Western Dolls

    The Field of Dolls black Friday live sale is coming up in just about 4 weeks. That is not a lot of time. I am feeling a bit behind. I do have a decent variety of the small items done, but up until the end of last week, I didn't have a single doll finished. I have honestly been thinking that maybe I would focus a bit more on the smaller items for this sale. And I still might do that, but I do want to get some dolls finished. 

     I have a huge batch of dolls in the prep work stage. Which is partially why I don't have any dolls finished. But finally I have these two Western dolls ready to go. I also have 2 more Western pleasure dolls currently in the works. I believe one will be wearing red and black and the other will be wearing purple and tan. Both will be dolls of color. My goal is try for an equal mix of black and white dolls. Imagine that, doll equality. Maybe life can imitate art some day soon.

     Part of why I have been thinking about doing more smaller items for my next live sale is those items are only available during my live sales. I don't do custom orders for any of them, but I will make you any doll you want to order. I do want to have at least some dolls available, so my plan is to make a bunch of dolls and then potentially go back to working on the smaller things. We'll see if that happens. 

     I have not settled on a time for the live sale just yet, it will be semi-live like the last one, and will be on Friday, November 26. More details coming soon!
 

Field of Dolls Online- Western

    Ready for another nearly wordless post about the Field of Dolls Online Fall Show? Up today are the Western classes. In case you missed my post yesterday, all of the prizes have now been shipped home. Depending on the whims of the USPS everything should be arriving to all entrants soon(ish). Enjoy the photos!

10. Roping

Dream of Champagne- Kimberly Bleecker

11. Other Stock Work

Dream of Champagne- Kimberly Bleecker

12. Patterned Western

Perfectly Jazzed- Kimberly Bleecker

13. Western Trail

Hollywood Bling- Danielle Feldman

14. Western Games

Rocket Man- Brenda Summers

15. Other Western

Hollywood Bling- Danielle Feldman

16. Western Pleasure

Hold My Beer- Brenda Summers

Doll Progress and Show Updates

     I finally finished some dolls this week, though I haven't had a chance to take photos yet. I have the last things I need to put dog sets together, but I haven't actually put them together yet. But soon. I am almost there. Yesterday I decided to catch up on my shipping and I shipped all but one of the remaining show prize packets. The other can go out in the mail today. I hope I can catch the mailman. I think now all of the extra things I needed to do are finished. I am done with my show, including shipping prizes, done judging the Mares in Black show... I think I can breathe a little bit. Just a little. I only have about 4 weeks to get things finished for my live sale. I do seem to have a variety of extra days off in November, conveniently. 

     I have an order for a charro so yesterday I started working on a sombrero. I have made sombreros before. They are hard. I can make them, but they do take a lot of fiddling and are never quite as nice as I would like them to be. So I also ordered some miniature ones from Amazon. If they are the correct size, and look good, maybe that is what I will use. If not, I have a good start on another sombrero. 

     Even though I have made a few, I don't actually have a sombrero pattern. I always just sort of wing it. So each one is really one of a kind. 

     This one still need a whole lot of work, but it is starting to look like a sombrero. With something to fill in the spaces in the leather of the crown, some paint, and a bit of trim, this should look pretty good. We'll see how the Amazon ones look.

     I am feeling a lot better than I have been. I am slowly picking away at projects and finally finishing some things. I have plenty of dolls still prepped and ready to dress and I have a few more outfits ready to go as well. I am getting there. Maybe today I'll make some doll sets. I have another 4 weeks. I guess we'll see what I can do. 
 

Field of Dolls Online- Other Performance

     I promised I would be sharing photos of the class winners on my blog, but I have been a bit busy. I have more than half of the prizes shipped at this point and should be finishing up the rest soon. For now, here is an almost wordless post on the other performance, costume, and regalia classes from the show. Enjoy!1\

1. Pleasure and Fine Harness

Happy As A Lark-Danielle Feldman

2.Other Harness

Jus'Enuf Magic-Kimberly Bleecker 

3. In-hand (lead-line, in-hand trail, lunging, etc)

Loverly- Danielle Feldman

4. Showmanship

Tigrese Dash- Kimberly Bleecker

5. Other Performance (no English or Western)

Gifford- Hannah Clark

6. Native American Regalia

Hollywood Bling- Danielle Feldman

7. Arabian

Ishara- Kimberly Bleccker

8. Parade

Splash Of Bourbon- Kimberly Bleecker

9. Other Costume

Molly Magoo- Danielle Feldman

Good Mail Day

     Yesterday I got two small packages in the mail. Both of them make me incredibly happy. The first was a pink Poppy! A friend traded me for my blue one. So now I have another pink medallion for my growing pink medallion collection. I need to find a way to display them. That would be fantastic. The other thing I got was some of the miniatures basketballs I ordered! I ordered these from a couple of different places, not knowing if any of them would arrive on time. I need them for my dog sets and shipping is so iffy and can be slow these days. I had no idea if any of these would get here before my live sale, but these came finally. So now I can put the dog sets together and have another type of thing finished and ready for the sale. Progress. 

     I missed a couple of days in my shipping plan for getting the prizes out from the Field of Dolls Online Fall show. The original idea was to pack and do postage for 4-8 people a day. That did not happen on Monday, or Tuesday. So yesterday I asked Elecktra if she would help me. We got together the class prizes, door prizes, and goody bags, got them into bubble mailers, and did all the measuring and weighing. I also bought the postage for 8 more packages. So I am getting there. And now all of the packages have the weights and measurements on them so doing the postage is quick. I should be able to get some more done tomorrow and then likely the rest on Friday. Unless I forget. Also, someone may be missing a goody bag. Or I may have made an extra. We opened and checked a bunch of packages and then I had to just let it go. 

     Doll work is back and forth. Monday I worked on prepping some heads while I did the laundry. Tuesday I started dressing some dolls and made it really far on 3 of them. Yesterday I started dressing a 4th doll (why? I haven't even finished one!) and I haired two more heads. Nothing had gotten finished. I THINK today I can paint a bunch of faces, finish decorating the first western pleasure doll, and the second, put a pocket on a hoodie, a couple of hats on the western dolls... and then I should have 4 dolls finished. And a bunch more stuff prepped for more dolls. Many pieces of dolls have been happening, but I have not finished anything in a bit. I need to soon. 

     Things are starting to arrive to people for the first offering of the miniatures club. That makes me happy. I got all of those items shipped, finished judging my show, wrapped up the prize awarding and livestream, finished judging the Mares in Black Spooktacular, and I am about halfway through shipping prizes from my show. Almost all of the extra things are off my to-do list. Dolls are coming along, dog sets are ready to be put together. Things are starting to look up. 

 

Letters Home- Riding

       Continuing my series of my doll, Little Elecktra, visiting with friends all over the world, Elecktra is still in Canada with Terri Wright and her doll, Emmie. The photos and most of the post are by Terri. 

Hi Mom!

      I found out what the surprise was! It was sitting reading when Emmie came inside and asked me to come for a walk. She had this grin on her face like she was up to no good. Curious, I followed her outside, wondering what she was up to. 

     Then I turned the corner into the arena and saw a gigantic camel! Emmie's project was a fancy pompom camel halter!

 

                                  
       Vashti is so sweet, loves snacks, and has the softest squishiest lips! She's so tall and happy. I got to pet her and feed her but had to stand on a stool to do so.

      I also got to sit on her for a short period, but it was a little uncomfortable without a proper saddle on her. Maybe the next time I visit Emmie will have a proper frame finished again!

        I remember getting to ride a camel way back at the start of my adventure, when I was in Colorado with Jennifer. 

       This long trip of mine has been so much fun, but I think it is almost time to come home. I will write more soon. 

        Love, 

            Little Elecktra
 

Horses I Would Steal If They Were Unattended.

     Sunday was the awards livestream for the Field of Dolls Online Fall Show. I had way too much to do leading up to it, but I managed to start on time. There were even some people watching. Which was sort of amazing thinking how poorly advertised it was. Anyway, Jennifer Buxton requested that I post a photo of the giant spirit award rosette (donated by Kimberly Bleecker) and one of the tiny mini rosettes. The mini rosette is actually hanging off the big rosette in this photo. I posted the photo on the show page and Jessica Carini said this would have been perfect for the What Scale? class. She's not wrong!

     I think it was also Jessica, but it may have been someone else, that asked me to post photos of the winners of some of the special prizes. I had a prize for horses I would steal if they were unattended. That is actually how they are listed in the results as well. I did say that I might buy them if they were for sale. Anyway, the first one is this awesome Jasmine mule owned by Wendy Ward. She had her in many performance classes and every time I saw her I considered messaging Wendy and asking if she would consider selling her. 

Breez'in Bi-U owned by Wendy Ward

     This next horse I would steal is a gorgeous Uilleam resin belongs to Heather Malone. Somewhere after the S.T.A.G 2.0 sale, where Kylee Parks introduced Jolie, her new horse of a different color, I found out that Jolie was the reference for this horse, before Kylee even bought her! Small world, even in model horses. I would totally steal this horse...

Post Toasties owned by Heather Malone

     I have seen this horse in all of the Field of Dolls shows (I think). I have loved him from the moment I saw him. He is a Loping Lenny resin and I NEED one for my Leggs collection. I have all of the other ones; original Leggs, Loping Leggs, Little Leggs, and I was supposed to get a Loping Lenny but that hasn't happened yet. This horse wants to be part of my collection. 

Hold My Beer owned by Brenda Summers

    This last horse is just lovely. I love bay horses the most and this lady is stunning! I would admire her, show her in performance, look at her some more. Her color makes me really happy. 

Yashma owned by Sophie

     The last special prize was my favorite photo in the show. It just barely makes the cut according to the rules (every photo, except other animal, needed a model horse) but I love it so much. It may look like a simple photo, but it is a very accurate recreation of the aftermath of one of my live sales. Maybe a little cleaner than how my sales look, lol. I love how the bags with the names are there, the dolls, the pink packaging. This photo makes me really happy. It was my first place choice for It's in the Blog. 

Winnie owned by Hannah Clark

     The special prizes were a lot of fun to figure out. The show is wrapped up, the livestream is finished, prizes have been sorted, door prizes have been awarded, and shipping is happening. Not at the usual lightning fast pace, but it is happened. I got the top 8 prizes packed and ready to go Sunday after the live. The plan is to work on getting 4-8 more done every day until I have them all finished. I think that is a better plan for me. I need to get things done, but I need to not make myself crazy while doing it. 

 

My New Pets

      Everyone who reads these posts knows that I have been struggling. Struggling with motivation. Struggling to manage to do all the things I have to do. Struggling with not getting things done. All of it. It's hard. I have way too many things going on. Slowly I am starting to finish some of them up. Slowly I am starting to feel a bit better about things. 

     Friday I had a work plan for after school. I was going to come home, work on sewing some of the 12 outfits I got cut out on Thursday, and then I was going to pack the things from the miniatures club. But when I got home my brain said I just needed to get the miniatures club stuff done. So I did, I got them shipped, and a resin I sold, had a horrible time out in the world after that, and was in a bad headspace. 

    After supper I decided I would put on a movie I have seen 100 times (so I didn't miss anything if I didn't look at it) and I would sort class prizes from my show. That took an hour and a half. I made two mistakes and don't know where exactly. And I am not going to try to fix them just yet. I know they were in halter. I may be able to figure them out before I ship. Or maybe whoever is missing a 2nd place and 5th place prize can let me know and I will ship those separately. I am not sure yet. But I got all of the class prizes sorted (an hour and a half for that) and I was feeling better. 

     Saturday I decided that, weekend or not, I needed to catch up a bit on doll work. So my goal was to do some of the sewing and work on at least getting primer on my pets. I have several pets that need painting. Including this super adorable Mushu. 

     I also have a cat I got from ebay and a laying down German Shepherd that needed prepping. I didn't look him over carefully yet, but I think Mushu is basically perfect and ready to be painted. The cat too I think. The Shepherd will take a bit more work. He has some pinholes that need attention. But I did get some work done on my pets. This is a project for me. I just want to paint my pets. But I am so burnt out on prepping that it is hard to talk myself into it. 

     I also managed to work for about an hour on sewing. I got 6 of the 12 outfits done that I cut out the other day. I can work on sewing the other 6 another day. Breaking it up seems like a good idea. The very next doll thing I do will be to take all of the prepped stuff and finish a doll. Any doll. I think that will really help my mental health to finish something. 

    Another thing I am planning on doing is breaking up the shipping from the Field of Dolls Online Fall show. I want to get everything packed and out asap. But I have done the marathon pack and ship stuff before, many times. I can't do it this time. So I will work on batches of packing and shipping. I am hoping to have everything out within a couple of weeks. That seems like a reasonable plan. 

 

Breyerfest Part Elevenish

    So the last Breyerfest loot post was Breyerfest part 10? (that was the name of the post) which I guess makes this one Breyerfest part elevenish. In this post we get to see my loot from the S.T.A.G 2.0 sale and I can talk about just how awesome Kylee Parks is. Anyway, here is my loot:

    I bought a red Cyclone T-shirt, a Mushu, and a Poppy. I am assuming the lemon drop medallion is for... buying stuff? I can't remember. And the Cyclone sticker may have been something that came with buying anything during the sale. But I have forgotten that as well. On a side note, my Poppy is spectacularly adorable, but if anyone has a pink one they want to trade for my blue one, I am all over that! If not I will likely add this to the things that need to be painted group. The group is large and I am not really skilled enough to tackle it, but whatever. I have an ever increasing collection of pink medallions though, and would love to have a Poppy in pink!

     So Kylee is amazing and held one of the most fun sales events I have ever been to. I try to make my live sales fun, but Kylee made a mini-movie. Which was awesome. I can't top that and I am not even going to try. Anyway, somewhere after I ordered my T-shirt I realized that I bought the size that would have fit me before I lost weight. Women's sizing makes me absolutely crazy because I never actually have any idea what to buy. Anyway, I freaked out a little thinking that my awesome T-shirt would be too big (this was after I got my Dani T-shirt from Breyer, also women's sizing, and it was too big) and I messaged Kylee asking if I could switch to one size down. Kylee is amazing and said first try it, if it's too big we'll work it out. Awesome. Turns out though the this T-shirt is basically perfect. It's a slimmer fit and longer, so it doesn't ride up in weird ways, is super flattering, and magically has shown up just in time for red ribbon week. Tomorrow the entire school was asked to wear red. The only red shirt I own is in the wash and would not get washed in time. But then my Cyclone T showed up and is perfection itself. All is well. I'm going to put that down to Kylee's amazingness. 

     I am doing a bit better mentally I think. But I will talk some more about that tomorrow. 
 

Prep Work

     I'm still not getting anything done really. This week all I managed was dremeling some doll bodies, making 4 pairs of chaps, and cutting out 12 outfits. I also managed to do a bit with hairing some heads. So yes, I accomplished some prep work, but nothing got done. Not even the prep work. Every time I have good intentions to get home from school and get things done something gets in the way. Or I am just too tired. 

     Yesterday I decided I had to get the October miniatures out for the miniatures club. My boxes came in and I am running out of October. I figured I would feel better if I got that task off my list. Nope. I do not feel better. It turns out that going out in the world was a horrible life choice. The post office was fine (though getting everything packed and the labels done was back to super frustrating. But then I decided that while we were out we would go to the grocery store for a few things. well... they rearranged the store since I was there last, the registers don't work, someone tried to pull out of their parking spot (into my car) without even looking at all. On the way home a school bus was letting kids off so I waited. The kids were done going where they needed to go, the bus put the sign down, I started to drive... and a kid darted out across the road (from the bus!) in front of my car! Why would the bus put the sign down if the kids were not done crossing? That is what the sign is for! And who taught that kid to cross the street? Super bad mood. After all that I just wanted to get home and stop being out in the world where apparently everything was broken and people had completely forgotten how to drive. Or be safe in any way. 

     Anyway, the miniatures club stuff that I needed to do is done. I don't have to ship anything else for that until January. But I still have to sort prizes for the Field of Dolls Online show and do the livestream. The livestream will be tomorrow at 4:00 ET on the Field of Dolls Online show page on Facebook. Once I get the prizes all sorted and the live done, I still need to pack everything to ship and get the shipping done. So that is really 2 more really large things on the to-do list. I am also currently judging medallions in the Mares in Black Spooktacular show. Because apparently I am bad at realizing when everything will be happening all at the same time! But I managed to get some judging done in school. I was covering a DLT (study hall) and there was literally nothing I had to do other than tell kids that yes, they could go and use the bathroom. So I judged some medallions. And it was HARD. Some of the classes have been very challenging. There are some REALLY nice medallions out there!

     So to wrap up, I am picking away at things but not getting anything done. And I have too much to do. It sucks. I think (hope) things will get better soon. 
 

Candyland Photo Show

      I don't eat sugar. I love candy, cake, cookies, ice cream, all sorts of treats. But I don't eat sugar. I eat low carb, which helped me lose a bunch of weight and also makes my joints feel better. It's hard. If I could eat whatever I wanted I would eat treats and bread all day long. So basically I gave up most of my favorite things. 

      Heather Malone hosts Candyland Live, which this year was Candyland Photo Show. I love model horse shows and I have loved being able to enter shows I normally would not be able to enter. So I entered Candyland. Mocha Latte did really well in performance and then got overall reserve (I think reserve) champion. The other day I got a big box of prizes from Heather. 

    One of the prizes was this awesome model sized rosette. I love it so much. I went to hang it up in my tiny tack room and see the string has fallen down. Grr. I will need to get that put back up. 

      Did I mention that almost all of the prizes for Candyland are candy? Are you actually surprised? Anyway, I ended up with a large horse pouch, a small horse pouch, a bunch of chocolate coins (those are the class ribbons), a big gummy bear on a stick, and a GIANT 5 pound gummy bear! That is a lot of candy! That is a lot of sugar...

     So why did I enter a show that has all candy prizes? Because I like horse shows. And it was fun. I was thrilled to pieces that Mocha Latte did so well. Now I just need to figure out what to do with all of my edible prizes, lol. I sure did get a kick out of my box of prizes though!
 

I Messed Up

     Travis brings an action figure everywhere he goes. Usually it's a large one, occasionally it's a tiny one. Yesterday he was going to bring Buzz Lightyear to school. When the van pulled up he looked at me, pointed at Buzz, pointed at the car (my car) and said I want Buzz back please. I said what do you want? He said car (pointed) Buzz back please. I was confused. I asked him if he wanted me to put Buzz in the back of the car. He said yes. I asked if he was going to go to school in the van. He said yes. So I took Buzz and I put him in the back of the car (Travis had asked really nicely) and I buckled him in. Because of course Buzz Lightyear wants to be safe in a vehicle. I was confused but it was cute. I took the photo, sent it to Travis's teacher and asked her to share it with him and tell him Buzz was safe on the way to Ludlow High School.

    After school Travis asked me again for Buzz back. He was being literal. The back of the toy was missing. There is the part that covers Buzz's wings and it was not on there. So we searched the car, but it was not there. I messed up. I thought Travis wanted me to put Buzz in the back of the car. Nope, he wanted me to look in the car for Buzz's back! It was not in the car, I told Travis he would have to check his room. I still don't know if he located Buzz's back or not. (I checked, he found it).

       I have been working glacially slow this week. So far all I have managed to do is dremel a bunch of dolls and start working on chaps. I got 4 sets traced out, one cut and assembled, and one partially cut out. I am super slow this week. But I still have a ton of things on my brain and I need to get some things finished so I can have less I have to do. I need to wrap up the Field of Dolls Online Fall show (this weekend). And I need to send out the October offerings from the miniatures club. If you don't know what that is you can check out my Ko-Fi page. 

    

      There have been a lot of extremely challenging behaviors at school this year. The kids are not doing well emotionally from the past couple of years. There is a lot more acting out, a lot less maturity, a lot less patience. Which means a lot more for the staff to deal with. Oh yeah, our mental health has also been suffering. It's been hard. Last week we had an A.L.I.C.E drill (active shooter drill). I hate those. So much. The kids are mixed about them. A lot of them say it's a good way to get out of class and we should do them every week (hard no). Some of them act as if they are a game or a joke. Some of them say they try to get "shot" (there is a guy with an airhorn for the drills with the kids. He is the "shooter"). And then I have to lecture yet another group of kids on why we do these drills. And it makes me sad. Sad that we have to do them and sad that the kids think it's a game. Thankfully, we only have to do one of those drills a year. 

     I have a couple of students who are particularly challenging. For one of them I have made some huge breakthroughs in the past couple of days. The first day it happened I figured it was a fluke. It was an easy day where they did not have to do all that much. Then yesterday was a harder day. Actual work, higher expectations, and the output and behavior was phenomenal. I am still a bit wary that we will backslide and have another explosive day (literally swearing, verbal abuse to the other students, the staff, throwing things, slamming doors, etc.) But I am hopeful we have turned a corner. A kid that would escalate from vaguely annoyed to explosive with redirection is now taking the redirection and doing fairly well at self regulating. I am hopeful. And pretty proud.

     So I am slow with doll work, but picking away. I am wrapping up the show, working on miniatures club, and school things are going pretty well. And it's almost the weekend. Good times. 

 

Letters Home- More Projects

      Continuing my series of my doll, Little Elecktra, and her visit to friends all over the world she is still visiting Terri Wright in Canada. All of the photos and most of the post are by Terri. 

     Hi Mom!

          Today Emmie showed me the lounge expansion area that they will be finishing as part of the bridle tree barn raising project in December. Are we doing anything? (I am currently not sure of my level of motivation or creativity for December) It sounds like a fun project!

     The walls will be bricked and they will paint the windows and install lights in the ceiling and floorboards. 

     Then add the trim pieces and furniture. We really should make a room box. (where would we put it???) This one is going to look so amazing!

     I'm learning about so many types of tack that I have never seen before! These are projects that Emmie has been working on for a long time. She has done many hours of research to ensure they are accurate. The first is a Scottish Eriskay Creels pony set she is working on. 

      The baskets are designed off real baskets and completely hand woven, The baskets hang off the wooden frame that is tied onto the ponies and loaded with harvest and items from the fields, 

The second is a replica of a Roman cavalry four horned saddle. 

It doesn't have stirrups! Riders would brace against the horns during battles to maintain stability while riding and fighting! That is so cool!

    I know I can't stay here forever, but I am learning so much and having such a great time. I will write more soon. 

      Love,

         Little Elecktra