A · fine · and · private · place

 

I haven’t cut out all of her fashions yet. These are only some of them. The real Angel Face Barbie comes in the Victorian-styled gown to the far left. If I am really lucky I will be able to purchase her with all her cosmetics intact. I dream of it.

I love the other fashions, especially the red jumpsuit. They are all adorable though.

 

I have been wanting to get a photo of this dress. This is my current favorite, a vintage homemade green cotton gingham with wide eyelet lace trim along the shoulders, and a little frail. It fastens at the back with large buttons, and I love that so much more than zippers.

I wore it this Friday evening to Cafe Madrid.

 

I email-posted this, but it never showed up. It may be there now, or sometime in the future. I just wanted to mention it in case it happens so I don’t look too dumb.

Anyway, I have been vying for these babies in Wal-mart for months now. When I first saw them, I felt pretty hopeless about them, because we had plenty of money, but no fairytale garden for them (these are huge planters, by the way, if you can’t tell from the picture. You could put a rosebush or hydrangea in one).

Then when we started purchasing a fairytale home, I realized we would have all the right places, but no money for them. Six months and several catastrophes later, we are on the cusp of closing and with a much lower mortgage rate than we expected, leaving room in our budget, a couple months from now, for a giantess’s tea cup or two.

I just hope they stay around for a little while longer.

 

(Image from Doll Reader magazine)

Something I adore is a complete trousseau for a little doll, all made up in a box with little compartments. Here, the box is lined elegantly with antique lace. I would love to make something like this myself.

 

 

From Victoria magazine, June 1991 issue.

Suggests putting a whole vanilla bean in a sugar bowl for a couple of weeks to derive vanilla-scented sugar.

http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4932894#post4932894

Please see the above link for my yard sale. These are brand-name Korean doll items at a discount with domestic shipping.

Update to Chantilly Lace: my on-going reading list.

My summer romance reading list:

• (Harlequin, 1994) On Blueberry Hill, Marcella Thompson.
• (Harlequin, 1987) The Heart of the Matter, Lindsay Armstrong.
• (Harlequin, 1987) Relative Strangers, Jessica Steele.
• (A Rainbow Romance, 1965) The Quiet Corner, Rebecca Marsh.
• (Onyx Historical Romance, 1988) Delilah's Flame, Andrea Parnell

My first Sony Vegas slideshow. It's kind of boring, but Fanchon looks pretty, and if you like dolls, well ... ?

From 250 Classic Cake Recipes, ©1954

Notes: I found this recipe booklet along with several others of the same make at Half Price Books for $1, in wonderful condition. I halved the butter frosting recipe. The butter frosting is the classic buttercream taste so much celebrated.

 

• 2 c. sifted flour
• 3 T. baking powder
• 1/4 t. salt
• 1/4 t. nutmeg
• 1/2 c. shortening
• 1 c. sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• Grated rind of one medium orange
• 3/4 c. orange juice

Stir flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg together. Cream shortening with sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and orange rind, beat thoroughly. Add sifted dry ingredients and orange juice alternately in small amounts, beating well after each addition. Pour into greased pan and bake in moderate oven (350 F) 50 min. Makes 1 9 X 9 inch cake.

 

• 1/2 c. butter
• 3 c. confectioners' sugar, sifted
• 4 T. cream or evaporated milk
• 1 t. vanilla

Cream butter. Add remaining ingredients and continue creaming until mixture is well-blended and fluffy. Will cover tops and sides of 2 (8-inch) layers.

This is so unusual and nasty >> http://www.hautedoll.com/images/vampire%20contest/Sindy%20the%20vampire%20countess.jpg

But I have to hand it to the artist for using vintage dolls in her rendering and doing something different.

But it is actually so nasty.

Recipes tried:
Lemon nut bread
Brown soda bread
Homemade Hawaiian punch

Made Hawaiian-themed dinner on the patio for us Saturday night. That's my favorite dinner so far. I can't wait to make the Polynesian picnic from my hostess book.

Sewing today, fixed my vintage raspberry nightgown, the sleeves on my black blouse, made two placemats, two napkins.

I have uncut yardage in the closet that is eight years old. I dislike a lot of my fabrics. I bought them on clearance in college when I started sewing, not realizing they were not really project-worthy.

This striped knit is hard to sew and hard to make look good. I am making two more napkins and placemats with it, and two tea towels. I have appliques for the napkins and tea towels that are also several years old.

I was too restless to embroider, unfortunately, and I'm getting behind. I want the kitchen curtains done by move-in.

Sewing gave me a lot of peace today as I thought about making things for our home. It seems so far away now. The date keeps moving back. I have felt some despair about it, I have to admit, and I really, really cannot stand having to tell people about it and conceal my depression every day.

But the sewing made me feel close to our new place, and so did going through my stuff and thinking about what would go where.

It was so hot that I felt like my skin would catch fire. I hadn't felt so hot in a long time. This choking, wet heat of Louisiana cannot be found anywhere as far north as the Oklahoma boundaries. Cicadas rasped around us so loudly I could not hear myself think. It was an otherworldly feeling, trampling the underbrush with Josette in heavy boots and tied skirts, baskets full of sickly-sweet gardenias clutched under our arms, blossoms pulled from the fences of an old cemetery.

I knelt where she knelt, peering through the low limbs at an expanse of bare ground in the distance.

She said nothing, gazing at a great white plantation across the shorn field. Her eyes, intense blue in a dusky face, were longing and curious, vacant, like a doe's eyes. I did not know anyone with Josette's graceful ways or expressive face.

"My father grew up in that house," she said, as a light, hot rain started to fall around us. We drew closer to the shelter of the bushes. I parted the branches the peer at the old plantation.

"He never speaks of it. Mother told me about it in hushed tones, at times when Father was out of the house. He hates and fears that house. She never understood his feelings, but she respected his desire for silence regarding it. The Navarres live there. They were his mother's people."

 

Name: Fanchon {French origin: whimsical, free}

Gender: ♀

Age: 20

Birthday and/or Arrival Date: March 23, 2009

Race/species: Human

Type/Company/Mold: R&D Angel, type unknown, dressed in "O Cherry Berrie" fashion

Wig: Monique Gold Collection "Ginger" in golden auburn/strawberry

Eyes: Default green acrylic eyes

Style: Victorian, sweet/country lolita, rococo, gothic

Interests: Kittens, unicorns, stuffed animals, pretty combs, pastel-colored hair, romantic novels, picnics, a knight in armor, romantic novels, baking cookies.

Personality/history: French rococo mademoiselle, lives in an old farmhouse with numerous animals, and her younger brother Elton, a porcelain doll.

Fanchon's Pre-Raphaelite dress.
I basically spent a long weekend cooking stuff and slothing on forums. Nathan is making Chicken Vindaloo right now, smells insanely good, and he also made us some chai. About to go wrap up my bread and have another cup, do some ironing. :)

"He had decided to save fifty centavos to fulfill a dream he had cherished ever since he was a child: to have a cup of Viennese coffee. Through the windows of the Hotel Frances he had seen the waiters pass with trays held high above their heads on which lay these treasures: tall glass goblets crowned with towers of whipped cream and adorned with beautiful glazed maraschino cherries. The day of his first paycheck, he had crossed back and forth outside the establishment before getting up the courage to go through the door.

Finally, beret in hand, he had stepped timidly across the threshold and entered the luxurious dining room, with its teardrop chandeliers and stylish furniture, convinced that everyone was staring at him, that their thousand eyes found his suit too tight and his shoes old. He sat down on the edge of the chair, his ears burning, and gave his order to the waiter with a mere thread of a voice. He waited impatiently, watching people come and go in the tall mirrors, tasting with anticipation that pleasure he had so often dreamed of. His Viennese coffee arrived, far more impressive than he had imagined-- superb, delicious, and accompanied by three honey biscuits. He stared at it in fascination for a long while, until he finally dared to pick up the long-handled spoon and, with a sigh of ecstasy, plunge it into the cream. His mouth was watering. He wanted to make this moment last as long as possible, to stretch it all the way to infinity. He began to stir the spoon, observing the way the dark liquid of the cup slowly moved into the cream. He stirred and stirred and stirred... and suddenly the tip of the spoon knocked against the glass, opening a crack through which the coffee leapt, pouring onto his clothes. Horrified, Esteban watched the entire contents of the goblet spill onto his only suit before the amused glances of the occupants of the adjoining tables. Pale with frustration, he stood up and walked out of the Hotel Frances fifty centavos poorer, leaving a trail of Viennese coffee on the springy carpet."

Isabel Allende, The House of the Spirits.

After reading all of that, I had try it for myself. I did not have chocolate syrup or whipped cream at home, so I found other recipes for those.

 

Viennese Coffee

From Easy Home Cooking: All New Slow Cooker.

3 c. strong freshly-brewed hot coffee

3 T. chocolate syrup (see recipe below)

1 t. sugar

1/3 c. heavy cream

Whipped cream (Beat 1/2 c. heavy cream in medium bowl with electric mixer on high speed until soft peaks form. Add 1/2 T. powdered sugar; beat until stiff peaks form.)

Chocolate shavings for garnish

Combine coffee, chocolate syrup and sugar in slow cooker. Cover, cook on low 2-2 1/2 hrs. Stir in heavy cream. Cover and cook 30 min. or until heated through. Ladle into coffee cups; top with whipped cream and chocolate shavings.

 

Homemade Chocolate Syrup

From Recipe Zaar, reduced.

1/4 c. cocoa powder

3 oz. sugar

1 dash salt

3 oz. water

1/4 t. vanilla extract

Stir together. Boil 2-5 min., stirring rapidly, until sauce begins to thicken. This must be stored in the fridge.

Today was a rainy, overcast day but I decided to wear my IW dress anyway.
( Outfit rundown )
Overall I think this was just the right day for this dress. The muted colors suited the rainy spring haze outside. I do need bloomers, though, and a better matched purse, hopefully with ruffled lace and bunnies.

I have been looking over my old fabric trying to decide what to do with it. Some of it I have had for ten years. None of it is good for what I want to make. The style I have been loving most lately is Angelic Pretty. I have been looking at the designs with a better idea of how to make it. I want each dress I make to be a confection, totally delightful.

Nathan gave me a beautiful scrollwork cross which I want to wear Sunday with my ivory dress, which I have not yet worn, though I have had it for a year. The Innocent World and Victorian Maiden dresses are the first and last I will have for many years to come, so I intend to purchase and sew wisely. I love the idea of copying the designs I love for myself, like a country woman in the 19th century copying the designs from a fashion magazine. In a little while, I will really be a country lolita, and I want to make the most of it.

Fanchon is the last doll I will have for a while. I am sort of longing for a Sybarite, but it's not at all in the same league as our farm, its garden, kitchen, parlor, stables. I have a metal cabinet for Fanchon's space but am waiting to make or decorate anything until we're moved.

Tonight I decided I can make appliques and adapt them later to curtains, apron, pillow, clothes, as I want. I want so much to be able to make something, but it is hard to sew when I don't know how it will all fit in the house.

I love sew_loli. The stuff people post really gets me thinking about making something.

( These are some projects I've been thinking about doing.  )

A site for fashion and dolls, vintage and modern (under construction) ... go here >>

I have been making a web site companion for this journal to better organize my ideas/photos/projects for dolls and elegant gothic lolita. If you know anything about elegant gothic lolita please feel free to visit and offer any comments here about my definitions of the fashion and its substyles. I took my descriptions from the sources I recognized as well as what I have seen for myself, but I may be off the mark.

I will be offline more and more in the future, and hopefully crafting and journaling in my time after work, so a site I can save to PC will be much more convenient for me.