The Prince & The Pea

Josephine's New Dress

Once upon a time there was a dolly named Josephine. She was born in the 1950's in the well known & very popular Pedigree factory.
Josephine was no ordinary doll - no sitting around just looking pretty for her! She is a walking doll who would happily walk along with her Little Girl, hand in hand, while moving her head from side to side taking in the view & she has very pretty eyes indeed as they also move from side to side in a most flirtatious manner!

Some years later she was given to a new Little Girl called Tracey who looked after her carefully for many years. One day Tracey decided that it was time for Josephine to move on & asked Jayne (who is really just a Little Girl in a Big Girl's body!) if Josephine could come & live with her.
Of course Jayne was delighted to accept & so Josephine waved a fond farewell to Tracey & went home with Jayne.

However, Josephine was a little sad as over the years she had lost her clothing & longed for a new dress. Poor Josephine felt rather cold & exposed with no clothing on!

She did cheer up though when Jayne told her that she had many years design & clothing making experience as well as a large stash of pretty fabrics suitable for dolly dresses & that a new dress would take no time at all to make.

They rummaged through the fabrics - florals & checks & spots - but Josephine really couldn't decide. She whispered to Jayne that her favourite colour was blue & that she really loved puppies.

"Aha!", Jayne exclaimed, "I have just the thing for you!"

Josephine's pretty eyes sparkled "That's just what I want!"

Cath Kidston's Stanley fabric was the perfect choice.



So, out came the tape measure, pins, scissors & trusty sewing machine & with a few snip, snip, snips a new outfit started to take shape.


Firstly, of course, a new pair of panties was in order to cover her modesty....


Jayne also managed to find a supplier of vintage dolly shoes & this bright red pair look rather fetching.....


A pretty co-ordinating ribbon was found for her hair....


Josephine is feeling very happy once again!



Off she goes for a little walk to show off her new dress!

Gloucester Antiques Centre

Just a quick post to show you some of the new goodies I took up this week - a bit of a feminine theme on the table this time. Quite a few are sold already including the lovely cream travel case which has a bright red satin lining with compartments for all your toiletries & other travel requirements. It still had it's original keys too.

Bad Blogger!

I have been rather lax about blogging recently but my excuse is that now that Tamzin has returned to uni my workload increases as I have to care for & ride her beloved Dylan so that he remains in the tip-top shape he is right now. He has had a clip for the winter & looks terribly smart, but has to wear his rugs now.

Anyhow, I had a traumatic morning - I went to the dentist for a replacement filling & ended up having the tooth out! The dentist tried to replace the cracked filling but the nerve was exposed & I could feel it even with the anaesthetic which meant it couldn't be filled. As it was a wisdom tooth right at the back & I didn't actually use it for chewing I suppose I won't miss it.
Wasn't painful as it was frozen but I could feel the tugging & twisting - ewww!
Bit of a shock though as I wasn't expecting it!

I cheered myself up by going to the hairdresser for a tidy up, buying chocolate & the November issue of Collect It magazine where The Vintage & Handmade Fair has a lovely mention on the events page - yippee!

If you click on the image it should enlarge so you can read it - of course this makes me realise that it's not that long until the big day!

Chilli Jam

Once again this year I have a bumper crop of tomatoes & chillies. One of the things I like to make to use them up is chilli jam - delicious with cheese or cold meats, on sandwiches & toasties.

The recipe I use is here! It is definitely worth making, but double the recipe as it doesn't last long! I made a batch today & doubling the recipe fills two 500g kilner jars.

Delicious!

My First Ripe Pumpkin