Tricycle for two

 Annie and Emily received a package soon after Heather's treasure box arrived from Canada. They borrowed the Playtime Lexie and Jenny outfits from Heather's box as Jenny and Lexie were still admiring their ice skates from the treasure box and decided to go for a ride on their new transport - a tricycle!

Annie and Emily borrowed Jenny and Lexie's new 'Playtime' outfits to take the new tricycle for a spin while in the background Jenny and Lexie discussed their ice skates.

"Hold on tight Emily" said Annie

The little tricycle is metal and plastic, quite well made, though it has a screw in the back which won't tighten so it has a bit of a wobble.

Annie wearing Jenny's 'Playtime' dress

Emily wearing Lexie's 'Playtime' dungarees and 'Just like me' hat

I bought the tricycle intending to recreate a scene which had been set up by another Jenny & Lexie enthusiast in the old J&L Yahoo group but in the event Annie and Emily were keen to play instead. I used my macro lens on the camera to capture the close up photos of the vinyl girls, who have the most wonderful, delicate eye painting.

Treasure box from Canada

A box arrived (by hot air balloon?) and four very excited Heather Maciak dolls rushed downstairs to unpack it.

"Look, it is from Heather in Canada"

Emily, Lexie, Jenny and Annie looked in anticipation at the box all the way from Vancouver.

"It came quickly via airmail" said Annie to Jenny before the box was opened.

"My Elfin Jenny outfit!" said a delighted Jenny as she admired the lime green shoes, the bright floral felt tunic and the glorious cheerful stripes. 

"And your Playtime outfit" said Lexie, before discovering that Heather had sent a Playtime Lexie outfit as well, to match the one she was wearing, so the girls could dress alike.

"Your Playtime outfit is so pretty Jenny" said Lexie.

.

"Thank you Heather" exclaimed Lexie

Jenny smiled her thanks to Heather, she was overwhelmed to have her Elfin outfit once more (her original outfit did not come with her box when she joined our doll family, she was wearing the Playtime Lexie outfit instead).

Annie looked on hopefully, she wondered what else was in the box.

"Try on your Elfin outfit Jenny" suggested Emily

Jenny happily showed off her Elfin Jenny outfit

Lexie delved into the box to discover ...

... two pairs of lovely shoes to go with the Playtime outfits!

But there were more surprises for the girls was in the bottom of the box - two pairs of Boneka ice skates, one pair of pink skates and two pairs of blades to add to Boneka boots they've already got, plus three pairs of white tights for skating parties.

So Emily and Annie would be able to skate as well. All four girls are clamouring for ice skating outfits - I shall be busy.

Thank you so much Heather, your parcel gave much joy today.

Peggy Sue's birthday celebrations

The day after I returned from Vancouver, Jocelyn collected me and my younger daughter and we traveled to Lorraine's home to help celebrate Peggy Sue's birthday.  Peggy Sue has featured on my blog before, she is an antique wooden Schoenhut doll with some character.  Lorraine blogs about her on both her 'two many dolls' and 'Sewing for Sasha' blogs.  Jocelyn brought Lissy and Gaby, we brought Laura, Florence, Miranda, Edmund and Betsy.  Betsy?  Yes, Betsy, my Schoenhut doll (who came from Lorraine during the summer). I'll tell you more about her in another post.

The girls brought the Ponfa pram with them to show their friends along with a gift from Canada for Peggy Sue.  And Laura had brought something for Henry from Rome.

Lorraine blogged about Peggy Sue's party immediately afterwards but it is only now, a month later, that I've found a moment to go through my photos of our fun afternoon and assemble my blog post.

Laura wheeled the pram with the present for Peggy Sue

Edmund was looking interested in the present which Princess Addison had brought for Peggy Sue

Yes, of course you can unwrap it Peggy Sue" said Laura and Betsy (who was wearing a lilac dress).  Edmund was keen to see Peggy Sue unwrap her gift so he sat down beside Princess Addison to watch.

Peggy Sue started to unwrap the parcel

"Its beautiful fabric" exclaimed Peggy Sue.  "Yes", said Betsy, "my new mum brought it for you from the amazing Dressew shop in Vancouver"

"Thank you Betsy, Laura, Miranda and Florence for my lovely fabric" said Peggy Sue

"I'm looking forward to seeing what my mum will make for me from my new fabric"

Lissie and Gaby (Jocelyn's girl) handed Peggy Sue a very pretty parcel, which was tied with a lovely ribbon

"Oh how pretty" said Peggy Sue

Peggy Sue read the card from Lissy and Gaby

She was a bit overwhelmed to receive such lovely gifts

"For me?  Wow, this is fabulous, I have never had a modern outfit like this before" exclaimed Peggy Sue.  "Thank you so much Gaby and Lissy"

Lissy, Florence, Henry and Anne-Marie were pleased to see Peggy Sue enjoying her gifts.  Lexie and Jenny were so pleased Peggy Sue liked the fabric they had chosen for her in Dressew in Vancouver, they were still feeling a bit tired from the long journey.

Peggy Sue discovered a box of chocolates in the third package which came from her friend Princess Addison

Little Owen was there like a flash when he saw the chocolates!

"Thank you Princess Addison for my yummy chocolates" said Peggy Sue

While Peggy Sue was entertaining her guests we enjoyed a tea party with plenty of delicious cakes and sandwiches

This was followed by Laura giving Henry his Roman gift, that follows in the next blog post.

Vancouver adventures - part 3

After a full day at the conference on the Friday it was time to leave Vancouver and return home.  As before, Jenny, Lexie and my Canadian boy traveled in my hand luggage, they were too precious to go in hold luggage and anyway I knew I would have plenty of time at the airport departures lounge for some doll photography.

Vancouver airport was upgraded for the 2010 Winter Olympics and is a great layout which really flows well. I had noticed when arriving that the departure area was the level below arrivals with a wonderful indoor lounge area that includes flowing water, plants, seating, statues and an aquarium.  So it was no hardship to spend about 3.5 hours in that area (I got to the airport early and the flight was delayed).

During our meeting the previous afternoon, Heather Maciak gave my Lexie a gorgeous outfit and dolly ('Just like me' - with an overdress of wool felt) which Lexie promised to share with Jenny.  At the airport the girls changed out of their exploring Vancouver clothes - Lexie put on her new outfit (which came with blue shoes) and Jenny borrowed Lexie's original outfit ('All dressed up').

Lexie, Canadian boy and Jenny with the suitcases they borrowed from Patsi and their new dolly pose in front of the First Nation sculptures in Vancouver airport

Lexie, Canadian boy and Jenny admire the fish and sea creatures in the aquarium at Vancouver airport

The aquarium had a helpful information board explaining the different fish in the tank

Vancouver airport aquarium

Vancouver airport departure lounge with plants, river and aquarium

On the other side of the aquarium was another viewing window to see the fish, so Lexie and Jenny posed for another photo

The 'river' in the airport had representative models of salmon jumping up the river

The model salmon in the river

Lexie and Jenny looked out the window to see the aeroplane which would take them back to England

My Canadian dolls and I had a great time in Vancouver and I'd definitely like to return to British Columbia one day with my family.

Vancouver adventures - part 2

Wednesday was the start of the conference and the day of my presentations.  Needless to say I was feeling a bit nervous all day.  However during the afternoon a message arrived in my email from Jenny and Lexie doll maker Heather Maciak with the most wonderful suggestion for the following day.  Heather lives in Vancouver Island and offered to make the journey to the city to meet me for lunch and visit a fabric shop where she needed to get some wool felt for doll dressmaking.  This was some undertaking - she had to catch a ferry, a bus and the skytrain (a journey of 2.5 hours) to reach the city and I was overwhelmed with her suggestion and quickly said I would love to go with her to the fabric shop as well as meeting for lunch. Seeing this message gave me a lift before the presentations which thankfully went well.

I was lucky that the conference had an early start and finish on Thursday which made it easy for me to leave at lunchtime to meet Heather.  She was waiting in the hotel lobby and we started chatting immediately!  We had lunch at the Art Gallery cafe then walked to Gastown to find Heather's favourite fabric shop.  She had explained that it was huge but I was still amazed when we walked into the store.  It was on 2 levels, with lots of zippers and other notions downstairs in the large basement while the fabrics are on the street level floor.  I had never seen quite so many sizes, colours and types of zipper and our Jenny and Lexie girls (Heather had brought her pair carefully wrapped up in their travelling bags, called Cuddles) were amazed too. This gave us the first photo opportunity especially as there were not many customers downstairs whom we might have disturbed with our photo shoot antics.

Two pairs of Jenny and Lexie are amazed by the zippers

"Look at those zipper colours and how long they are"

"Look Jenny, these zippers are all wrapped up in bags"

Look at those zippers!  (Heather and I get in the shot, Heather's photo using her camera timer)

Once Heather had looked at wool felt (rather than polyester felt which isn't so good for doll clothes) and taken some photos of the colour choices, we went to look at the quilting and sewing fabrics.  I told Heather about my lime coloured Ponfa pram hood and apron when we spotted many patterns in lime shades, so the girls came out again to help us decide whether to buy any lime fabric.

Jenny, Lexie, Lexie and Jenny admire the lime fabrics

"well Mum are you going to choose any lime fabric?"

Love that lime

Heather taking a photo of me taking a photo of Heather and the dolls in lime

DollMum captures the moment (Heather's photo of me taking a photo of her and the dolls)

It was hard to choose from the huge variety of fabrics.  Doll makers and those who sew for dolls always look for small patterns and shades which won't overwhelm a doll and some fabrics we both liked and bought. The prices were very low compared to any prices I've come across in UK shops (prices ranged from 9.99, 7.99 or 5.99 Canadian dollars per metre for some, 5.99 is about £3 per metre in the UK!) and the fabrics were great quality.  We went for lengths of 30-40 centimetres and I found some fabric for Peggy Sue's birthday gift (Lorraine's Schoenhut doll).

Our fabric choices (Heather's on the left, mine on the right)

The clerk who cut our fabric was happy to take photos of us with our fabrics.

DollMum and Heather in Dressew with our fabric stashes

In Dressew with Heather

We went downstairs again as I was looking for ribbon with the Canadian maple leaf on it.  The young female clerk (with a punky hairstyle) who cut a short length ribbon of mini Canadian flag ribbon for me asked if we had been making a film as she had spotted us with our cameras and dolls.  We explained that we'd only been taking photos, we laughed about the idea of making a film - imagine stop frame animation with the dolls in a sewing shop!

Dressew in Gastown, Vancouver

Dressew in Gastown, Vancouver

Reluctantly we left Dressew and made our way along the street where I happened to spot a miniature Christmas scene in a shop window.

Miniature Christmas scene in a Vancouver shop

Miniature Christmas scene in a Vancouver shop

We briefly visited the waterfront by the convention centre and saw a seaplane on the water.  Heather explained that she never uses the seaplanes (not because they provide a thrill ride!) but because they are expensive and often get cancelled if the weather isn't good.

Seaplane on the water in Burrard Inlet

On our way to a coffee shop for more chatting we popped into the Pacific centre shopping mall where we encountered a promotion photo booth for the next Disney Pixar movie.  They persuaded us to have our photo taken with the dinosaurs (for free) in front of the green screen, so briefly we were movie stars in 'The Good Dinosaur'!  While we had coffee and hot chocolate I showed Heather some photos of my Ponfa pram, Sasha collection and family and Heather told me about the doll making process, which is fascinating.

Sadly all fun outings come to an end, Heather needed to get a skytrain to the bus and the 7pm ferry which she didn't want to miss.  It was absolutely wonderful to meet her having only ever corresponded via email and the doll group in the past and I felt very privileged to have had more than 4 hours of chatting, laughter and fun with Heather.

After sadly saying goodbye, I retraced my steps to Gastown.  Heather later said in an email that it must have been hard to resist returning to Dressew (it was) but I had some shopping of a different kind to do - gifts for family and friends back home and the tourist shops in Gastown provided ample choices.  In the shop where earlier in the week I had taken photos of the windows showing the First nation dolls was a whole shelf full of dolls.  My Canadian boy was soon posing with the modern vinyl equivalents of the Native Canadian doll (Heather's suggestion).

My hard plastic Canadian boy (more than 40 years old) with the modern vinyl equivalent dolls in a Gastown shop

My afternoon with Heather Maciak was the highlight of my work trip to Vancouver.  We had great fun talking, choosing fabrics together, discussing ideas and exploring the city.  Our photos provoked a lot of interest on the doll group with several people wishing they could have joined us in the fabric shop.  I'm still smiling about that wonderful afternoon and would like to thank Heather for making the trip to Vancouver that day and also for the lovely gift she gave my Lexie (who promises to share with Jenny) - more about that in the next post.