Ophelia lives!

Ophelia has just come onto the scene!  She is a very close friend of Eulalia, and spends most of her time flying through woods and meadows with her other fairy friends.

Ophelia

Eulalia

Both of these girls are smart and friendly, but a bit elusive.  You can catch them both in the upcoming St. Agatha Holiday Bazaar on November 3 & 4, in Portland, Oregon.

Details for the Bazaar will be forthcoming in future posts.

-Momma Cat   

Alice and Friend

A few weeks ago, Baby Cat, a friend, and I all went to another doll show.  This one was in Beaverton, OR, and it was all about fashion dolls.  Now, fashion dolls have never held that great an interest for me, but I have to admit that I did enjoy going.  Especially since I was in such good company! 

Among the dolls we saw were the little Madame Alexander dolls.  There were several that I would've been tempted to buy, if I didn't already own a couple.  They are so cute and their clothes are always so wonderful.  

I actually didn't buy anything that day, but going to that show made me think of the dolls I already own.  I thought maybe you'd like to meet two of the dolls that I've owned since before Baby Cat was even born.  

You will undoubtedly recognize the first doll as none other than the famous Alice, from Alice in Wonderland fame.  She is in perfect condition and has never been out of her box for more that a few minutes at a time.  Baby Cat and I both love her very much.  

 My other Madame Alexander doll is a beautiful little brunette ballerina.  I think she's very sweet as well, but Alice is my favorite.  What do you think?

She is also mint, in the box. 

 The nice thing about these little dolls is that they're easy to find, there are a million different outfits, and at the doll shows you can get a pretty good deal.  I mostly like them because of their sweet little faces. 

-Momma Cat

Lovely Lace, a Tough Decision, and Back-to School

I just finished another project from my "Crochet So Fine" book. This one is a delicate lace tank top and I love the way it came out. I made it to sell at the holiday bazaar that Momma Cat and I do every year but when I put it on to model it for the blog it ended up fitting me so well that I am tempted to keep it. (Momma Cat thinks I should). My problem is that I have a very bad habit of keeping everything that I like, which not only leaves me without much to sell, but I also find that if I only sell the things I don't like, no one else likes or wants to buy them either!

Front View of the Lace Top

Back View

So now I am back in my apartment at school getting ready for the first week of classes and the top is awaiting its fate in my room back at Momma Cat's House. It's a tough decision. On one hand, it would be nice to earn some money for my work since I don't have much right now. On the other hand, I'm not sure I would find anything that I liked better for the same amount of money that I would get from selling it. Maybe I should just make another in a different color and sell that one? I have thought that if I stop making clothes in my size I won't be tempted to keep them, but that wouldn't really help any of the other girls who are the same size as I am! I don't know, what do my commenters think?

-Baby Cat

Miniature Dining Room Set

Remember that mini furniture kit that Momma Cat and I found at the beginning of the summer? If you don't, click here and I'll link you back to it.

I just finished putting the kit together, which included staining and varnishing each piece and making tiny cushions for each of the chairs. Although I had a little bit of trouble assembling the upper hutch--the crooked pieces and splits in the wood are a result of the difficulty in working with such tiny pieces, but I think the gaps are a result of the way the kit was when I got it--overall I am pretty happy with it as a first try and I am definitely inspired to make more miniature furniture and hopefully even a dollhouse someday! However, I shouldn't start any new big projects right now, as I am going back to school next week.

This is the picture on the box...

...and this is how it turned out.

I used different fabric for the chair cushions than is shown in the picture because the original fabric was not with the box when I found it. That turned out okay because I got to choose the fabric that I liked the best!


-Baby Cat

Laughing Cat Shirts Are Here!

Who doesn't love a good T-shirt? They can say anything about you from your favorite band to your favorite sports team. Sometimes they can even be tricky, like when they imply that you were present at a family reunion for someone else's family years before you were born (my brother knows what I mean here). Well, now, we at Laughing Cat have our own T-shirts to show our love of all things creative, and you could have one too!

Unaltered Laughing Cat shirt

If you would like your own Laughing Cat T-shirt, please email us at kayassunta@gmail.com or leave a comment on this post with your size and any special color requests. The t-shirts will cost $15.00 each plus shipping charges.

My shirt, with alterations

This is my shirt, just a regular green T-shirt with the Laughing Cat logo and jazzed up a bit using some good old Baby Cat ingenuity. Altering T-shirts has been a hobby of mine in recent years because they are very easy to adjust to make almost any piece of clothing you want. This took some getting used to for Momma Cat, who for awhile would give me a horrified "You're cutting up your shirts again!" each time she saw me doing it. Although, to be fair, Momma Cat has always cut the collars off of her T-shirts for as long as I can remember. Maybe that's where I got it from, I don't know.

-Baby Cat

Look who followed me home from Canada!

My boyfriend and I spent this past weekend exploring Vancouver, B.C. While we were there, we had the opportunity to visit the Asian Night Market, where I found this little cutie. I brought her back as a souvenir for Momma Cat. Momma Cat named her "Junie," after a nickname I had when I was little.

The Night Market was full of amazing things, including lots of Hello Kitty stuff and many of these little dolls, but I thought Momma Cat would like her the best. She has the cutest face and I love her braids and her little outfit!

Momma Made A Little Lamb!

Momma made a little lamb.  It's fleece was white as snow.  Momma named her lamb Clarice, because she has a warped sense of humor. 

Clarice was made from a pattern that we got from Grandma's stash of crochet books and magazines.  Here's the pattern.

See how cute the little lamb in the upper left hand corner is?  I really wanted to make one, so I got some Vanna's Choice white yarn and got busy. 

The way the pattern was written made it a little difficult to follow, but I was able to sort it out.  The only thing I changed was I used 4-ply yarn instead of two strands of baby yarn that the pattern called for.  Also, I chose not to add all the little knots on top of the head and body because I didn't think it really needed it.   Let's see what you think.

I think Clarice is adorable with her little black and white polka-dot ribbon purchased from Coco and Toulouse Go Shopping.  She also has a little bell on her ribbon so she can't wander off and get lost.  Since Clarice is still a baby, she needs a lot of tender loving care.  She will be for sale at the upcoming St. Agatha Holiday Bazaar in early November. 

-Momma Cat

Beaded Lace Beret

Here is a fashion staple that will jazz up any outfit! Made from delicate lace-weight yarn that breaks very easily while crocheting, and accented with shiny purple beads that assist the yarn in breaking, it was a frustrating, but worthwhile endeavor.

I got the pattern from a book my sweet boyfriend gave to me, called Crochet So Fine. All of the patterns in the book use fine and delicate yarns to create beautiful, intricate designs such as this. In spite of the difficulty, I am very happy with the final result! I am now working on a lace top from the same book, which you will see soon!

New Toy Store in Sellwood!

Today my husband and I went for a walk through our neighborhood and stopped in to look at the new toy shop that just opened this weekend.  It's called Oodles 4 Kids.  

Even though we don't have any young children anymore, I still find toy stores fascinating, and Oodles 4 kids has plenty of great stuff.  There are stuffed toys, a few dolls, games, craft kits, books, marbles, Playmobile toys, etc., and it looks like there's room for more.  I'm sure that this is just the tip of the iceberg! 

You should stop by and talk with the owner.  Her name is Carolyn Miye, and she's very nice.  Welcome her to the neighborhood.  Every neighborhood NEEDS a good toy store.  What's more, we need businesses like hers to keep our neighborhood interesting and vital.  

Carolyn's store is on Facebook, so if you Google Oodles 4 kids, you can check it out for yourself.  Have fun!


-Momma Cat 

 

New Acquisitions

Today Baby Cat and I went to a Doll Show out at the National Guard Armory.  We haven't been to a doll show together since Baby Cat was, well, a baby.  We tried to go last September, but we had a series of unfortunate events that kept us from getting to see the show.  Then Baby Cat had to go off to school, so the whole year passed until this Doll Show.  We've been planning to go for a while, so we were both very excited!

The first thing we realized when we got there was that there were a lot of things to look at in every price range.  The second thing we realized is, unfortunately, we both have expensive taste, but not the pocket-books to match. 

We did, however, find a few fairly inexpensive things to add to our collection.  First, we found two adorable Nancy Ann Storybook Dolls.  Baby Cat named hers Wilhelmina (after Wilhelmina Murray from Dracula),  mine is named Pandora.  They are both in very good shape, but since they didn't have any of their original tags or anything, we can only guess how old they are.  But guess what! We don't care!  We love them both anyway. 

Pandora

Wilhelmina

Baby Cat also found this wonderful little sword for a doll that she crocheted for her brother a while back. The doll is Link from "Legend of Zelda." The sword is the perfect size and shape.  He was very happy to get this wonderful little gift. 

Link with his new sword

When Link isn't busy defending Hyrule, the sword even fits in his scabbard!

Lastly, Baby Cat got this beautiful, albeit creepy, little original doll, that she named Isadora.  We both just fell in love with her.  The woman that created her had a lot of other things that we really loved as well, but we didn't really have the funds to buy everything we wanted.  So, maybe next time.  We were smart and got her business card while we were there.  I have a feeling we'll be seeing more of her down the road.  If you'd like to check out her Etsy shop, just go to www.etsy.com/shop/dollsbymarca.  

Isadora