Photos of the girls' trip to Trish's house

Here we are at Trish's house. This is Haley serving delicious cake to us and our cousins the Tissy Woo dolls made by Trish.

Then Trish showed us all the hard work she had been doing in the garden.

Angela came to stay for the weekend as well. We made lots of friends while we were there.

We loved this mosaic Trish made for the path.

I just love this handsome cat, I wonder if Fiona would get us one.

Tomorrow we'll blog about our trip with Trish to the winery- boy did we have a good time there. Stay tuned.

The Girls are Away

I've got permission to blog on behalf of the Doiley Birds. They are very sorry but they are off for an exciting weekend with my friend Trish and her kids. I believe they are going to visit a winery and maybe have a bonfire.

Trish has instructions to take lots of photos to show next week.

While they are away I would like to post a few thoughts but it will mean I need feedback from the girls' followers and fans. I have been thinking of posting up a free pattern of the doiley birds so you can make your own. I don't want to make this too easy though so I think I won't post it until I have some responses.

So, if you are reading this, send me a response in the form of an email: atholglen@ozemail.com.au or make a comment after this post. I think I need a dozen responses and then I shall post pattern and instructions.

The Sweet Place, Uralla

We're here! This is where Fiona was planning to take us to buy supplies. The Sweet Place in Uralla. This is a truly remarkable shop- full of lollies and chocolates.

 We just adore the old fahsioned shop front.

 One of several tempting displays. Can you image how much fun it is to dive into a tray of lollies?

Jemimah and Suzie are choosing individual chocolates: 1 for each of us. We ended up with a green, a blue, a mauve and a pink- the last was for Jemimah of course.

 Here I am with the handmade soap. It looked and smelled good enough to eat. I think it is important to take soap on our trip because I think we could get very mucky. Mind you, it was a hard choice.We all sat on this shelf and pretended we were for sale, luckily the shop was empty at the time (for like 3 minutes) or we might have been in trouble. The Bears asked if they could come with us but Caroline and Fiona both said no, anyway, they wouldn't all fit in the caravan.

 We contemplated the giant lollipop but really it was too big, we couldn't even lift it.

 It looks like a tree.

 Delia loves her cuppa and tried to persuade Fiona to buy some tea. Fiona said the budget was tight and she'd have to think about it. She had a lovely cup of green tea with Caroline and she let Delia share it.

 Do you think we could hook this up behind the caravan and tow it? It was very comfortable.

 Suzie really wanted to take this china chook. We couldn't fit it in the van and it might get broken the rest of us told her. Delia was a bit sad after that.

 This is Caroline who owns the shop. She was so helpful and showed us different products, nothing was too much trouble. Here we are with some of our selection.

We chose musk boiled lollies, hearts, a nougat bar, four individual chocolates and a packet of these little pill shaped lollies that are a bit like lifesavers only not really- I'd have to go look up the name-unfortunately Fiona has hidden the lot to avoid giving into temptation - her own or ours she didn't say.


Anyway, we had a gorgeous time and strongly recomment you pop into the shop next time you are in or passing through Uralla.
The details are:

The Sweet Place
Shop2/50 Bridge Street
Uralla, NSW 2358
http://www.thesweetplace.com.au/
We're going to try to link our blog to it.

Update

The caravan is no further ahead. We are a bit corss with Fiona to be honest but wouldn't dream of telling her so, she'd just feel guilty. She's had to do more costumes ofr Gabriel her son, this is the last she says.

Mind you, Fiona has been doing lots of planning for our trip and started knitting coats and making us all felt boots. She also has a special surprise for us early next week which involves a trip to Uralla to a special shop there. Fiona says it is to buy essential supplies. To think we have to wait the whole weekend. Maybe she'll get onto the caravan soon.

This is the entrance to the Pine Forest, where we will be having our expedition. Fiona says it is not green now but grey and brown because it is winter.

We have also been discussing our method of locomotion. We don't have an animal the right size to pull the van so we are thinking of some kind of pedal system. Ideas are most welcome.

Costume Chaos Causes Caravan Delay

Breaking News is just in that Fiona has been so busy sewing medieval trousers and tunics for her son's film that she has not had time to work on the Doiley Birds' caravan.

The filming starts on Saturday so after this weekend she should be able to get on and show developments of the caravan. Her intention is to cover it in paper mache to make it stronger and warmer then paint it in gypsy caravan colours.

She has suggested to the girls that while they are waiting they should make lists of the essential gear they should take.

Her own list goes like this:
warm clothes (and she has started a knitted coat -picture will come next week)
sleeping bags
blankets
hats and scarves
pots and pans
crockery and cutlery
books
maps
journals
food (of course with plenty of chocolate)
first aid kit (with stuff for tummy aches)

Does anyone else have any suggestions? We don't want these intrepid explorers setting off without something vital they'll want on their journey.

PS: Fiona found the basketry wheels and will post photos next week when her life begins again.
We can't wait.

Introducing the Doiley Birds

Hi, we are the Doiley Birds. We are the creations of Fiona McDonald, an awfully talented girl. One of our main features, apart from being stunningly beautiful is the fact we are made from recycled fabrics and bits and pieces.

Fiona's workshop is overflowing with cutoffs, cast offs and snippets of lace and ribbon, old socks, wool, cardboard boxes, broken toys and whatnots.

I am Tilly and I am the eldest in the family.

I have knitted hair.

This is my second sister, Delia, she also has knitted hair.

Suzie is one of the twins...

and Jemimah is the other and officially the youngest.

Soon we will be available to purchase in Fiona's Etsy shop: 123fionadolls

Fiona has big plans for us. She wants to design a wardrobe of clothes and accessories that can be purchased seperately and she is working on some travel trunks to keep us safe in transit.

But the most exciting thing at the moment is that she is helping us build a caravan. It is going to be delightful, painted with bright colours and warm and cosy inside. We have not decided what kind of animal will pull it for us, we might even install an engine of some kind.

Here is a preview of it under construction.

You can see I'm in the driver's seat and Jemimah is in the back. We have been discussing what kind of wheels we need too. Cardboard may not be strong enough, Fiona thinks she has some woven basketry ones somewhere.

I shall keep you updated about the caravan, we do hope to be on the road in a week or two, depending on how busy Fiona is.