A Late Easter Bunny and What's Up? and What's Up

  It's about 11:30 PM now, and for the first time today I am managing to sit upright and function. I spent the day in bed with what I suppose was a back spasm. It's still painful, but I was able to get up a little while ago and walk to the bathroom. That may sound like a small thing, but a few hours before I wasn't able to do that. Ken led me to the bathroom, with me in a bent over position like I was looking at my feet! I couldn't even straighten up until I was halfway there. This time I was able to walk,(slowly!), without even hanging on to Ken. He had to bring my meals up all day. I specified it had to be something I could eat while laying on my side,'so nothing drippy.' He made me grilled cheese sandwiches,which didn't drip, but I did get a lot of crumbs in my arm pit! Luckily I had this post nearly finished, so here it is.
   So,what have all of you been doing during lock down? I have certainly not been doing as much as I should have. I've mostly just been enjoying having Ken home all the time. I haven't seen much of Ivy, as she spends her time in her room doing her college work,and, let's be honest, watching "Agents of Shield". I have been using at least some of the time wisely. I'm still sorting fabric, trims, and lace, and moving it around from drawer to drawer, to where it should have been in the first place. I've gone through a bunch of things I had started making. I had to stop making things at some point and I never got back to it. I think I also got a bit discouraged. I posted a lot of my handmade dolls on the blog and didn't get much of a reaction,which was discouraging. But I decided to get some of the things out that needed finished and actually finish them.

So many body parts! I had the little girl below the checked shirt nearly finished,when her hand broke off. She's based on a childhood picture of my sister. I thought she turned out pretty good,and I was just trying to figure out how to get clothes on her when her hand broke at the wrist. The naked body with no head had a head, but it was awful. It was just as well it broke off. The legs laying in front of the Raggedy Andy clown had a body too, but I don't know where it is. It wasn't very good. I quite like the way the legs turned out though.

You may have seen the very pale guy that's laying up by Raggedy Clown boy in a previous post. I really liked how he was coming out,and then his lower left arm broke! We seem to have a theme here.

  There are a lot of already painted heads waiting for bodies,naked mini dolls waiting for clothes, and half finished furniture pieces.
 

I really like some of these paper clay heads. There are also some wooden bead heads for dolls, and some for making bracelets like I made for Ivy and her friend when they were little. The head with the mustache,(in the middle of the right side), is very like one of my favourite dolls I ever made. He was a doll I  made as a special order for a lady and I wish I had had time to make her a different one so I could have kept him! You might have seen his post HERE.

  There are a load of limbs and a few torsos,(and even a couple of hands!), of some really tiny dolls too.

The torsos are a little over an inch high. The thing at the bottom middle is an upside down head and shoulder plate. Honestly.

The middle torso was going to be a tiny Drowsy I think.

That fake china doll looks a bit peeved she hasn't been finished in so long!

There's her already sleeved other arm. Those hands were so tiny I nearly lost them several times while taking the pictures.

   I pulled out this little girl that I started ages ago.

She was meant to be a Shirley Temple,but now that I have a bisque one I might make her different. Her arms and legs need work. And no, I don't plan t keep her head a rectangle! I figure I can reshape the top when I put hair on her. I don't know why I never finished her.
There are also things I didn't make myself that  I need to work on. For example the bisque Shirley mentioned above. I bought her a while back. She had crazy hair.

I pulled the hair off after I got her, but then stuck her in a drawer until I got around to making her a dress and trying to put new hair on her.
 

So I've pulled her out and have been sorting through my fabrics to find the appropriate dress fabric for her. I thought about making the red and white polka dot dress, but then I decided against it. Why?  Because it seems like every miniature Shirley Temple doll has that red and white polka dot dress. I've decided to make her a different Shirley dress,one that's still identifiable, but not so overused. Another problem is her knee socks! Shirley Temple never wore knee socks! They are not only painted, but molded. Ivy says I might be able to sand the raised edge off.

 I got this guy out,undressed him and gave him a bath.

Some of you may remember seeing him from when I got him at a doll show last fall for $1.

You can see his entire post HERE.

I hated to have to remove his clothes, but I knew I was never going to get a new arm and leg on him without doing so. I did manage to get them off without damaging them,so hopefully they can be washed and returned to him when he's re-limbed. They were very dirty though. I may be able to re-use his shorts,but make him a new shirt. I'm going to have to borrow some of Ivy's clay and fire the arm and leg in her kiln,so I'll have to wait until she's ready to do another firing.  
  I repaired several thing too. They have been laying around here broken,waiting to be glued or sewn or whatever. I fixed a few pieces of clothing that are now wearable again. I glued a miniature piano baby's head back on. (I knew I shouldn't have kept it next to the house phone.)

 When I was going through the stuff stored in Emma's room I found a pair of Harry Potter bookends that were in many tiny pieces and a few large ones. I finally brought it downstairs and glued it. It looks pretty good except for the wall around Hermione, and Ron's knee.

   I don't know what the deal is with that wall. It should have been an easy patch job. It was a clean break, with no crumbles. But there's a felt backing on it, and it just wouldn't allow the pieces to go back together  with both sides being flush! I think I need to strip the felt off and take it apart again and re-glue it. I used Elmer's glue,not Superglue, so it should be easy to take it apart again. I might have to soak it in water or something.
  I came across a cute little bunny I made quite a while ago. I wish I had come across him in time for Easter! I was just a little late. Here he is though.

He has a wire armature covered in felt,so he's posable,even his ears.

He can stand up...

...or sit down.

He has felt paddies on his feet.

 I also started more things to not finish! I have had some little quilt pieces around for ages. I got them at a yard sale, already started. There were squares made of two triangles sewn together. They weren't quite small enough for my needs, so I cut the already sewn together pieces in half, and then sewed them all together.

The pieces could still do with being a bit smaller to be really 1/6 scale,but I figured if I tried to make them any shorter I'd just end up with a bunch of unraveled stuff that couldn't be sewn together.
 

  I've been baking a bit too. I saw a recipe on YouTube for an Italian pie crust. I used to make really good pie crust,but for the last ten years or so it has been lousy. So I tried this crust. It was really good. I made an apple pie that looked pretty good.

I should have used my pie bird though. I just found out that the steam trying to escape is what causes the crust to separate the way this one did around the edge.

  I had left over crust, so I tried making a shoe fly pie. I had never made one before. Someone I used to work with made one and brought it to work way back when I was a working person. It was delicious. Mine, not so much. Fuzz thought it was really good though, and ending up eating most of it. (Not all at once!) It was so good that Fuzz insisted I did not make the crust: "I made it." "No you didn't." Yes I did." "I think you'll find you didn't." "Really?! Well your father watched me make it and roll it out, and here's my left over crust!" Fuzz was still incredulous. The consensus was that it would make an excellent baklava. So, I decided to try that. I didn't have very good honey, but I chopped up some dates, and made do with a little bag of mixed nuts,(almonds and walnuts), and sunflower seeds. Whatever it was I made was pretty good.
  I've also made custard more times than I probably should,especially considering I'm the only one who eats it!
  I have also done something I haven't done for a while. I did some doodling while watching TV. 

Fuzz brought a daffodil back from a walk one day, and said it was for me to draw. Not a very successful attempt though.

In fact, it was my drawing that inspired Ivy to say," Instead of wasting your time doing that you could be making something." Thanks Ivy. I notice you're just laying there under a pile of blankets. (Okay, she has been spending a lot of time doing school work,and she was taking a break.)
  So that's what I've been doing. How about you?