Blue Alice Little Pullip

Blue Alice Little Pullip, originally uploaded by confections.

In addition to being obsessed with Blythe dolls (12" and mini 4" ones), Little Pullips have caught my eye lately, too. This Little Pullip, Blue Alice, (about 5" tall) was one of the birthday gifts I gave my sister this year.

We took a trip to Los Angeles in February and found her at The Valley of the Dolls at their old location. She is quite charming. Here she is next to a folk painting that my sister found at a thrift store in July on our Colorado vacation.

My eight-year-old niece is a collector now, too. At last count, she has one 12" Blythe (Lounging Lovely ADG), one Petite Blythe (Little Miss Retro Mama), and at least one Little Pullip (Bohso).

I have a Little Pullip, too (Calfy) and my sister has Froggy. I'll have to organize an official photo shoot with her and her cousins and share them here.

Tea Cups & Chopstick Rest

Tea Cups, originally uploaded by confections.

Featured today is a grouping of thrifted tea cups and a chopstick rest that my sisters, niece, and I found during their San Diego visit at the beginning of June. Total eye candy and great additions to our tea table!

Fingerless Mitt (almost done)

Fingerless Mitt (almost done), originally uploaded by confections.

I've been knitting fingerless mitts for the last month or so. My Mother and my next youngest sister received them for Christmas. This pair is being made for my youngest sister who selected the yarn from my stash when she was visiting before the holidays.

The yarn is Soy Wool Stripes by Patons. The pattern is by fellow Etsy artist Sand and Sky Creations and is very user-friendly and makes up quickly. If you've made a pair of socks and are comfortable wielding double-pointed needles, this project is a cinch!

Pistachio Gelato Colorway Handpainted Worsted Wool Yarn

Pistachio Gelato Colorway Handpainted Worsted Wool Yarn, originally uploaded by confections.

It's spring and a young girl's fancy turns to luscious greens in her yarn stash. I photographed this particular skein for my Etsy shop, but I have plenty more emerald skeins to choose from, some of them handspun. The hand-thrown celadon bowl in this photo was thrifted in Ocean Beach, California, at one of my favorite vintage haunts.

I definitely have the urge to knit and spin during the spring. Yes, I know it's fall and coming onto winter in the *Southern Hemisphere*, but I appreciate wool yarns year-round, even here in Southern California, where, despite rumors to the contrary, it can get very cold at times. Not that I'm complaining. My sister just returned to Pennsylvania after an extended visit here, and they had a snowy Easter weekend!

I've got lots of crafty projects in store for the spring, including participation in a circle scrapbooking journal with my sisters and sister-in-law. We're selecting our themes now and gathering supplies and ideas. My theme will run along the lines of "My Ideal Sanctuary" and I know it includes a spinning wheel and lots of fluff to inspire me. Cheers to your springtime projects!

Blue Quartz Beads

Blue Quartz Beads, originally uploaded by confections.

The spring cleaning continues and the treasures resurface. My sister Lisa is a beader extraordinaire and she was just here for a visit. Usually we hit every bead shop within a 50-mile radius of home, but we didn't this time. She did sneak off to one of our local shops one afternoon on the way to the beach, though, and came back with lots of green beads. I unearthed a few strands from one of my previous bead forays this week. I was in a green and blue phase on this particular excursion, but then I am often in a blue and green phase (note the handwoven fabric created with yarns from my knitting stash!).

This brings up the issue which my sisters and I call "cross-crafting", like cross-training: you go from one craft to the other for inspiration and to develop your craft muscles. Thus, the beads inspire the handwoven cloth, which informs the choice of dyes for handpainted yarns, or the blending of colored roving on the handcards for spinning, and on and on.

Please watch my Etsy shop for a sterling silver beaded wirewrapped bracelet made by my sister Lisa. It should be listed by Easter Sunday. Enjoy your Spring Break!

My Victorian Grand-Aunts Galbraith

My Victorian Grand-Aunts Galbraith, originally uploaded by confections.

These stylish ladies are the sisters of my maternal grandfather. I love their Victorian grandeur. Several of them were schoolteachers and never married; they tatted and painted on china and traveled abroad. My mother remembers playing dress-up with her sister from a trunk full of their cast-off dresses. Their mother was a dressmaker before she married my great-grandfather.

I recently began to do some serious genealogy on-line and found a long-lost cousin in North Carolina who had this photo and several dozen others from my mother's family that we had never seen. What a treasure!