HALLOWEEN 2017!

Halloween 2017 dawned clear and fairly warm for these parts. I gave most of my decorations away this year as I've absolutely run out of room. So the long lived hay bale is now history. But of course I still have the dolls! This year I didn't dress up Chatty Cathy. I only used the American Girl dolls. Nanea is the newest to join in the fun!

Here she is wearing a cute dress bought on eBay.

Grace is wearing a black T-shirt I made, and a dress from Dollarama; it's a child's dress pinned in the back. It was only $4.00 Cdn and I'm sure I could squeeze 2 from it but ran out of time of course. I love the fabric.

Here is my Hawaiian AG doll wearing the 150th Canada outfit from Maplelea, and Yolanda (an OG doll) wearing an outfit from Build a Bear.

And here is Miss Pippa in her Halloween finery!

She was astonished to see 103 trick or treaters come to the door! Some of them came up close to look at my display. The ceramic Jack o Lantern belonged to my Mom and was made in Japan. It still works!

I carved a pumpkin on Halloween afternoon using a free internet pattern of an owl. It turned out quite cute, and it only took 40 minutes total to carve out the innards and carve the design. It's a thing I really enjoy doing!

Robert dressed up for his job, so he wore the mask at night and didn't really scare anyone.

By Loretta Houben

Miss Pippa's Halloween outfit

Miss Pippa has acquired yet another outfit, crocheted by myself. I've re-discovered the joy and relaxation of fine crochet! This little ensemble has a headband, dress, and orange shoes.

Last week while shopping at Winner's store I discovered a darling set of 8 chairs with 8 skeletons on sale for $2.50 Cdn. I just knew Miss Pippa would love one for her front porch when she has one some day.

She fit in it just fine.

By Loretta Houben

Meet Miss Pippa Piggy!

Meet Miss Pippa Piggy!

She is a 7.5" doll by Madame Alexander.

I never knew these dolls existed until recently.

Some of the Chatty Cathy doll collectors joined a new group on Facebook; The Piggy Parlour, and I was invited to join too. I was dubious at first, but lo and behold, the adorable photos of the member's dolls intrigued me, and before I knew it one had arrived at my home.

I raided the doll cabinet and found undies and a dress I'd made for another doll, and shoes from Ginny. The next day I dug out a crochet needle and thread and in one day I created a dress and hat for Pippa. I think it turned out really cute. I also made a little pearl necklace.

This is what she looked like before her metamorphosis.

This photo is from online. The house is cute, but she is houseless. She's the "stick" piggy. There are 3 in the collection.

Here's the whole collection. Apparently the doll company is now sold out of little piggies. 

I would like to create a swimsuit like this for Pippa.

This is Catherine J's collection. These are the large piggies but there's such a frenzy for them now that one sold recently on eBay for nearly $300 US!

This is Karen C's photo. She loves to thrift shop and she finds the most darling items!

So this is my latest doll adventure.

Always something new!

By Loretta Houben