Day 10 ... wait, Evening 10? Anyway, Summer of Martie!

I have to admit, this is a really great way to fall asleep. When she sees this in the morning, I'm in trouble. ;D

Day 9 of the Summer of Martie.

Man, is it hot outside today. And, just as the sun went down, the thunderstorms rolled in. So what was left to do but lie about and read? Martie and I got our copy of Doll News from the UFDC and settled in to look at the lovely photography and articles.

These two pages are from the article "To Play Amongst Lovely Things: Children and Dolls Captured on Canvas," by Janet Gula, with examples back to the 16th Century. Excellent issue, I recommend getting it if you can. Doll News is the main (but not only) reason I have a UFDC membership.

Day 8 of the Summer of Martie.

I don't know how Martie managed it, but she got the camera-shy dog to hold still for one shot. 

Then Holly politely (for a dog) excused herself and went to the kitchen to pout and take out her camera-angst on a squeaky toy.

Day 7 of the Summer of Martie.

TIGER LILLIES!!

A calmer Day 6 of the Summer of Martie.

Martie's on #dollchat with me!

Remember that #dollchat is Sundays at 2:00 pm and Tuesday 9:00 pm EST USA!! Come join us!

A scary end to Day 5 of the Summer of Martie.

FIRE TRUCK!

Just after we finished supper, a fire truck came wailing up our street and stopped right there--OMG!! There was a fire two houses down from ours, and as you can see from the houses across the street, we're all built very close together. Turns out the back porch of that house was on fire (mind your barbecue grills, people!), there were flames *shooting up*, and having a neighbor across the alley with a straight-shot view of that porch and a phone in his hand saved a lot of houses. We couldn't see it, the first we knew of it was the fire truck, then the neighbors gathering, and then I ran out to the backyard (wearing a t-shirt and unders, shut up, I didn't have time to think) and just saw smoke and firefighters. That's the advantage of living in a crowded little borough with the fire department within walking distance: they were here before most of the street knew what was up. They put the fire out, did a good inspection to make damn sure it was out and there were no embers, and when I took this pic, they were packing up to go.

So that was our Great Excitement for the day, and I really hope there are no repeats any time soon.

Day 4 of the Summer of Martie.

Time for stitchin'! I'm discussing with Martie whether I am responsible enough to be trusted with the scissors, as I've already made myself bleed while pinning the pattern to the fabric.

Dinner and a movie.

Actually, it was movie then dinner, because we went to the Matinee.

Here's Martie in the theater lobby! We went to see Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter. I'm not much of a cinema-goer, I usually prefer watching movies from my couch with a remote in my hand. This is the only movie this summer that I wanted to see on the big screen. I enjoyed it very much, although it required a *LOT* of suspension of disbelief--as I said when it ended, "Well, that was all kinds of crazy shit." Don't go expecting historical accuracy, or even strict adherence to the laws of physics.

Afterwards we went to dinner at Bob Evans, and here Martie is contemplating the menu, finding the pot roast to be especially enticing. And it was good. Amen.

Day 2 of the Summer of Martie.

Lookit, I'm almost as big as the Cathedral!

That's the Cathedral of Learning in the background, the signature building of the University of Pittsburgh, and the second-tallest academic building in the world at 42 functional stories. The tallest is at the University of Moscow, and is only taller because of antenna height. Cheaters.

Tomorrow: different clothes! :D

And now it's THE SUMMER OF MARTIE!

Yep, kids, it's another 61 Days of Martie, from June 21 (it's really summer, all right) through August 21 (when the school year starts to warm up around here, esp the Universities, around which my own year revolves). The theme is....well, there really is no theme, we're just going to see what Martie is up to day-by-day. Ready? Here we go!

We begin where many a good thing starts, at the library.

This is the first floor reading room of the main Oakland branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. Martie is sitting on an open copy of Lost to the West by Lars Brownworth. Underneath that is The Great Big Book of Horrible Things. History is seriously badass, y'all. 

The bookcases behind her contain newer cookbooks. If you've seen my #cookingwillkillyou tags on Twitter, you'll realize that that's one area of knowledge that I have *z*e*r*o* interest in. Lots of people love cookbooks, though, so they get a nice display. How nice for them. ;P 

We do everything in style.

Well, Martie does, anyway. We had to run some errands yesterday, and as it was a rather warm day, Martie smartly wore a cotton dress and flats instead of heavy jeans.

We decided to wait in the car outside the hardware store while the boys went in; I wasn't in the mood to walk three miles of aisles to find duct tape and an electrical cord splice.

While it was warm outside, we were getting a lovely breeze, despite the truck and SUV on either side of us.


Martie's dress made by Charlie Riley, ie, me. Cotton, lined with cotton muslin.

I'd like to thank the academy....

Somehow when I wasn't looking, Dolls Behaving Badly went over 20,000 hits! BOOYAH! Thanks to everyone who's popped over here to see what my dolls are up to.

In honor of such an amazing milestone, I'll be doing another 61 Days of Martie, from June 21 through August 21, probably called The Summer of Martie. Be looking for that starting Thursday!

In celebration, here's the first picture of Martie I ever posted:

Ready for adventure, or whatever comes our way!

Matilda and Modern Medicine.

Poor Matilda has a little rash on her face, probably caused by red pen ink. OH, NOES! I don't know how it happened, but I've taken to checking my hands for obvious ink or print rub-offs before I pick up my dolls. I don't usually grab the girls by their faces, though, so this one is still a tiny bit of a mystery. I'm keeping my eye out for suspicious characters with markers and ballpoints.

Luckily for my darling Matilda, I have some vinyl dolly medical knowledge, and from the bathroom cabinet I produced some Magical Salve (ie, 10% benzoyle peroxide cream), and thus today she is in treatment:


As you can see, we tried to tame her hair with her nightcap, but to little avail; strands escaped despite my best efforts. I didn't want to spritz her hair for fear I'd hit her face and set the "rash" in even more.

Here she is in her (unlaced) overdress I made from a Carpatina pattern. It's definitely long on her, but otherwise fits nicely. When she's all healed up, I'll get some pictures with it and the floral chemise I made as well. This overdress is reversible, with a more lavish floral pattern on the other side.

I initially put the cream on her last night, then checked this morning, and the marks had faded noticeably, but of course not enough. I expect it to take two or three more treatments before it's gone.

PRIDE and ART and SUNSHINE!

Today, we went to downtown Pittsburgh to the Three Rivers Arts Festival , which bumps right against the epicenter of Pittsburgh Pride! The parade is tomorrow, and tonight is Melissa Etheridge right whomp in the middle of Liberty Avenue, so there wasn't a lot going on just yet.The last day of the Arts Festival is tomorrow, though, so if you're in the 'Burgh and haven't gone, gitcher ass dahntahn.

Here is Liberty Avenue:

There were lots of people on either side of this scene, but I managed to grab a moment of calm. Martie is looking up at some of the great architecture in town.

Here's something we don't see a whole lot of in Pittsburgh: a very bright sunny day. My camera was overwhelmed even with the settings adjusted. The tree behind Martie is seriously cool, the flowers are little sculptures, not natural flowers.

 We retreated to some lovely shade. That huge eyeball sculpture has a bench on the other side of it.

 Whew, nice to be off her feet! There's a fountain behind her....

 ...which was lovely and cool and we even caught a nice breeze.

 I sat on the pavement to get this shot, and hunkered down, which drew a few interested looks--but in the middle of the Arts Festival and Pride, I think I blended in just fine.

We weren't allowed to take pictures of any of the "serious" art, dammit, but here is the crowd. Martie doesn't mind a crowd at all, but I sure do.  I think this is the most crowded I have ever seen downtown Pittsburgh. Have I mentioned that I don't like crowds? Because I don't.

 I insisted on taking refuge behind a nice substantial pillar, which also offered a bit of shade. Lots of Artist Market booths all around us.

Some more crazy bright sunshine, and my otherwise reliable auto-focus couldn't deal with it. Plenty of food booths to the right, people picnicking to the left, and one of the 'Burgh's famous bridges in the distance.

We left not too long after this shot, but a little earlier we saw a performance by the Squonk Opera, which has to be experienced to be believed, and the Juried Visual Arts Exhibit. The JVAE made me spitting furious at how stunningly and pointlessly *B*A*D* so many of the entries were. The award winners almost made me flail, they were just awful. One of the award winners was basically a lame prop comic pun that even Carrot Top would have rejected. I'm not kidding. WORST JVAE in my memory. I'm dismayed that I couldn't get pics to prove it.

On a happier note, Martie's happy summer jumpsuit (it's pants, not a dress) made by Charlie Riley. :D

New eBay store!

I did it! I opened the Dolls Behaving Badly eBay store! Keep checking back for new items as I list them. I'll be putting a few more dolls up in the next day or so. I've got some non-doll things coming up, as well, like sewing craft panels and handbags.

Martie says "Go shopping!"

This is one of my many non-marketable skills.

I finally finished my craft category entry for the TonnerCon 2012 competition! Except, alas, I started it about three weeks later than I should have, so it wasn't close to finished in time. All the same, here it is, un-ironed and un-framed, and 100% hand-stitched:

I added gold metallic thread to the brown outlines of the hair, which sparkles nicely, but the camera didn't pick that up. This exercise served to remind me of why I hate to work with metallic thread, as it is evil and uncooperative. But sparkly, and that forgives all.

I get sick and all hell breaks loose.

This is what happens when I'm sick (for two weeks, people--when I get sick, I do it up right)--the worktable goes all ajumble like so:

"Oh, we're taking pictures? Here's my ballerina hands!"