Posie Gets Cozy

Rainy Day Scrap Bags

Olly, olly, olly get your scrap bags here! Yep, right here!

There are fourteen half-pound Woolly Bags ($21) and fourteen Calico Bags ($19). All of them are a little bit different, but they look very similar to these. Lots of color, lots of stripes, lots of my favorite prints.

U.S. postage is included. Extra shipping will be charged to Canada ($2), Europe ($9) and Australia and Asia ($11).

If you'd like one of the scrap bags, please leave a comment here, letting me know which one (just one per person, okay?). I will send out Paypal invoices to the first twenty-eight people at the same time, later today. Then I'll get the bags out on Monday, since they're already packed up.

If they all sell, and you don't get an invoice from me, I'm sorry! I won't have any more Woollies, but I will do more Calicos sometime later this summer.

I think that's it. Thank you!

Can't wait to see what you do with them!

UPDATE: ALL SOLD OUT! :-) Thank you! And so sorry to everyone who didn't get one, seriously. I will definitely try to do more Calicos soon. xo

Frothy

The watched-pot theory prevails: I went out yesterday for a half-hour and, naturally, that's when the flowers came. After staring anxiously at the mailbox for a week, I should've known to just look away for a minute. So yay! Everything on its way out now!

On another note, and now that I'm ready to sit down and relax, does anyone have any recommendations for some fun, light reading? Novels, but nothing heavy? Something for spring? Romance? Villages? Mystery? Humor? Help. My nightstand is groaning under the depressing reads I've got going — none of it intentional, but still. I need some froth. Got anything for me?

Scrambling

Hey, it's me! Hi!

Still here, just scrambling, but it's okay. Most of the domestically shipped doll kits and dolls are out now, with a big batch mailed late Friday. The international orders and anything that came in after the 18th are still here with me, but those will leave in the next few days, and I really am sorry about the delay. The wired flowers that make up the small bouquets comes from overseas themselves, and the reorder hasn't arrived yet — stuck in customs? — but everyday I wait with baited breath for the flowers to come, and I really really hope to see them today. If they do, all of these orders will go out tomorrow. So, my apologies for the delay, but it's all happening, I promise.

I think I will be building longer lead times into these kits in the future — just a whole lot of stuff has to happen to get them out, and sometimes I can't control those delays. And yes, there will be more kits made available (sorry I haven't gotten to all those inquiring emails yet, but I will do that, too) — just as soon as these all go out successfully, and I take a shower, I'll put them back in my web shop. For I do want every man, woman, and child around the globe to make a clothespin doll. I really do. It's that much fun.

When people say to me, as they will, "But what do you do with them?" I just look at them like this:

" .  .  . "

Like that. I'm just like, "I don't understand the question."

And that works. Usually does.

I should do that more often.

Pearly Dewdrops

Something I like about living in the Northwest is our early and lengthy spring. It is my favorite season. Here in Portland, even the scrappiest, most average-seeming front yard explodes in a riot of haphazard blooming, often before it's warm enough for us to really want to be outside, often before we've cleaned up last year's spent hydrangea crowns and withered oak leaves. A melancholy sky and its pale, chilly light makes those luminous pink petals glow and blush, a tangle of flickering candles.

Naturally, I've spent almost every waking moment this week staring at the computer (now backing up for the third time, renaming, and finally transmitting all 227 hi-res images for the book, which is taking about 780% longer than I expected), escaping only to get out for a lap or two around the block with Clover Meadow. There is so much to smell and see right now. Every picket fence and rock wall circumscribes green things she's sniffing like a tiny hound. Sometimes someone will have brought in a load of mulch already, and in that yard the nose goes absolutely wild.

Thank you thank you thank you for all the Country Girl orders, both dolls and kits! Thank you! I'm keeping all orders open through tomorrow, as I mentioned, remaking dolls that have been ordered more than once, so nothing will officially sell out until sometime Friday. I'll leave all the photos up on the site, too, in case you want to look at them while you're making your kits. I'm just so thrilled by the orders. Thank you so much.

Oh, Snap!

Look who it is! The Country Girls!

Oh yes, they're ready to go! The computer [after I yelled at it/threatened flight/took a shower/successfully deleted 33,000 "deleted" messages] had one look at these girls and started working properly — it was a clothespin-doll miracle. So the Country Girls themselves, as well as kits to make them, are in my web shop, waiting for you. I'll take as many orders for these as come in this week, so that's why I'm springing them on you.

Each finished doll comes fully painted, varnished, and dressed, with a hand-embroidered apron and a bouquet of paper flowers. Each girl is signed, dated, boxed, and ribboned, ready for giving.

Each kit has almost everything you need to make five dolls:

5 doll pins
5 doll-pin stands
5 doll head beads
(5) 8" square pieces of assorted calicos (for dresses)
(5) 5" square pieces of assorted ginghams (for aprons)
5 pieces beige pipecleaner (for arms)
15 miniature wired paper flowers
White embroidery floss (for embroidery and sashes)
Custom acrylic paint and varnish set
Full-color instruction cards
Dress pattern
Embroidery chart

You will need to have your own:

Scalloped or zigzag pinking shears
Regular scissors and embroidery scissors
Heavy-weight thread
Needle
Assorted paintbrushes, at least one of them fine-tipped
Glue
4" (10cm) embroidery hoop

Please note, though, that neither the dolls nor the kits will ship until the week of April 1. We will be ordering supplies for and putting together kits based on the number of orders that come in this week, just to make sure we get it right this time and don't have to place multiple orders. Also, we won't have the benefit of employing the most industrious half to Team Paulson (grandpa and mom) who were so effective in filling paint pots for the Lucia kits at lightning speed last Thanksgiving. But if you can be a little patient, I think you'll be very happy with these little kits and pretty girls!

Pin Painting

Did you know that clothespin dolls do not paint themselves? I know. It's actually kind of a time-consuming process. Fun, just time-consuming, what with all the painting, letting dry, painting again, dropping on the floor, getting covered in dog hair, the trying to chase the dog around after she finds it and starts chewing it, the throwing away and starting over, the painting, the letting dry, the painting again, the letting dry, the painting the details, the varnishing (the best part), the varnishing again, the desperate attempt to keep the paintbrush clean and unwrecked for once (for I can ruin a paintbrush faster than anyone on earth, I think). In all of it, though, there is something quietly satisfying, if you take your time and just relax into it. When the faces go on, and the girls start to express themselves, that's the best moment, meeting them.

Why, hello there, Country Girls! You're pretty! And so sweet. The Country Girls have calico dresses and bare arms and  embroidered gingham aprons and bouquets of paper flowers. I am very charmed by them.

They will be hard to part with, but I've decided to make a limited edition of the girls themselves available for sale (and thank you for asking for them!). I'll also be offering Country Girl Clothespin Doll Kits -- similar to the Santa Lucia Clothespin Doll Kits we did last November, but with new instructions and the flowers and the gingham included for you, instead of the candles and the crown. I'm thrilled about these. 

I'll put everything on sale early next week. I'm going to try and take orders for as many people as want them (the kits, that is) -- there's no time crunch on these as there was for the Santa Lucia dolls, so I think I'll leave the kits available in the web shop for a week or so and just plan to order supplies based on the number of pre-orders. I don't have the budget to over-order right now, but I will make sure that everyone who wants one next week will definitely get to have one.

I have been trying to get my on-line stuff organized, and I created some new groups on Flickr for anyone who has any dishtowels to show? Or any crochet things (and by the way, I forgot to mention that the Polly Beret pattern is now available, too)? I would love to see them! Here are the links:

Pleasant Kitchen Dishtowel Flickr Group

Alicia Paulson Crochet Flickr Group

And if you're new hanging around here and need some inspiration for clothespin doll ideas, the sweetie Lucias are here:

Santa Lucia Clothespin Doll Flickr Group

On an unrelated note, Clover will be getting her own dog house this summer. These are my inspiration. Actually, I want one of these FOR MYSELF! If you have any other leads on adorable little abodes like these, please tell me! I'm obsessed.

Crochet Patterns Ready to Download

Thank you so much for all the nice comments on the site yesterday! I felt kind of embarrassed to have a site about myself, so it was nice hearing nice things, thank you. I really appreciate that.

Thank you, also, to those of you who found my crochet patterns and ordered them to download yesterday, as well. They are all ready to go! I'm so excited to have these available in pdf format, too, because it will mean that everyone gets their patterns immediately, including overseas folks. If you click on the link above it will take you to the collection.

Also, if you are a yarn shop owner interested in purchasing them wholesale, just let me know and I will give you more information about that. I've never really marketed these patterns to shops, but only because I've wanted to remake and rephotograph the samples for about . . . two years. Now that I've finally gotten it done, I'm bubbling with ideas for more (funny how that works, eh?), so you'll see those soon, too. It feels sooooo good to be able to get these things older things done, and start more.

Please let me know if anyone has any trouble with the download (you will need to have Adobe Reader installed on your computer to see the files) or with any of the patterns themselves. Since they've been recently revised, I'm on high-alert for errata, so give me a holler should anything confusing come up.

I made a really cute crocheted beret over the weekend. If I finish the pattern for that today, I'll see if anyone might want to test it. Typically, I have always hired a technical editor to proof all of my patterns, but this one is pretty straightforward so I think it will be okay. I don't know why I'm talking about it without showing it to you. I am just excited about these I guess! That whole download thing is really cool. I don't know what century I've been living in. Maybe someday soon I'll even have my very own iPod, too. I think I'm the only person I know who doesn't have an iPod. Slow on the uptake here.

Where I Whittle My To-Do List Down to a Mere Sliver

Yay, I finally finished it! AliciaPaulson.com is off my to-do list. I'm very happy.

And relieved! It feels great to have things organized finally. I've had a web site for Posie since 2001, but it's always been really confusing trying to explain what Posie is, what Ella Posie was, what rosylittlethings.com is, what Posie Gets Cozy is, etc. See, it exhausts me just typing that sentence, frankly. But now I hope this new site acts as a portal to the different kinds of things I do. It's nice to have it all collected, I must say.

I am also kind of excited about this because I did it entirely by myself! Well, sort of by myself. When my amazing friend Shelly of Toolbox Media helped me redo the Posie site in 2005, we always intended to do an Alicia Paulson site to make things less confusing, just never got around to it. But she made a template and a style sheet for the Posie site that I have, over the years, taught myself to use and to change into other sites (like the old Ella Posie site and this new one).

If you know HTML, and if you could see me working on this, I guarantee you would fall off your chair laughing. I am so clueless about HTML but I am so determined to manage these sites myself. I really do need to take a class, if only to just learn the basics. My way is to find anything that is working on-screen, and then go up into the HTML view and I try to figure out what in the hootenanny code is making it do that. Then I cut, and paste, and re-dink like CRAZY to try to make it all do what I want (because frequently it is doing something I don't want). THIS. TAKES. FOREVER. Many many tries. Strangely, I sort of enjoy it. Kind of in the way I sort-of enjoyed studying Latin for that one semester before I dropped it.

This is what I affectionately call the Needle-in-the-Haystack School of Web Design. (New Year's resolution completely blown on this one, too, sigh. But one must not be afraid to swear when doing HTML because it actually makes the computer do what you want. It does. The fact that this web site works at all has nothing to do with my very fragile grasp of HTML and everything to do with my proficiency in profanity. Shelly did not teach me that but I figured it out all by myself.) So obviously and in all seriousness, any crazy HTML in ANY of my sites has everything to do with me and nothing to do with Toolbox Media, who I think are quite nervous whenever I mention them. They actually do know HTML, and never swear. Not professionally. Okay, not even personally.

Anyway, I'm excited about this. If you see anything not working over there, just let me know. I do so love it when things are all in their places with bright, smiling faces. I think I'll turn off the computer today and go outside now.

Have I told you lately . . .

. . . that I love you? Probably not. Because the only words that have come out of my mouth for the last six months are "me," "my," "this sucks," "I can't do this," "what's on TV," "can you make me something to eat," "can you let the dog out," "I'm so tired," and "me." But I tell you, that's all about to change. Family, both mine and Andy's, is coming in from out of town next week for Thanksgiving, and I am ridiculously excited, and grateful for so many, many things.

THANK YOU for the Santa Lucia doll-kit orders this week! Egads, people! I knew you were cool, but wow. When I placed the orders for doll parts, I had talked myself into being completely at peace with the possibility that I would wind up with several hundred clothespins in my basement after December 13. But amazingly, I'm about four orders away from ordering more clothespins. And THEN I'll be winding up with several hundred clothespins in my basement, but it's okay, that sort of regret is an emotion I'm very familiar with and willing to risk, because I am determined to meet the clothespin-dollmaking public's enthusiastic demand for clothespin-dollmaking kits!!! Girl Posie will not let you down!!!

So I'll keep taking orders through Friday noon PST. But after that I will be filling 1/8-ounce paint pots faster than an elf jonesin' for a big promotion, 'cause I really want to get these out and in your hands in plenty of time for the 13th. Seriously, thank you for being excited about these. It makes me really happy to be able to share them.

Don't show this picture to Cesar Milan:

Or our doggy tutor Steve. He said he was not really down with dogs being in the bed. Turns out Andy and I should probably own one of those docile, homely breeds instead of a bossy corgi who's this pretty, 'cause I mean: You can see the future here, right? I mean, I can see the future here, and even I cannot resist. Andy says, "Oh, but she's so cute! Let her stay!" And I say, "Okay, but don't tell Steve."

Oh Steve, you have your work cut out for you. I'm just sayin.

Santa Lucia Dollmaking Kits for You!

Well, I was too excited to wait. I just couldn't wait.

Although the kits are not completely put together yet (paint and pins are winging their ways from the suppliers to my front door as we speak, though I have cut 44 yards of fabric into 8" squares in two days), I couldn't wait to put them on sale. I am confident that I have ordered enough supplies for everyone, so I'm kind of springing it on you here, I know!

But don't panic — I'll take orders for these all week, at least. I'll make as many as you need, I promise. I should be so lucky! I hope you will like them. I really think you will.

Please order them here, in my lonely little web shop. It has missed me, I think! I've missed it, too.

Oh me oh my, I am very excited and happy about these. I must have been overdue for some sweetness and fun, because I have had an absolutely great couple of days working on them and getting all the parts and pieces together. I've even cooked up a deal with the paint supplier to produce my own custom-colored set of paint pots with varnish and glitter (and yes, the Paulson elves will be filling all of those themselves!), so you will have almost everything you need to make these girls.

Included in each kit are:

5 doll pins
5 doll-pin stands
5 doll head beads
(5) 8" square pieces of calico (for dresses)
5 pieces white pipecleaner (for arms)
3 pieces silver pipecleaner (for candles)
1 piece green pipecleaner (for crown)
Yarn bobbin (for sashes)
Custom acrylic paint set
Varnish and glitter pots
Full-color instruction cards
Dress pattern

You will need only:

Scalloped or zigzag pinking shears
Regular scissors and embroidery scissors
Heavy-weight thread and needle
Assorted paintbrushes
Glue

These will ship the week of November 26. (I will send them overseas via Priority Airmail. I can't tell you what the shipping costs will be beforehand, since it's different depending on where you are in the world, but it's usually not too bad, and these are fairly light.) If you are buying these as gifts and would like them shipped to various addresses, please indicate that in the "message" section of your order [and indicate a "message" to your recipient, as well, and I'll add a card for you].

Thank you! And I seriously cannot wait to see what you make!