Jenny and Lexie's Halloween party 2018

Jenny and Lexie invited their best friends for a Halloween party - the most important part of the party was the food! My Jenny and Lexie are joined by Heather Maciak's vinyl girls Annie and Emily, as well as my three Heidi Plusczok girls (Patsi - Anniversary, California and Florida).

What should we eat first?

It all looks so yummy - cakes, jam tarts, jelly, toffee apples, ring donuts, chocolate biscuits

I like toffee apples and chocolate (Lexie, Annie and Patsi)

Please pass the jam tarts

I like jam tarts and chocolate biscuits

Halloween feast at the party - Lexie, Annie, Patsi (California), Patsi (Florida), Patsi (Anniversary), Emily and Jenny tuck in to their treats.

Lexie, Patsi (California), Patsi (Florida), Patsi (Anniversary), Jenny

Birds eye view of the Halloween feast!

Lots of chatting about the different cakes and jelly

Lexie, Patsi (Florida), Patsi (Anniversary), Emily and Jenny

Lexie, Annie and Patsi (California)

The miniature food is 1/12th scale and belongs in Mrs Harvey's cake, sweet and toy shop. The Sasha dolls uses the backdrop and Halloween decorations in their band at the Chat 'n Snap this year, however the small dolls wanted to join the fun too, hence their own little party.

Comparing the small dolls

When we visited Lorraine so that Peggy Sue could realise her dream of a new bookcase, we also took along my collection of 8 inch and 8.5 inch dolls. We wanted to compare them with Lorraine's 8 inch Diana Effner Heartstrings dolls, Poppy and Tommy. I have 3 Patsi dolls by Heidi Plusczok - Anniversary Patsi, Florida Patsi and California Patsi. I also have my 4 Heather Maciak dolls - Jenny and Lexie (porcelain), Emily and Annie (vinyl).

We lined the dolls up side by side to compare their heights, faces and proportions.

L-R: Florida Patsi, California Patsi, Anniversary Patsi, Annie, Emily, Jenny, Lexie, Poppy, Tommy

Florida Patsi, California Patsi, Anniversary Patsi, Annie, Emily

Emily, Jenny, Lexie, Poppy, Tommy

Annie, Emily, Jenny, Lexie, Poppy, Tommy

A diagonal view attempting to show their different profiles - Florida Patsi, California Patsi, Anniversary Patsi, Annie, Emily, Jenny, Lexie, Poppy, Tommy

Heartstrings dolls belonging to Lorraine: Poppy and Tommy

Soon the dolls found their way into Madeline's house.  Madeline was delighted to welcome so many visitors even though they were all taller than her (she is 7 inches tall).

Jenny, Madeline and Lexie sat at the table and chatted

Three cheerful dolls chatting - Jenny, Madeline and Lexie

Poppy and Tommy were deep in conversation

Florida Patsi was feeling exuberant as she chatted with Emily and her peg doll

Shy little Anniversary Patsi was pleased to talk with Annie

California Patsi had been fussing the dogs so needed to wash her hands

It was a very happy and busy afternoon in Madeline's house.

Madeline entertains her visitors

It was fascinating to compare these little artist dolls.  The Heartstrings dolls are slim, like the Plusczok dolls so could possibly be about age 7 or 8, whereas Jenny and Lexie are 'forever five year olds'.  Annie and Emily are only slightly taller and are probably about age 6.  The Heartstrings dolls have much smaller feet than the Maciak and Plusczok dolls.    Jenny and Lexie (and probably Annie and Emily, though I haven't tried yet) borrow clothes and shoes from the 3 Patsi girls quite regularly.

Christmas welcome to Emily and Annie

Since 2013 (see 2014 and 2013) I've set up a little Christmas scene with my adorable 8 inch tall Heather Maciak porcelain dolls Jenny and Lexie.  This year they were thrilled to welcome two new Heather Maciak dolls to their fireplace.

Emily, Jenny, Annie and Lexie celebrating Christmas by the fireplace and tree

Jenny and Lexie with some new Christmas decorations my younger daughter gave and received

The United Federation of Doll Clubs holds an annual convention in the USA.  Each year they have a nominated doll artist design the souvenir doll.  In 2015 Heather announced on the Jenny and Lexie Yahoo group that she had been invited to design the 2016 UFDC souvenir doll and could we help her choose the hair colour, style and eye colouring for the doll.  We had fun sharing our thoughts on this and Heather used our views during the design process in which she decided to design a friend for the souvenir doll as well.  She also told us about the job of dressing over 1,000 vinyl dolls 8.5 inch high with the help of a couple of friends.  This included tying lots of miniature bows on boot laces and pinafores.  So although she did not reveal what the doll would look like as this could not happen until the convention, we had some idea of the process and sheer hard work which goes into creating a souvenir doll for such a big event.

When I met Heather in November 2015 during my visit to Vancouver, she told me how at first she had been a little sceptical about using vinyl compared with her usual porcelain dolls, however by that stage she was feeling happier about the dolls and how they had turned out.  They have the advantage of being not so easy to break as Jenny and Lexie.  The friend for the souvenir doll was designed with a different hair and eye combination and this was a limited edition of 200 for sale at the UFDC event in July 2016.  The friend doll of 200 plus the 900 souvenir dolls meant 1,100 dolls to dress as well as dressing the 900 little peg dolls which go with Emily! Heather also described to me her contribution to the journal which would come out with the doll.  It made me wish for both dolls though I knew I would not be able to attend the convention.

After the convention some of the 2016 souvenir dolls appeared on ebay and less frequently the friend doll. I was able to buy Emily and her little peg doll, the hard cover journal and the tote bag and kept my eyes peeled for Annie, the rarer friend, who arrived in November.  I am delighted with them both, the quality of production is very good and they each have their own distinct personality.  They are marginally taller than Jenny and Lexie but fit in with them very well.

Emily - 8.5" Heather Maciak vinyl doll

Annie - 8.5" Heather Maciak vinyl doll

The UFDC 2016 journal is fabulous.  Not only does it have a whole section on Heather Maciak dolls along with the patterns for the clothes for Emily and Annie, designed by Susan Sirkis, it also has lots of full colour pages about many other dolls which featured at the UFDC.  The theme for the UFDC in 2016 was 'Kindred Spirits' which is why Emily really did need to have a friend and kindred spirit doll (and of course needed her own little doll companion: the little peg doll designed by Heather and Susan and dressed by Heather).  The friend, Annie, models all the outfits in the journal but her face is turned away from the camera in the shots so she would not be revealed until the sales tables at the UFDC.

Emily's peg doll, dressed by Heather Maciak

Heather's website now features Emily and Annie.  Emily has bobbed red hair, pale blue eyes and a slightly cheeky smile while Annie has very dark brown/black hair in braids, pale green eyes and is a little more serious than her friend. They wear dresses which would have delighted Anne of Green Gables (beautifully made by Boneka) and of course have the little heart image on their chests which is a characteristic of Heather's dolls - they truly are dolls to love.

The beautiful hand stitched embroidery on their pinafores

I'm knitting a plain miniature sweater in pale blue for Emily and will follow this up with one in pale green for Annie.  I also plan to make up some of the patterns from the souvenir journal - my younger daughter is determined they will have the capes, however these will be projects for 2017. Their clothes can fit Jenny and Lexie which is a big bonus and they also can borrow from my three Patsi (Heidi Plusczok) dolls.

Emily, her peg doll and Annie - 8.5" Heather Maciak dolls

Emily and Annie with the Christmas tree

Heather's introduction page in the journal refers to the Jenny and Lexie Yahoo group and how the friendly collectors who belong to the group have given the dolls a life beyond the display cabinet. My Emily and Annie need some practical play clothes for adventures so that will be another project for 2017 as their original dresses will be kept for best.

Miniature knitting for Heather Maciak

When I met Heather Maciak during November 2015 in Vancouver we had an instant connection and didn't stop talking all afternoon.  She gave me a lovely gift of a dress and shoes set for Lexie, which even came with its own miniature stockinette doll.  I didn't have a gift for her as I hadn't imagined we'd be lucky enough to meet, however during our conversation I picked up that Heather had never learned to knit though she is an accomplished seamstress and a NIADA doll artist.  So when I returned to England I set about the enjoyable task of designing and knitting a miniature sweater (cardigan with buttons) for my favourite 8 inch porcelain dolls.

I scaled down a Sasha pattern which is knitted all in one piece from the neck down (originally designed by Lauri Bolland and available on Ravelry).  The Sasha sized pattern is knitted on 4 ply sock wool with 2.75mm knitting needles, the pattern I devised for Jenny and Lexie is knitted on 2 ply lace wool with 1.5mm knitting needles (size 16), which I bought specially for this project.  In fact I ended up buying a set of different sized circular needles as well as 4 double ended needles, as the sleeves are knitted in the round, making the entire sweater seamless.

The partly knitted first sweater on the circular needle, with safety pins holding the sleeve stitches for knitting in the round later

Lexie looks at the knitting progress of the first sweater

Lexie models the partly knitted first sweater, before the sleeves were knitted

First I knitted it in plain off-white 2 ply wool, carefully noting down the details of each row as I went (I had my laptop on my lap as I knitted and the original Sasha pattern to hand).  It was a slow process as sometimes I wasn't happy with how it was working out so unraveled some of the work to adjust it. However once the first little sweater was knitted, I decided I wanted to try miniature fair-isle knitting!  So this time I used an excel spreadsheet to create a grid with coloured squares to work out the entire pattern before knitting it, then worked to the pattern, making a couple of adjustments to it as I went along.

Fortuitously I picked on colours which as it turned out Heather absolutely loved.  She knew I was knitting for her as I sent her a couple of 'in progress' early photos, but didn't know what I was making and knew they would take some time to complete.  However finally I was able to sew in all the ends, stitch on the buttons, block-press them with a cool iron and try them on my Jenny and Lexie for photos.  The first one had been knitted without button holes, the second I knitted button holes but wanted both to do up properly, so I had to use sewing thread to secure the edges of button holes I'd created by pushing wider the gaps between stitches using a thicker knitting needle. It made for slightly tight buttoning of that rainbow buttoned sweater.  I was careful to ensure the placing of button holes in the pattern on the computer as a result.  The buttons were a lucky craft shop find in the card making and decorating section.

Front view of the completed sweaters just before I posted them to Canada

Back view of the completed sweaters just before posting to Canada

I posted them to Heather in February, however at the time she was up to her eyes in dressing over a thousand miniature dolls for the United Federation of Doll Clubs convention souvenir doll and didn't have a moment to spare for taking photos of her Jenny and Lexie opening their package though I received a very happy email from her when the sweaters arrived.

In July, when Heather was all ready for the two back-to-back Doll events she had been working towards for months, she was able to get her girls to show their reaction to the miniature knitting I'd made for them.  The following 12 photos and captions are all published here with the permission of Heather Maciak (previously shared on the Jenny and Lexie Yahoo group).

Jenny, we got mail!

Don't drop it, let me help

Its from our friend DollMum!

Yay!  lets take it home and open it

What's in there Lexie?

Its our new sweaters from DollMum

And she sent us a letter - Winnie the Pooh, my favourite

Lexie, will you please help me!

Jenny, you look adorable!

Now I'll help you Lexie

We love our new sweaters

Thank you, DollMum!

Once I had sent these cardigans to Heather, I set to work to make one for my own Maciak dolls.  I had bought a selection of small balls of 2ply wool via mailorder from Shetland which had enabled me to add colour to the second sweater.  One of these balls of wool was a deep glorious purple and I decided to knit the fair-isle pattern in a combination of purple, red and pale green and blue for Lexie.  I haven't yet knitted for my Jenny, so the commercially made cardigan she wears in the following photos came with my first Patsi doll (Heidi Plusczok).  The girls decided to go and pick some lavender from the garden and it was the perfect foil for Lexie's new sweater.

Lexie picking lavender and wearing her new purple fair-isle sweater with her favourite doll 

A close up of Lexie's purple fair-isle sweater

Jenny was getting right into the lavender picking

Close up of Jenny wearing a commercially made hat and sweater (Boneka) borrowed from Patsi

Jenny was enthralled by the lavender

Lexie loved the scent of the lavender in her borrowed bag

Lexie and her dolly with lavender 

Jenny loves lavender

Jenny and Lexie in the Lavender

I got enormous pleasure from knitting these miniature sweaters for the girls.  I do still want to make one for my Jenny but haven't decided on the colours yet.