  But I'll never get confident at sewing if I'm too lacking in confidence to even start.  Someone motivate me!  I need someone to force me off my dead ass and set me down in front of the machine.  Oh, well.

Meet Ellen

So, I've been talking about how I was going to post about my Christmas doll since like before Halloween, lol.  Here it is, after Christmas, and I'm getting around to the post!

Meet Mary Ellen Wainwright, or Ellen, as she prefers to be called.  She's a renamed Ruthie -- an original character, my first "created" historical.  Her stories (which I plan to actually write) take place between 1938 and 1941.

Here's a little background.  Ellen is 11 years old and her parents are Hollywood actors.  Her father is an Academy Award winner and her mother is an aging starlet.  Because her parents are so busy, she goes to a boarding school on the east coast.  She's shy and a bit quiet, and she hates for people to find out who her parents are because she's been used by fame seekers before.  Her best friend is her roommate at school, a girl named Nancy who is often teased by their classmates because she's a bit chubby and has a lisp.  Ellen loves animals, fairytales and romance stories, Mickey Mouse, tennis, movies starring anyone but her parents, and the Hollywood Stars baseball team (of which her father is part owner).

I'm planning to either make or commission a school uniform, a set of period appropriate tennis whites, and a Stars jersey and ball cap.

As for the doll herself, I think she's really lovely.  She has a really sweet face.  Her hair is really soft, but the hairnet and travel messed it up some, and a considerable amount of the curl has relaxed on one side.  I spritzed her hair some and tried to finger curl it back... it helped a bit, but it still doesn't look 100%.  But I'm not too disappointed... this character isn't terribly fussy so her hair wouldn't be perfect all the time anyways.

Well, here are more pics, including a comparison with Molly, my only other grey eyed girl.

Addy and Kirsten go to Cowboy Camp

So, if you didn't already know this, I'm a big history nerd.  So when a friend asked me to go with her to an event at our local museum called the Lamplight Tour as a part of a cowboy camp this past Saturday, I got pretty excited.  Well, this is my second time doing this and I decided to bring my Addy and Kirsten.  The reenactors we went with do a chuck wagon like out on the old west, circa the 1870s or 1880s.  Since that was so adjacent to their time (and since I've wanted to take them out to the museum which is affectionately known as Pioneer Village for ages) I decided I had to bring the girls.

Before I go any further, I'll tell you a bit more about the event.  And by "I'll tell you" I mean I'll copy and paste  from the Kern County Museum website.


"During Clock Tower Holidays, the historic homes are beautifully decorated in seasonal splendor. On the special night of Holiday Lamplight Tours, visitors take a ride on a horse-drawn wagon and see the soft glow of lanterns throughout the village. Costumed villagers welcome visitors to the homes and business, and take visitors back to a simpler era when family and friends gathered together to celebrate this special time of year. In the Bandstand Green, local entertainers provide a magnificent array of holiday music for your enjoyment. There will also be organ music in St. John's Episcopal Mission, a hand-bell choir at the Woody General Store, and piano music in the Howell House."


Addy and Kirsten were big hits.  When we arrived and before the event really kicked off, we went around and looked at some of the houses.  Addy and Kirsten got their picture taken in front of the Barnes house, an awesome log cabin and the first house in Pioneer Village.  I also took a few pics of them hanging out back at camp, as well as some pics of the camp that I can't resist posting.

So Addy and Kirsten got lots of compliments and lots of people talked to me about them.  It was really fun... they got christened celebridolls before the evening was out.  =)

One little boy in particular became quite enamored with the dolls.  He loved them, their clothes, their shoes, their hair.  I let him play with them both -- he rocked them, sang to them, told them stories, and pretended he was Santa and asked them what they wanted for Christmas.  He was pretty much the cutest and sweetest little boys ever!  He eventually climbed in my lap with the dolls where he sat comfortably until his parents practically had to drag him home.  It was a really great experience.

And for my last parting picture, I'll show you me and Kirsten, both in gingham bonnets.  I rented the bonnet from a costume place on the day of, so I didn't know I'd be getting a matchy-matchy one.

And in case you happen to be reading this blog on a regular basis and are wondering what happened to that post about my Christmas doll, I haven't forgotten!  Very soon... I promise!

Yeah, whatever.

Someone on the Playthings board posted a thread asking for people to list their minority opinions.  It made me literally laugh at how fast it became the typical AG pet peeve thread.  There's certainly nothing wrong with that kind of thread (because we all have our little complaints and what not), but we really don't need one of those threads on a weekly basis.

So, here goes.

I know 90% of collectors don't like Julie or my darling Ivy.  That, by definition, is NOT the minority.  Seriously... I have no problem with not liking them because that's a matter of taste, but don't act like you're the only one with discriminating tastes and no desire for a doll who is so omg not historical!  Here's another news flash for you: You probably don't like the idea of the '70s being historical because it makes you feel old.  Think about it... you'll see I'm right.  And, while I'm at it, the fact that you (rather incorrectly) think Julie's not historical is also not a minority opinion.  (And this is coming from someone who doesn't really like Julie or care to ever own her.  I just happen to speak double talk and understand what people are really saying when they say the things I've just mentioned.)

Saying you hate plastic, Mattel, pink, modern dolls, or high prices is ALSO not an unpopular opinion.

Saying you don't like non-AG dolls is also not unpopular.  It seriously, seriously isn't.

I love fellow adult collectors dearly -- I truly do.  No one understands how I feel about these dolls quite like other collectors do.  And I have my quips with the brand, too (trust and believe that).  But it annoys the piss out of me when people drudge up the same damn complaints every time the discussion comes up.

Now that I've yelled at anyone who would listen, I'm going to continue reading the offending thread while watching Bewitched.

Black Friday!

Hello everyone!  So, I have news... I went and did some Black Friday shopping.  I know.  Nuts, right?

Well, in a crazy ass trip (that is fully detailed here, on my other blog), I got a sewing machine (among other things)!

Why am I posting about that on my doll collection blog?  Well, with this sewing machine, I'm hoping to learn to make clothes for my dolls.  I've done some sewing by hand and made a few things here and there, but it just takes so damn long that I get really tired.  And then when I have to do the velcro by hand, that really hurts and I swear a lot, and make myself promise never to sew anything ever again.  Hopefully I'll be able to become a machine sewist and make lots of cool things.  I like to change my dolls often, so being able to make my own stuff would rock.

I've already got a dress planned for my Christmas doll (who I'll tell you about in my next post), but I think my mom may want me to leave the sewing machine as a gift and not touch it, which would suck but be understandable I guess.  We shall see...