My Dolly Week....

This week we went to a local castle/fortress which is just about 15 km from us and yet we'd never visited there before.  We did actually try to go there last week but loads of roads were closed due to a cycling event.  So we tried again and this time our satnav took us somewhere entirely different.....and then finally we just took a chance on directions and found the place!!  But I must say it was a bit stressful as the roads we were sent down by the satnav were really scary, very narrow, very steep and some with sheer drops with no barriers.  One paved road was so steep that as I turned into it, still in 1st gear, our tyres just started to spin on the road surface, they just couldn't get a grip on such a steep road!!!  Never again!

Anyway, as I say, we finally found La Fortaleza de Velez Malaga and it had beautiful views and you could see the Mediterranean Sea in the distance, as well as several churches and the town of Velez Malaga from above.  You can read a little bit of history here:  (If you click on the photo it will enlarge)

I took two dolls with me; Claudia by Bonnie & Pearl and my Gotz Happy Kidz Emily from 2015.  I walked up to the top of the tower to take some more photos, there were about 100 narrow winding steps to the top and fortunately no-one else was there because there's no way I could have got past someone coming in the opposite direction whilst I was holding a big bag, a camera, a handbag and two 19 inch dolls!!!!  It was definitely worth climbing those stairs, the views were wonderful.

Claudia, from Bonnie & Pearl,  enjoyed her morning out.....

The gardens outside the castle are very pretty and nicely laid out, the shade from the palms and the olive trees was very welcome as it was quite hot up there....

Claudia and Emily...

Resting at the top of the castle....

Although it's a little hazy, in the distance you can just see the Mediterranean Sea....

Evidence of the Moorish architecture....no, not Brian, the archway behind him! ;) 

The red and yellow Spanish flag and the green and white Andalucian flag, flying in the breeze.....

Views north towards the mountains....

Church of San Juan Bautista....

I hope you've enjoyed seeing our local castle and the girls who visited with us.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Hugs Sharon x

Sewing and embroidery...

I've been very busy sewing and embroidering this past week and so thought I'd share some finished items on here.

The first two outfits are a commission and are off to live with a nice lady in the UK.  One Toddler and one Sasha outfit:  The lady didn't want any appliques so tops are plain.

As you can see, Teddy is once again in touch with his 'feminine side' as he models this outfit for me!

 Whilst Nuria as usual looks gorgeous in any colour!

Then between commissions, yesterday I 'played' again with my embroidery hoop on my lovely (I cannot say it enough times how 'lovely' this machine is!!!) new machine.....

The first design is some simple flowers in red and blue which is being modelled by Meredith, a Journey Girl from Toys R Us.  You might remember that when I was in the UK last October I went with my friend Dee to buy a Journey Girl from her local Toys R Us.  At that time they were not available on the Iberian Peninsular apparently.  However, the other day I visited Toys R Us in Malaga and there they were!  It seems that they are now available again in Spain and Portugal, so I decided to buy two....just in case they stop stocking them again! ;)  And the great thing is they are much cheaper here too!  They are £30 each in the UK, €29,99 each in places like France, Germany and Belgium (plus the postage of course) but here in Spain they are ONLY €24,99!!!  Which at today's exchange rate is about £19!!!!  Don't you just love a bargain!

Anyway, I digress, here is the top, I also made the circle skirt and socks to go with it.  These photos were taken today on our usual Sunday morning 'jaunt'. 

Close up of the simple design.  I embroidered it onto sweatshirt fabric.

And the second design which I've made up into a similar sized sweatshirt is of four cute and colourful owls sitting in a row on a tree branch.  This one is being modelled by Claudia from Bonnie & Pearl:

I have also embroidered a Sasha sized sweatshirt which is not made up yet....I am thinking of making it into a full outfit and putting it up for sale here on my blog, so if you're interested, please watch this space!!!

Thanks so much for looking, I hope you've enjoyed seeing my weeks' sewing photos.

I hope everyone has had a lovely weekend so far and that the week ahead is a good one for you!!!  We are off home to Sevilla on Tuesday, after more than 10 months at the coast!  I think I'm going to be doing a bit of dusting before I can start any more sewing, wouldn't you agree?!!!

Bonnie & Pearl

Just lately I became a little 'obsessed' with looking at the American Girl dolls.  I have so many patterns designed for that size of doll that I wanted someone who could wear them without alterations.

I looked and looked, on Ebay, Flickr and Pinterest, loads and loads of listings and photos.  I really like one of the American Girl faces, I think they call it the Josefina face sculpt, but unusually for me, I don't like the tan skin very much.  But the biggest problem with the American Girl dolls is....I really really do not like the all cloth body and the big 'American Footballer' shoulders.  (Sorry to those of you who love her, I guess we can't all like the same things!) So an American Girl wasn't for me.

Whilst looking on Flickr, I saw a photo of a Gotz Happy Kid Clara wearing a very pretty outfit and as these things go, one thing led to another and I found myself on the Bonnie & Pearl doll website....and there was a sale on!!!  Now I've always found the Bonnie & Pearl dolls interesting to look at and I like the fact that they are a British doll company, but I never liked the eyes.  The dolls come with a'sleep' eyes and they are a bit too 'staring' for my taste.  But it went through my mind that maybe I could change them!!!  I went to look at the doll which is my favourite, a dark skinned girl with black affro style hair, and lo and behold, she was on sale at 30% off her normal price!!!   So I decided to order her.  AND three outfits too because they too were on sale.  I mean, it would be a sin not to, wouldn't it?!  And just think of all the money I save! :D

My order arrived several days ago and I have to say that I was very pleasantly surprised!  The doll is lovely!  She's much prettier in real life than her photos would have me believe.  The quality is excellent, she is mostly vinyl with a vinyl chest plate but her lower torso is cloth.  Her default outfit is made up of many pieces and the three outfits I ordered with her were so nicely presented, each in it's own individual box.  The doll herself is nice and heavy with lovely smooth vinyl which is a gorgeous coffee colour.  She has an unusual face which in this 'skin tone' makes her look very exotic. 

I decided to change Claudia's eyes straight away to glass ones, completely removing the sleep mechanism and  now I'm even more happy with how she looks.

Below are photos of Claudia with her new eyes and wearing one of the outfits I bought for her.  The outfit consists of the lovely orange polka dot jacket with matching hairband, white short sleeved tee shirt, frilled denim skirt with faux suede belt, white underwear and brown faux suede boots!!  A great outfit for this girl I'm sure you'll agree!  (I added the socks)

I will show other outfits in other posts as she wears them!

(OOoops!  I realised after uploading these photos that I really should have ironed the skirt!)

 I hope you've enjoyed meeting this new little girl, who as yet hasn't told me her name, and I hope you all are enjoying your weekend!

Thanks for visiting :)