Penny Sanford Porcelains

Meshack, come home, sweetie!

Remember I told you that a power surge or strike of lightning came in and zapped three of our four kilns back some months ago? The smallest kiln was burned out completely.

The twin kilns, Shadrack and Meshack (first two kilns I bought for the studio; they are identical) both were hit, but we got Shadrack back earlier in June.

Well, this weekend, Shadrack stopped firing properly. It shows indication of a malfunction in the switch (recently replaced) and in some elements.

This means that we cannot fire any porcelain until we get a working kiln back.  We have Big Bertha, but she takes a day to warm up, a day to cook, and a day to cool down. She is a only an option of last resort.

Tomorrow, Gordon takes Shadrack to the Kiln doctor and picks up Meshack. Hopefully Meshack will settle right in and fire perfectly until we meet the deadline for the pineapple brooches just after the Fourth of July.

This is so typical of normal "complications" we face when we have any deadline. After 16 years in this studio, I am much better at handling what many would call a total disaster, but this has been a learning process.

Oh, my, have I learned the hard way how to keep working the problem. DO NOT GIVE UP is part of my DNA.

That sticktuitiveness actually gets in the way of discerning what God wants me to do in life. Many times He has had to pry my locked, cold fingers off of something (relationship or creative pursuit) before I would stop trying to make it work. 

As I share with you the changes underway in this studio, I'll tell you more about the "bumps in the road". Why?

During this ongoing journey of transition, it has helped me to read about others who have struggled and struggled to evolve their business That is what I hope to share on this blog... encouragement, even when the circumstances cry "disaster".

Some good news today:  Miss Dollie is back at work after missing work all of last week. She was knocked down by a white van in the Walmart parking lot in Grenada Saturday, June 21, injuring her shoulder.

Miss Dollie is not 100 percent, but she can do the first steps on preparing the raw porcelain for me to finish. Last week, Gordon and I had to step in and do more for Mama and Unc...things Miss Dollie does so faithfully and without complaint.

It did mean we had less time and less energy for the porcelain, but we still made good progress.  We Worked the Problem.

We are watching Miss Dollie closely to be sure she does not re-injure her shoulder by trying to do something that her shoulder does not need to do yet. Miss Dollie has taught me so much about faithfulness and loyalty through her example here, and I want to honor her by protecting her from re-injuring her shoulder.

This weekend, Gordon and I watched some program about oil well drilling, "Black Gold". What struck me was how familiar it seemed.

All three drill sites had everything go wrong. If it could break, jam, or malfunction, those guys experienced it. Each delay cost money and threatened to shut down the job.

Through the whole program, I caught myself thinking this phrase, in a mental mantra,  Work the Problem. "Yep, Work the Problem, Guys".

It helped seeing others encounter a hard-to-explain cascade of challenges, leaving only the option of Working the Problem.

I feel strong and positive tonight. It is a new week, a new set of challenges and a new set of opportunities to make something good come from this journey.

Time for bed and a little help falling asleep. One has to get plenty of rest during times like this.

Lunch with the fur kids

This was a first for me...taking one of the fur kids to have lunch at a local eatery.

Gordon's aunt and uncle came through nearby Winona, Mississippi, today (Thursday) on their way to Pigeon Forge, TN. They have a little Maltese, Toby.

Woody's Old Town Grill has an outdoor patio as its entrance, so of course we went there. Plus, I was craving one of the mushroom burgers that I used to get there in the early 1980's. Their mushroom burger of old is no longer on the menu, but they still make it for folks like me who can't get them out of our minds.

It was in the 90's today in Mississippi, and we were dreading melting over lunch, but I was thrilled to discover that the patio was perfectly situated for a super breeze. We were completely comfortable, and we lingered over lunch for a long conversation.

I thought the restaurant owners must have known some secret about raised patios being cooler...or they planned for the air currents created by nearby passing vehicles to help cool outdoor customers...until I learned later today that the building had begun life as a freight office, designed for 18 wheelers to back up to the front door. At least I might get an "A" for creative meteorology?

Codye, our waitress, even brought some water in a bowl for the dogs. I thought that was a particularly special gesture.

Annie wore one of her custom collar slipcovers with embroidery. Pattern and details are here.

Annie had a blast sitting under my chair or right at my feet, watching people come and go. Because of the raised patio entrance, she got to watch bobbing heads with people attached emerge from the ramp and then disappear down the ramp. She loved it, and I was proud as a peacock that my fur child just sat and watched, perfectly at ease and not interested in drawing attention to herself!

Annie gave me many of those smiles I have worked hard to earn from her. Because of the abuse in her background, it took a while to earn those smiles. They are priceless to us!

Seeing us meeting strangers (to Annie) holding a little white dog, I think Annie was worried that we were bringing yet another dog into our fur family here on the farm, or that we might be giving her away.

It was just a fleeting expression of concern. Annie can convey her emotions very effectively.

Toby was enthusiastically expressing his male machismo, and Annie looked at him with a withering look that said, "Look, kid. You are like 1/3 my size. I could whip you with two paws tied behind my back, and besides, you are a bowaay. (psshhaaww) Leave me alone (sneer)."

Tonight, Annie has chosen to curl up with her head on my shoulder so that I could whisper into her pert pink ears those little private phrases that I only share with my precious Annie.

Each time we take Annie on a special "adventure", she and I grow closer. It is a privilege to watch this little furry treasure open up and give more of her little heart and allow more love to reach the old emotional hurts.

What I'm Really Doing

For something different, I thought I would let you have a peek inside my work day, in the middle of this really big, looming, humongous, leering deadline to which I have referred often in the past few months.

A peek today, a peek tomorrow and so forth.

I'm sharing this with you while I wait for a burst of energy to do a third session of porcelain to put in the kiln and fire tonight.

Working with "green" or raw or unfired porcelain is like working with an unbaked pie crust. It is very fragile and can crumble if I look at it wrong.

I have a "Three Breaks and Stop" rule. After I've broken the third piece in a work session, I have to stop until I am more rested, calmer, or have better control of my hands.

Since starting this studio in 1992 and since introducing my line of original sculpture in 1996 (Christmas ornaments, jewelry, vases, tile, statues), tens of thousands of pieces of porcelain have crossed my work tray.

I go through tools at an amazing rate. Note the ends of the tools in the second picture. The large tool is relatively new. The almost-worn-to-a-nub tool has been used for a month or so. Try to picture wearing down a hard metal sculpting tool against material with the texture of an uncooked pie crust.

You see, I am the last pair of hands to work on every piece that comes out of this studio. I decided early on that if my signature was on the piece, then I wanted to have put in time finishing that piece.

I collect stuff that carries an artist's signature or logo...but the last time that artist ever touched that line was when the original was finished. More on this area of conversation later. I will be asking for your thoughts and opinions.

For tonight, I'll just share the work setting today.

Today I spread an old quilt on the bed, propped up a BUNCH of pillows, positioned a flax pillow in the small of my back, put my work tray on a big 37 inch square pillow in my lap, covered with old towels, and started sculpting tiny details on each of these Spirit of Hospitality Pineapple brooches.

This is a special commission for 600 brooches for the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. The deadline is the first week of July. This project started 16 months ago, and it has been a nail-biter. 

The Penny Sanford Porcelain studio is in a transition phase. We have more requests for special commissions than we can do, and we need to transition to a custom manufacturer to free me up to create more original art.

I'll be sharing this bumpy ride with you in future posts. You too will be saying, "what ELSE can go wrong?" Well, oodles, I promise, some of it genuinely funny!

Two intense work sessions today, propped up on my pillows, with Elvis sleeping against me, his head often propped on the work tray.

In his second picture, he is playing Peep--Eye with me, opening those beautiful big brown loving eyes from time to time, just to check on me. I love you too, my little man.

Lillibeth snuggles with one of her toys in the last picture. She and Annie usually log as many hours as Elvis "assisting" me with the porcelain.

It is dusty, messy, tedious work, and I love it. 

If I've not sculpted for a week, for example, the act of sinking a tool into the clay or the raw porcelain is still a fresh, exciting experience.

So back to the porcelain. I'd like to complete seven more brooches tonight, giving me a total of 20 in the kiln.

It is slow work. Right now, it is taking me 20 or 30 minutes PER brooch.

More behind the scenes to come...

What a Wee Westie Lass Wears

Aaahh, what a Wee Westie Lass wears on a sultry summer evening in Mississippi...

Why, a vivid, sleeveless kimono!

Annie models her completed frock for you after I spent five minutes this afternoon finishing the bow.

What can I say...the kimono band started out in a squiggly Dr. Seuss mood, but I was listening to Star Trek: Enterprise when I finished the bow, so the bow is a bit Sci Fi.  The kimono influence came from the discussion and documenting a bit of family history from Occupied Japan.

Ya think all those disparate influences will give Annie a complex? Or give her bad dreams? Yikes! Hope not!

No time to sit and chat with you tonight. Patterns and more chic doggie designs to come, I promise...after this big porcelain deadline.

Back to porcelain, folks.

Eyes are hurting tonight. Allergies, I think...so I really cannot tell how these photos edited.

The two shots of the kimono sans Annie are ones I could not clearly see the color and detail on the computer screen. Maybe the fabric has a sheen to it.

I may need to reshoot those pictures another day.

Now, to think of what the next outfit will be...It is fun to sew for the fur babies.

If you missed Lillibeth's Flower Child Dress, here it is.

You may want to check out my collar slipcover patterns that I share, for free, on this blog. Those patterns and ideas are under the categories of Fur Kids or Projects (maybe both).

I won't take time right now to find the exact links...will do later tonight if I have any uummph left after starting the kiln.

Charlotte's Subtle Web

I've not posted as much about Charlotte as she deserves. Charlotte was one of the eight puppy mill Westies we rescued last September.

Charlotte chose Unc as she took her first few steps on the farm. She adores Unc. She follows him everywhere he will allow her to go which includes the garden.

Which means Charlotte will always have tan legs, tummy and hindquarters. As long as she is happy, then I am happy, regardless of her shading.

Charlotte has also spun her web over Gordon, Mama and me. We think she may be a sister to Lillibeth.

She is very shy and nervous around more dominant dogs (the other Westies), but she seems to get along great with the tall English Shepherds.Charlotte spends her time in the farmhouse with my mother and uncle and the English Shepherds. Seeing her little personality emerge is a treasure to be savored.

Today, Gordon and I Westie-napped Charlotte for a few hours for a Westie Beauty Treatment in the studio. She soaked up every ounce of special attention, but she was more than ready to resume her chosen post at Unc's heels.

Today was a good Monday. I was able to complete more porcelain than I expected to finish today, and the kiln is already firing tonight.

Now, I'm too pooped to plod through all the email. Tomorrow is another day for porcelain with time for email and such. Tonight it will be a treat to get to bed before 10 p.m.!  The Westies (and Gordon) continue to train me to "live in the moment", worry less and allow more time for rest.

The Kennel Murder Case, 1933, is playing on the television. They've already featured an adorable Scotty named Captain, I think. All of our Westies paid close attention to the Scotty's barks. I wonder what the little tyke said way back in 1933 that our Westies understood tonight. 

I've not paid too much attention to the story line. There are plenty of dogs in the movie, so it is fun to watch the fur kid reactions when the dogs bark their lines on screen.  A very cozy evening, this is, indeed.

A Flower Child Westie

Lovely day. Truly a lovely weekend.

The icing on the weekend was these pictures that Gordon took this afternoon of Lillibeth, Mackie and Sunny. It was bath day for the boys, Mackie and Elvis.
Elvis helped me with porcelain late this afternoon...his big brown eyes watching my every move while he rested against me as I made some progress on the big looming porcelain deadline.

I made time to finish putting the snaps on Lillibeth's new dress and Annie's new kimono. That was good therapy to see the two girls strutting around in their new clothes.

Something happens to Lillibeth when she is wearing a dress. Annie is becoming that way as well. Hopefully we can capture the transformation on video.

Pictures and patterns to come, I promise.

While I worked on porcelain, I thought about the next little outfits I would make. We've not tried a little dress on Charlotte. I hope she will enjoy the special attention as well!

Our letter to mail to our "adopted" soldier is written and ready to mail tomorrow.

Trying to get to sleep a bit early tonight. First time in about three weeks I have not ached like the flu at night. Very thankful for that!

It is going to be a busy week!

I still wonder what was in those tunnels

Found some more pictures and papers from Unc's time in the U.S. Army in Occupied Japan.

This first picture is supposed to show the widespread damage in Nagoya..a bit hard to see in this faded old black and white picture.

Unc has talked a lot over the years about how few structures remained that were intact or were not in danger of falling down at the time of the U.S. Occupation of Japan.

Nagoya was apparently hit with lots of "regular" bombs...no atom bombs and not incendiary bombs. I have not had time to research that, and I am curious.

The place where Unc was assigned to work was in an old Mitsubishi Airplane Plant where the Japanese made Zero's. From what I read on the Internet, the Nagoya Mitsubishi Zero plants were referred to as "Airframe" plants, which would suggest that just the frame of the zero was made there, not the engine...but I may be wrong.

Unc said the plant had been cleaned out before he and other U.S. Army personnel set up in the building to repair guns. There were no spare parts or unfinished planes or equipment lying around in the building.

This was an interesting and well researched website about the production of the various versions of Japanese Zero airplanes in Nagoya.

The article refers to production in the third Mitsubishi plant in Nagoya, but I have no idea which plant is depicted in the photograph from Unc's box of memorabilia.

I'm also remembering from a History Channel program that toward the end of the war, the citizens of Japan dug up the roots of pine (?) trees to distill into fuel for the airplanes. I forget how many thousands of trees were required to fill the tank of one of the fighter airplanes. Amazing determination of the rank-and-file citizen of Japan to help win the war.

One passing comment from Unc's reminis -cences this time made my hair stand on end.

Apparently there were under -ground shelters or tunnels or spaces under the Mitsubishi Airframe Plant where Unc and others worked.

Unc tells some fun tales of sounds heard from underneath the plant, but he was not aware if any US Army personnel had ever checked out the tunnels.

HUH?  I think I would have been asking about that...like...every day!  And remember that U.S. Army personnel were not allowed to carry guns in Occupied Japan!

Unc did tell of an anti-aircraft gun being discovered under a rice drying rack near their barracks well after the Japanese surrender.

Uh, after that live gun discovery, I think I would have been back at the headquarters strongly suggesting a thorough check of those underground spaces at the Mitsubishi Plant!

Ha! Something tells me the Army would not have appreciated the overactive imagination of a pushy broad!

Unc was assigned to the 359th Ordnance Maintenance Company. He could repair anti-aircraft guns and big mounted machine guns. I'll have to come back and put in the correct calibers. The letterhead of his second promotion calls it the 72d Ordnance Group...so maybe they moved him around?

During basic training, Unc tested with an IQ of 149, and the powers that be tried to get him to go into officer training. He respectfully declined.

Then he was shooting so well that a wise old Sargent quietly explained to him that the Army was needing snipers and that snipers had a life expectancy of...a very very short time. Ya know, Unc's target accuracy decidedly declined after that?

Unc wanted to do his duty, and he wanted to serve his country, but he wanted to come home and be a farmer, carrying on the family tradition. I think he lived up to his IQ tests.

He kinda morphed into being an acting supply person without the rank. He was scheduled to come back home about the time the job opened up, so he filled the position and trained the new guy without getting the promotion.

I guess that is why a gun mechanic has paperwork dealing with laundry. He has quite a few stories about signing out a truck and a driver and what they encountered on their way to and from some task. 

Unc also laughs about the little Japanese kids trying to confuse the GI's who delivered big bags of laundry to the authorized Japanese Laundries. The kids would count in Japanese, but out of order, while the poor GI was trying to keep the number of bags straight.

Unc quickly learned to count in Japanese so that the cute little tykes could not confuse him. He said they would just laugh and giggle when they discovered he could count in Japanese. I wonder if much of their laughter was because of his pronunciation with a Southern accent?.

It pleases and amazes me that the Japanese children instinctively knew they could tease and would not be harmed by the GI's.

I think our soldiers around the world find basically the same reaction from the kids in the exotic countries in which our soldiers are stationed.

It did fascinate me to see his promotion orders in his box of memories. The paper on which all of these routine tasks were printed is very thin...all that was available at the time and in that location.

If by some miracle, you know any of the people listed on these old Army documents, please let me know. I'm sure Unc would be thrilled to hear how their life turned out.

The last document was maybe someone's guide to learning Japanese? Unc does not now remember why he has it or what it meant.

If you can translate, it would greatly please an 82 year old veteran of World War II. (You can click on a picture to make it larger.)

All of this has greater meaning to me because Gordon and I are hoping to hear from the soldier we adopted through Soldiers Angels. Getting to know him as a person will put a face on this war for us.

You may have already read that we have not had any active duty soldiers in our close family since Korea.

These stained and creased papers that Unc has saved all these years made him choke up while sharing some of his memories.

I'm trying to get my mind around how Unc's experiences in the Army changed his life and impacted the decisions he would make after the Army.

Something similar may be going on with the soldier to whom we are sending letters and care packages in...that place that has a lot of sand.

I enjoyed hearing from you after the previous post on this topic, both in the comments and via email.

Throwing Cheerios into Godzilla's Face

It has been a good week. Truly.

The computer was not annihilated by antioxidants.  The porcelain fired beautifully in one of the repaired and returned kilns. Unc mowed and bush-hogged his heart out this week. I still have eyes that are working. What more could I want from a really good week?

Someone paid us just in time for us to pay a big bill. Gordon and I are learning more and more how to trust God to control that kinda stuff so that we don't get swamped with worry and stress.

We met little deadlines and made tangible progress toward big deadlines. I had blog time that included time to write up a little family history. Gordon scanned some more old slides and photos, another step in a multi-year project.

At this moment, while writing this post, I'm also moving all the scans of old family slides and pictures from every hiding place Gordon has used on our multi-computer network to hide these scans of old photos.

Really, the boy cannot put new scans in the same folder on the same computer to save his life. (That's a whole 'nother story).

But to continue the good stuff from this week: Annie loves her new kimono which only lacks the little bow on the back. Almost finished with Lillibeth's new dress. 

Fleas under control with just herbs. Dogs are not scratching from allergies to man-made chemical flea poisons. Birds fed. Short little rains this week to feed the crops. A great week!

Everywhere I look we have made progress this week. I should feel fantabulous!

Instead, I am climbing the walls.  This is almost one of those dreaded "buried alive" feelings I get from time to time, usually before something bad happens. Flu aches in every joint. Skin burning from the inside out.

Oh Drat! Gordon has found the television remote control, so we are now jumping mid-sentences from channel to channel. I'm pretty good at hiding that little bugger to limit Gordon's channel surfing, but one of the Westies rolled over on it and made the channel change, giving away the hiding place.

Hubby's Male Pattern Channel Surfing is not blending well with Wife's Buried Alive Hormone Blizzard.

This is a night for a blood thirsty movie like Rambo, but hubby NetFlixed some silent movie shorts instead. (Maybe I coined a new word there! NetFlixed! I like it!).

Feeding me silent movie shorts tonight is like throwing cheerios into Godzilla's face.

I wonder if Gordon realizes how close he is walking to the precipice of a bottomless cavern of uncontrolled and unjustified female rage?

Do men have a little warning beep in their heads that tells them when to walk softly carrying a big bowl of chocolate or chocolate ice cream or chocolate cake with chocolate ice cream.

No wait! Even better: chocolate cake with chocolate ice cream with chocolate sprinkles on top!

There is a joke about catching Osama Bin Laden by parachuting a bunch of menopausal women into the craggy mountains of Afghanistan.

That joke has a much, much richer meaning to me today, sneaking up on age 46, than it did back in 2002. I'd love a crack at OBL while in this particularly intense mood! *wicked grin*

Hubby may just have to drive 25 miles to a Super Walmart to BUY a copy of Rambo for me tonight. I need to see those bad guys being blown into little pieces of fish bait.  And we need some of those store brand Reece's Peanut Butter Cups!!! At least several bags of them!

Antioxidants are not good for computers!

You should know and remember that antioxidants are not good for computers!

Last night, I managed (somehow) to tip over a bottle of chilled green tea from the bedside table. It somersaulted several times before hitting the floor with a big "Sploosh"!!

No sweat. It is mostly water. Gordon ran into the other room for a towel, and as he was handing the towel to me, his bluebonnet-blue eyes grew huge with horror!

My laptop, on a separate table, but nearby, was showing one of those blue screens of impending death. Not THE Blue Screen of Death, but the one that said, if I remember correctly:

"You stupid heifer. You just splashed liquid all over this keyboard! This computer is now eating your data with every passing nanosecond, and we are going to make you cough up money you don't have for a new computer which you cannot live without."

Yep, I'm pretty sure that was the exact wording of the message on the screen.

TaDaDaDaDA! Hubby Geek to the rescue!

Faster than the appearance of yet another new Windows OS bug, Gordon lept over tall dog steps and yanked the power cords from the back of the laptop. He mopped droplets and started the drying process.

For the rest of the night, he pulled out parts of the laptop, put them under a lamp to dry out, put parts back in (with no parts left over), and rebooted the computer.

That blue screen of  vengeance would appear after a few minutes, but each time it took longer and longer for the nasty message to appear.

Well, I don't have to tell you that I, as Gordon's fearless wife and helpmate in life, committed to remaining by his side through all of life's challenges, dove under the mass of pillows and my Linus blanket (yellow chenille) and hid with the Westies for the rest of the night. I kept praying,

"Lord, I trust You." "It is your computer, and I trust You in whatever lesson you are teaching us right now."

Even today, I was too scared and depressed to venture out of the bed. I worked on porcelain propped up against my mountain of pillows with little white dogs snuggled close, snoring.

I just could not face another big expensive problem for now. Sometimes the bed is the best place to hide and handle the bumps of life.

By mid afternoon, Gordon emerged from his ICU for computers, proclaiming this little laptop had been HEAled!

I don't know how he did it, but my hubby-geek saved this computer from a sure death by antioxidants!

This afternoon, Gordon has backed up every thought on this little box, and we have talked a little about the inevitable replacement of this Pandora's Box.

I'm just thankful! Gordon is my hero!

The Connecting Threads of War

C Gordon and I "adopted" a soldier through Soldiers Angels. We have sent him two letters and two care packages so far. He is stationed in a place where there is sand.

Yes, we know his name and where he is stationed, but that is not information important to this blog. For all I care, he could be stationed in the next county...he is still serving our country, and that is what we want to support.

Apparently, it takes about two weeks to get either a letter or a care package to his location, so he should be receiving his first letter and first care package about now.

Not knowing how old he is or what he does in the military or which part of the U.S. he calls home, my letters have been a bit twittery. Hopefully he will write or email back and let us know enough to refine what we send him.

Mama, Unc and Miss Dollie are equally involved in this "adoption". Miss Dollie has baked cookies for each care package. I thought Unc and Gordon were going to crawl into that first care package and follow those cookies. We have not had home-made cookies in a while.

The care package project has prompted Unc to share his World War II experiences in Occupied Japan (1945-46) in Nagoya.

Then, mail was much slower, so by the time the one care package that actually reached him arrived in Nagoya, the cake inside was green with mold.

It did not matter that the cake was green with mold. It was a package from home, and just receiving a letter or a package could lift spirits of even the soldiers in the bunks around the recipient.

Unc said they threw the green cake away, and watched in amazement as Japanese children retrieved and almost fought over the spoiled cake. This would have been just months after Japan surrendered.

Our family sent many more care packages to Unc, but he only received one while in Japan. The cake was in a tin. How I wish we had that well-traveled cake tin now!

These pictures are some that Gordon scanned recently. One of Unc's army buddies gave him three pictures from their time in occupied Japan. We have found only two of them so far.

Unc takes excellent pictures, and I wish he had had a camera during his time in Occupied Japan.

The cute kids in the cart in the first picture are not the children referred to in the paragraphs above. Unc thinks the second picture was of the Occupation Headquarters in Nagoya. I'm not good enough with Photoshop to make those words under "Headquarters" pop out. Can you tell?

Unc said he was not sure why the people were wearing masks in this circa 1945-1946 photo. Maybe the masks were because of the continuing civilian deaths after Japan's surrender?

Unc remembers that General MacArthur had a standing order for the Japanese authorities to check all the subway and bus stations every day to pick up the bodies of Japanese who had died during the night. It is my understanding that these were fresh civilian deaths after war's end because of disease and long years of malnutrition and strain from the demands of war on the country.

Another possible reason for the masks was the country's sewage system at that time. Unc remembers the Japanese used human wastes to fertilize crops at that time. The open carts that carried this waste to the farms were euphemistically called "honey wagons". Following a ox-pulled sloshing honey wagon in the summer heat was not something the American GI's liked to do.

The landscape and convoy of jeeps is, we think, from Korea and my Uncle D's time fighting in the Korean War. He did have a camera with him, and as we find them, we are scanning those pictures.

Lastly, before I return to the huge looming porcelain deadlines, here is a picture of Annie during a fitting for her kimono that I am making her.

While putting Lillibeth's dress on her the other day, Annie came over and sat down right by Lillilbeth in the way that she comes to have her collar put on. It made me realize that Annie wanted a dress too so that she could also receive the ooohs and aaahs.

Ruffles and frills just do not seem to fit Annie's personality, so, immersed in stories of Japan, I decided to make a little kimono.

This was a fitting, and before I could pin the belly flaps where the snaps would be sewn, Annie took off to give her kimono a spin around the back yard.

Apparently the kimono moved well with her fluffy little body, and Annie has approved the design. She now feels just as special as Lillibeth because she had a little outfit too!

Of course I'll be sharing the pattern and pictures of the finished outfit with you...after the big scary looming porcelain deadlines.