Grace visits San Francisco!

Hello! Mummy took me with her to San Francisco from 

July 26 - August 2, 2018.

I just loved it there! I don't feel the cold like Mummy does, so I didn't mind that it was only 12 C. Most mornings it was grey and thick with swirling fog. This is because right behind San Francisco there is desert, and this clashes with the hot air and the cold air to make fog.

I loved going on the bus to see the Painted Ladies. The hills are very steep. The Ladies are Victorian homes.

My favourite thing was the Golden Gate Bridge.

We could never see the top of it though.

Here it was really cold.

More of the bridge. We are on it a little way.

This was a sunny afternoon. It's much prettier in the sunshine.

One day we took the cable car and hopped off to see Lombard street, which is the world's most crooked street. It was very short.

Here are the switchbacks that the cars crawl down.

We loved Chinatown too. It was really interesting here.

San Francisco was a very neat place to visit. 

Mini Grace in Ham Hill, Somerset

I never did finish writing about Grace's adventures in Europe. She had a grand time! 

(when I remembered to photograph her)

Here she is with me and Robert and our new friend, John Chant who lives in Stoke sub Hamdon, and who kindly drove us there, and to Ham Hill.

I had read somewhere that the standing stones were very old. Well, they are, but they were erected in 2000 for the Millennium celebration! I was rather upset when I heard that. I still haven't been to Stonehenge or Avebury, so I'd hoped to see an ancient site.

But this place was lovely. The stones are Ham stone; very old and rare. Many of Stoke's buildings are made out of this stone. A new excavation is taking place where some more Ham stone has been found. It's very valuable.

The most exciting thing about Ham Hill is the monument at the top. My ancestor, Alfred George Palmer, has his name inscribed on it! He's my paternal Grandma's first cousin. He died at age 21 on May 31, 1916 in the Battle of Jutland and is buried at sea. It was so thrilling to visit this memorial but it was very windy and shortly afterwards it began to pour.

Here I am beside a standing stone.

I really loved this place.

By Loretta Houben

07/17/17 Pretty cool, eh?

Today is 7/17/17.

(July 17, 2017)

I love all those sevens!

My sister Leona and I finally had a sewing bee together today. She doesn't live far away, so she brought her items to sew and I had my sewing machine set up on the table.

This is my old Pfaff I bought in 1981, and which I'd replaced 2 years ago with a brand new Pfaff.

I haven't been sewing much sad to say as I'm rather frightened of the new machine.

But today was fun, sewing together at the same table.

I made the little dress for Grace up above, and Leona made 2 pillowcases, and 2 body pillow cases. She sews very rapidly. I also worked on an 18" doll dress but it's not finished yet. Still, it's a beginning and I feel encouraged.

Here I am, sewing on my new machine. My trusty old Pfaff circa 1981 is in the foreground.

By Loretta Houben

Grace's Christmas adventures.

Mini Grace is my most played with (meaning photographed) mini doll in 2016. I believe I also took more photos of them than the 18" size AG dolls. I also sewed more for them.

Here is mini Grace visiting the nativity scene in my living room.

I purchased the figurines in 1978. They are made in Japan.

I think the poor darlings need warmer clothes.

It snowed here in Vancouver BC on Dec 5 and the snow is still on the ground because it snowed 3 more times after that. We don't usually have a white Christmas.

Another photo of mini Grace by the manger.

Merry Christmas!

By Loretta Houben

Mini Christmas tree for the mini AG Dolls.

It's time for Christmas decorating!

I began with the mini dolls as I am sick with a cold/cough thing.

I don't have our own tree up yet, as my energy level is very low.

I bought the tiny tree for $3.50 at the local $ store at Metrotown.

It has quite a few unique dolly sized items.

The decorations were already on it, so Grace and Emily are adding a string of mini lights I made years ago for my miniature house.

Last weekend I discovered the tiny little Lego American Girl dolls at Superstore of all places. They are $5.99 Cdn and they are just Too Cute.

Emily thinks they are the perfect size for her to play with.

Their knees bend! They stick onto a Lego block. This one has a cute little cowboy hat. They are quite soft to the touch. What will they dream up next?

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

By Loretta Houben

Grace and her Halloween cards.

Mini Grace is making Halloween cards.

I bought a package of really cute paper embellishments at the $ store and on the back of the package was a photo showing what the package contained.

They were really small and I thought Hey! These would work for the mini AG dolls.

Here is a closeup of the cards. 

I cut them out with my Stampin' Up tiny scissors.

Here is Grace with her friend dressed in a witch outfit, bought at Winner's for only $1.50. It's supposed to go on a wine bottle, but it fits the mini Lori dolls really well. The yellow pot was found at a thrift store for $1.50. It's hand made and the tiny pumpkins are just so cute!

It's amazing what you can find if you look!

Hope you all had a happy Halloween!

By Loretta Houben

Mini dolls and miniatures...

Today, September 3, I had fun!

First I shopped at the local Michael's craft store on Marine Drive, about 15 minutes from our home. This is a very large store. My hubby was on the hunt for glue to repair an item of his.

He got it for 1/2 price due to Michael's online coupons.

Cell phones are handy devices!

I also used a 1/2 price coupon to purchase a set of mini pencils for Grace. They are the perfect size for her.

The above photo was borrowed from this BLOG.

I found it accidentally by clicking on something on Pinterest.

Aren't the items darling?

I'm putting the link here as I'd love to create these for the mini AG dolls. 

Here is a snippet of the printouts provided.

The instructions and everything else is included in the blog link above.

I got something else for Grace today, that was so exciting it needs it's own separate blog post!

By Loretta Houben