Getting Ready. Nevada and California Here We Come.

Next week Bill and I are pointing the RV in the direction of Nevada and California for a month of vacation. To give you all a number of dolls to look at while we are gone I just put three knew dolls on my website. Miss Emily, Miss Ruth and Miss Jeanette. Next week before we leave I’ll put two more up.

Beginning to Look Like Christmas

Well, it’s stretching it, but fall is here and Thanksgiving and Christmas are sure to be on top of us before long.

I’ve been under the weather a bit lately, but as soon as I feel better Bill and I are taking the motor home out of mothballs and heading to Florida.

Since holidays are in sight I thought I’d design a Christmas Southern Bell. Her dress is red with some gold trim and she’s wearing a Christmas wristband. You can see her now at Joan’s Dolls.

Till I blog again. . . .

Virgina In The Fall

The state of Virginia is beautiful in the fall. "Wide Swatches of vibrant yellows, reds and oranges"  will greet you on many of the driving tours mapped out by the Virginia Department of Forestry.


The Virginia setting sun inspired the name of my latest doll, Amber.  She is now showing on Joan's Dolls.

Till I blog again. . .

Texas Plantations

We have had three days of thunderstorms. So far 4 inches of rain have fallen. Some parts of Texas and Okalahoma have had flooding. We, fortunately, are high and dry.As always I have been busy crocheting dresses for my Southern Belle dolls. My latest one is Miss Ruby. Miss Ruby lived on a plantation in Canton, Texas.

Usually when the words "southern plantation" are mentioned most everyone thinks of Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, the Carolinas, Virginia or Tennessee. But did you know Texas had huge plantations raising cotton, sugar cane and corn. Here’s a few of them: Dewberry Plantation (20 minutes south of Tyler), Ellersly Plantation, Liendo Plantation and Waldek Plantation. Texas seceded from the Union and became part of the Confederate States of America in March of 1861.

Till I blog again . .

Labor day Weekend

I was going to title this blog "Happy Labor Day", but then I thought of all those people out of work and it's not to happy for them. Bill has some definite political opinions on the state of  the Union. Someday I'll let him babble on on my blog. Me, I put it in the Lords hands and pray all well be OK for our unemployed.

The flag is out and all is peaceful here today. As usual blue skies and white clouds are overhead and the grass is still very green although there are subtle signs of Fall. Come visit us in East Texas. We would be glad to have y'all as our guests.

I 've been busy. Miss Catherine joined the Belles on Joan's Dolls today at http://dollsbyjoan.com/. Lately I have been using a lot of "eyelash" thread for trimming dresses and hats. It adds a little zing to the outfit. Eyelash thread has hundreds of protruding threads about ¾ inch long woven into the thread. Click on Catherine's picture to get a good look at the trim on her hat.

Till I blog again…

This Weeks Doll Miss Lily

Things have been quiet around here this week. Bill could not mow the lawn as his riding mower broke down. But alas, the repair shop delivered it last night so he has no excuse now. Get to work Bill.

I choose Miss Lily to put up on the website this week. She's named after the flower and her dress is cream colored with black accessories and accents. Since 1880 her name has been given 78,883 times. Her name was not given much in the past, but it has skyrocketed in the last 15 years. Miss Lily is one of my favorites.

If you have looked at the website you know that each Southern Belle tells a little story. They often use slang words from the mid 1800 US. I thought it would be nice to include a dictionary of their slang words as a page on the website. As they speak a new slang word I add it to the dictionary. Some of those old slang words are used today.

My Doll Web Site is Up

As promised in my last blog entry my doll website "Joan's Dolls" is up and running. The URL is dollsbyjoan.com.  I created a new Southern Belle doll for the occasion. Meet Miss Angel. You can see detailed pictures of her on the web site.

Angel wasn 't around the house for long before my sister-in-law, Judy, fill in love with her and took her back to California. We had a great time with Jim and Judy. They stayed for three days and we got a chance to catch up on all the family goings on. We went to the Tyler Rose garden. At 26 acres it's one of the largest in the country. It's prettier in the spring, but it's still beautiful this time of year.

Till next time . . .

Were just getting started. I created this blog to let you all know the comings and goings of our adventures, travel, hobbies, websites and just plane old everyday stuff. Bill, my husband, is diligently working on my new website "Joan's Dolls" dollsbyjoan.com. Bill expects to have the basics of the site up next week. Joan's Dolls is all about my hobby of crocheting doll cloths, in particular Southern Belle dresses and accessories. Will I have to get back to working on one of my dolls and start getting ready for visitors during the week. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law , Jim and Judy, will be visiting for a couple of days.

Till I blog again,