Willow's Blog

Valentine's Prep and House Guests

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:30:29 -0500

Hi!

Long time no write. Better late than never though, right? :-)

Yesterday the Parkingtons got out their Valentine's decoration box, and Teresa had Nafy and Rachel over to help decorate the house. Rachel put together pink floral arrangements with Victorian paper cut-outs in them, Teresa set pink lace cloths over tables, and Nafy tried to help by hanging large green paper hearts from various walls and tables, while knocking into flower vases and running into the delicate heart garland strung across the entry hallway.

Teresa, who was determined to be a polite hostess, did not let her frustration with Nafy's clumsy decorating skills show in the least. She and Rachel decided to deligate Nafy the important task of setting out candy hearts in bowls around the house. Nafy was good at this, except she couldn't stop eating them. ;-)

Who has read the new Pleasantville Lady? The fashionable ladies here are so happy to have new fashions to follow, that they are currently obsessing over how to host house guests. There are all kinds of rules and etiquette to be observed when having a guest stay at your house, which you should definitely check out if you haven't read about them yet! It's hilarious to have someone come stay over at a different house and have to adapt to different surroundings.

Anyway, more next time! Happy Wednesday all!

- Willow

Looking forward to Fall

Tue, 2 Aug 2011 18:09:47 -0500

It's August 2nd, and there is sort of a sumer-lazy feeling around the house, even though we're supposed to be frantically packing our pags to go perform for a week in Wisconsin. Nowadays flying places isn't really a big deal, because packing the things we need for the show has turned into a simple routine.

For the last few days, Solana has been working on sewing Mary Stuart (the Merriman's "Mammy") some new dresses, and she keeps hinting to Nafy that she should work on a new ballgown! Since there *may* be a masked ball again this year, that would probably be a good idea. Mrs. Fox would not want to see her in the same ballgown she has worn for the last few years. Oh dear. Now I'm seriously missing having several doll sewing projects going on at once. It's weird- this year I am so excited about fall. it's only half way through summer, and I'm already wishing for pumpkin pies, spicey candles, fall leaves, and schoolbooks! Summer is great, but it's just so HOT. :)

I just started making some more tea boxes for the Merriman's General Store, and I suppose they are slightly fall themed. One of them is "Apple Spice," and the box has red and white striped fabric with apples along the white columns on it. Yummy. Ooh, apple cider.. No! Willow! Enjoy summer while it is here!

Ok I'd better go and pack stuff up for the trip this evening.

'til next time,

Willow

Art and Nafy Blog

Wed, 11 May 2011 10:59:00 -0500

Yesterday I finished editing Nafy's 12th Blog, and it should be posted today. It was a difficult one because I had to keep cutting it down to fit into 10 minutes, (the maximum length Youtube will allow) and that becomes hard when Nafy's ramblings only make sense if you keep them in the right order. They seem logical only if you're able to follow along with her train of thought. Haha!

Some entries for the Ourdolls.net drawing contest have come in recently in the mail, and I am soooo impressed! They are adorable and quite accurate! I love seeing which character people decide to draw, and it makes me so happy that they are so carefully and thoughtfully drawn.

Drawing is something that I would love to be able to spend large amounts of time on. It is so calming and relaxing! It's also especially fun while listening to good music.

The Parkingtons finally took down their Easter decorations a few days ago, (they were putting it off because there isn't another decorated holiday for a while) and now they have to wait until Independence day to get out all of their lovely red, white, and blue bunting and American Flags. The question is.... do we have another Pleasantville County Fair this year? We shall see!!

Love,

Willow

Easter Festivities

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 18:55:54 -0500

Oh my... the rain just keeps coming down! It was looking like a nice day until this big black cloud decided to come along and pour all over everywhere!

Greta is in the music room right now teaching a violin student. Since today is Wednesday, there are several students that will be coming in and out through the course of the afternoon. It's quite pleasant, except that the rest of the family has to stay pretty quiet for most of the day!

Easter has come and gone, and the Parkington's Easter Gala as well. I can't wait for everyone to see the pictures of it, as the dolls looked rather splendid in their Spring finery. Although not many of them had new dresses, Felicity finally finished her first court gown so you will all get to see it pretty soon! As they were leaving for the party, Lily Merriman realized that she will have to have just as many gowns as Felicity, since she will be accompanying her as well as Mrs. Fox.

All the proper school students gathered together with their Easter baskets during the Gala, and set off to search the town for the "Easter eggs," (a.k.a jelly beans) that were hidden in everyone's houses. We got some cute pictures, so expect to see them soon!

All the best,

Willow

Spring Sewing

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 10:44:00 -0500

Goodness, it has certainly been quite an effort to get all of the doll families switched over to their Spring things this year! All the winter clothes/accessories have almost been put under the house in storage containers, and now I feel like going through all the spring things carefully to take out anything that isn't very good quality. I still have some of my earlies sewing projects as dresses for several of the dolls, and I know I could make them better clothes now.

Cristal has received several dress orders recently, including one from Mrs. Merriman for a few new day dresses. Not only that, but she hasn't released her new fashion flyer to the public yet, which means there are sure to be more dress orders in a few weeks! The last sewing project I tackled was making new performance dresses for my sisters and I, and those were very difficult. I'm ready to do some 'fun' sewing again. Felicity finally has one court ballgown almost put together which is a start... :)

Proper School began again last week, and it was jolly good fun! The only problem is, we planned to have one again this thursday and no one has had enough time to get around to their homework yet. :-/ Sometimes I wish I could just live in Pleasantville full time. Ah well!

- Willow

Happy New Year!

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 12:32:29 -0500

Hello!

It's my first blog post on here in 2011. Yay! It's also already getting towards the second month of 2011 already. February! I'm excited about February in Pleasantville for several reasons. Mainly because I love decorating the Parkington's house in all of their Valentine's accessories, and it's so cute when the proper school students make lacy Valentine's for each other out of Victorian scraps, glitter, pink paper and lace. Valentine's are such a sweet tradition. I wish more people actually spent the time to home make Valentines for each other. Not the store bought ones that everyone can get, but original designs from each person.

As you can tell, I'm kind of in a craft mood right now. I haven't worked on doll projects for a few weeks, and naturally that makes me feel a little behind on things because that's the important stuff, you know!

The Parkington girls have taken it upon themselves to move the post office into a wing of their mansion, so that they could become more involved in a town business. They want to be the town hub where everyone visits them every day. I think they've been a bit influenced by the character Dorcas Lane from the "Larkrise to Candleford" Series!

http://sharetv.org/shows/lark_rise_to_candleford_uk/cast/dorcas_lane

And by a little, I mean a LOT. ;-)

If you haven't seen the "Larkrise to Candleford" series, I highly highly highly recommend it. My whole family relished every single episode of the 3 seasons that have been released so far.

That's it for now!

Stay warm,

Willow

Gettysburg and Proper School

Wed, 15 Sep 2010 07:51:00 -0500

Since I haven't been at home lately, I don't have all that much to write about happenings in Pleasantville. However, William and Pierre have been popping up in conversations between Solana and I because we're close to Gettysburg in Pennsylvania and so we keep reciting the Gettysburg address like they did at the Pleasantville county fair.

When we get home I think we're going to finally have another Proper School lesson, which we haven't done in over a year. Their last assignment was to sew tucks in all of their uniform bodice patterns, which took a long time. We never do a proper school lesson unless all of the students have gotten around to their homework from last time. And sometimes that takes a while! Solana plays with the most people in proper school, since she has Teresa, Katharine, Rebecca, Heather, Polly, and Elinor. That means she has to do a lot of sewing in order to get all the tucks done.

Well, I've got to go and grab some breakfast, since the hotel breakfast closes pretty soon. The weather here is nice and sunny which is excellent for performing outside. I really like it in Pennsylvania!

Love,

Willow

Fall is in the Air

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 10:37:56 -0500

I know, I know. There are still a few weeks of summer left, but I can't help anticipating fall and the fun things that go with autumn time.

I just changed the outside of the Parkington's house to have fall leaves all over the ground, and now the flowers on front of the porch are a combination of dark roses and bright orange flowers. There are a few miniature sunflower patches in front of their bay windows as well as a long vine of orange leaves that climbs from one side of the house all the way up to Teresa's attic bedroom.

Right now Samantha and Rebecca are out on the front porch sitting on some wicker chairs and talking about how they still have some wrap ups to do regarding the county fair. They are in their winter coats though, because the breeze is a bit chilly.

Cristal and Suzanne just switched out their spring and summer clothing with their fall and winter clothing, so now they're almost ready for the season. Suzanne called Mrs. Larson yesterday to complain about the food rounds not being done in a few weeks, but Mrs. Larson just started complimenting Suzanne on how proud everyone was for her to win Miss Pleasantville, and Suzanne just forgot about what she called for in the first place.

It's amazing how good people feel when you compliment them. It makes you feel good, and it makes them feel good, and such an amazing feeling is achieved. :-)

Thanks for reading!

Love,

Willow

In Montana- Heading home soon!

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 09:45:00 -0500

I wonder why blogs are called blogs? What a strange word. I might have to look that up.

Anyway, here I am in Montana! One more leg of the tour and it's back home to the Northwest and Pleasantville. I miss Nafy. And Cristal. And Ana. And everyone else, it's time for them to get back to normal life after the County Fair. I wonder what the next big town event will be..

Suzanne hasn't even had time to gloat about being Miss Pleasantville to all of town yet. That means there hasn't been much going on!! As soon as we get back I have a feeling that she will go off and call on everyone just so she can relive her moment of glory.

There are also still some scenes we want to shoot for the movie! We had no idea when we started filming what a big deal it was going to end up being. Now we just can't let anything go by without making it the best it can be. Even if that means shooting winter scenes in the summer!

Love,

Willow

First Day on Tour

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 09:05:00 -0500

We left Pleasantville the day before yesterday to head off on tour for a few weeks. Yesterday was the first day of shows, and although I was very tired because I didn't get any sleep the night before, they went very well! The most exciting part though, was that a few Our Dolls fans showed up to see the show! It was so amazing for someone to come up and say "I really like Pleasantville." I felt like jumping up and down for joy. :) Today I'm sitting in a hotel room in Goshen, Indiana, and we're about to drive to Valparaiso to another fair for a few days.

Yesterday I went on the ferris wheel at the fair, and I had fun acting like Nafy in her blog, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcYdKjjkVjI) "I'm at the top I'm at the top!" "I'm at the bottom I'm at the bottom!" For some reason the ferris wheel seemed very special after having made one in miniature scale. I definitely looked at it differently than I would have before.

Well I've got to pack up to leave the hotel now.. the room is very messy. We got in really late at night, (well, technically it was early in the morning. 4:45 am!!) so no one felt like unpacking in an orderly fashion.

I'm really curious about if I'll get to meet any more Our Dolls fans on this trip.

TTYL!

Love,

Willow