Cabin Fever

Today V. and I did the unthinkable and ventured out into The Weather. There comes a point when even the steadfast Californian must trek out into the snow, despite having a plentiful supply of canned and dried goods to consume through the long winter. That point is when 1) the sewing machine has to be dropped off for a repair, and 2) all the clean underwear has been used up. We donned our mittens and our respective wooly or puffy coats and tried to remember how to unlock the front door.

This is what greeted us:

It's a good thing I'm over my pink issues.

This might not look too bad to you, but that's because you are likely in Maine or Canada. If it does look bad to you, we're on the same page. It's 15 degrees outside before the wind chill factor. I was reminded as a trundled my laundry and a 1961 Singer sewing machine down the icy sidewalks of that epic first day in Boston that I often speak of, whereupon a simple walk around the neighborhood for a place to dine resulted in a painful wind burn that I had to aloe up for days and days. Cold is not my friend. (And neither is a heat, wet or dry. I know. I'm a wimp.)

This is what my back stoop looks like:

Our impression of sparrows.

There's a serious bird feeder just outside the kitchen window (Squirrel TV has graduated to Squirrels vs. Sparrows TV), so there was much sparrow action. Apparently the local hot spot - our three tube feeder - gets really jumping when there's snow on the ground.

When I am managing to stay shut in, I'm mostly working on dolls. The sewing machine going caput in the middle of everything has been a hindrance, but I almost have one done. It's an 18" girl doll with hidden button joints. I rather like "un"-hidden button joints, because they seem to stay tighter and move better, but I worry about them being chewed off. So I put them inside. This is my fifth Waldorf inspired doll, so I am developing some technique, and I am not too humble to state that they are getting progressively better. One innovation as I learn the process is a button pillow.

I have never seen anyone else do this, but for all I know it is being done. I did it because it gives the joint a better foundation, almost as if it were outside the limb, and on the grand scale of things it's barely any extra work. (Although as someone totally willing to unravel a sweater to make another sweater, I suppose that statement is highly relative.)

She's not really this bow legged.

I'm very pleased with #5. The limbs are a vast improvement over #4's limbs, not just because they are "pillowed" now, but because I completely refashioned them. The proportion and stance of them strike me as being more realistic.

And here we have #5 so far. Her hair is very yellow, her eyes green. The dress is a prototype based on a vintage doll dress pattern my grandmother recently gave me. The final dress for the doll will be of the same fabric, but the pin tucking will be different, and I think I'll add a Peter Pan collar.